View Single Post
Old 03-05-2015, 03:22 PM   #1447 (permalink)
some_other_dave
Master EcoModder
 
Join Date: Jul 2008
Location: Silly-Con Valley
Posts: 1,479
Thanks: 201
Thanked 262 Times in 199 Posts
Quote:
Originally Posted by cosmick View Post
...my side-impact protection will come ... secondarily from the overkill frame design I'm leaning toward, which has 2" x 2" mild steel square tubing of 1/4-thick wall thickness, along the occupant shoulders ...
Strength is one part of impact protection. Another, possibly more important part, is distance. If the steel tubing is along the occupants' shoulders, it won't take a really huge hit to move it into contact with said shoulders. If you put the tubing one foot away from the shoulders (and from anywhere a part of a belted-in occupant could be) then it takes one whale of a hit to deform it enough to contact the occupant.

Another problem with super-overkill structures: They don't absorb energy, they pass it on. Race cars in the ~70s or 80s figured that lesson out--the frames and cages got stronger and stronger, and you wound up with people hurt inside of cars that suffered relatively little damage. Nowadays, the high-speed racers are designed to deform and/or shed parts, in order to absorb the energy of a collision.

I'm not trying to say you're wrong in your approach, but do remember that there are lots of things to consider when trying to design in safety.

-soD
  Reply With Quote