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:
  • Guardrails
  • Culverts
  • Finite element method
  • Highway safety
  • Design
  • 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.
  More +
• Format:
  PDF
• Funding:
  TPF-5(193) Supplement #56
• Download URL:
  https://rosap.ntl.bts.gov/view/dot/28525/dot_28525_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 23.45 MB]
• Collection(s):
  US Transportation Collection
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:6f330ada43e16b543bca27b37e082d3eca6cbabb7a4e409d0fbf482fa5ab892e7ec4c5dc0d020aaef87c9076b74908d309b13e982c6e75b4c460738bc6f7f13d