TY - JOUR PY - 1998// TI - Tracking the Energy in an Energy Absorbing Guardrail Terminal JO - International journal of crashworthiness A1 - Reid, John D. SP - 135 EP - 146 VL - 3 IS - 2 N2 - Energy absorbing guardrail terminals smoothly and controllably decelerate errant vehicles that impact one of these systems. These types of terminals are gaining wide acceptance and appear to offer very good safety performance. When a vehicle impacts a Sequential Kinking Terminal (SKT), the majority of the kinetic energy is absorbed by the kinking of the guardrail (approximately 55% of the energy), and by the fiction between the guardrail and the impact head during the kinking process (slightly less than 20% of the energy). If significantly different behavior of the terminal is desired, such as higher or lower rates of energy absorption, then design modifications should concentrate on the kinking process and not on, say, the post breaking mechanisms or other phenomena occurring during the impact event.

LA - SN - 1358-8265 UR - http://dx.doi.org/ ID - ref1 ER -