Análise normativa e estrutural de uma poltrona de ônibus escolar para uso no mercado norte-americano

Abstract

Over the years, the automotive industry has improved considerably in terms of vehicle safety. In the early 1960s, after years of combustion engine development, it was noted that vehicles should have safe driving conditions. This included seat belt in all seats, a structure to prevent perforations and the invasion of the passenger compartment in the event of an accident, resistant materials against flame propagation and physical barriers inside the vehicles to prevent the occupants from being injured during a collision. In the public transport sector, it was no different. Specially, public school transport has been shown to be more effective and safer, being an alternative to take children to school, since a bus of this type is designed to have a greater capacity for absorbing energy, reducing the risk of injury to passengers in case of collision. The present work had as objective to analyze, from the normative and structural point of view, the mechanical strength of a school seat, following the American Regulation FMVSS 222, that deals with school vehicles, seeking to meet it. The analysis was performed using the Finite Element Method and validated experimentally, showing that the prototype partially meets the requirements presented in the standard, without presenting structural failure, with backrest deflection below the maximum specified value, but with an absorbed energy value of 1.327 J, value 2,18% below the minimum required. It is worth mentioning that the numerical analysis proved to be more conservative than the experimental one in terms of tension and absorbed energy, while the deflection of the backrest was greater, considering the same applied load. [resumo fornecido pelo autor]