Computational Fracture Mechanics

2. Vehicles can be designed to provide crash protection to the occu little or no penalty to the weight and cost of the vehicle. 3. Vehicle crashworthiness can be improved by providing the principles to designers and by emphasizing the importance of this design responsibility. Decisions and design choices can then be · and in cases where two or more comparable choices are possible, the in favor of improved crashworthiness can be made. 4. Overall vehicle structural crashworthiness requires design loads with an objective of maintaining a protective envelope occupant and reducing the crash loads transmitted to him by deformation of surrounding structure. 5. Seating and restraint systems should be designed to provide restraint in all loading directions and to minimize decelerative lo occupant. 6. Seating and restraint systems should have the strength req remain in place until the surrounding structure collapses. 7. Some analytical procedures are available and some are being which can be used to evaluate and optimize structures and occupant survival. Additional tools are needed to enable overall syst be optimized for both structural crashworthiness and mission 8. Creative innovation is needed to develop structural design vV.lH~IVl! and concepts that can provide the stiffness and strength needed to . primary design function, but that will efficiently and progressively with fracture during crash loading.