Probabilistic assessment of vehicle safety under various driving conditions: a reliability approach

A probabilistic assessment model of vehicle safety under various driving conditions based on reliability method is developed. This model is built according to the advanced transient dynamic vehicle simulation models which can consider the coupling effects between vehicles and various driving conditions, such as wind gust, snow-covered or icy road surface and/or curving. By considering uncertainties of critical variables, the safety index is introduced to provide rational assessment of accident risks. In order to consider the complicated implicit limit state functions, the response surface method (RMS) is adopted to provide an efficient estimation of accident risks. Finally, the impacts of different critical variables on accident risks of a typical truck under several representative hazardous scenarios are investigated. (C) 2013 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.