Locomotive Collision Posts and Crashworthiness

Objective
To assess the compliance of a locomotive's collison posts with published performance criteria and to determine the crashworthiness performance of the locomotive's nose frame and collision post structure.

Summary
MSC.Software Australia investigated the strength of a locomotive's collision posts using the FE analysis code MSC Nastran and assessed the post assembly's structural response with reference to the performance criteria of defined by the client and the Draft National Code of Practice for Railways, Rollingstock Vol. 3 (Class 1 & 2). Based on the results of these analyses, design modifications were recommended by MSC Australia and implemented by the client.

As an extension to the above activities, the client also commissioned MSC Australia to conduct crash simulation analyses of the nose frame and collision post structure with the objective of establishing the structure's load and energy absorbing capacities. This assessment used an explicit finite element analysis code to model the nose frame and collision post structure's response to impact with a massive rigid body travelling at a speed of 48 km/h.

The impact analysis showed that integration of the collision post with the nose frame structure greatly increased the crashworthiness of the locomotive and that the existing structure was capable of absorbing enough energy to satisfy the draft code. It was also concluded that the design of nose frame structures should exploit the potential for nose frames to add to the locomotive's crashworthiness and that performance requirements for collision posts and nose frames should include criteria based on energy as well as force.