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Lateral acceleration, roll angle, roll rate, and yaw rate vehicle response from PC-Crash were compared to the MSAI sensor data. The authors modeled 26 handling tests. PC-Crash appeared to be a reasonable tool for modeling gross vehicle response. ...This research compares vehicle dynamic simulations in PC-Crash 8.2 to data recorded during instrumented handling tests conducted by Mechanical Systems Analysis Incorporated (MSAI). ...Vehicle weight, center of gravity (c.g) position, suspension stiffness parameters, tire parameters, steering angle, and vehicle speed data provided by MSAI were used as input for the PC-Crash model. Lateral acceleration, roll angle, roll rate, and yaw rate vehicle response from PC-Crash were compared to the MSAI sensor data.

Reconstruction by PC-Crash was performed for all of the sampled cases. Pre-crash parameters were calculated by a MATLAB code.

Virtual accident reconstructions using PC-Crash and MADYMO software were performed. The in-depth study focused on head injury risks while kinematics were conducted using statistical approaches.

During recent years the accident simulation program PC-Crash was developed. This software simulates vehicle movement before, during and after the impact, using 3D vehicle and scene models. ...A new interface has been developed between MADYMO® and PC-Crash so that, after the reconstruction of an accident, only a few additional parameters regarding restraint system, seat and occupant must be defined. ...A new interface has been developed between MADYMO® and PC-Crash so that, after the reconstruction of an accident, only a few additional parameters regarding restraint system, seat and occupant must be defined. PC-Crash then creates all necessary input files for MADYMO® and starts the occupant simulation.

With the help of the stiffness based impact model of PC-Crash, input data for the multi body simulation code MADYMO was generated to evaluate occupant behavior in different vehicle-to-vehicle frontal impact scenarios.

The most important topic in the field of passive safety of buses and coaches nowadays is the future compulsory use of seat belts. The objective of the study performed by IDIADA AUTOMOTIVE TECHNOLOGY SA and CENTRO ZARAGOZA is to make an important contribution to the existing technical data about this subject. This paper is based on the in-depth analysis of recent road traffic accidents where buses were involved. The first step is the accident reconstruction. A complete injury report including description and causes of occupant injuries is the basis for the correlation of a computer simulation model. Experience in the development of coach seats equipped with seat belts enables the preparation of a comparative model. The hypothesis that the consequences of the accident could have been less severe if the occupants of the bus had worn a seat belt can be evaluated. The conclusions will help the legislators make the right decision.

Accident reconstructionists rarely have complete data with which to determine vehicle speed, and so the true value must be bracketed within a range. Previous work has shown the effect of friction uncertainty in determining speed from tire marks left by a vehicle in yaw. The goal of the current study was to assess improvements in the accuracy of vehicle speed estimated from yaw marks using progressively more scene and vehicle information. Data for this analysis came from staged S-turn maneuvers that in some cases led to rollover of sport utility vehicles. Initial speeds were first calculated using the critical curve speed (CCS) formula on the yaw marks from the first portion of the S-maneuver. Then computer simulations were performed with progressively more input data: i) the complete tire marks from the whole S-maneuver, ii) measured vehicle mass, iii) measured suspension stiffness and damping, and iv) measured steering history.

Thanks to years of research and development by vehicle manufacturers, suppliers, legislation, and the entire safety community, the side airbag has become a critical safety device to reduce injury and save lives. This new collection of technical research highlights the progression of these essential safety features, providing a complete and thorough perspective through the analysis of both early patents and recent side airbag system developments. Advances in Side Airbag Systems begins with an introduction by editor Donald E. Struble, chronicling the progress made since the mid-1980s in offering improved side impact protection to the motoring public. Authored by leading experts in their respective fields, this book features a comprehensive collection of 26 landmark technical papers. Its scope includes not only thorax airbags, but other inflatable devices designed for side impacts and rollovers.

PC-Crash is a vehicular accident simulation software that is widely used by the accident reconstruction community. ...The goal of this article is to review the prior literature that has addressed the capabilities of PC-Crash and its accuracy and reliability for various applications (planar collisions, rollovers, and human motion). ...In addition, this article aims to add additional analysis of the capabilities of PC-Crash for simulating planar collisions and rollovers. Simulation analysis of five planar collisions originally reported and analyzed by Bailey [2000] are reexamined.

The most general and comprehensive solution will be to use one of the widely-accepted accident reconstruction simulation programs - PC-Crash, HVE (the EDSMAC4 or SIMON modules), Virtual CRASH, or VCRware. However, these simulation programs can be time-consuming to apply and not everyone has access to them.

The current capabilities of PC-Crash for rollover modeling are discussed and suggestions are made for how PC-Crash might be improved for modeling rollovers. ...This paper evaluates the use of PC-Crash simulation software for modeling the dynamics of a dolly rollover crash test. The specific test used for this research utilized a Ford sport utility vehicle and was run in accordance with SAE J2114. ...Next, the test was modeled using PC-Crash. The simulation was optimized to yield a reasonable fit with the actual test dynamics by changing the following parameters in PC-Crash: (1) the friction coefficient associated with each vehicle-to-ground impact; (2) the coefficient of restitution for vehicle-to-ground impacts; (3) the vehicle body stiffness; and (4) the vehicle suspension and damping.

During recent years the accident simulation program PC-CRASH was developed, which allows simulating the vehicles movement before, during and after the impact. ...The first one serves as an alternative for the optimizer tool and is included in the current version of PC-Crash. It gives reasonable insight in the variation of certain parameters in reasonable calculation time.

For the current paper the simulation models of PC-Crash [1], [2], [3] were used. In the last part of the paper several sample cases from crash tests and real life accidents are presented together with the result of the automatic optimization process.

Automotive occupant safety continues to evolve. At present this area has gathered a strong consumer interest which the vehicle manufacturers are tapping into with the introduction of many new safety technologies. Initially, individual passive devices and features such as seatbelts, knee- bolsters, structural crush zones, airbags etc., were developed for to help save lives and minimize injuries in accidents. Over the years, preventive measures such as improving visibility, headlights, windshield wipers, tire traction etc., were deployed to help reduce the probability of getting into an accident. With tremendous new research and improvements in electronics, we are at the stage of helping to actively avoid accidents in certain situations as well as providing increased protection to vehicle occupants and pedestrians.

The science of crash reconstruction enables engineers to determine the most probable scenario for how and why traffic collisions occur. Ongoing research has continually enhanced crash reconstructionists' knowledge of the application of physical laws in this field. Crash Reconstruction Research: 20 Years of Progress (1988-2007) features 47 papers that have presented significant steps forward, focusing on the following areas within the field of crash reconstruction that have experienced major advances: Planar Impact Mechanics Stiffness Modeling Crash Pulse Analysis Structural Restitution Lateral Deformation and Override/Underride BEV v. Delta-V Rear and Side Impacts Pole Impacts Uncertainty Analysis Pedestrian Crashes Braking Performance

Five collisions were staged in order to evaluate PC-Crash, a simulation program used for investigating motor vehicle collisions. Both vehicles were moving in all of the staged collisions at 1:1 or 2:1 speed ratios. ...Firstly, collision parameters were calculated from measured data, and used as input to the PC-Crash collision model. Secondly, the post-impact vehicle paths and rest positions were used to determine the pre-impact speeds. ...Using the PC-Crash "Optimizer" to reconstruct the five collisions, the error in calculated pre-impact speeds of the ten vehicles ranged from-3.3 to +4.1 km/h.

In road accident analysis the problem of uncertainty of calculation results becomes essential particularly when modification of input values within the adopted ranges leads to diametric change of the answer to the question posed by the court of justice (e.g. “collision from the right-hand side of the center line” – “collision from the left-hand side of the center line”, or “the accident could have been avoided” – “the accident could not be avoided”). The aim of the paper was to present a method of collision reconstruction calculation using the principle of conservation of momentum, the principle of energy conservation, and the principle of kinetic energy and work equivalence (energy balance) (Marquard), taking into consideration Monte Carlo simulation method. The applicability of the method in determination of distribution function for vehicle collision velocities was proved and, what is more important, its practical uselessness in determination of collision location.

All of them are analysed in-depth and reconstructed with PC-Crash. The effects of the frontal structure of the vehicles and several active systems, such as BAS and Pedestrian Detection Systems, are evaluated. ...The paper includes the description of the methodology followed for a sample of approximately 140 pedestrian urban accidents in three cities in Spain (Madrid, Barcelona and Zaragoza) and the corresponding reconstructions done with PC-Crash. Then, a methodology to simulate the passive and active improvements (including pedestrian friendly structure, BAS and pedestrian detection system) is defined and applied to all the sampled accidents.

In this work, we focused on the trip-over type, which occurs most frequently, and performed simulations to reproduce real-world rollover accidents by combining PC-Crash and FEA. At first, using a simplified full car model, sufficient conditions, such as additional velocity, required for a curb trip-over accident to occur, were derived from energy balance concept based on the same principle as critical sliding velocity (CSV) criterion. ...Based on rigid body dynamics, PC-Crash software was chosen to make an accident reconstruction analysis of some selected cases chosen from an accident database (NASS-CDS). ...The output of this PC-crash simulation was then used as the initial input conditions (i.e., speed, deceleration, etc.) of a detailed finite element analysis.