[en] A model is developed to describe the transformation of relative kinetic energy into intrinsic excitation energy in DIC. Energy dissipation is viewed as an indirect process, in which collective vibrational modes are first excited coherently and then damped due to the coupling to the remaining non-collective degrees of freedom. Both collective and intrinsic degrees of freedom are included explicitly, and the coupling between them is treated in a Random Matrix Model. Under certain assumptions it is shown that, in the weak-coupling limit, the collective probability distribution in phase space obeys a Fokker-Plank equation. This transport equation is used to derive equations of motion for the expectation values of some ''macroscopic'' quantities characterizing the process. Some numerical results are presented and a qualitative comparison with the Copenhagen model is attempted. (orig.)