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Title:

Increased Capacity, Strong-Post Guardrail System with Reduced Offset

Accession Number:

01044975

Record Type:

Component

Availability:

Transportation Research Board Business Office

500 Fifth Street, NW
Washington, DC 20001 United States

Abstract:

This paper describes the development and testing of an improved strong post guardrail system. Several features are significant in the development of this guardrail system. The W-beam rail is mounted at a height of 31 in. to provide improved interaction and stability for impacts with high center-of-gravity vehicles. The rail splices are placed at mid-span between posts to change the state of stress on the splice and effectively increase the strength of the W-beam and enable it to contain and redirect heavier vehicles. The use of a new guardrail mounting bolt facilitates release of the post from the rail and enables the rail to maintain its height during vehicle engagement and redirection. Use of a new Steel Yielding Line Post (SYLP) in combination with the new guardrail mounting bolt mitigates the severity of the snagging contact between an impacting vehicle and the post without changing the deflection characteristics of the guardrail system. Further, the use of the modified post and connection facilitates removal of the offset block from the guardrail system, which provides benefits in terms of space and cost savings. Modified NCHRP Report 350 tests 3-10 and 3-11 were performed on the new guardrail system to demonstrate its ability to contain both heavy, high center-of-gravity light trucks and light passenger cars. The vehicles used in these two tests were both heavier than those previously used in NCHRP Report 350 testing, and conform to the specifications being recommended for use in the update of NCHRP Report 350. Additionally, the standard NCHRP Report 350 test 3-10 was performed on the new strong-post W beam guardrail system to verify its crashworthiness when impacted by small passenger cars. The new W-beam guardrail performed acceptably in all tests.

Monograph Accession #:

01042056

Report/Paper Numbers:

07-3124

Language:

English

Corporate Authors:

Transportation Research Board

500 Fifth Street, NW
Washington, DC 20001 United States

Authors:

Bligh, Roger P
Bullard Jr, D Lance
Alberson, Dean C
Buth, Eugene C

Pagination:

23p

Publication Date:

2007

Conference:

Transportation Research Board 86th Annual Meeting

Location: Washington DC, United States
Date: 2007-1-21 to 2007-1-25
Sponsors: Transportation Research Board

Media Type:

CD-ROM

Features:

Figures (8) ; References (28) ; Tables (1)

Subject Areas:

Design; Highways; Research; Safety and Human Factors; I82: Accidents and Transport Infrastructure; I85: Safety Devices used in Transport Infrastructure

Source Data:

Transportation Research Board Annual Meeting 2007 Paper #07-3124

Files:

BTRIS, TRIS, TRB

Created Date:

Feb 8 2007 7:49PM