Deformation energy of a car: technical analysis and estimation ‘from experience’

Abstract

The article presents the results of a survey that involved determining the energy equivalent speed (EES) from experience, i.e. based solely on the photographic documentation of damaged vehicles after a collision. The aim of the study was to assess the usefulness of this method in the reconstruction of road accidents. A statistical analysis of the obtained results and a comparison between the survey results are presented in the article, i.e. the values indicated from experience and the EES values calculated based on simulations conducted in the PC-Crash program, called ‘true values’in the article. The analysis of the obtained results shows that the EES estimation using this method can at most be an auxiliary tool in the reconstruction of road accidents, as it only allows for a very rough, preliminary determination of the EES before the application of a more accurate method of determining the permanent energy of vehicle deformation.