Crash Reconstruction Technique for Longitudinal Barriers
Publication: Journal of Transportation Engineering
Volume 131, Issue 1
Abstract
A procedure for reconstructing run-off-road accidents into longitudinal W-beam guardrail systems was developed by estimating energy dissipation during an impact. Correlations were developed between the vehicle’s departure angle, velocity, type of vehicle, and the energy dissipated. Energy losses are due to (1) barrier–vehicle friction; (2) post/soil deformations; (3) guardrail beam deformations, and (4) vehicle energy losses attributed to the vehicle (this is composed of actual vehicle damage and tire–ground friction, with vehicle damage being predominate). Barrier–vehicle friction losses were found to range from about 5 to 36%, depending upon speed and impact angle. The energy to cause permanent deflection of the guardrail posts in a system was found to be roughly equivalent to the amount of energy dissipated by the rail deformation of that system. Comparisons with full-scale crash test results showed that the developed iterative reconstruction procedure accurately estimated impact velocities within 3%.
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Acknowledgments
The writers wish to acknowledge Dr. Dean L. Sicking and the personnel of the Midwest Roadside Safety Facility for their support in this project, and the National Cooperative Highway Research Program for sponsoring this research. A special thanks to Beau Kuipers for his work on the BARRIER VII validation.
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Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Transportation Engineering
Volume 131 • Issue 1 • January 2005
Pages: 54 - 62
Copyright
© 2005 ASCE.
History
Received: Apr 30, 2003
Accepted: Mar 29, 2004
Published online: Jan 1, 2005
Published in print: Jan 2005
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