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Abstract
Roll over protective structure (ROPS) are passive safety structures fixed on off-highway and highway earth moving machines. The structures provide a survival zone to safe guard the operator during an accidental roll over. Since decades in use of Off-Highway mining equipment, ROPS performance with respect to operator safety and reducing fatality has been consistently improved. Various research on simulating and testing the passive safety structures are carried out with respect to worldwide safety standards used for earth moving machines like wheeled loader, dozer, Dump truck, Motor Grader etc., ROPS design standards require full scale destructive testing to understand performance behaviour in post yield and energy absorption capacity. Destructive testing is very expensive and time consuming method, only very few reputed companies have been conducting these destructive experiments and the results are classified as confidential. The more economical and time saving test is the virtual test applying finite element analysis and simulation using CAE (Computer Aided Engineering). The main objective of this research work is to optimise the design concept, cross section and material specification to provide ROPS to off-highway mining equipment and carrying out virtual CAE simulation of roll over protective structure of an operator cabin with respect to energy absorption criteria and gross vehicle machine mass (GVMM). Evaluating the design of passive safety structure for its Deflection Limiting Volume and to generate more data for further research in designing of roll over protective structure (ROPS).