Numerical-experimental investigation on the biomechanical performances of an aeronautical seat

The aim of the paper is to propose guidelines to model and analyse, by considering a hybrid finite element and multibody approach, an aircraft seat sled test, as well as experimentally performed for certification purposes. The main advantage of such numerical approach consists in achieving a lean procedure to forecast structural and biomechanics performances of the seat, with a considerable saving of experimental costs and with reasonable calculation time. In particular, the paper deals with the simulation of an experimental seat sled test against the aircraft front fuselage bulkhead. The FE model has been built by using LSTC-LsDyna® code; the multibody model has been built by considering TNO-Madymo code. The parameters evaluated during this test are the acceleration of the head, with the relative calculation of HIC, and the loads transmitted to the lower limbs of the dummy.