Falling Object Protective Structure (Fops) Testing

Avinash B Siddaram P.Horti Naresh Rao M.

Assistant Manager, Design Senior Design Engineer Design Engineer
SANDVIK ASIA Pvt,Ltd SANDVIK ASIA Pvt,Ltd SANDVIK ASIA Pvt,Ltd
#25/26, Abshot Layout #25/26, Abshot Layout #25/26, Abshot Layout
Sankey Road Cross Sankey Road Cross Sankey Road Cross
Bangalore-560 052 Bangalore-560 052 Bangalore-560 052

Abstract
This paper highlights the Importance of Simulation Driven product design approach. The efficient simulation tools like Altair HyperMesh,
HyperCrash and Radioss coupled with engineering Knowledge can effectively assist the designers in achieving the desired compliance, especially in
the field of Product Design wherein the physical tests are mandatory for the compliance certification. The use of simulation can help the designers to
achieve the desired Time, Cost and Weight Optimization without compromising over the Structural Integrity.

Introduction

As a new product design group we belong to the SANDVIK Surface Mining segment. The activities involved are the
Concept Design and Proto Building using the engineering knowledge and Simulation tools. During the Proto stage the
process Time, Cost and the weight optimization activities are undertaken.

Figure 1: Blast Hole Drill Figure 2: Operator Cab

At SANDVIK Surface Mining and construction of FOPS CAB is designed to fit in range of Blast hole Drills. The
CAB structural members call for a reasonable protection from falling objects like tree, rocks, small concrete
blocks, hand tools, etc.

Simulation Driven Innovation 1

 The Falling Object Protective Structure, FOPS (Level-II energy requirement) compliance was tested in
accordance with the ISO 3449 2005-09 and Deflection Limiting volume (DLV) with ISO 3164 DLV.

DROP OBJECT WEIGHT 226.8 Kg

FALLING HEIGHT 5.23 m
DIAMETER OF THE DROP TARGET 400 mm

Figure 3: Level II energy requirement curve

The Deflection Limiting Volume (DLV) is the orthogonal approximation of large, seated male operator wearing
normal clothing and a hard hat.

The protective properties of the FOPS system shall be evaluated according to the ability of the cab or protective
structure to resist the Impact. The FOPS shall completely cover and overlap the vertical projection of DLV. DLV shall
not be entered by any part of the protective structure under the first or subsequent Impact of the test object.

In addition to the Impact requirements, there are material requirements for ensuring that the FOPS has meaningful
resistance to the brittle fracture. The structural steel material selection will be done in accordance with 6.3 of ISO
3449:2005(E).

Simulation Driven Innovation 2

Process Methodology

The Cab is made up of structural steel comprising of tube, angle and plates. The top members are HVAC (Heating
Ventilation and Air-conditioning) cover and the Roof. The HVAC cover is bolted onto the roof and covers the Heating
Ventilation and Air-conditioning unit. The HVAC cover and the roof shall act as FOPS.

Roof HVAC Cover

DLV of Operator

Figure 4: showing the HVAC cover and roof

FE Idealization
The structural members like tubes, angles and plates were idealized using the 2D shell elements. The stringent quality
aspects were maintained to get good quality mesh especially on the roof structure and the HVAC cover, which are the
targets of drop load.
HVAC
Cover
Drop object as master

Roof as slave

Figure 5: FE model

Simulation Driven Innovation 3

The drop object was Idealized using Hexahedral elements. The overall structure is quad and Hex dominent.
Table 1: Quality Criteria

Sl.NO Quality criteria Value Units

1 Warpage <10
2 Aspect ratio 5
3 Jacobian 0.8
4 Min angle for quad >40
5 Max angle for quad <140
6 Min angle for tria >20
7 Max angle for tria <120
8 Min element size >2 mm
9 Max element size <10 mm

Material model and deck creation

Table 2: Material models for the structural members

Yield stress
Sl.NO Components Material Card Material
(Mpa)
1 Plates M1_Elast ASTM Steel 345
2 Tubes M1_Elast ASTM Steel 315
3 Angles M1_Elast ASTM Steel 315

Contact selection

Multiusage type7 is used to define the contact between the drop object and the cab Roof. The roof is considered as
slave and the drop object as master component.

Calculation

To bring down the computation time, the falling height 5230mm (5.23m) is reduced to 5mm.The Initial velocity for
the reduced distance of 5mm hence computed using the formula-1.

V2 = 2gh 1
Where,
V = Velocity
g = Acceleration due to gravity, 9.81 m/sec2
h = Height of fall

Table 3: Input parameters

Sl.NO Input Parameters Value Units

1 Actual drop height 5.23 m
1 Weight of drop object 226.8 Kg
2 Simulation Drop height 0.0005 m
3 Initial velocity 10.1293 m/sec

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Results & Discussions

Figure 6: Deformation Tendency Figure 7: Deformation Tendency

The Physical test conducted on Proto using the Level-II energy requirement resulted in the measurement which is
astoundingly proximate to the already measured deformation got from RADIOSS Explicit solver. The post drop test
deformation on the cab roof measured 44.45 mm of permanent set and whereas the post simulation deformation
measurement resulted in 52.5 mm. A variation of 15% in the deformation value of Simulation and the Actual Drop test
was observed. The energy absorption of the target structure after the simulation corresponds to 11250 Joule.

It has been also found that the DLV was not violated by the instantaneous or permanent deformations found from both
simulation and Drop Test.

Benefits Summary

As the testing system falls under the category of destructive testing, the proto design calls for the fusing of
Engineering knowledge & Simulation. A Simulation driven product design approach prior to Physical test with
effective usage of Altair HyperWorks products viz, HyperMesh and RADIOSS proved to be effective in achieving the
desired compliance for FOPS and also avoided excess time and cost over run

Challenges

The FE idealization of such structure is cumbersome and time consuming. The quality of mesh for the above stated
application should be maintained with utmost care to ensure the credibility of the simulation output. As the work
undertaken was a very new assignment for us, the help documents provided by Altair were not specific to the nature of
the job. It took some time for us to key in the right approach.

Future Plans

With the newly acquired skill with the Altair Products, the present process will be fine tuned to achieve better
Simulation output. Apart form FOPS testing, the scope will be extended to optimize the structure for Rollover
Protective Structure (ROPS) and Tip Over Protective structure (TOPS).

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Conclusions

The physical drop test is essential for the certification of the protective structures which involve human life. The
simulation tools can be used during the concept stage of the Cab design. The actual certification cannot be obtained
only on the basis of simulation results. The non-violation of DLV (Deflection Limiting Volume) can only be certified
followed by a Physical drop test.

It is seldom possible to extract much data out of the destructive test which makes it difficult for the designers to study
the structural behavior in detail under the Impact loads. The use of efficient simulation tools like Altair products like
Radioss will enable the designers to study and understand the structure response under the above Impact loads.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Sincere thanks to Mr. Shib Bhowmik, President, SMC and Mr. Anantha K S, Associate Vice President, for their
continued support and encouragement. Also would like to thank Mr.Ravi B, General Manager, Design, who patiently
spent a lot of time in discussing every small aspects of the FOPS assignment.

Thanks to Altair team who supported us throughout the project span and took all the extra effort to enable us in better
understanding the Altair products.

REFERENCES
[1] ISO 3449:2005(E)
[2] ISO 3164:1992(E)
[3] MACHINE DESIGN DATABOOK BY McGraw-Hill

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