To provide public transport to Disneyland on Lantau Island in Hong Kong, Disney have commissioned this Disney feel passenger car. The electric rail car runs from the Airport line, across the Island, to the Disneyland site at Penny’s Bay and is based on a modified MTR consist, with modifications to both the exterior and the interior. The modification contract was won by United Goninan Hong Kong, who in turn engaged SKM to assist with the engineering assessment and design of the superstructure, the seating and the front cab.
The first phase of the project saw the Engineering Simulation of the superstructure and the cantilevered seating design. This involved converting 2D drawings into a 3D CAD model of the structure and seating and then building Finite Element (FE) models. These models were then used to simulate loading conditions to assess the structure, before and after modification. The predictions from the Finite Element Analyses (FEA) served firstly to demonstrate the levels of stress change and secondly to provide direction for the test phase.
In the second phase, Test Engineers travelled to Hong Kong to directly measure induced strains in the structure due to the imposed loading regimes. Modified and un-modified passenger cars were instrumented as directed by the results of the FEA and various load cases applied as previously analysed and as required for vehicle compliance. These results were used to correlate the Finite Element models in order to provide complete confidence in the predictions.
For the final phase of the project, the front end “Cab Mask” was designed using Computer Aided Design (CAD). This included the design and provision for an emergency door, coupler cover, windows, lights and ancillaries, livery and attachment bracketry. The design began as a small scale model, which was scanned and converted into full size CAD representation with manufacturing drawings.