European Rail Research Advisory Council

Transcription

1 MARKET IMPACT EVALUATION ERRAC was set up in 2001 and is the single European body with the competence and capability to help revitalise the European rail sector : To make it more competitive To foster increased innovation To guide research efforts at the European level ERRAC Project Evaluation Working Group (EWG) Objectives: Determine the market impact of previous rail research to improve use of research funding Ensure a strategic approach to the prioritisation of rail research Project Evaluation Individual projects are evaluated after they have been completed to ensure successful dissemination of project results To ensure that the results of previous rail research can be taken into account for future projects To avoid weak market uptake of results by learning the lessons of previous research The EWG will provide intelligence based on the project evaluations for input into future European Framework Programmes 1

2 ERRAC Project Evaluation Group LISA EVALUATION FROM MAY 2007 Project acronym: LISA FP: 5 Programme acronym: GROWTH: Competitive and sustainable growth Project Reference: G5RD-CT Call identifier: FP5-GROWTH Total Cost: 5,636,863 EU Contribution: 2,818,431 Timescale: February January 2005 Project Coordinator: Rüdiger Dorner (Fraunhofer-Institut für Fertigungstechnik und Angewandte Materialforschung - IFAM) Web references: Presented by: A. Foster Date evaluation: Market uptake: Weak Follow up projects: None Other related Projects: None 2

3 ERRAC Project Evaluation Group LISA FP5 Project Meeting of 30th May 2007 Draft

4 TITLE: LISA: Lightweight Structural Applications based on Metallic and Organic Foams Objective: The LISA project Lightweight Structural Applications based on Metallic and Organic Foams aimed at improvement of the overall performance of structures in transport industry by application of metallic and organic foams. The LISA consortium with 9 partners from five European countries represented a good balance of material producers and developers, suppliers, end-users, research institutions and universities. Through close co-operation the core knowledge of each partner was brought into the project and thus research activities covered all specific aspects from materials development to performance simulation and testing as well as large scale series production issues. 4

5 LISA: Background European Rail Research Advisory Council (Lightweight structural applications) Details FP5 Total forecast cost: 3.9m (10% to Bombardier for Rail applications) EU Contribution: 50% of total cost Start and end date: From 02/2002 to 01/2005 PROJECT CO-ORDINATOR : Fraunhofer Gesellschaft zur Foerderung der Angewandten Forschung e.v., Institut fuer Fertigungstechnik und Angewandte Materialforschung (IFAM) 5

6 LISA: Background (Lightweight structural applications) Major Partners Adtranz (now: Bombardier Transportation) (UK) C.R.F. Società Consortile per Azioni (I) Ford Forschungszentrum GmbH (D) Bayerische Motorenwerke AG (D) GIE Aerospatiale MATRA CCR (now: EADS CCR) (F) M.I.M. Hüttenwerke Duisburg GmbH (now: Sudamin MHD GmbH) (D) Henkel Teroson GmbH (D) Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NO) 6

7 LISA: Background (Lightweight structural applications) Project Description 1: Research activities were structured into two main areas. One was the development of new materials (zinc foams) and new production technologies (long aluminium foam filled extrusions). The other major activity area has been the further development of (aluminium and polymer) foam filled hollow structures, the identification of the most beneficial applications in real-life products of transport industry and the evaluation of the feasibility of including such materials into industrial scale processes. Within the duration of the LISA project the zinc foaming technology has been developed from experimental to industrial applicable scale. Main innovations are the combination of different foaming agents to achieve zinc foams with nearly 1000% expansion (density approx. 0.7 g/cm3), the successful implementation of different precursor material production processes and the development of a process to produce zinc foam filled hollow structures. Based on the gained data zinc foams are now applicable to real-life products. 7

8 LISA: Background European Rail Research Advisory Council (Lightweight structural applications) Project description 2: A new production technology for long aluminium foam filled aluminium profiles with metallic bonding between both components was the second technology development task scheduled within the LISA project. This goal has successfully been reached by roll-cladding foamable precursor with conventional aluminium alloy sheets, forming tubes from these composites and finally expanding the foam inside the hollow profile. The technical feasibility has been proven but also technical limitations were identified that reduce the applicability of this new technology to selected structural applications. The second main activity area of the LISA project was the development and assessment of aluminium and polymer foam applications in real-life products of European transport industry (aerospace, automotive, railway). For each enduser in the consortium at least one structural component for most promising application of aluminium and/or polymer foam was identified as demonstrator part. 8

9 LISA: Background European Rail Research Advisory Council (Lightweight structural applications) Project description 3 : The second main activity area of the LISA project was the development and assessment of aluminium and polymer foam applications in real-life products of European transport industry (aerospace, automotive, railway). For each end-user in the consortium at least one structural component for most promising application of aluminium and/or polymer foam was identified as demonstrator part. Bombardier Transportation chose to develop a front-end structure of a TALENT suburban railcar as demonstration item. The existing steel solution was completely substituted by an aluminium composite structure containing large volume foam blocks designed by using simulation tools. Testing these structures verified the simulation results. The new front-end structure complied with GM/RT2100 clause 9.1 and, thus, fulfilled Bombardier s requirements and targeted improvements. The participant EADS mainly focussed on the radome shield for impact protection (e.g. bird strike) of their Airbus airplane cockpits. Together with the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) a new model for simulation of high speed deformation of aluminium foams was successfully developed and verified by experimental results. The use of the new simulation model for optimisation led to a radome shield design containing aluminium foam components with a comparable protection level as the existing solution but a significant weight reduction. 9

10 LISA: Background Lightweight structural applications) Crash energy absorption system for railcars (Bombardier/IFAM) One of Bombardier Transportation s business fields is the fabrication of rail vehicle structures. For the LISA project Bombardier chose the front structure of a Talent suburban railcar as demonstration area for application of aluminium foams. The existing design consists of a welded assembly of steel tubes which absorbs crash energy in cases of any impact. This rather complex structure was scheduled to be replaced by a light-weight aluminium (foam-filled) solution. The general concept was based on a three step energy absorption system in which three aluminium foam filled structures were planned to absorb the impact energy one after the other. Depending on the intensity of the crash only one or two energy absorbers are deformed and need to be replaced. As a result, not only a weight saving but also a repair cost reduction can be achieved. 10

11 LISA: Evaluation Achievements: Besides the technical development and optimisation of foam filled structures the LISA consortium gained valuable experiences regarding the compatibility of metal and polymer foams with existing production lines of all involved branches from transport industry. In general the compatibility is good. Polymer foam components can be expanded directly in the structure to be foam filled while aluminium foams are better produced externally and integrated by a simple pick and place operation. All gained experiences have been collected and documented in a guideline for foam application in structural components of transport industry. 11

12 LISA: Evaluation criteria: 1. Were the results implemented in the design of the new products and services? - Not in the rail sector although small batch automobile designs now incorporate the technology. Were these new products/services put into commercial operation? -See above. 12

13 LISA: Evaluation criteria: 2. Is new legislation and standardization based on findings from this research project in place. - No 3. Are the results of the project implemented across Europe or only in a small number of Member States. - Only in the major automotive manufacturing locations, Germany & Italy? 13

14 LISA: Evaluation criteria: 4. Are the results of the project being implemented outside Europe before being accepted in Europe - No 5. Did the projects increase competitiveness of the European railway sector abroad with regard to products, services, standards and system design - Potentially 6. Did the project increase competitiveness of the railway transportation compared to other transport modes Not yet 7. Are the results of the project taken into consideration when preparing public tenders - Not yet 14

15 LISA: Evaluation criteria: 8. Does the implementation of the project results help facilitate cross-border operations by problem-solving in the domain of interoperability Perhaps long term in the reduction of crashworthiness weight penalties 9. Does the implementation of the project results help facilitate inter-modal operations by problemsolving in the domain of inter-modality - No 15

16 LISA: Evaluation criteria: 10. Can benefits be assessed in financial terms Yes, but not yet in positive terms 11. Applicability of results to future scenarios Can be taken into account in future light-weighting projects in the FP7 such as LITE 12. Usefulness of research procedures for future projects (incl. modeling) Can be taken into account in future light-weighting projects in the FP7 such as LITE 16

17 LISA: Evaluation: Reasons for outcome As with all projects involving the application of innovative material technology across a wide cross section of the transportation industry; some sectors (automotive and aerospace) have the volumes and the cost structures to absorb the technology faster than others. We may need to wait for suitable opportunities and process cost reductions to encourage rail applications. 17

18 LISA: Evaluation: Lessons learnt In total the results of the LISA project are a big step forward for large scale application of the highly innovative polymer and metallic foams. The well balanced consortium coped with the withdrawal of two partners from the project in the first halve of the project time and re-organised all jobs. Finally all technical and scientific goals have been reached as scheduled at start of the project. 18