Development of W-Beam Slotted Rail End Terminal Design (RF 7199-3F)

The overall objective of this study was to analyze and evaluate the impact performance of various bridge rail, guardrail, transition, and end terminal designs currently in use by the Tennessee Department of Transportation (TDOT). The project was divided into two phases. Phase I involved the evaluation of various bridge rail, guardrail, transition, and end terminal designs through theoretical analyses and computer simulation. Phase II involved the full-scale crash testing and evaluation of existing and modified designs which were selected by TDOT for further evaluation. There are three major areas in the phase II study:|1. Crash Testing and Evaluation of bridge railing designs.|2. Crash testing and evaluation of W-beam guardrail to bridge parapet transition designs, and|3. Design, development, crash testing and evaluation of a W-Beam slotted rail end terminal design.|This is the third volume of the final report for phase II of the study, summarizing the effort undertaken to design, develop, crash test and evaluate a slotted-rail end terminal design for use with standard W-beam guardrails on highways with speed limits of 45 miles per hour (72.4 km/h) or less. The scope of work included design, theoretical anlaysis, pendulum testing and full-scale crash testing. An end terminal design utilizing the slotted rail concept was successfully developed and crash tested in this study.