Search Results

Many vehicle-to-pole impacts occur when a vehicle leaves the roadway due to oversteer and loss of control in a lateral steering maneuver. Such a loss of control typically results in the vehicle having a significant component of lateral sliding motion as it crosses the road edge, so that impacts with objects off of the roadway often occur to the side of the vehicle. The response of the vehicle to this impact depends on the characteristics of the impacted object, the characteristics of the vehicle in the impacted zone, and the speed and orientation of the vehicle. In situations where the suspension or other stiff portions of a vehicle contacts a wooden pole, it is not uncommon for the pole to fracture. When this occurs, reconstruction of the accident is complicated by the need to evaluate both the energy absorbed by the vehicle as well as the energy absorbed by the pole.

The Federal Side Impact Test Procedure prescribed by FMVSS 214, simulates a central, orthogonal intersection collision between two moving vehicles by impacting the side of the stationary test vehicle with a moving test buck in a crabbed configuration. While the pre- and post-impact speeds of the vehicles involved in an accident can not be duplicated using this method, closing speeds, vehicle damage, vehicle speed changes and vehicle accelerations can be duplicated. These are the important parameters for the examination of vehicle restraint system performance and the prediction of occupant injury. The acceptability of this method of testing is not as obvious for the reconstruction of accidents where the impact is non-central, or the angle of impact is not orthogonal. This paper will examine the use of crash testing with a single moving vehicle to simulate oblique or non-central collisions between two moving vehicles.

A study is being conducted in which both component level and full scale crash tests are being compared. This report documents the approach selected for component level testing and the matrix selected for full scale crash testing. The hardware that was fabricated to conduct the component tests is shown and discussed. The component test results to date are discussed as to repeatability, durability and ability to discriminate between levels of safety.

There is currently a considerable effort being devoted to the development of anthropomorphic test devices for the measurement of thoracic side impact response. Both the SID and EUROSID have been proposed as viable candidates for this test device. In addition, the thorax of the three year old Fart 572 has been shown to be useful in simulating side impact while used in the frontal orientation. This apparent anomaly suggests that the intuitive differences between the frontal and side geometries of the thorax may not be significant. To date, all useable thoracic models have been unidirectional. For the most part, these have been frontal models. This paper discusses some of the difficulties inherent in the development of a two dimensional thoracic model and ways these difficulties can be addressed. Based on these considerations, a single thoracic impact model is proposed for simulation of both frontal and lateral impact without adjustment of model parameters for impact direction.