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This paper presents a reconstruction technique in which nonlinear optimization is used in combination with an impact model to quickly and efficiently find a solution to a given set of parameters and conditions to reconstruct a collision. These parameters and conditions correspond to known or prescribed collision information (generally from the physical evidence) and can be incorporated into the optimized collision reconstruction technique in a variety of ways including as a prescribed value, through the use of a constraint, as part of a quality function, or possibly as a combination of these means. This reconstruction technique provides a proper, effective, and efficient means to incorporate data collected by Event Data Recorders (EDR) into a crash reconstruction. The technique is presented in this paper using the Planar Impact Mechanics (PIM) collision model in combination with the Solver utility in Microsoft Excel.

An important component of the process of the reconstruction of a vehicle crash involves the modeling of the motion of the vehicle(s) before and after a collision. Depending on the conditions, this motion might be modeled using a vehicle dynamics simulation program. In the simulated dynamics of vehicle motion, the tire forces are the predominant means by which the path of the vehicle is determined, with aerodynamic loads being the other force acting on the vehicle. Recent literature on this topic investigated the effect of the steer angle of the front wheels on the postimpact trajectory of a light vehicle for a large initial angular velocity. This paper looks more broadly at the modeling of light vehicle postimpact motion using vehicle dynamics simulation but for a wider range of factors. Design of experiments (DOE) is used to rank the effect of various physical factors of vehicle postimpact motion.

A previous paper on this topic presented the use of design of experiments (DOE) to evaluate the sensitivity of vehicle dynamics simulation of the postimpact motion of a vehicle that included high initial rotational rates. That investigation involved only one software package and thus was confined to one simulation model for the purposes of developing and refining the analysis method rather than including a variety of simulation models for broader application. This paper expands the application of the method to investigate the comparative behavior and sensitivity of several other vehicle dynamic simulation models commonly used in the field of crash reconstruction. The software packages included in the studies presented in this paper are HVE (SIMON and EDSMAC4), PC-Crash and VCRware. This paper will present the results of the study, conducted using DOE, involving these models.

Reconstruction of inline crashes between vehicles with a low closing speed, so-called “low speed” crashes, continues to be a class of vehicle collisions that reconstructionists require specific methods to handle. In general, these collisions tend to be difficult to reconstruct due primarily to the lack of, or limited amount of, physical evidence available after the crash. Traditional reconstruction methods such as impulse-momentum (non-residual damage based) and CRASH3 (residual damage based) both are formulated without considering tire forces of the vehicles. These forces can be important in this class of collisions. Additionally, the CRASH3 method depends on the use of stiffness coefficients for the vehicles obtained from high-speed crash tests. The question of the applicability of these (high-speed) stiffness coefficients to collisions producing significantly less deformation than experimental crashes on which they are generated, raises questions of the applicability.