An innovative artificial fog production device improved in the European project “FOG”

Abstract

Transport safety is a major goal in the European Union. Low visibility conditions, especially due to fog, increase the risk of major accidents (chain collision). Innovative products have been developed by the automotive industry, including equipment manufacturers, to increase the level of safety of car passengers and drivers. Testing of these products requires the simulation or artificial reproduction of low visibility (fog) conditions with good stability and reproducibility characteristics. We report on the results of the European Union funded “FOG” project to improve road transport safety through fog production in an experimental test chamber located at the Clermont-Ferrand laboratory for research on road safety and visibility. The project developed a prototype of a small-scale climatic chamber, an improved fog production spraying device, a laser-based visibility measurement device, a reduced scale transmissometer, and a combined indoor climate-fog production simulation software. The ability of the fog chamber to test for driver reaction was also investigated. Recent developments include a device able to produce stable visibility levels and homogeneous fog, representative of various types of natural water droplet distribution. The fog characteristics were determined and compared to natural fog. Results are presented for a selection of conditions including stabilized visibility levels for dense fog and two kinds of droplet distributions.