For further information contact: Joseph H. Canova, P.E. Vice President Engineering Dynamics Corporation (503) 644-4500 FAX: (503) 526-0905

Vehicle Safety Industry's First 3-D Hydroplaning Simulation Now Available

Beaverton, OR - December 22, 2009 -  Engineering Dynamics Corporation today released HVE (Human-Vehicle-Environment) Version 7.10, the first 3-dimensional reconstruction tool to integrate hydroplaning simulation. By integrating a hydroplaning tool directly within the HVE simulation environment, highway safety researchers can create highways with standing water that varies in depth and then study the effects of speed, slope, pavement texture, and tire pressure and tread depth on vehicle controllability. The Technical Session of the Fall 2009 EDC Technical Newsletter discusses the background and also provides an overview describing how to use this exciting new capability.

It is well known that bald tires can lose traction on wet road surfaces. Dr William Blythe, a retired Palo Alto, CA engineering professor who has reconstructed accidents for more than 40 years, said "The reduction in tire-roadway friction on wet roads is an important highway safety consideration. The ability to study the effects of reduced friction on vehicle handling, in a physics-based simulation environment, potentially will be a significant aide to safety researchers."

Safety researchers reconstruct motor vehicle crashes to help create a safer environment for the motoring public. Using HVE, researchers from government agencies, private research institutes, insurance companies, and vehicle manufacturers are able to mathematically reconstruct and visualize the cause of highway crashes and resulting injuries. In addition, vehicle and highway designers are able to drive virtual 3-D vehicles on highways before they are built. Although such analyses produce tremendous amounts of numeric data, HVE's 3-D viewers also allow researchers to visualize the resulting motion. Professional 3-D video can be made directly from a simulation using HVE's built-in video interface.

Trademarks: HVE is a trademark of Engineering Dynamics Corporation.