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A multi-body systems approach to simulate helicopter occupant protection systems

This paper reports simulation research on the three year 4.6m Euros EU-FP6 Helisafe Project (AST3-502727) investigating novel concepts for improved helicopter occupant crash protection. The consortium (Edgar Uhl, Helisafe Project Coordinator, E.Uhl@autoflug.de) included 12 industrial and academic partners including Eurocopter and investigated designs for seats, harnesses and the first implementation of a pilot airbag in a civil helicopter. Computer simulations were performed to select concepts and configurations before evaluation in laboratory sled and full scale crash tests. The project demonstrated improvements of 20-40% for occupant protection. Autoflug are using the results to develop seats and harnesses for Eurocopter.