Motorcycle-to-car and scooter-to-car collisions: speed estimation from permanent deformation

Abstract

This paper proposes from fundamental mechanics that the specific energy ( E/ M) absorption characteristics of motorcycles and scooters in frontal impacts are similar where the primary load path is through the front wheel and fork assembly. Examination of 43 barrier test results for 14 different model types of motorcycle and scooter over the impact speed range from 10km/h to 76km/h shows that the specific energy versus wheelbase shortening characteristics are similar and that a single specific collision energy ( E/ M) regression equation with its associated statistical distribution ( r2=0.845) can be used to represent the motorcycle and scooter populations in frontal impact for wheelbase shortening up to 0.45m where the front-fork and front-wheel assemblies remain intact, albeit deformed. Data from 31 staged tests where motorcycles or scooters impacted stationary cars at 90° are used to obtain the energy absorption characteristics of the sides of cars subject to frontal motorcycle or scooter impact. These two regressions are used to estimate collision energy Eca from the permanent deformation or penetration depth of the collision partners, which, when substituted into the standard impact energy loss equation with the appropriate collision partner masses, yields an estimation of collision speed Vccs. This procedure for calculating collision closing speed Vccs is validated against 13 staged tests (six 90° impacts against stationary cars and seven angled impacts at angles up to 45° from the normal, four of which were against moving cars) and shows that the predicted Vccs speeds bound the actual speeds with a standard deviation of 11.2km/h for collision closing speeds up to 122km/h.