Quote:
Originally Posted by cosmick
...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 ...
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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