Free Webinar - The multibody simulation model in PC-Crash

ABSTRACT

This presentation will give an overview of multibody simulation in PC-Crash and its use in accident reconstruction. The underlying model represents the human body and other objects as systems of rigid bodies linked by kinematic joints, with contacts between bodies, vehicles and the ground handled by a stiffness-based impact model.

Three fields of application are discussed. For pedestrian accidents, the influence of vehicle shape and impact conditions on the motion sequence and resulting throw distance is examined, and simulation results are compared with common calculation methods, real accidents and full-scale tests. For two-wheelers, the specific handling and collision behaviour of single-track vehicles is addressed. For occupants, the procedure from vehicle simulation through interior modelling to occupant analysis is described, covering movement, loading and restraint systems.

Validation work indicates good agreement with tests, while current model limitations and directions for further development are outlined.

Andreas has since 1998 been the head of software development at Dr. Steffan Datentechnik [DSD] an internationally recognized Austrian engineering and software development company specialising in traffic accident reconstruction and automotive safety.

DSD is most famous for developing PC-Crash, which has become one of the global industry-standard software packages for traffic accident reconstruction.

• Global Footprint: With over 6,000 installations worldwide, it is used daily by accident reconstructionists, forensic experts, police departments, insurance companies, and automotive manufacturers.
• Capabilities: PC-Crash allows experts to simulate and analyze complex 2D and 3D collision dynamics involving up to 32 vehicles simultaneously. It models everything from standard car-to-car impacts to rollovers, pedestrian strikes, and motorcycle crashes.
• Advanced Features: The software integrates multi-body occupant systems to calculate occupant movement during a crash, utilizes vast vehicle databases, and integrates modern technologies like 3D laser scanner point clouds to recreate precise crime/accident scenes.
• Legal Weight: Backed by decades of physical validation studies and real-world crash testing, simulations generated by PC-Crash are highly respected and widely accepted as admissible evidence in courtrooms across North America, Europe, and globally.

Beyond software development, DSD also performs more than 1,000 independent accident reconstructions annually for scientific and legal use, maintaining an active, data-driven bridge between theoretical physics and real-world automotive safety.