Development of European End-Treatment TWINY Using Simulation and Crash Testing
Publication: Journal of Transportation Engineering
Volume 134, Issue 11
Abstract
In this study, a simple guardrail end treatment, called TWINY, designed particularly for use with a thrie-beam guardrail system is developed. In the first phase, the system is designed and analyzed using a versatile, highly nonlinear finite-element analysis program LS-DYNA. Two different crashes involving a head on impact and a 15° angle impact are simulated using LS-DYNA. In both simulations, a nominal car traveling at is used to impact the end treatment as outlined in European Crash Testing Guidelines EN1317 section 4. Based on the successful simulation results, both tests are repeated in a crash test facility in Germany to substantiate simulation predictions. Full-scale crash testing results compared favorably with those obtained from LS-DYNA simulation. Based on the results, a final full-scale crash testing was carried out on the system to fully verify its compliance with the EN1317 section 4. A compact car traveling at impacted the end terminal at its midlength at an angle of 15°. The vehicle is successfully redirected with minimal damage to both vehicle and terminal. Based on the simulation and full-scale crash test results, it can be concluded that TWINY is a promising end treatment for steel thrie-beam guardrail terminals and can be implemented at the European Highway System with confidence.
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Acknowledgments
The writers wish to acknowledge Dr. Mehmet Ali Guler of TOBB ETU, Turkey for help with the computational part and LS-DYNA runs.
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Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Transportation Engineering
Volume 134 • Issue 11 • November 2008
Pages: 467 - 476
Copyright
© 2008 ASCE.
History
Received: Sep 7, 2006
Accepted: May 29, 2008
Published online: Nov 1, 2008
Published in print: Nov 2008
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