Surely the answer is in one of your Materials Selector charts. What
materials have the best specific energy absorption. After that it's all
up to design, I suppose. However, you have to think of both sides of
the crash equation. Some of the off-road vehicles which are driven _on_
the roads (for shopping and other such adventures) have bull-bars and
all sorts, designed to defend the vehicle against dangerous pedestrians
who hurl themselves against the vehicle and might otherwise do it
serious damage. Do these bull-bars need to absorb energy, or do they
merely have to be stiff and strong?
Has anyone thought of compliance matching between pedestrian and car?
Ulrike Wegst wrote:
> How fast could the wooden cars go?
>
> Recently, I had a chance to drive in one of the BMW USVs. It has about
> 300PS, weighs about 2500kg, top speed well over 200km/hour.
> A bit extreme, maybe, but what would happen in a crash, if that was
> built of wood?
>
> Regards,
> Ulrike Wegst
--
Julian FV Vincent [log in to unmask]
Professor of Biomimetics office 01225 386596
Centre for Biomimetics & Natural Technologies mobile 07941 933901
Dept of Mechanical Engineering fax 01225 386928
The University
BATH BA2 7AY
http://www.bath.ac.uk/Departments/Eng/biomimetics/
I hate quotations. Tell me what you know. (Ralph Waldo Emerson)
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