STABILITY CONSIDERATIONS IN THE MATHEMATICAL RECONSTRUCTION OF TRAFFIC ACCIDENTS

Computerized simulations of traffic accidents are done for research and for reconstruction purposes. Motions of several interacting bodies, however, are prone to be highly instable. Meaningless results can therefore be produced. Two methods are introduced which allow for an assessment of the stability of a motion. The results obtained seem to support the hypothesis that all accident motions are instable to some degree. In each accident situation to be simulated or reconstructed on a computer it has therefore to be decided whether the appearing instabilities are tolerable or not. Two field examples are shown which exhibit tolerable and intolerable instabilities.

• Corporate Authors:

  Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE)

  400 Commonwealth Drive
  Warrendale, PA  United States  15096
• Authors:
  • NIEDERER, P
  • Walz, F
• Publication Date: 1976-10

Media Info

• Features: References;
• Pagination: p. 75-84
• Serial:
  • Publication of: Offshore Technology Conference
  • Publisher: Offshore Technology Conference

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Motion; Simulation; Stability (Mechanics); Studies; Traffic crashes
• Old TRIS Terms: Motion studies
• Subject Areas: Highways; Safety and Human Factors;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00159868
• Record Type: Publication
• Source Agency: Engineering Index
• Report/Paper Numbers: SAE Spec Pub SP-412
• Files: TRIS
• Created Date: Dec 27 1977 12:00AM