Increased span length for the MGS long-span guardrail system.

Details

• Creators:
  Weiland, Nicholas A. ; Reid, John D. ; Faller, Ronald K. ; Bielenberg, Robert W. ; Lechtenberg, Karla A.
• Corporate Creators:
  Midwest Roadside Safety Facility
• Corporate Contributors:
  United States. Federal Highway Administration
• Subject/TRT Terms:
  Culverts Design Finite Element Method Guardrails Highway Safety Impact Tests Simulation
• Publication/ Report Number:
  TRP-03-310-14
• Resource Type:
  Tech Report
• Geographical Coverage:
  United States
• Corporate Publisher:
  Midwest States Regional Pooled Fund Program
• Abstract:
  Long-span guardrail systems have been recognized as an effective means of shielding low-fill culverts while
  
  minimizing construction efforts and limiting culvert damage and repair. The current MGS long-span design provided the
  
  capability to span unsupported lengths up to 25 ft (7.6 m) without the use of nested guardrail. The excellent performance of
  
  the MGS long-span system in full-scale crash tests suggested that longer span lengths may be possible with the current
  
  design.
  
  A detailed analysis of the MGS long-span guardrail system was performed using the finite element software
  
  program LS-DYNA®. It was shown that the MGS long-span design had the potential for satisfying MASH TL-3 evaluation
  
  criteria at increased span lengths of 31¼ ft (9.5 m) and 37½ ft (11.4 m). Further increasing the span length led to
  
  questionable vehicle capture and severe impacts into the culvert wingwall. It was determined that the 31¼-ft (9.5-m) span
  
  MGS long-span system would proceed to full-scale crash testing. A critical impact study identified two impact locations
  
  that (1) evaluated the structural capacity of the guardrail system and (2) maximized the vehicle’s extent over the culvert and
  
  potential for vehicle instabilities. Ultimately, the sponsors decided to perform full-scale crash testing with Universal Steel
  
  Breakaway Posts in lieu of Controlled Release Terminal posts to determine their suitability with the MGS long-span
  
  guardrail system.
  
  Prior full-scale crash testing indicated that the post-to-guardrail bolt connections were sensitive to the MGS longspan
  
  design. A simulation study investigated several techniques to improve the modeling of these bolted connections.
  
  
• Format:
  PDF
• Funding:
  TPF-5(193) Supplement #56
• Collection(s):
  US Transportation Collection
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:6f330ada43e16b543bca27b37e082d3eca6cbabb7a4e409d0fbf482fa5ab892e7ec4c5dc0d020aaef87c9076b74908d309b13e982c6e75b4c460738bc6f7f13d
• Download URL:
  https://rosap.ntl.bts.gov/view/dot/28525/dot_28525_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 23.45 MB ]