Crashworthy Composite Structures

This text investigates the variables needed to design and implement effective crashworthy composite materials, with the first part devoted to the scientific background of crashworthiness in terms of materials, measurements of impact, and animal and human responses to crashes. The book explains the concepts and materials needed to enable vehicles and their inhabitants to withstand catastrophic forces, including the design of survival cells and their surrounding architecture. The physics of impact behaviour and energy absorption are presented, and the authors show how these principles apply to energy-absorbing composite materials from the microstructural level to the behavior of full-scale components. Original test protocols and data along with an array of computer simulations are included to assist readers in designing composites for crashworthiness.