Rail vehicle crashworthiness based on collision energy management: an overview

Abstract

This paper summarizes the research on passive safety of rail vehicles from the perspective of Crash Energy Management (CEM) in recent decades, which covers the analysis of main crashworthiness standards, as well as the latest research progress in theoretical methods, numerical simulation, and experimental technology of rail vehicles crashworthiness. According to the research status of each subject, some weak links and potential research suggestions are pointed out, such as the requirements of CEM in standards, the influence mechanism of the coupler under different collision speeds, structural compatibility and standardization of anti-climbers, the establishment of vehicle structure crashworthiness design method in design-simulation-test closed-loop system, etc. In the future, under the support of mature CEM theory, more detailed and reliable numerical simulation models, more comprehensive vehicle crash test data, and higher computer computing efficiency, the passive safety of rail vehicles will be guaranteed to the maximum extent.