Citation

Rich A. Accid. Reconstr. J. 2012; 22(2): 57-62.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2012, Accident Reconstruction Journal)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

In reconstructing an accident in which a vehicle hits a narrow object such as a wooden utility pole, the energy dissipated moving the pole in the ground must be calculated in order to estimate the impact speed. The angular displacement from vertical of the pole, the distance that the pole's impact zone moved, and an estimation of the collision force are needed for this estimation. The CRASH3 algorithm can be used to calculate the collision force, but this algorithm is not applicable to all collisions. In this article, a geometric analysis of the force-deformation curve is presented that permits the calculation of the collision force when the CRASH3 algorithm cannot be used. The proposed method is used to reconstruct three full-scale crash tests. Results from the reconstructions indicate that this method can accurately predict the impact speeds of cars in collisions with poles.