SAE TECHNICAL PAPER SERIES 1999-01-0439 Using Digital Photogrammetry to Determine Vehicle Crush and Equivalent Barrier Speed (EBS) ‘Stephen Fenton, Wendy Johnson, James LaRocque, Nathan Rose and Richard Ziernicki Knott Laboratory Reprinted From: Accident Reconstruction: Technology and Animation IX (gP-1407) Eran socey Intemational Congress and Exposition Rr Saeed Detroit, Hiehigan INTERNATIONAL? March 1-4, 1999 4400 Commonwealth Drive, Warrendale, PA 15096-0001 U.S.A. Tols (728) 776-4641 Fax: (724) 7755760‘The appearance of his ISSN code athe bottom otis page indicates SAEs consent thet copes of he paper may be madi fr personal or itonal uso of specie cents. This consents ger onthe contin, however, tral tho copier pay a S7.00 por arcle copy fee trough the Copyright Clearance Certo, ie. Operations Conta, 222 Reeswcod Drive, Darwers, MA 01023 for copying beyond that permite by Seo. tons 107 oF 108 ofthe U.S. Copyright Law. 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The arly ‘eon rset ppee Aes ea by hen etre wie pt be pga nse [Efectos frpermenen psn Se paper nu os cette Exe Pesenors ra sora wang slot aptso conc sett open hough SAE sel see he mans orsB0 ‘Sow tinal joan me Suouy Engng esinge Se Printed in USA,1999-01-0439 Using Digital Photogrammetry to Determine Vehicle Crush and Equivalent Barrier Speed (EBS) ‘Stephen Fenton, Wendy Johnson, James LaRocque, Cepia 68 acy ot see Eee ABSTRACT “This paper presans a method of determining vehicle crush and equivalent barier speed using dg prot (ranmoty. A slate-otshe-en documentation technque Sele desovarge photogrammetry abo erga and Computer models of damaged vehicles ubizing proto- ‘raph. Utlizing photegranmetic sofware, engineers fan dgtze acident scene photographs to ceste aoou ‘ale tvee-dmensional computor models of fhe vehicles, whieh can be used to quay structural damage sus: tained by tne vehicles, Crish deformation canbe quant fed uilzing this process and the reouting cush ‘mensions can be input into engineetng sofware 10 Getermine = vehicle oqutalent barr specs. Knott Laboratory, Ina. haa ulized these techniques on cases worldwide Incuaing the Princess Diane ecaent In France (112) INTRODUCTION Foca numberof year, the bit o determine equivalent barr speed based on vehicle rush has boen aval Inthe past, ongnsers woul inspect a vehicle and pryst cally cocumant he extent of crush using tape measures. Imorder to measure the crush, te vehicle ed tbe eval ae for inspector; nowever, may times te vehicle had ‘ther beer repaited or destioye, and the only evidence Gf cush had been recorded on photographs. Utsaing ose-ange protogammety, the amount of rush now fan be quanied as Kt could have been ifthe venice ‘wore phystealy avatable. iso longer necessary £0 ‘maka an esumation ofthe vere sped by ust reve Ing photogapne of the vehicle and approximating the amount of crush. Clse-ange photogrmmetry can be ‘lasso detrmive the amount of ous to win one {quar inch vader optimal ceumstances and to witin ‘one inch under typical exeumstances, ‘Nathan Rose and Richard Ziernicki ‘Knott Labrston Discussion GATHERING AND ANALYZING PHOTOGRAPHIC DATA~The fist slep in he process is to determine whether of not here are enough photographs of good {ual to perorm the photogranmetic anarysi. A the ‘ting requirements must be mel n order he pho togramvmeti process to be success: ‘Numosrof Photoaranhs ~ The frst photograph depicts ‘he two dimensional pect of the wehce: the second Dhotogragh provides inlrmaion abou the Wid eon: ‘sion. Athough iis posse 1 complete a projet wits ‘nly wo photogrephs as shown In Figue 1, is acvs- {20 to use more. In he example, six photographs wore lized o create a complete troo-dimonsional model ot the vehicle. The purpose of creating a complete tr ‘dmersieral model, even though the evento ony the ‘ton end is desire, is 0 atthe accuracy of he preoct ‘an Be determined by comparing uncwshed dimensions ‘of he subject vite to an exempa vile ‘Photo Separation ~ tis important that the photographs ‘hou the rea of norst from two diet camera pos tions, preferably at ght angles to each ther. Photo- ‘grep taken fom the same postion wil not provide ‘enough information about the third dimension ard the accuracy ofthe project wl be unacceptabo Phola Coverage ~ To maxi the accuracy of tho projet, the aves of tres should cover a lange portion Of the photograph, I poins are centered in one smal farea of the photograph tho aozuracy ofthe project wa site: hota Quay - Typical, photographs fom a 3smm ‘camera are uitzd and the qual of the images Is usu ally ood, However the quality of Polarlé photogast 00% and the accuracy of te project may not be aecept- ‘hereto iis recommended tat the use of Polos a itePHOTOGRAVMETRIC ANALYSIS - There are several Shologrammetc software programs avaiable on the ‘markt oda These onginoersulzad Proteodelr(3} to perform the photogrammetric analysis. ‘Scan Photagraa~ Tha Ast step in the computor pro- ‘255 0 scan the photographs ofa ervshed vehicle iio ‘he compute, whic canbe done ulin a faded sca ‘or. PhotoModeler wil accept both color and Biss ad late photographs. It is Keott Laboraton’s expaience {hat color protographs ae easier o use when onttying damage, but the Mle size of the olor prologrape approximately tee bes larger than back and white ‘shotographs. ‘Samara Gharacorisies ~ Tho newt sop is to input he camera characterises of the camora that ook the phot: (raphe. The focal lng is an portant input vals. The ‘ohide can look qute aferent whl ooking tough the ‘camera and adjusting the foal engin. eet Laboratory ‘perience is that photographs are usualy taken ath fone camera at ona focal lang. Investigators should Input th focal length fe known. te focal length ‘ot kn, the sotvare nasa ty “inverse Carers ‘hat wil sit in determing the cameras focal ong ‘The camera characterises can be determined hare ‘re known emensons inthe photopraphs. This process has been rotowed and publohed pravously by Knott Laboratory ne [any Similar Pints —This sth step in which a too: ‘mensional computer model creat. In orr for he ‘otare 10 detrmine the thre-dmensionl postion of ey ports inthe photographs, he common pls a the photographs must be ieriied (eae Figure 2). The mare photographe that re used deny a laced pnt the ‘rear the accuracy; however, a minum of ho phot ‘raphe must be used oidenaty a single point n dor 1 ‘eae a treedimensional moc. ‘rages he Inlmation ~ Once at lest coven peinis have Been enttied on oach photograph, the sotware ls apable of detrmining he trescmensional positon of the tented ponts and camera. tis acvesbe to pro ‘oss the project wren between 7 to 10 pols have boon Ideried ‘ont least two protogschs. I more fan 10, point ar aes, the processing becomes cumbersome because the sofware is parting an lleatve process In which ts epostoneg te polis and camara post tone in spe and determining the emor ser each fer ton. Wih@ geater numberof pons there are olen too ‘many soon ses generate bythe Weratve process fr the pressing to be success ‘Ad Points to ncease Model Detall ~ In order t0 inerease the deal of he model, accion pols can be idontties on each ofthe photograpns ensuring thatthe points show up on at eas wo arent photographs, is ‘oot Labotator’s experience that te project sould be processed alter 7 0 10 actonal points have been dec. ‘Raosst Sens wih Exemplar Vehicle ~ n order to deter- ripe the amount of Gust, a comparson beeen te ‘rushed vice and an uncrsted venice shoud be per formed and the net oush values aroud be dotemined {600 Figure 3), The same photogrammeic process can ‘be parformed on an exemplar vohicle so thatthe two vehicles can be compare sie by ide in tree-seen- ‘sional space. (CREATING AND ANALYZING THE THREE DIMENSIONAL MODELS agar Matis for Exnert — To compare the crushed vehi to the exomplar vehi, bath models can be ‘ported into a soparate computer lced rawing (CAD) package such as AUCAD oF ADSudo. PhotoModdler an create both @ mesh model and a tected model or Cutput (se Pgures 4 ana 8). For documenting cus the trot end ofa vehice, todured model are paced ‘32 by sda to quantly ard compare deformation (see Fura 6). Whon the cris accurs tothe sido ota vehi, ‘mesh models are ladon op of each other o quan he ‘amount of formation ‘Determining Accuracy of Data ~ A static analysis of ‘a accuracy of ho project cen be performed comparing ‘be computer models to fe actual technical spesos: ‘one of the vehicles (see igus 7). This stlstialanay- ‘53 detormines the eccuracy ofthe crush measurements, ‘which wa alec the sccuscy of the equivalent Barer ‘speed. Below isan example of table quaniying the eeuracy ‘The maximum amouct of crush moasured inthis project was 12 inches. The accuracy of the measurement ‘thin V8 ofan inh, whieh excelent or toe pret, ‘ut not pica in most projects, An accuracy wito one Inch Is achievable unde types ceurstances, which fs fan eoceptatie lev of accuracy for dala input into EDCRASH,UTILZING THE THREEOIMENSIONAL MODEL — Determining EBS — Thee ae several sofware programs: fvalabla‘On the marie! fo determine equvsent ari Speed (E88) walang crush dats. For ths process, EDORASH developed by Engineering Dynamics Corpo- ration (5] was used to calculate EBS. Those authors il not lscuss. the detais of how dala is input Ino EDCRASH. Ths ¢ Z ‘ON eLor4en Qt GP69 Sep 8'8- reouog yorduy xy enepszr : 400d/300 Figue 8. EDCRASH EBS Detorminaton