Citation

Ross HE, Nixon JF. Transp. Res. Rec. 1976; 586: 32-49.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1976, Transportation Research Board, National Research Council, National Academy of Sciences USA, Publisher SAGE Publishing)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

his study involves the determination of the impact performance of the Texas metal beam guard fence median barrier and a comparison of its performance with that of the Texas concrete median barrier. The metal beam guard fence consists of two standard W-shaped guardrails mounted back to back on a support post; the concrete barrier is a solid concre e barrier. The impact performance of the guard fence was determined from a combination of crash tests and from crash simulations by the Highway-Vehicle-Object Simulation Model. Standard-sized automobiles were used in both the crash tests and the crash simulations. A close comparison of tests and simulated results verified the accuracy of the model in simulating impacts with the metal guard fence. The impact performance of the concrete barrier was obtained from another study. Inspection of 135 median barrier impacts on various urban freeways in Texas was made to determine the distribution of impact angles. These field measuremens, supplemented by data from the highway simulation model, provided impact angle probabilities as a function of median widths. This study provides an evaluation criterion that can be used for objectively comparing the impact severity of the metal beam guard fence and the concrete median barrier as a function of the median's dimensions. The criterion is based on a design speed of 60 mph (97 km/h) and on impacts with a full-sized automobile.