4N6XPRT Systems ®
8387 University Avenue
La Mesa, CA (U.S.A), 91942-9342
The 2011 version of 4N6XPRT StifCalcs will contain a Force Balance module -
The Force Balance approach to Stiffness values is based on the concept of " Equal and Opposite Forces" in combination with the assumption that one of the vehicles involved has a good set of Stiffness values based on testing.
There are essentially only TWO requirements in order to use a Force Balance approach, and they are:
You must have A-B values for one of the vehicles for the surface that was hit
Both vehicles must have SOME damage
Beyond these two requirements, the QUALITY of your calculation results will be impacted by :
The quality of the information you have on each vehicle (weight, pass/cargo load, etc.)
The quality/accuracy of your crush measurements
The quality of your A-B stiffness values
while the Force Balance analysis CAN be run with degraded information in the above three areas, the quality of the results will also be degraded, sometimes significantly so.
Several SAE papers discuss the Force Balance method, among them - 970942 / 1999-01-0079 / 2005-01-1188 and 2005-01-1205.
Background and formula for the calculations can be found in Balancing Collision Forces in Crush / Energy Analysis by Nathan Shigemura and Andrew Rich available from the IPTM Webstore ( http://www.iptm.org/webstore/ ) under Crash Investigation Publications.
A step-by-step approach to using the Force Balance module can be viewed on the following CASE EXAMPLE 1 page below:
4N6XPRT StifCalcs® Force Balance Case Example 1 |
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This example is taken from a case study The Speed Triangle - Momentum, Energy, and PCM Data by Charlie Greear, David Thornburg, and Lee DeChant published in COLLISION magazine, Volume 6, Issue #1, page 48. In this collision, a Ford Mustang was racing a Subaru Impreza WRX, and ended up T-boning a 1987 Chevrolet Caprice. There are no side impact tests for the Chevrolet Caprice in the NHTSA Crash Test database, so the authors chose to use a Force-Balance approach to derive the Stiffness values for the Caprice. This example shows how the Force Balance module in the 2011 version of 4N6XPRT StifCalcs® can be used to quickly and easily perform the calculations with the added bonus of obtaining the KE Equivalent Speed, delta-v, and Closing speed based strictly upon the damage to each vehicle. |
For more on this new program, and to see a sample printout, pleasedownload the documents from the following links.
The programs are licensed to a single registered user . They may be installed on Three (3) computers concurrently -
1 at the office/workplace
1 at the home of the registered user
1 on a portable/laptop to be used in the field or in court {by the registered user}
The Registered User may be the owner or an employee of that owner, so
long as only one person can access the program at a time.