Reference no: EM133940376

Question

Car crash analysis programs use a technique called the finite-element method. They superimpose a grid on the frame of a car, dividing the car into a finite number of small pieces, or elements. The grid is entered into the program, along with data describing the specifications of the materials making up each element (e.g., density, strength, and elasticity). A real crash test can cost several thousand dollars. It includes building and testing a unique prototype for each new car design. The crash analysis programs allow engineers to consider alternatives and discover the effect without building another prototype for each alternative. But form a social informatics perspective we should ask how good and reliable are these programs?

Force and acceleration are basic principles. Automotive engineers know the relevant properties of the materials. However, although they understand the materials when force is applied gradually, they know less about the behavior of some materials under abrupt acceleration. In your opinion, how well is the physics of car crashes understood? How accurate and complete are the data? To that extent what simplifications do the programs make? Obviously, the grid pattern! So now the question becomes how do the computed results compare to actual crash tests on real cars? Do you think crash analysis programs do an extremely good job? And are you comfortable buying a car where its safety was tested and measured using only crash analysis programs?