ENERGY-ABSORBING CORRUGATED METAL HIGHWAY BUFFER

A NEW CONCEPT IN ENERGY-ABSORBING HIGHWAY BUFFERS WAS DEVELOPED AND TESTED WITH SCALE MODELS. THE BUFFER IS MADE OF CORRUGATED-METAL ELEMENTS THAT DEFORM PLASTICALLY ON IMPACT AND ABSORB THE ENERGY OF THE IMPACTING VEHICLE. THE BUFFER HAS A PARBOLIC SHAPE TO FORM A GRADUAL TRANSITION BETWEEN AN ENERGY-ABSORBING BUFFER FOR FRONTAL IMPACTS AND AN ENERGY-ABSORBING GUARDRAIL FOR GLANCING, SIDE IMPACTS. THE MODEL BUFFER WAS FOUND TO PERFORM WELL IN A VARIETY OF SITUATIONS INCLUDING HEAD-ON, ANGLED, AND GLANCING IMPACTS. SCALE-MODEL TESTING WAS FOUND TO BE A VALUABLE TOOL; TESTS WERE CONDUCTED FOR A SMALL FRACTION OF THE COST AND TIME OF FULL-SCALE TESTS. ADDITIONAL SCALE-MODEL TESTS AND SOME FULL-SCALE TESTS WILL NEES TO BE CONDUCTED BEFORE THE DESIGN IS COMPLETED. /AUTHOR/

• Record URL:
  http://onlinepubs.trb.org/Onlinepubs/hrr/1973/460/460-003.pdf
• Supplemental Notes:
  • Sponsored by Committee on Traffic Safety Barriers and Sign, Signal and Lighting Supports. Distribution, posting, or copying of this PDF is strictly prohibited without written permission of the Transportation Research Board of the National Academy of Sciences. Unless otherwise indicated, all materials in this PDF are copyrighted by the National Academy of Sciences. Copyright © National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved.
• Authors:
  • Fay, Richard J
  • Kaplan, Michael A
• Conference:
  • 52nd Annual Meeting of the Highway Research Board
  • Location: Washington District of Columbia, United States
  • Date: 1973-1-22 to 1973-1-26
• Publication Date: 1973

Media Info

• Media Type: Digital/other
• Features: Figures; References;
• Pagination: pp 20-29
• Monograph Title: Traffic safety barriers and lighting supports
• Serial:
  • Highway Research Record
  • Issue Number: 460
  • Publisher: Highway Research Board

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Corrugations (Defects); Costs; Crash tests; Design; Energy absorbing materials; Highways; Mathematical models; Weighing devices
• Uncontrolled Terms: Models; Scale
• Old TRIS Terms: Buffers; Energy absorbers
• Subject Areas: Design; Finance; Highways; Research;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00203869
• Record Type: Publication
• Files: TRIS, TRB
• Created Date: Jul 31 1974 12:00AM