Can msmac3D Evaluate Vehicle Stability and Use Custom Vehicles?

General Questions, answers and information related to the release of the msmac3D program.
MSI
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Can msmac3D Evaluate Vehicle Stability and Use Custom Vehicles?

Post by MSI »

Q: Can this software be used for vehicle stability analysis? And can we upload custom vehicles?

A. The short answer, yes and yes.
Now the long answer: The inputs to define vehicle (and terrain) for the program are created easily and can be changed to evaluate changes in vehicles or to evaluate custom vehicle.
  • Inputs can be easily approximated and many vehicles in the literature have been measured by (and custom vehicles can be measured by)
However a caution:
  • This is not a vehicle dynamics simulation program like CarSim or Dynasim or other nearly finite element type simulation programs which can take weeks to build a model from the ground up having to define each and every component in minute detail.
    They are great tools but more for the design process of vehicles.
The msmac3D program (and the hvosm program on which it is based) were created to simplify for ease of use and used mainly in crash reconstruction and roadway design research.

Vehicle dynamics can be evaluated for example when reconstructing a crash where a vehicle rolls over:
  • Once you have matched the evidence you can then evaluate 'what if' type scenarios like:
    • what if a vehicle was traveling faster/slower (see video of Toyota Pickup rollover above)
    • what if a vehicle had a higher/lower center of gravity height
Please let us know if any additional questions! And thank you for your interest in McHenry Software!


Some sample research projects where McHenry used msmac3D/hvosm for roadside design and safety issues:
MSI
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Re: Can msmac3D Evaluate Vehicle Stability and Use Custom Vehicles?

Post by MSI »

Q: Would it be possible to ask for a trial license or a quote for a 3 month license?

A: We are a small software company and so do not have a demo version.
However you can learn details about the software from: And we do have lease pricing available, 3, 6 or 12 month leases, discounts for returning customers, discounts the more you lease!
Please see the topic: Please let us know if you have any questions or comments!

Thank you for your interest in McHenry Software!
MSI
Site Admin
Posts: 2302
Joined: Thu Jun 18, 2009 12:37 pm

Re: Can msmac3D Evaluate Vehicle Stability and Use Custom Vehicles?

Post by MSI »

In trying to determine what the questioner meant about 'vehicle stability' i thought of the following:
  • The ‘vehicle stability’ issue might be related to vehicle handling?
    You have roadways/intersections where certain/many vehicle run off the road/crash and you want to find out is it
    • vehicle issues
      • tire/vehicle condition, understeer/oversteer/handling per design vs per condition at time of crash, CG height v track width, etc
    • roadway design
      • superelevation, gradient, design speed, speed limit, etc.
    • driver issues
      • speed, distracted driving
    • weather issues
      • wet ice on roadways, drain issues, et.c
These types of issues can all be addressed with msmac3D
The better the definition of the vehicle properties and roadway characteristics obviously the better the determination of what contributed to the crashes.

Please also see our
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