Open Access

Adli Dimassi, Roland Marciniak, Harald Bachem, Jan Dietrich

• This study examines the design, analysis, and validation of carbon fibre-reinforced polymer (CFRP) crash tubes for energy absorption in electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) aircraft seats, aiming to optimize configurations for enhanced passenger safety. It incorporates static and dynamic testing of various CFRP tubes with differing diameters and layer orientations. Static tests focused on force-displacement characteristics, deriving crucial design parameters such as peak and plateau loads, and energy absorption. Dynamic tests, performed with a drop tower, mimicked eVTOL crash scenarios to observe tube behavior under realistic conditions. Results indicated that increasing unidirectional layers and tube diameter improves load capacity and energy absorption. Conversely, changing weave orientation from 0°/90° to ±45° reduces energy absorption, underscoring the significance of layup configuration. These insights facilitated the refinement of tube specifications to meet safety goals. Additionally, a finite element model (FEM) developed using the Altair Radioss solver validated the experimental findings, accurately capturing crash behavior and supporting design iterations with reduced physical testing needs. This study confirms that tailored CFRP crash tubes can significantly enhance eVTOL crashworthiness, with combined experimental and simulation approaches offering a robust iterative methodology for optimizing aviation safety systems and reducing the need for extensive material characterization.