MADYMO reconstruction of a real-world collision between a vehicle and cyclist

Numerical simulations of vulnerable road user impacts are becoming increasingly popular in the field of vehicle design for pedestrian and cyclist safety, as representations of humans are becoming more sophisticated using both the multi-body and finite-element (FE) approaches. Several previous studies have involved the reconstruction of pedestrian real-world accidents using multi-body models, but cyclists have been the subject of less research attention. In order to study the kinematics involved in cyclist accidents as well as the specific injuries and the points of contact on the vehicles, a real accident for which sufficient data was available was reconstructed using mathematical dynamic model (MADYMO) crash simulation software. Initial conditions were found that matched the relevant accident details from the police and post-mortem reports with regard to contact between the cyclist and vehicle, bicycle and street furniture and resulting injuries.