Evaluation of energy loss in motorcycle-to-car collisions

Abstract

Kinetic energy loss during the impact between two vehicles is an essential parameter to assess the impact severity and for road accident reconstruction, since knowledge of this value allows us to estimate the collision closing speed. In this paper, an activity for the evaluation of the kinetic energy loss in collisions between two-wheeler vehicles and cars by means of semi-empirical methods is presented. Often in this field, as remarked in literature, the main difficulty lies in the evaluation of the energy loss for the car, on which usually localised deformations are produced, involving zones, near the wheels, for instance, having stiffness completely different from those on which crash tests are normally carried out. The work provides an initial analysis of crash tests between motorcycles and rigid barriers present in literature and a subsequent experimental work aimed at extending the records and assessing the influence on the impact of a braking motorcycle. Subsequently, a method is developed for the assessment of the energy loss of the car–motorcycle system and a campaign of crash tests conducted between the two types of vehicle for the validation of the model.

Keywords:

• energy loss
• accident reconstruction
• motorcycle impact
• wheelbase shortening