About NCAC

Origins

Chartered in 1992, the FHWA/NHTSA National Crash Analysis Center (NCAC) at The George Washington University's Virginia Campus is one of the nation's leading authorities in automotive and highway safety research. A cooperative effort of the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), The George Washington University and several industry and academic experts, NCAC's comprehensive approach addresses the total safety problem related to surface transportation.

Through this approach, researchers and engineers investigate, analyze and quantify the roles and performance of vehicles, occupants and roadside hardware in crashes, both individually and in combination. They conduct statistical analyses of crash data; undertake hospital studies to relate crash events to occupant injuries; incorporate state-of-the-art investigation methods and biomechanics research to determine injury patterns; and evaluate vehicle and roadside hardware crash performance by reviewing crash test films and crash data and using cutting-edge computer modeling.

Research Focus Areas

NCAC's research work focuses on three distinct areas:

Vehicle Safety and Biomechanics Research – This effort focuses on reducing injuries and fatalities by analyzing pre-crash, crash and post-crash events and scenarios. Researchers address the most current and relevant topics in automotive safety to gain a better understanding of injury risk.
Highway Safety and Infrastructure Research – By building the most comprehensive and robust tools available for evaluating the crashworthiness of roadside devices during impacts, NCAC's work continues to improve roadside hardware safety and reduce the injuries and fatalities that occur on U.S. roadways.
Simulation and Advanced Computing Research – This work represents the core of NCAC activity. By simulating a full range of crash scenarios on cutting-edge, high-performance computers, the team creates highly precise models that serve the safety community worldwide. NCAC's research continues to improve regulations, vehicle design, occupant protection and roadside hardware.

Facilities

Four laboratories and a crash-test film library support NCAC's research. These facilities offer researchers state-of-the-art capabilities in crash simulation hardware and software, crash testing, film and data analysis, and reverse engineering, all of which support accurate vehicle, test dummy and roadside hardware model development.

GWU Support

NCAC also undertakes fundamental research to support advanced topics and special projects by collaborating with faculty from these GW School of Engineering and Applied Science research groups and departments:

For example, researchers have modeled such complex materials as composites, wood, concrete and soil, and then incorporated them in full-scale vehicle, roadside hardware and anti-ram device simulations. NCAC is also developing methods to enhance computation speed and accuracy of crash codes; modeling the fluid/structure coupling inherent in airbags and crash cushions; and investigating such other specialized problems as airplane crashes.

NCAC welcomes you to read more about our research and facilities and we look forward to working with you to solve today's and tomorrow's transportation safety problems.

Accomplishments

The work performed at NCAC has led to a long list of achievements. NCAC researchers have:

Developed FE models for more than a dozen passenger cars, sports utility vehicles, and pickup, single-unit, tractor-trailer combination trucks.
Developed FE models for guardrails, concrete safety shapes, transitions, end treatments, sign supports, breakaway devices, cable barriers, mailboxes, and other roadside hardware.
Conducted indepth investigations of various roadside hardware and features using the FE models and crash simulation tools. This has included research on the placement of cable median barriers, the design of portable concrete barrier connections, height tolerances for W-beam guardrails, crash involving standard and secure mailboxes, the effects of curb and median treatments, and the design of breakaway sign supports.
Establish a web site for convenient dissemination of FE models to other researchers. Many researchers from around the world use the FE models developed at the NCAC when conducting their own crash simulation studies.
Improved the techniques and algorithm model for crash simulations using LS-DYNA and developed improved models to represent the properties and deformation characteristics of basic materials.
Established and improved protocols for model validation using data from full-scale crashes and other impact tests.
Evaluated occupant risks in frontal and side-impact crashes using simulation techniques and enhanced FE models.
Conducted various types of impact tests at the FHWA's FOIL to capture crash performance measures for the validation of the computer crash simulation models.
Performed detailed statistical analyses of crash data, including the use of hospital studies to link crash events to occupant injuries.
Applied detailed crash investigation methods and biomechanics research to better understand injury patterns.
Provided educational experiences to more than 150 graduate students in the Transportation Safety Engineering program at GWU.
Addressed physical security needs by using FE models to develop anti-ram barriers for the U.S. Department of State and validating the results with crash tests involving single-unit trucks.
Conducted numerous workshops and seminars to exchange ideas and develop consensus on crash analysis methods.
Supported a Visiting Scholars Program to allow researchers from around the world to participate in crash analysis efforts and learn about modeling and crash simulation.

Current Activities

Numerous projects are underway at NCAC. For example, NCAC researchers currently are:

Developing new FE models for a Ford F-250 pickup truck to study the effectiveness of its new safety energy absorbing structure.
Completing the validation of new FE models for Ford Explorer, Ford Taurus, and Toyota RAV4.
Continued development and applications of an occupant dummy FE model. This project will help expand the ability of researchers to evaluate occupant risks in crash simulations by determining specific harm or injuries that may be caused by intrusions or load transfers to the body during crashes.
Using FE models and crash simulations to determine the effects of proposed updates to national crashworthiness standards for roadside hardware.
Continuing the analysis, design, and testing for security barriers for various applications.
Investigating the next generation of high-performance computers and virtual displays for integrated, user-friendly, and high-speed design and analysis.
Researching the causes of vehicle rollovers and developing innovative mitigation measures.
Using crash simulations to study roof crush in rollover crashes to understand head injuries.
Analyzing the effectiveness of child safety seats by gathering data on harness positions for various seat configurations and performing simulation analyses using Madymo software.
Conducting vehicle-to-vehicle crash compatibility studies using FE models to support NHTSA rulemaking efforts.
Investigating motorcylce crashes in the United States under the Visiting Scholars Program.
Promoting the development of the next generation of FE models based on applications of meshless concepts.
Conducting workshops and seminars to evaluate the applications and protocols for crash modeling and simulations. The goal is to improve researchers' confidence in these approaches to crash analysis.

Future Activities

NCAC expects to continue leading the development of tools and technologies for crash analysis in the future by:

Developing and updating existing FE models and crash simulation technologies and sharing these with other researchers.
Establishing partnerships with other federal agencies to address transportation safety problems.
Involving state DOTs in the use of computer simulation to evaluate the safety and optimize the design of roadside hardware.
Continuing to work with researchers to develop innovative models of vehicles and roadside hardware, better respresentations of component interactions and fracture mechanics, and vehicle dynamics.
Working with automotive and roadside hardware manufacturers to advance the state of the art in the industry to improve highway safety through cost effective designs.