Determination of the collision speed of a vehicle from evaluation of the crush volume using photographs

Abstract

In accident reconstruction analysis of a collision between modern vehicles which have a three-dimensional frontal shape, classical two-dimensional crush measurement and modelling have apparent limits. In this paper, a new model which can calculate the collision speed from the three-dimensional crush volume estimated using two-dimensional photographic data of the collision crush shape is presented. The equation for the crush volume and the collision speed include the mass of the vehicle, and it is composed as a single equation, disregarding the size of the vehicle. The optimal coefficients were obtained through least-squares curve fitting using National Highway Traffic Safety Administration collision test data, and they were validated through actual vehicle collision tests. Additionally, a photogrammetry method using only photographic data of the collision is suggested for immediate application in reconstruction analysis of an actual accident, which can make the measurement of the crush volume relatively convenient and accurate.