Testing of State Roadside Safety Systems Volume XI: Appendix J - Crash Testing and Evaluation of Existing Guardrail Systems (FHWA-RD-98-046)

The purpose of this study is to crash test and evaluate new or modified roadside safety hardware and, where necessary, redesign the devices to improve their impact performance. The three major areas addressed in this study are the impact performance of bridge railings, transitions from guardrails to bridge railings, and end treatments for guardrails and median barriers. This report presents the results of a series of crash tests conducted on existing guardrail systems with the 2000P test vehicle (i.e., a 2000-kg (4409-1b) pickup truck) in accordance with guidelines set forth in NCHRP Report 350. Results of the crash tests indicated that the cable (G1), box-beam (G3), W-beam, strong-wood-post (G4(2W)), and the modified thrie-beam guardrail systems performed satisfactorily under test level 3 conditions (i.e., at a nominal impact speed and angle of 100 km/h (62.2 mi/h) and 25 degrees). The W-beam, strong-steel-post (G4(IS)), and the thrie-beam (G9) guardrail systems failed to perform satisfactorily under test level 3 conditions. The W-beam, weak-post (G2) guardrail system failed to perform satisfactorily under test level 3 conditions, but performed satisfactorily under test level 2 conditions (i.e., at a nominal impact speed and angle of 70 km/h (43.5 mi/h) and 25 degrees).|This volume is the eleventh in a series of 13 volumes for the final report. The other volumes in the series are: Volume I - Technical Report; Volume II, Appendix A - Crash Testing and Evaluation of a Michigan Thrie-Beam Transition Design; Volume III, Appendix B - Crash Testing and Evaluation of a Guardrail System for Low-Fill Culvert; Volume IV, Appendix C - Crash Testing and Evaluation of a Pennsylvania Transition Design; Volume V, Appendix D - Crash Testing and Evaluation of a Washington, DC, PL-1 Bridge Rail; Volume VI, Appendix E - Crash Testing and Evaluation of a Modified Breakaway Cable Terminal (BCT) Design; Volume VII, Appendix F - Crash Testing and Evaluation of the Minnesota Swing-Away Mailbox Support; Volume VIII, Appendix G - Crash Testing and Evaluation of the Single Slope Bridge Rail; Volume IX, Appendix H - Crash Testing and Evaluation of the NETC PL-2 Bridge Rail Design; Volume X, Appendix I - Crash Testing and Evaluation of a Mini-MELT for a W-Beam, Weak-Post (G2) Guardrail System; Volume XII, Appendix K - Crash Testing and Evaluation of the MELT; and Volume XIII, Appendix L - Laboratory and Pendulum Testing of the Modified Breakaway Wooden Posts.