Design of a Workstation Table With Improved Crashworthiness Performance

Abstract

Work is currently underway to develop strategies to protect rail passengers seated at workstation tables during a collision or derailment. Investigations have shown that during a collision, these tables can present a hostile secondary impact environment to the occupants.This effort includes the design, fabrication, and testing of an improved workstation table. The key criteria for the design of this table are that it must compartmentalize the occupants and reduce the risk of injury relative to currently installed tables. Strengthening the attachments between the table and the passenger car body will ensure compartmentalization. Employing energy-absorbing mechanisms to limit and distribute the load imparted on the abdomen of the occupant will reduce injury risk.This paper details the design requirements for an improved workstation table, which include service, fabrication, and occupant protection requirements. Service requirements define the geometry of the table, the performance of the table under normal service loads, and the maintenance of the table over the period of installation. Fabrication requirements define the limitations on material usage and construction costs. Occupant protection requirements define the ability of the table to reduce injury risk to the occupants under collision loads. The table must also conform to federal regulations pertaining to interior structures on passenger rail equipment.Four design concepts are evaluated against these design requirements. These concepts present different modes of deformation or displacement that absorb energy during impact. These concepts have been evaluated, and the highest-ranking concept involves a crushable foam or honeycomb table edge attached to a rigid center frame. Preliminary results from a computer simulation demonstrate the effectiveness of this concept in reducing the injury risk to the occupants.

Evaluation of Testing Methods to Develop Test Requirements for a Workstation Table Safety Standard

“…See Table 1 for a list of injury results. For more detailed information on the design of the FRA prototype table and the test results, see the sources listed in [10] and [6], respectively. Having demonstrated the effectiveness of a workstation table designed to absorb energy during a collision, the next step is developing an industry standard that can be used to establish a minimum level of crashworthiness for workstation tables.…”

Improved Tank Car Safety Research

“…These features are then refined into detailed forms with preliminary design studies. This approach has been used to develop crush zones for passenger equipment [12,13,14], the state-of-the-art cab car end frame design [15], and improved locomotive crashworthiness features [16], as well as improved workstation tables [17], optimized commuter seats [18], and a conceptual design for inflatable structures for train operator protection [19].…”

Developing Strategies for Maintaining Tank Car Integrity During Train Accidents

“…This approach has been successfully applied to several research projects in the area of rail equipment crashworthiness. Examples include development of crush zones (referred to as crash energy management or CEM) for passenger equipment [9,10,11], a state-of-the-art cab car end frame [12] for preserving the operator's space, an improved workstation table for limiting abdominal injury [13], and an optimized commuter seat design [14] for protecting both rear and forward facing passengers. Concepts developed with this approach include deformable locomotive short hood and collision posts [15] for preserving the operator's space and inflatable structures for locomotive operator protection [16].…”