Crash simulation of the fuselage section with central wing box for a regional jet

A 3-D model of a regional jet fuselage section with central wing box (CWB) was developed for vertical drop crash simulation. The two wings were modelled with a dynamically equivalent system comprising beam and lumped-mass element. Four crashes with differ falling velocity were simulated in the explicit transient-dynamics finite-element code MSC.Dytran, respectively. The acceleration at seat rail is greatly higher than that of the typical fuselage section of the same plane. At high falling velocity, the crash process consists of two impact events due to the involvement in the section bottom and CWB, respectively. The frame and keel beam underneath the CWB are completely crushed. The spanwise beams of CWB are buckled but not collapsed. The longitudinal rib was not appropriately distorted and thus prevented the spanwise beams buckling. Energy analysis shows that the deformation energy is mainly attributed to the plastic deformation in high dropping velocity. Finally, some proposals on the improvement of crashworthiness are remarked.