What is msmac3D?

General Questions, answers and information related to the release of the msmac3D program.
MSI
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What is msmac3D?

Post by MSI »

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What is msmac3D?
From A Short History of Nearly Everything! (...about McHenry and Computers in Highway Safety)
a 2011 paper by Brian McHenry
SMAC3D: Combining SMAC and HVOSM into one program
  • In 1998, Brian McHenry was hired by CBS News to reconstruct the Princess Diana crash for the television program “48 Hours”. At that same time Brian had been working on a 3D collision simulation program which combined the collision capabilities of SMAC with the 3 dimensional vehicle dynamics simulation capabilities of HVOSM. Brian was provided the survey information for the tunnel, the vehicle information and we used the program, mSMAC3D, to simulate the vehicle traveling into the Pont de l'Alma road tunnel in Paris, France, and striking the support post (In that tunnel they do not have guardrails in front of the support posts). The results were presented and Brian answered questions in interviews on 48 Hours broadcast on June 11, 1998 and August 31, 1998. The eighteen-month French judicial investigation which concluded in 1999 correlated closely with the speeds and findings of McHenry's investigation and with the simulated reconstruction with the prototype mSMAC3D.
    Until the early 2000s, the limitations in processing speed of personal computers limited the continued development of the mSMAC3D model to simple internal research. Since 2000, we have been testing and refining a 3D simulation and reconstruction tool which merges the strengths of SMAC and HVOSM into a single program.
For additional information, please see Here’s a sample of some of the many projects we have done with msmac3D.
MSI
Site Admin
Posts: 2296
Joined: Thu Jun 18, 2009 12:37 pm

Re: What is msmac3D?

Post by MSI »

Q: How is your msmac3D program different?
A: Some of the extensions and refinements to be included in msmac3D are as follows:
    • And from our msmac page:
      • MSI has also extended and refined the original SMAC program to include (and all will be included in msmac3D, and more!):
        • Input and outputs in either Original, Metric or EDSMAC compatible. Capability to easily convert between the input/output units.
        • The capability to easily add detailed scene and vehicle graphical objects to the m-smac graphics display to permit an easy comparison of the physical evidence in individual accident reconstructions with the m-smac predicted responses. Please see our Demo page for sample of the graphics capabilities.
        • The ability to view and print the m-smac reconstruction in either an animated or static display including predicted damage. The predicted damage is displayed in animation while it occurs. Also, the m-smac animated view size, location and orientation may be changed interactively while the animation is being displayed and individual frames printed. Please see our Demo page for sample of the graphics capabilities.
        • Optional creation of CSV (comma delimited ASCII) datasets of the time-history of positions, velocities and accelerations from m-smac simulations for easy importation into spreadsheet programs and/or graphical programs to permit further analysis and/or the creation of graphical displays.
        • Increased collision modeling capabilities to permit 1 degree increments of radial vectors and an increase in the number of iterations permitted.
        • Optional specification of accelerometer location other than the center of gravity and the monitoring of the speed change (delta-V), acceleration and velocity at the optional location in addition to the center of gravity
        • Option to permit up to 2 Polygon Friction zones to permit the inclusion of irregularly shaped friction zones
        • Option to include the use of Impulsive Constraints to permit the modeling of vehicle interactions independent of crush forces (i.e., momentary interlock of vehicle structures)
        • Option to allow the specification of a Damage Interface origin independent of the vehicle center of gravity. This option avoids problems with other versions of SMAC (which have the damage interface only at the center of gravity), when the proximity of the damage is near the CG or very far from the CG.
        • Optional individual tire friction variation to permit simulation of the differences between peak friction coefficients between trucks and automobiles.
        • Steer degree-of-freedom option
        • Articulated vehicle(s) option
        • Option to simulate the interaction of the vehicle structure with barriers
        • Option to simulate the interaction of the vehicle structure with poles
        • Option to permit the simulation of rear wheel steer whether due to damage or 4-WD steering
and much much more...we will update this page/add new pages to include a updated featues list soon!

Thank you for your interest in McHenry Software!
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