Static Response of Steel Guardrail Posts Driven Through Asphalt Vegetation Barriers
The Fourth Edition of the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) Roadside Design Guide recommends that asphalt vegetation barriers contain leave-outs around guardrail posts in order to prevent undesirable restraint at the ground-line on the post when struck by a moving vehicle. Common practice in Georgia and other states has been to allow guardrail posts to be driven through the asphalt vegetation barrier without including a leave-out. This paper presents results from an investigation of the structural response of steel guardrail posts driven through asphalt when subjected to static lateral loads. A series of tests were conducted on full-size posts embedded in asphalt pads with dimensions similar to those typically found on Georgia highways. A preliminary finite element model was developed to simulate the experimental configuration and analyze the influence of critical design variables on the behavior of the system. The experimental tests indicate relatively minor restraint at the ground layer for the configurations studied. The finite element results show reasonable correlation with the experimental data, but indicate that within some range of characteristics, ground level restraint may be an important factor. The work presented is part of a larger program to develop guardrail post design and installation procedures that meet Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) safety and performance criteria.
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Supplemental Notes:
- This paper was sponsored by TRB committee AFB20 Roadside Safety Design.
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Corporate Authors:
500 Fifth Street, NW
Washington, DC United States 20001 -
Authors:
- Scott, David W
- Lee, Seo-Hun
- Bakhtiary, Esmaeel
- Arson, Chloe F
- White, Donald W
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Conference:
- Transportation Research Board 94th Annual Meeting
- Location: Washington DC, United States
- Date: 2015-1-11 to 2015-1-15
- Date: 2015
Language
- English
Media Info
- Media Type: Digital/other
- Features: Figures; Maps; References; Tables;
- Pagination: 15p
- Monograph Title: TRB 94th Annual Meeting Compendium of Papers
Subject/Index Terms
- TRT Terms: Barriers (Roads); Finite element method; Geometric design; Guardrails; Installation; Performance based specifications; Posts; Roadside; Steel
- Uncontrolled Terms: Mow strips; Structural response
- Geographic Terms: Georgia
- Subject Areas: Design; Highways; Materials; I20: Design and Planning of Transport Infrastructure; I31: Bituminous Binders and Materials; I34: Steels and Metals;
Filing Info
- Accession Number: 01555403
- Record Type: Publication
- Report/Paper Numbers: 15-2235
- Files: TRIS, TRB, ATRI
- Created Date: Feb 27 2015 10:01AM