Methods of Crashworthiness Testing for Aircraft Design

The first steps to crashworthiness testing is to design and fabricate instrumentation, design and construct a crash test site for barrier crash testing, and design and fabricate impact sleds for product improvement. Associated with the design phase are many hours of report and paper research pertaining to aircraft crash testing and automobile crash testing. Four basic design concepts apply to crashworthiness of aircraft: production of a structure that will stay intact during a crash; restraint of the occupant during the crash; protection of flailing limbs from injury; and restraint of loose equipment in the cabin. Destruction type tests on full-scale vehicles assure structural integrity of the capsule and provide acceleration pulse shapes of primary structure as collapse occurs in the forward section of the fuselage.