SCALE MODELS OF AUTOMOBILE COLLISIONS WITH BREAKAWAY OBSTACLES
IN A NEW APPROACH TO SCALE MODELING, THE MODEL RULES, AS WELL AS THE ESSENTIAL PI-NUMBERS, ARE OBTAINED DIRECTLY FROM THE PHYSICAL LAWS IDENTIFIED AS GOVERNING A PHENOMENON. CONTRARY TO THE WIDELY USED PARAMETER APPROACH WITH DIMENSIONAL ANALYSIS, THE NEW APPROACH SIMPLIFIES THE DERIVATION OF MODEL RULES AND GIVES A CLEARER PHYSICAL MEANING TO PI-NUMBERS. AS AN APPLICATION OF THE METHOD, A STUDY OF AUTOMOBILE COLLISIONS IN WHICH ROADSIDE OBSTACLES, SUCH AS SIGNPOSTS AND LIGHTPOSTS, ARE MADE TO BREAK AWAY WHEN STRUCK TO LESSEN INJURIES IS DESCRIBED. BOTH AN ANALYTICAL APPROACH AND FULL-SCALE TESTING ARE DIFFICULT FOR STUDYING THE COLLISIONS, THE ONE BECAUSE OF THE COMPLEXITY OF THE PHENOMENON AND THE OTHER BECAUSE A SYSTEMATIC STUDY OF PARAMETERS THAT INFLUENCE THE EFFECTIVENESS OF A DESIGN IS PROHIBITIVE IN BOTH TIME AND COST. LABORATORY TESTS BY SCALE MODELS CONDUCTED ACCORDING TO THE ESTABLISHED MODEL RULES WERE PHOTOGRAPHED WITH HIGH-SPEED MOTION PICTURES. AGREEMENT OF THE BREAKAWAY MOTION WITH THAT OF FULL-SCALE COUNTERPARTS PROVED THE FEASIBILITY OF USING SCALE MODELS FOR DESIGN IMPROVEMENTS OF SUCH OBSTACLES. /AUTHOR/
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Availability:
- Find a library where document is available. Order URL: http://worldcat.org/issn/00144851
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Authors:
- Emori, R I
- Publication Date: 1973-2
Media Info
- Features: Figures; References;
- Pagination: p. 64-9
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Serial:
- Experimental Mechanics
- Volume: 13
- Issue Number: 2
- Publisher: Society for Experimental Mechanics
- ISSN: 0014-4851
Subject/Index Terms
- TRT Terms: Breakaway supports; Crash injury research; Crash tests; Crashes; Design; High speed photography; Laboratory tests; Mathematical models; Research; Single vehicle crashes; Testing; Weighing devices
- Uncontrolled Terms: Fixed object; Model tests; Models; Scale
- Subject Areas: Design; Highways; Research; Safety and Human Factors;
Filing Info
- Accession Number: 00203769
- Record Type: Publication
- Files: TRIS
- Created Date: Apr 8 1973 12:00AM