A total of seven vehicle crash tests were performed, three involving a Type 115 bridge rail and four involving a thrie beam bridge rail. Additional static testing was done on five steel bridge rail posts with different types of post stiffeners. TheType 115 bridge rail consisted of two tube steel rails (4X4X0.25 inches) supported off the edge of deck by steel wide flange posts at 8ft-0in spacing. The thrie beam bridge rail consisted of 10 ga. thrie beam panels blocked out and supported on the edge of deck by steel wide flange posts at 6ft-3in spacing. The typical heights for the Type 115 and the thrie beam bridge rails were 30 and 32 inches, respectively. There were two impact tests on the Type 115 bridge rail, one on the Type 115 bridge rail transition, two on the thrie beam bridge rail, and two on the thrie beam bridge rail transition. Although it was planned to test the Type 115 bridge rail to Performance Level 2 (PL-2), and it was tested with a 5400 pound and a 1800 pound vehicle at 60 mi/h and 20 degrees, the snagging of wheels in tests 471 and 472 led to the recommendation that the Type 115 be used only as a PL1 bridge rail for lower speed narrow bridges where impact angles are expected to be less. The Type 115 bridge rail transition produced some pocketing, but could be easily stiffened in order to lessen the problem. The tests on the thrie beam bridge rail and its transition showed that it can successfully withstand the impact of both the 1800 and 4500 pound vehicles satisfying the requirements for structural adequacy, occupant risk and vehicle trajectory of National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCGRP) 230 and pass the PL1 requirements in the AASHTO guidelines for bridge rails.


    Access

    Access via TIB

    Check availability in my library


    Export, share and cite



    Title :

    Vehicle Crash Tests of Steel Bridge Barrier Rail Systems for Use on Secondary Highways


    Contributors:
    J. Hewell (author) / D. Glauz (author) / R. Stoughton (author) / W. Crozier (author) / J. J. Folsom (author)

    Publication date :

    1993


    Size :

    162 pages


    Type of media :

    Report


    Type of material :

    No indication


    Language :

    English





    Vehicle Crash Tests of the Type 80 Bridge Rail

    R. Meline / J. Jewell / R. Peter | NTIS | 1999



    Relationship between Horizontal Curve Geometry and Single-Vehicle Crash Occurrence on Rural Secondary Highways

    Chakraborty, Meghna / Gates, Timothy J. | Transportation Research Record | 2023


    Rail Vehicle Crash Dynamics

    Pan, D. / Harwood, N. A. / IMechE; Railway Division | British Library Conference Proceedings | 1994