Laboratory and field evaluations of textile energy absorbers for crashworthy cargo restraints

Improvement of cargo tie-down systems is of utmost importance to help ensure rotorcraft crew safety in the event of a hard but survivable crash or hard landing. To this end, various load-limiting, energy-absorbing devices, placed inline with conventional tie-down hardware such as straps and chains, have been evaluated for their ability to prevent the complete failure of a tie-down and the unconstrained movement of cargo in the vicinity of nearby personnel and structure during a high-acceleration event. The current investigation aims to further this line of exploration by evaluating the performance of textile-based energy absorbing devices in well-controlled laboratory experiments using a horizontal sled and in field experiments using crash-tests of CH-46 hulks. Textile-based energy absorbers of a capacity suitable for rotorcraft tie-down systems are shown to behave as designed in both types of experiments. The devices prevented the failure of a simulated tie-down point in accelerative environments that failed the tie down point in the absence of an energy absorber.