Comparison of computer simulations and rotational mechanics for motorcycle collisions

More information

Main author

Funk, C.

Co-Authors

Sax, C.

Type of media

PDF

Publication type

Lecture

Publication year

2013

Publisher

22. EVU Conference, Florence

Citation

Funk, C.: Comparison of computer simulations and rotational mechanics for motorcycle collisions

EVU 2013 Florence FunkMotorcycles and passenger cars and trucks have well-known weight and post-collision trajectory disparities that make traditional reconstruction methodologies such as momentum and energy sensitive to user inputs, which may result in erroneous reconstructions. Rotational impact mechanics and other reconstruction calculation methodologies have been developed to address these disparities with promising results.
In this work, numerous staged motorcycle into vehicle collisions were studied and evaluated using the SIMON/ DYMESH computer simulation models. The post-impact trajectory, rotation, and vehicle speed changes from the simulation were compared with the measured values in the staged collisions and to the simulation results from the EDSMAC4 simulation model validation study published by Deyerl and Cheng (2008). A sensitivity analysis was conducted to determine the effect of speed, roadway friction, and wheel percentage lockup on the collisions.
The results showed that the use of SIMON/DYMESH in the reconstruction of a motorcycle and a passenger vehicle collision is a valid methodology. The post-impact translation and change in heading angle for the Ford Thunderbird using SIMON/DYMESH correlated well with the crash data. The Delta-V values for the motorcycle in the simulation results were comparable to the published crash test results. The percent difference in the Delta-V for the Ford Thunderbird between the simulations and the crash tests were greater than the motorcycle Delta-V. The rotational impact mechanics methodology provided reasonable impact speeds for the motorcycle, but the Delta-V for the motorcycle and Ford Thunderbird were notably less than the measured values and the values calculated in the SIMON/DYMESH simulation models.