Impact Damage Sustained During Vehicle Rollover

Abstract

Rollover of heavy commercial or military vehicles is an infrequent but potentially dangerous manoeuvre. Calculation of the resulting damage is considered to be difficult, because rollover is likely to involve a succession of impacts at different locations on the vehicle. Each of these may involve permanent deformation or plastic collapse of a part of the structure, and possibly penetration of the space occupied by the driver and passengers. It follows that the correct sequence of events must be reproduced faithfully if reliable predictions are to be provided by either analysis or practical tests.