Crashworthiness design of HSGGT vehicles

A broad overview of the crash safety issues and general physical principles involved in the design of high-speed guided-ground transportation (HSGGT) vehicles is presented. Some of the recommendations made for improved occupant protection are extrapolated from observations and results contained in the extensive crashworthiness research and development experimental database for automobiles, light trucks and buses. This approach is necessary because there are virtually no experimental data extant which provide a quantitative measure of rail vehicle and rail vehicle occupant collision response (e.g., electronically recorded vehicle acceleration-time histories and force-deflection characteristics, high-speed films of vehicle and dummy kinematics, recorded and/or calculated occupant injury parameters, etc.).<>