Design and optimization of anti-climber device for light rail transit crash energy management system

Abstract

The study of a new anti-climber structural concept for a light rail transit crash energy management system is intended to improve passive safety performance that reduces the risk of overriding during a car-to-car collision. The anti-climber design and configurations are optimized to achieve the best crashworthiness performances. Several model variations are created, to which design factors are assigned based on the L16 orthogonal array. The optimum configuration is estimated using Taguchi’s Robust Parameter method. The controlled variables’ influence on the performance is analyzed using the Analysis of Variance method. The results show that the optimum configuration for the system’s crash energy absorption and crashbox deformation performances are toothed ends-Al6061-T6-30 mm-lower offset with 1.5 dB gain and toothed ends-Al6061-T6-20 mm-lower offset with 3.3 dB gain, respectively. The most influential parameter is the anti-climber material (29.79%) for the system’s crash energy absorption performance and teeth thickness (50.26%) for the crashbox deforming performance.