Abstract
Keywords: vehicle deformations, Delta-v, EBS, vehicle crash
The collision of a vehicle with a fixed obstacle or another vehicle implies shifting a part of its kinetic energy into the energy necessary to deform its resistance structure and a variation in its speed. The work aims at establishing a relation of correspondence between the amplitude of residual deformations and the variation in the speed of the vehicle in case of a vehicle-to-vehicle linear impact and the study of the importance of these parameters in terms of assessing the collision severity. The methodology consists in analysing and interpreting the results of four vehicle-to-fixed-barrier collision tests and one vehicle-to-vehicle collision test, in order to assess the influence of deformation amplitudes upon the Delta-v and the collision severity. The force-deformation feature as a linking element between deformations and the Delta-v is assessed both in terms of the static deformation model and based on the dynamic model. It is considered that the static deformation model would supply results closer to reality in the vehicle-to-vehicle collision study by using a non-linear deformation force feature. The conclusions of the study show that the Delta-v should not be considered as the only parameter of assessing the collision severity.