Draft: Impact Conditions for Anders Hkansson 31/ 01/ 01

R. Thomson, CTH
1
Vehicle Encroachment Angles


Purpose: Identify the crash conditions (encroachment angle and speed) possible for
passenger cars when they leave the road. The lateral travel of the vehicle to the
collision object will be varied to identify the range of accident conditions possible.
Figure 1 illustrates the definitions used. The trajectory of the vehicles center of
gravity is used to define the encroachment angle. This differs from the vehicle yaw
angle when the vehicle is sliding.

Lateral Distance
Angle
Velocity Vector

Figure 1: Definition of encroachment conditions.

Approach:
Two approaches to modelling vehicle cornering are used.
1) Simple point mass model assuming constant cornering radius:
This model is based on a first order approximation of the vehicle cornering and is
represented by the following equation:

+
=

2
1
) ( 1
cos
V
gy

Where = encroachment angle, g = gravity, y = lateral distance travelled by vehicle,
= friction between tire and road, =road cross slope, V = travel speed

This model assumes constant travel speed during a turning manoeuvre at maximum
cornering capacity.

2) Detailed model of a vehicle turning manoeuvre
This model simulates the full dynamics of a vehicle by integrating the equations of
motion. Tire forces can account for road friction and include side loads arising in
cornering. The vehicle model includes a suspension and simulates the weight
transfer among the vehicle tires due to transient motions. The model simulates a 10
degree steer angle (measured at the tire). The steer angle is varied from 0 to 10
degrees over a 1 second period and then maintained at the maximum value. The
simulation is conducted in the PC-Crash simulation software program.

In both models, road friction is assumed to be 0.75 and initial travel speeds vary from
70 to 110 km/h. Lateral distance travelled by the vehicle is varied from 2 to 15 m. No
road cross slope is modelled.


Draft: Impact Conditions for Anders Hkansson 31/ 01/ 01
R. Thomson, CTH
2

Results

Table 1 shows the results from the point mass model. The initial speed and lateral
distances travelled by the vehicle are used to identify the impact angle in the table.
Note that the CEN 1317 test standard represents the condition where a vehicle must
travel 7.5 m laterally before contacting a fixed object at 110 km/h and 20 degrees. In
this model the vehicle does not decelerate do to active braking (by the driver) or
cornering induced drag. These results are also plotted in Figure 1.


Table 1: Results for Point Mass Model
Lateral Distance Travelled [m]
Speed 2.5 5 7.5 10 12.5 15
70 17.9 25.5 31.3 36.4 40.8 44.9
80 15.7 22.3 27.3 31.7 35.5 39.1
90 13.9 19.8 24.3 28.1 31.5 34.6
100 12.5 17.8 21.8 25.2 28.3 31.0
110 11.4 16.1 19.8 22.9 25.6 28.1

Vehicle Exit Angle
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
45
50
60 70 80 90 100 110 120
Vehicle Speed [km/h]
V
e
h
i
c
l
e

A
n
g
l
e

[
d
e
g
]
2.5 m 5 m
7.5 m 10 m
12.5 m 15 m
Lateral
Distance

Figure 2: Results for Point Mass Model

The curves in Figure 2 represent constant lateral distances from the original travel
path (lateral distance to hazard). The worst case CEN 1317 test conditions are
identified (TB 32: 20 deg, 110 km/h) on the diagram.


The results of the more advanced model are presented in Table 2 and Figure 3. In
this case the braking effect due to hard cornering has a noticeable influence on the
vehicle encroachment conditions and the CEN 1317 TB32 test condition is not
possible within the 15 m calculation range used. The braking introduced by cornering
brings down the vehicle speed as the encroachment angle increases.
Draft: Impact Conditions for Anders Hkansson 31/ 01/ 01
R. Thomson, CTH
3
Table 2: Collision Conditions from the Advanced Model for Original Travel Speeds of 70,90, and 110
km/h
70 km/h 90 km/h 110 km/h
Lat Dist. Speed Heading Lat Dist. Speed Heading Lat Dist. Speed Heading
[m] [km/h] [deg] [m] [km/h] [deg] [m] [km/h] [deg]
2 66 16 2 85 12 2 105 10
4 63 23 4 82 18 4 101 14
6 60 29 6 78 22 6 97 18
8 57 35 8 75 26 8 94 21
10 53 40 10 71 29 10 90 23
12 50 44 12 67 32 12 86 25
15 45 52 15 61 37 15 79 28

Exit Angle - Trajectory
0
20
40
60
80
100
120
0 10 20 30 40 50 60
CG Trajectory [deg]
V
e
h
i
c
l
e

S
p
e
e
d
70 km/h 90 km/h 110 km/h
4 m 8 m 10 m
15 m
increasing lateral distance
Initial Speed
Lateral
Distance


Figure 3: Encroachment Conditions Predicted by Advanced Model

During these simulations, the driver input caused the vehicle to yaw, that is the
vehicle began to slide during the simulations. The results provided above represent
the velocity vector of the vehicles center of gravity. The orientation of the vehicle
(yaw angle) relative to the road edge is higher than the velocity vector do to the
angular rotation. The velocity vector is plotted as it represents the momentum of the
vehicle and better represents the loading severity to be experienced by the vehicle.
Yaw angle would be more applicable if crash conditions for narrow objects were
being investigated.

Accident Experience.

There is very little information available describing the collision conditions for single
vehicle crashes. One older study (1969) shows that the theoretical conditions
(calculated for a single travel lane) are much more severe than those observed
(Figure 3) in collision investigations.

CEN 1317 Test conditions
Draft: Impact Conditions for Anders Hkansson 31/ 01/ 01
R. Thomson, CTH
4

Figure 3: Observed and Precicted Crash Conditions

Data reported by Peter Cooper in a Canadian study on guardrail accidents indicate
that 85% of guardrail collisions angles are below 25 degrees and 85% of collision
speeds are below 80 km/h. Data presented by King Mak indicate that the most
probable impact angle is 10 degrees and 80 km/h, based on accident investigations.


References:
1) Peter Cooper, Roadside Barriers: Literature Review and Current Practice, B.C.
Research, 1980
2) Garrett and Tharp, Development of Improved Methods for Reduction of Traffic
Accidents, NCHRP Report 79,TRB, 1969
3) Mak, KK, et al, Real world impact conditions for ran-off-the-road accidents, TRR
1065:45-55, 1986




CEN 1317 Test conditions