ANALYTICAL SERVICE COMPANY 4/04

WEB SITE: www.simulate-events.com

Technical Note No.37

Subject: Pickup truck impacting against rigid wall.

The truck model is shown in Fig.1. The road, on which it moves is not visualized and
neither is the wall, against which it is impacting. (This is to keep a better visibility). The wall
is almost perpendicular to the direction of movement, but to make it more realistic, it is
tilted by 150 from that (about a vertical axis).

Two impact velocities are simulated, 25 and 50 m/s or 90 and 180 km/h, respectively. The
next three figures, Fig.2,3 and 4 show the effect of collision with a smaller speed of the
two. ( An angle view from above, from below and the plan view, respectively.) Note that
while the front end is almost completely smashed,
the cabin is almost undamaged, except for small deformations of the door.

The remaining figures show the high-speed collision (180 km/hr) effects. The angle view
from above shows the initial stage in Fig.5, intermediate stage in Fig.6 and the final stage,
at rest, in Fig.7. This time the cabin is squashed to almost nothing and the door is seen as
flying off.

The final position in plan view is in Fig.8. The difference in damage between the left and
the right side result from a tilt in impacted wall. Figures 9 and 10 illustrate the intermediate
and final stage of the event when seen from below. Note that some breakage of underside
rails is already visible in the intermediate stage. Also, the rear end of the gearbox moves
downward badly distorting the beam connecting the rails. (Some of this process was
already visible in Fig.3, for the smaller speed impact.)

DETAILS

The original model of this truck was created by NCAP. We have modified it, especially with
regard to material properties, to enable fragmentation. The mass of the truck is 1878 kg.
When the force of impact against the rigid wall is divided by the mass, the average
acceleration results. We have obtained the following values:

For v=90 km/h, a = 97.5g

For v=180 km/h, a = 412.5g

Where ‘g’ is the acceleration of gravity.

Fig.1. Pickup truck model
Fig.2 The effect of 90 km/hr impact, seen from above.
Fig.3 90 km/hr collision effect.
Fig.4 90 km/hr collision effect.
Fig.5 180 km/h impact, initial stage
Fig.6 180 km/h impact, intermediate stage
Fig.7 180 km/h impact, final stage
Fig.8 180 km/h impact, final stage
Fig.9 180 km/h impact, intermediate stage
Fig.10 180 km/h impact, final stage