Use of Skid Marks to Estimate Vehicle Speeds

An interesting and very practical application of Amontons law occurs in the calculation of the minimum speed of a vehicle from the length of its skid marks. 

In the absence of skidding, the coefficient of static friction applies at each instant, the portion of the tire that is in contact with the pavement has zero velocity. Rolling tire friction is more of the type discussed in Section XII-2E. If, however, skidding occurs, then since rubber is the softer material, the coefficient of friction as given by Eq. XII-5 is determined mainly by the properties of the rubber used and will be nearly the same for various types of pavement. Actual values of p, turn out to be about unity. 

If p is taken to be a constant during a skid, application of Amontons law leads to a very simple relationship between the initial velocity of the vehicle and the length of the skid mark. The initial kinetic energy is mv fl, and this is to be entirely dissipated by the braking action, which amounts to a force F applied over the skid distance d. By Amontons law. 

Thus if Amontons law is obeyed, the initial velocity is determined entirely by the coefficient of friction and the length of the skid marks. The mass of the vehicle is not involved, neither is the size or width of the tire treads, nor how hard the brakes were applied, so long as the application is sufficient to maintain skidding. 

The situation is complicated, however, because some of the drag on a skidding tire is due to the elastic hysteresis effect discussed in Section XII-2E. That is, asperities in the road surface produce a traveling depression in the tire with energy loss due to imperfect elasticity of the tire material. In fact, tires made of high-elastic hysteresis material will tend to show superior skid resistance and coefficient of friction. 

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