HeliSafe: Improved Occupant Crash Safety in Helicopters

Abstract

The objective of the European consortium project HeliSafe is to improve the survivability of occupants in helicopter crashes and to minimise the risk of injuries. This is achieved by an advanced cabin safety system concept based on interacting safety features such as enhanced safety seats, improved belt systems and deployment of airbags. A key feature of HeliSafe is the application of numerical simulation tools to predict cabin and occupant response to crash loads in order to design and optimise the layout of the safety system. In the project, crash scenarios were analysed and aviation relevant human injury criteria defined. A safety analysis and simulation software concept covering the interaction of all relevant safety equipment was defined and validated. Comprehensive full scale sled tests on a generic helicopter mock-up with an enhanced FAA Hybrid III dummy and novel safety features were carried out. The paper gives a brief overview on HeliSafe with emphasis on DLR’s contribution to the project which includes the simulation of the different crash scenarios with the programs DRI-KRASH and MADYMO.