Texas A&M Transportation Institute» crash testing

National Crash-Testing Standards: TTI Makes a Big Impact with 18-Wheelers

Tobey — Sun, 02 Dec 2012 01:44:04 +0000

An 18-wheeler crashes into a concrete barrier at TTI’s Proving Grounds. For the first time, the test was streamed live via the Internet for clients across the country.

On Sept. 26, 2012, at the Texas A&M Transportation Institute’s (TTI’s) Riverside Campus crash facility, a fully loaded 18-wheeler traveling at 50 mph slammed into a concrete barrier placed on top of a retaining wall. The data from the unique crash test will prove vital for increasing safety and decreasing construction costs for this type of barrier application. The test was broadcast across the country via the Internet as a first-ever streaming event.

The mechanically stabilized earth (MSE) wall — where a truck barrier sits atop a retaining wall — is being used more often by state departments of transportation. TTI Research Engineer Roger Bligh and his team of researchers, including renowned geotechnical expert Jean-Louis Briaud, measured the impact of the collision on the barrier system and MSE wall as a key task on NCHRP 22-20(02): Design Guidelines for TL-3 through TL-5 Roadside Barrier Systems Placed on MSE Retaining Walls. Bligh, manager of TTI’s Roadside Safety Program, and Briaud are co-principal investigators on the project.

Findings from this first-of-its-kind crash test will have major implications. “There is no information available that tells industry how to design the barrier foundation system and the retaining wall to accommodate an impact from a large commercial truck,” Bligh notes.

According to Briaud, manager of TTI’s Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Program, retaining walls have become more popular due to space limitations in and around urban areas. “Those walls, and the concrete barriers on top of them, are necessary when there is no room for earthen slopes. But until now, researchers and construction companies could only guess the force that’s applied to the wall from a fully loaded 18-wheeler.” Briaud conducted computer simulations of crashes for months on the project.

Without guidelines to help determine the appropriate size and type of wall and barrier, road designers and construction firms were often overly conservative in their choices. Bligh says the data from the test will help take the guesswork out of the equation.

Peter Anderson, vice president for technical development of the Reinforced Earth Company (RECo), a design and supply firm considered a market leader in the MSE retaining wall industry, assisted with the project. Bligh says RECo’s involvement in the test dramatically lowered project costs thanks to the donation of materials needed for the test installation.

Attending the crash test was Mark S. Bush, NCHRP senior program officer overseeing the research project. Bush says numerous steps have to be taken before new guidelines for this application will be adopted.

“Now that this critical crash test has been conducted, TTI will complete the analyses and finish a detailed final report to be reviewed by an expert NCHRP panel for publication and committees from the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials for adoption,” Bush says. “This was a crucial test for refining barrier design procedures and standards to ensure the safety of the traveling public.”

Another TTI First: Broadcasting Crash Tests

r-davenport@tti.servers — Thu, 04 Oct 2012 18:59:56 +0000

On Sept. 26, for the first time in Texas A&M Transportation Institute (TTI) history, a crash test at TTI’s Proving Grounds was broadcast live via the Internet to clients and stakeholders across the country.

An 18-wheeler crashes into a concrete barrier at TTI’s Proving Grounds. For the first time, the test was streamed live via the Internet for clients across the country.

Providing live streaming crash tests was the brainchild of Dean Alberson, assistant agency director and manager of the TTI Crashworthy Structures Program, who began looking into the possibility more than a year ago.

“Having clients able to view their crash test live at our facility from back in their home office as it happens seemed like a logical next step for us,” Alberson says. “First of all, it would save them the expense of traveling. And there have been times when a crash test had to be postponed because of weather or other conditions. In those cases, the client wasted a trip here.”

The National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP) crash test involved an 18-wheeler traveling at 50 miles-per-hour and crashing at a 15-degree angle into a concrete barrier that was placed on top of a retaining wall.

“There were 176 computers that viewed the crash test,” Brad Hoover, TTI chief information officer, says. “We’re not sure how many people viewed, but it is clear that this initial live crash test was a popular event among NCHRP panel members.”

Based on the success of this first live-streaming crash test, TTI might offer it to other clients in the future. As for the crash test itself, it had two objectives according to TTI Roadside Safety Program Manager Roger Bligh, who was the principal investigator on the project.

People view a retaining wall at TTI’s Proving Grounds after the 18-wheeler crash test.

“We wanted to determine how much force was transmitted in the underlying retaining wall so we can develop proper design guidelines for both the wall and the barrier system,” he says. “All indications are that the test went well, and the design of the wall and the barrier did their job.”

Co-principal investigator Jean-Louis Briaud, manager of TTI’s Geotechnical and Geoenviornmental Program, says numerous four-dimensional numerical simulations were performed on the retaining wall before the crash test was performed.

“Because of space limitations, more and more of these retaining walls — called mechanically stabilized earth walls — are being used for road construction in urban areas. It’s important that we know that they will hold up during a crash,” Briaud says.

Historic Architectural Feature Could Help Thwart Terrorist Attacks

Chris Sasser — Wed, 30 May 2012 16:17:27 +0000

( L-R) TTI Assistant Agency Director Dean Alberson, Chancellor of The Texas A&M University System John Sharp, and TTI Engineering Research Associate Dusty Arrington discuss the planned crash test.

A potential new physical security barrier—historically known as a “ha-ha wall”—was first tested this week at the Texas Transportation Institute Proving Grounds in Bryan, Texas. On hand to witness the test were Texas A&M University System Chancellor John Sharp and Texas A&M System Vice Chancellor and Dean of Engineering M. Katherine Banks. The test, sponsored by the U.S. Department of State, is a part of the department’s comprehensive effort to protect the public from potential terror threats.

TTI researchers rammed a 15,000-lb medium-duty truck traveling 50 miles per hour into the wall at an 11-degree down angle. It stopped just beyond a meter of the face of the wall, which was deemed a success and worthy of further testing to perfect the design for the marketplace.

The test wall, which was designed by TTI researchers and built by an outside contractor, is the newest physical security barrier to be evaluated by the Institute. Ha-ha walls were a landscaping retaining wall feature built in the 17th and 18th centuries on English country estates, according to the BBC’s website. They typically formed a boundary between the estate’s gardens and grounds and were constructed to be invisible from the house, ensuring a clear view across the estate and providing an effective barrier to livestock.

“We thought that this long-established landscape architecture feature might provide a more attractive alternative to some of the other types of barriers currently used to keep embassies and other public buildings safe from terrorists,” said TTI Engineering Research Associate Dusty Arrington.

“We modified the historical design of the wall and optimized it for the medium-duty impact vehicle,” Arrington said. “Now we will build additional models and test them at different angles and heights to develop the most efficient ha-ha design methodology. The objective is to develop a design that will provide field engineers all of the information they need to design a ha-ha for a given threat vehicle traveling at a given speed and angle.”

“This test is part of our overall program to develop a whole range of security barriers that can be used to protect the perimeters of our embassies and other vulnerable buildings from terror attacks,” said Russell Norris, research and development program manager for the Department of State. “TTI is helping us accomplish our goal to offer a wide variety of options for security barriers to install in different situations.”

TTI, a member of The Texas A&M University System, works closely with public agencies and private-sector companies to design, construct, test and evaluate highway-safety and perimeter-security devices. TTI has performed more than 2,000 full-scale crash tests with vehicles weighing from 1,200 to 80,000 lb. The Institute has 15 patented safety devices installed throughout the world, including crash cushions, breakaway signs, guardrails and barrier systems.

For more information about the Roadside Safety and Physical Security Division, visit their website.

Crash Survivor Credits TTI’s Technology for Saving His Life

Tobey — Fri, 05 Aug 2011 18:27:47 +0000

If you drive much around Texas or around the country, there is no doubt you have seen the ET-2000 in use on guardrails. Watch this testimonial of a roadside crash survivor, Donny Ohana, and one of the inventors of this TTI-developed technology, Hayes Ross, that Ohana says saved his life. For more information about TTI’s crash testing program, visit http://tti.tamu.edu/crashtesting/.

Security Is More Than a State of Mind

Chris Sasser — Wed, 01 Dec 2010 15:06:56 +0000

“9/11 changed everything.”

Nearly a decade after the deadliest foreign attack on American soil in our nation’s history, that phrase is almost a cliche. Unfortunately, that doesn’t make it any less true.

In medieval times, the main gate, or portcullis, was the most important part of a castle’s security. If the gate was breeched, enemy forces would pour in.

“While our technology has become more sophisticated, the basic strategy for defense hasn’t changed,” explains Texas Transportation Institute (TTI) Assistant Agency Director Dean Alberson, who manages TTI‘s Crashworthy Structures Program. “Keeping an enemy from getting close enough to do harm is still the best way to ensure the safety of U.S. citizens, both at home and abroad.”

Protecting Our National Assets

To that end, in August 2010, the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Diplomatic Security awarded TTI a contract for up to $7 million over a five-year period to design, analyze and test perimeter security devices. TTI began work with the State Department in 2002, conducting dozens of tests intended to increase security for American embassies and other posts around the globe.

Shallow bollards like the one above help keep U.S. facilities and their personnel safe abroad.

The first project under the new contract involves crashing various vehicles into an instrumented pier designed to measure the impact of the collisions. These tests will help researchers design various future devices that will meet U.S. security standards.

The State Department’s 2003 anti-ram barrier standard, which limited barrier penetration to 3 feet, acknowledged the “tight quarters” reality of embassy placements but didn’t address some of the needs of military bases, which are typically surrounded by wide-open spaces. The more space between buildings, the longer the stopping distance needed to prevent enemy vehicles from getting too close. The safety of building occupants is enhanced with every foot of space between the facility and a terrorist’s bomb. The 2003 standard also assumed a 2.5-ton diesel truck as the method for bomb delivery, whereas recent experiences in Iraq, Afghanistan and other countries make it clear that practically any vehicle will do for delivering destruction.

Acknowledging this reality, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers demanded a more flexible standard, so ASTM International created a working group, chaired by Alberson, to develop it. The new ASTM F2656-07 Standard Test Method for Vehicle Crash Testing of Perimeter Barriers adds more penetration ratings, incorporates design flexibility to cover a wider range of vehicles, and specifies different impact velocities for some vehicle categories. The State Department officially adopted this standard in October 2008.

Speaking of security concerns around the world, the United Kingdom’s Center for the Protection of National Infrastructure has contracted with TTI to help translate between U.K. and U.S. standards. The British version of ASTM F2656-07 is called BSI PAS 68, but its requirements don’t match up exactly with its American counterpart.

“TTI‘s job is to help harmonize the testing for these two standards,” says Alberson. “Making them more compatible will improve structural defense by limiting the opportunity for confusion or miscommunication among those trying to use them.”

Securing Our Borders

TTI researchers have completed two projects with the National Center for Border Security and Immigration, funded through the Department of Homeland Security’s Center of Research Excellence Program, to assess and improve security at the U.S.-Mexico border. One project analyzed technology and processes at land ports of entry (POEs), and the second one analyzed how technology can be used to improve security at land POEs. Technology, layout and process need to be coordinated, so the second phase of the project identified improvements that could be implemented to further increase security at POEs.

“It’s a tricky thing to balance security with the need to keep things moving,” explains TTI Research Scientist Juan Villa, currently managing TTI‘s Mexico City office. “There are trade-offs to be evaluated, including safety, efficiency and economic considerations, not to mention right to privacy.”

Hazardous Materials Tracking

Transport of hazardous materials has both security and freight safety concerns. Terrorists, for example, might try to conduct a catastrophic attack using a planned release of hazardous materials. Transportation accidents can also expose people and the environment to these materials.

TTI will soon be working with Texas Southern University to validate new tools for measuring and tracking hazmat movements on Houston’s industrial corridors. The Institute has also worked with the Texas Division of Emergency Management and Texas counties to evaluate hazmat movements. TTI and Texas A&M University’s Hazard Reduction and Recovery Center researchers have co-authored a hazmat commodity flow study guidebook to be published by the Transportation Research Board in 2011.

TTI Research Specialist Debbie Jasek and Associate Research Scientist David Bierling explain that these studies are different from a lot of traditional traffic evaluations. “TTI works with community officials and volunteers to figure out where, when and how hazmat is transported. We can also help evaluate their chemical transport risks,” says Bierling.

COMMENTARY on Security

D’Vetrio Baugh
Section Chief
Research and Development Program
U.S. Department of State, Bureau of Diplomatic Security

At the U.S. Department of State (DOS), we are the face of the United States to the rest of the world. Our embassies and consulates represent a hand of friendship to other nations. Some return that friendly handshake; some don’t.

Securing our diplomats abroad is one of the toughest challenges we face. Not only is it a practical matter of ensuring their safety; it’s also a political matter of establishing an open, welcoming presence in a foreign land.

Striking that balance between protecting our facilities (and the officials within them) and presenting a welcoming face can be difficult at times. Do we need a 10-foot reinforced concrete fence to keep a potential car bomber away from our facility? If the answer is “yes,” how can we maintain that secure perimeter while still showing that we really are there to help?

The engineers at the Texas Transportation Institute’s (TTI‘s) Proving Ground are the perfect partners to help us find that balance. For six decades, TTI has excelled at keeping people safe, which is why the State Department has chosen to contract with them for the next five years. TTI‘s expertise in testing roadside devices helps us evaluate DOS designs for bollards and other anti-ram devices that keep our citizens and foreign friends safe wherever we have an official presence abroad.

TTI‘s connection to Texas A&M University is also important. Hands-on training with the Institute gives new transportation engineers graduating from Texas A&M the real-world experience they need, and that, in turn, gives us an edge in establishing safe facilities. Young minds create innovative ideas, which invigorate our approach to security. That, perhaps, is the single most important advantage TTI and DOS have as we team up to protect U.S. diplomatic facilities around the world.