CONCRETE ROAD BARRIER SUBJECTED TO IMPACT LOADS: AN OVERVIEW

Abstract

CONCRETE BARRIERS PREVENT VEHICLES FROM ENTERING THE OPPOSITE LANE AND GOING OFF THE ROAD. AN IMPORTANT FACTOR IN THE DESIGN OF CONCRETE BARRIERS IS IMPACT LOAD, WHICH A VEHICLE EXERTS UPON COLLISION WITH A CONCRETE BARRIER. THIS STUDY SUGGESTS THAT A HEIGHT OF 813 MM, A BASE WIDTH OF 600 MM, AND A TOP WIDTH OF 240 MM ARE OPTIMUM DIMENSIONS FOR A CONCRETE BARRIER. THESE DIMENSIONS ENSURE THE STABILITY OF CONCRETE BARRIERS DURING VEHICLE COLLISIONS. AN ANALYTICAL AND EXPERIMENTAL MODEL IS USED TO ANALYZE THE CONCRETE BARRIER DESIGN. THE LS-DYNA SOFTWARE IS UTILIZED TO CREATE THE ANALYTICAL MODELS BECAUSE IT CAN EFFECTIVELY SIMULATE VEHICLE IMPACT ON CONCRETE BARRIERS. FIELD TESTS ARE CONDUCTED WITH A VEHICLE, WHEREAS LABORATORY TESTS ARE CONDUCTED WITH MACHINES THAT SIMULATE COLLISIONS. FULL-SCALE TESTS ALLOW THE ACTUAL SIMULATION OF VEHICLE COLLISIONS WITH CONCRETE BARRIERS. IN THE VEHICLE TESTS, A COLLISION ANGLE OF 25°, COLLISION SPEEDS OF MORE THAN 90 KM PER HOUR, AND A VEHICLE WEIGHING MORE THAN 2 T ARE CONSIDERED IN THE REVIEWED STUDIES. LABORATORY TESTS ARE PERFORMED TO TEST BRIDGE CONCRETE BARRIERS IN STATIC CONDITION.