The US National Transportation Safety Board has ordered software to assist in the investigation of aviation, rail, marine, pipeline, and motoring accidents
LMS, developer of advanced test systems and functional performance simulation software, has won an order from the distinguished National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) for LMS Virtual.Lab Motion and LMS Optimus.
The software will assist in the investigation of accidents in the US, and when requested, around the world.
Under US law, the NTSB must investigate and determine the probable cause of every civil aviation accident in the US.
Rail, marine, highway and pipeline accidents are investigated as well.
The NTSB mission is to prevent future accidents, save lives and reduce injuries and property damage. NTSB investigates about 2000 aviation accidents and incidents a year, and about 500 accidents in the other modes of transportation.
Working groups proceed to investigate along well-delineated lines of inquiry.
Among others, they look at structures, powerplants and systems.
For structures, they document the airframe wreckage and the accident scene, including calculation of impact angles to help determine the aircraft's pre-impact course and attitude.
For powerplants they examine engines (and propellers) and engine accessories.
For systems they study components of the plane's hydraulic, electrical, pneumatic and associated systems, together with instruments and elements of the flight control system.
LMS Virtual.Lab Motion will enable NTSB to create detailed simulations of the structures, powerplants and systems involved in the accidents in order to understand why something happened. Using test data provided by manufacturers, NTSB will be able to do more numerical simulations and evaluations in less time than before.
First with simple, then animated models, the team can explore the possible causes and technical problems that might have contributed to a failure: cables not stiff enough, parts put in backward, wrong parts, or wear and tear.
LMS Optimus will be used to sort through alternative failure scenarios.
Once the probable cause has been established, NTSB makes its report to the public, and to the private transport corporations who are involved in the events.
At the end of the process, the board documents and publishes safety recommendations based on the findings of investigation.
The work done during the investigation in both Virtual.Lab and in Optimus will provide clear, graphic documentation for the presentation of the results of investigations and for giving weight to the safety recommendations.
