Collision Response of a Cutting Energy Absorber and Its Application to Crashworthiness of Metro Trains

Due to the advantages of stable interforce level and high energy absorption capacity, the Cutting energy absorber (CEA) is of broadly application prospects in the field of passive safety protection of rail transit. However, the simulation process of CEA is more complicated. Besides, unlike the others, there are many more factors that need to be considered in the simulation process of CEA. So, the simulation analysis is one of the most common research methods to study the performance of energy absorber and crashworthiness of rail trains. In this paper, a CEA is proposed, and its crashworthiness in the train is analyzed and verified. Firstly, the quasi-static simulation analysis of the CEA is carried out considering Johnson-Cook constitutive relation, material failure, and thermal coupling effect. The impact peak force and average forces are 650.5 kN and 627.0 kN, and the errors are 0.077% and 3.636% respectively compared with the test results, which indicates the simulation model accurately simulates the action process of the CEA. Then, a collision simulation analysis of a particular type of metro train with the cutting energy absorbing device is carried out, and the structural crashworthiness is evaluated based on the EN 15227 standard. The results show that the CEA has a stable interfacial force, good deformation, and peeling response in the cutting process. The energy absorbed by CEA is 510 kJ, accounting for 18% of the total collision energy, which indicates the excellent energy absorption characteristics.