Investigating crashworthiness of W-Beam guardrail crash barriers

Abstract

This study presents the evaluation of safety performance of the blocked-out W-Beam guardrail crash barrier system designed as per the ‘Guidelines for traffic safety barriers’ published by Indian Road Congress (IRC:119-2015). A finite element model of the W-Beam guardrail was developed in Hyper-Mesh and the simulation of the crash analysis was performed in LS-Dyna. Results from the simulation were used to study the compliance of the barrier with the test acceptance criteria of the NCHRP 350 report for containment level TL-3 as mentioned in the IRC: 119-2015. Finite element models of 820c passenger car and 2000p pickup truck developed by NCAC were imported to the guardrail model for crash simulation according to the test designation 3-10 and 3-11. As per the acceptance criteria of the NCHRP report 350 for containment level TL-3, the obtained simulation results were examined to verify the compliance and performance of the guardrail. It was concluded that the crash barrier was compliant with test 3-10 but not with 3-11. Further, simulations for TL-1 (test 1-11) were also conducted since the barrier failed to meet the NCHRP criteria for pickup truck impacting at 100 km/h. It was found that the barrier fulfilled the criteria for pickup truck impact with 50 km/h velocity.

Keywords:

• W-beam guardrail
• crash barrier
• roadside safety barrier
• nchrp 350

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.