Development of a Missing Post Repair Guideline for Longitudinal Barrier Crash Safety
Publication: Journal of Transportation Engineering
Volume 139, Issue 6
Abstract
Crash test procedures for modified steel strong-post w-beam guardrail are described in various U.S. Government reports. However, these tests are always performed on new guardrail installations. The performance of guardrail with posts removed because of damage or deterioration has never been quantitatively evaluated, leading to inconsistent U.S. repair guidelines. The effect of missing posts was quantitatively evaluated using crash tests and validated finite-element models of a guardrail and a 2,000 kg (4,409 lb) pickup truck. Simulations in which one, two, or three posts were removed from the guardrail were conducted with varying impact points to evaluate the effect of missing posts. The removal of a single post compromised vehicle safety because of snagging and airborne pitching and rolling. The risk of rail rupture increased as the impact load was shifted from the posts to the rails. A single missing post in a guardrail negatively affects the crash safety and should have a high repair priority.
Get full access to this article
View all available purchase options and get full access to this article.
Acknowledgments
The research on which this article is based was conducted under National Cooperative Highway Research Program Project 22-23 and published as NCHRP Report 656: Criteria for Restoration of Longitudinal Barriers (Gabler et al. 2010). The text is an expansion on Chapter 11: Evaluation of Missing and Broken Posts. The authors would like to acknowledge the contributions of many individuals and groups who contributed to this research: Chuck Niessner, NCHRP program officer, and the project panel for NCHRP 22-23; LSTC for providing the LS-DYNA software; Altair Engineering for providing the HyperWorks software; and Karla Polivka-Lechtenberg for providing the long span crash test data.
References
American Association of State Highway, and Transportation Officials (AASHTO). (2009). Manual for assessing safety hardware, 1st Ed., AASHTO, Washington, DC.
Bligh, R. P., Abu-Odeh, A. Y., and Menges, W. L. (2011). “MASH test 3-10 on 31-inch w-beam guardrail with standard offset blocks.”, Texas Transportation Institute, College Station, TX.
Bligh, R. P., Seckinger, N. R., Abu-Odeh, A., Roschke, P. N., Menges, W. L., and Haug, R. R. (2004). “Dynamic response of guardrail systems encased in pavement mow strips.”, Texas Transportation Institute, College Station, TX.
Bullard, D. L., Menges, W. L., and Alberson, D. C. (1996). “NCHRP 350 compliance test 3-11 of the modified G4(1S) guardrail with timber blockouts.”, Texas Transportation Institute, College Station, TX.
Gabauer, D. J., and Gabler, H. C. (2009). “Evaluation of current repair criteria for longitudinal barrier with crash damage.” J. Transp. Eng., 135(4), 225–234.
Gabler, H. C., Gabauer, D. J., and Hampton, C. E. (2010). NCHRP report 656: Criteria for restoration of longitudinal barriers, Transportation Research Board of the National Academies, Washington, DC.
Hampton, C. E., Gabauer, D. J., and Gaber, H. C. (2010). “Limits of acceptable rail and post deflection in crash-damaged strong-post w-beam guardrail.”, Transportation Research Board, Washington, DC, 95–105.
Livermore Software Technology Corporation (LSTC). (2003). LS-DYNA keyword user’s manual, Version 970, Livermore Software Technology Company (LSTC), Livermore, CA.
Marzougui, D., Kan, C., Zink, M., Zaouk, A., and Bedewi, N. (2003). “Development and validation of a pick-up truck suspension finite element model for use in crash simulation.”, George Washington Univ., Washington, DC.
Marzougui, D., Mohan, P., and Kan, C. (2007). “Evaluation of rail height effects on the safety performance of w-beam barriers.” Proc., 6th European LS-DYNA User’s Conf, European Research Area Board (ERAB).
National Crash Analysis Center. (2008). “NCAC finite element model of C2500 pickup truck, version 0.7.” 〈http://www.ncac.gwu.edu/vml/archive/ncac/vehicle/c2500pickup-0.7.pdf〉 (Mar. 2, 2009).
National Crash Analysis Center. (2009). “NCAC finite element archive.” 〈http://www.ncac.gwu.edu/vml/models.html〉 (Feb. 12, 2009).
Polivka, K. A., Bielenberg, B. W., Sicking, D. L., Faller, R. K., and Rohde, J. R. (1999a). “Development of a 7.62-m long span guardrail system.”, Midwest Roadside Safety Facility, Univ. of Nebraska–Lincoln, Lincoln, NE.
Polivka, K. A., Bielenberg, B. W., Sicking, D. L., Faller, R. K., Rohde, J. R., and Keller, E. A. (1999b). “Development of a 7.62-m long span guardrail system—Phase II.”, Midwest Roadside Safety Facility, Univ. of Nebraska–Lincoln, Lincoln, NE.
Ray, M. H., Plaxico, C. A., and Engstrand, K. (2001). “Performance of w-beam splices.”, Transportation Research Board, Washington, DC, 120–125.
Ross, H. E., Sicking, D. L., and Zimmer, R. A. (1993). “Recommended procedures for the safety evaluation of highway features.”, Transportation Research Board, National Academy Press, Washington, DC.
Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Transportation Engineering
Volume 139 • Issue 6 • June 2013
Pages: 549 - 555
Copyright
© 2013 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Dec 14, 2011
Accepted: Nov 14, 2012
Published online: Nov 17, 2012
Published in print: Jun 1, 2013
Authors
Metrics & Citations
Metrics
Citations
Download citation
If you have the appropriate software installed, you can download article citation data to the citation manager of your choice. Simply select your manager software from the list below and click Download.