For this particular project we were approached to assess hydrogen carrying frames in accordance with ECE-R134: safety-related performance of hydrogen-fuelled vehicles, class M3.
Vehicle class: M3 (heavy buses, >5 t, >8 passengers)
Scope: Structural design and verification of on-board hydrogen storage frame and interfaces (mounts, cross-members, brackets, isolation features) for Type-IV cylinder pack and balance-of-plant.
Objective
Demonstrate that the hydrogen storage frame and attachments meet safety expectations under UNECE R134 (Hydrogen & Fuel Cell Vehicle Safety), Class M3—specifically mechanical integrity, retention, and protection of the H₂ system during normal operation and foreseeable abuse events—so the OEM can progress to vehicle-level conformity.
What We Did (FEA Workflow)
Requirements capture: Translated client intent and ECE R134 intent into structural load cases for the frame, mounts, and fasteners; defined pass/fail metrics and safety factors with client.
Material & joints: 6082-T6 aluminium, welds per EN 1993-1-8; threaded fasteners class 10.9 with verified clamp load.
Meshing & QA: Local refinement at lugs, fillets, and slot features; mesh convergence and hot-spot stress linearisation for weld toes/roots, part of Equitus's ISO 9001 process.
Design iteration: Optimised sections, gussets and load paths to reduce mass while maintaining margins.
Deliverables
FEA technical dossier (models, assumptions, mesh/BC evidence, convergence, sensitivity).
Compliance summary mapped to ECE R134 safety intent for Class M3 buses.
Impact
Enabled the client to proceed to conformity assessment and certification preparedness.
Reduced physical prototyping loops (and risk) by front-loading validated digital evidence aligned to UNECE R134 expectations.
Accelerated project delivery.
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