Crashworthiness Design Optimization for an eVTOL Aircraft

The emergence of electric Vertical Takeoff and Landing (eVTOL) aircraft makes cheap, quiet and reliable short-range flights possible. As a manned aircraft, eVTOL's occupant protection capability is critical and its crashworthiness must be improved via optimization of energy absorption design for structures. This study aims to evaluate the crashworthiness of composite components and the entire eVTOL structure within the design space via the building-block approach. A variety of designs for the skid landing gear, energy absorber, structures in the cockpit and the combination of them were estimated by using the numerical method. The results show a tremendous reduction in occupant injury risk with the optimization of the skid landing gear, energy absorber and the entire eVTOL structure. This work provides a preliminary optimization design and evaluation methodology of crashworthiness for an eVTOL.