McHenry Forum - Crash Reconstruction & Simulation

Q; Can the intervehicle friction coefficient (AMU see Card 13, field 7) be greater than 1.0?


A: Yes. If the forces of contact betwen the vehicles are due to higher frictional interaction, and not due to a interlocking of vehicle components.
For background see

• What is the SMAC Inter-vehicle friction coefficient?

• In that thread we mention a paper by Marine, et al, SAE 2007-01-0744
  • "On the Concept of Inter-Vehicle Friction and Its Application in Automobile Accident Reconstruction"
  • The appendix provides some rationale for using intervehicle friction >> 1.0.

We would add it depends on

• the crash configuration,
• the nature of the 'intervehicle' interaction, sliding? or hooking?
  • The fact that parts of the vehicle aren't grabbed/pulled/'snagged' then using a intervehicle friction coefficient greater than 1 may be justified.

For additional information please see:

• SMAC Inter-vehicle friction coefficient?
• What is SNAG? The Impulsive Constraint Option?