Objective To respond to the lightweight requirements of rail transit vehicles, it is necessary to conduct research on the systematic design and strength verification technology for high-performance carbon fiber composite skirt-panel components.

Method A study is carried out from three aspects: material selection, layup design, and forming process. The skirt panel adopts an integrated forming scheme with carbon fiber inner-outer skins and a PET foam sandwich core. The layup design used a 0°:±45°:90° = 3:2:2 configuration, and the manufacturing is achieved through a low-cost VARI (vacuum-assisted resin infusion) process. To evaluate the design reliability, a design allowable test matrix based on ASTM standards is established to obtain material property data, yielding a composite material design allowable strain of 2 990 με. A test-simulation integrated verification procedure is adopted, and strength evaluation is conducted with reference to the static load conditions of carbody equipment connection devices.

Result & Conclusion  The simulation results indicate that the maximum microstrain of the composite material is 1 294 με, significantly lower than the design allowable value; the maximum stress of the metal connectors is 78.600 MPa, lower than the allowable strength of 205.000 MPa; the maximum stress of the foam core material is 0.501 MPa, lower than the allowable strength of 2.300 MPa; and the bearing stress at the bolt holes is 44.950 MPa, lower than the bearing strength of 495.690 MPa. The proposed design scheme successfully achieves lightweight design of skirt-panel components, with a weight reduction of up to 20% compared with aluminum alloy skirt structures.