Hybrid Composite-Polypropylene Sandwich-based Design for the Fuselage Panel in Commercial Aircraft to Increase the Passive Safety of Passengers

The passive safety in aircraft concerns all measures able to protect the passengers and crew in the event of an accident or emergency. In this context, an important role is played by the design adopted for components inside the passengers' cabin, such as the seats and the interior lining. An effective approach in design of passive safety system is provided by Anthropomorphic Test Devices. In this work, a new design of the interior lining of the fuselage wall has been introduced and its crashworthiness features have been studied through a side impact of an unbelted window-side passenger. The new proposed interior lining is made with a hybrid sandwich-based design with a polypropylene honeycomb core able to ensure passive safety for passengers and thermal and acoustic insulation.