The Traffic Accident Reconstruction Origin -ARnews-

Re: Calculating Pedestrian Center of Mass

Jerry Eubanks ([email protected])
Tue, 24 Nov 1998 13:00:51 -0500 (EST)

The equation in this thread comes from a book the 2nd edition of Human Factors Design Handbook, by Woodson, page 555. Also the source for that page is infact the Basic U.S. Adult Consumer Anthropometric Reference by H.W. Stout et al. Weight Height and Selected Body Dimensions of Adults, United States 1960 - 1962, Public Health Service Publication No. 1000, ser. 11, no 8. I believe the current publisher is Lawyers and Judges, but my volume lists the publisher as McGraw Hill, Inc.

The equation is correct at the 65.1 - 34.6 + 10.1 = 40.6 inches is a correct formula with the second and third variables -34.6 and the +10.1 and is only accurate for a females height at the 80th%ile. If the ped is male or female at different percentiles the second and third variables change.

Rusty and I teach in the A M ped class that a good estimation of the males COM (Center Of Mass) height is 55% of the overall height. Unfortunately for some reason this publication does not show the exact location of the females COM, but based on some caluations it appears that also approximately 55% of the overall height for females is adequate. That is based on a book The Measure of Man and Woman, Human Factors in Design, authored by Alvin R. Rilley with the Henry Dreyfuss Associates Copyright The Whitney Library of Design an imprint of Watson-Guptill Publications New York Based on their modeling

Jerry Eubanks
[email protected]

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