Optimization Techniques Applied to the Problem of Ground Vehicles Accidents Reconstruction 2005-01-4063

One of the most interesting and challenging applications in engineering is the solution of inverse problems. In this kind of problem we have as an example the scientific approach of the ground vehicle accident reconstruction. Another directly related theme is collisions analysis, either in the context of an accident reconstruction, or in the context of the vehicle crashworthiness, associated to its structural integrity and their occupants’ passive safety.

In this paper the application of optimization techniques for the treatment of ground vehicles collision inverse problem using models of rigid or flexible bodies is discussed. We present an example of the classic approach, the conjugated directions method, and one of the modern, the genetic algorithms. We are studying how optimization algorithms will be able to supply the group of variables and parameters that most probably would take the vehicles to the final conditions, according to the imposed restrictions, starting from their position after a collision. We are also evaluating how to determine the rigidity and plasticity characteristics of the vehicles structures, starting from its deformed condition after a collision. This procedure can also supply information about the impact severity.

The preliminary results reached through the use of rigid bodies models are presented, together with pieces of information found in the literature, which have been used as a basis for the work that has been accomplished.