Testing of State Roadside Safety Systems Volume V: Appendix D - Crash Testing and Evaluation of a Washington, DC, PL-1 Bridge Rail
Author(s):
K.K. Mak, W.L. Menges
Publication Date:
February 1998
Abstract:
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 three crash tests conducted on a new Washington, DC historic bridge railing design in accordance with guidelines set forth in the 1989 American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) Guide Specifications on Bridge Railings for a performance level 1 (PL-1) and National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP) Report 230. The original bridge rail design was crash tested in the first test (test no. 471470-6) with an 817-kg (1800-1b) passenger car impacting the bridge rail at a nominal impact speed and angle of 80.5 km/h (50 mi/h) and 20 degrees. The original bridge rail design failed to perform satisfactorily. The bridge rail design was then modified and crash tested. The second crash test (test no. 471470-8) was a repeat of the first test on the modified bridge rail design, involving an 817-kg (1800-1b) passenger car impacting the bridge rail at a nominal impact speed and angle of 80.5 km/h (50 mi/h) and 20 degrees. The third test (test no. 471470-9) involved a 2452-kg (5400-1b) pickup truck impacting the bridge rail at a nominal impact speed and angle of 72.5 km/h (45 mi/h) and 20 degrees. The modified bridge rail design was judged to have performed satisfactorily in both tests.|This volume is the fifth in a series of 14 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 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 XI, Appendix J - Crash Testing and Evaluation of Existing Guardrail Systems; Volume XII, Appendix K - Crash Testing and Evaluation of the MELT; Volume XIII, Appendix L - Crash Testing and Evaluation of the Modified MELT; and Volume XIV, Appendix M - Laboratory and Pendulum Testing of Modified Breakaway Wooden Posts.
Report Number:
FHWA-RD-98-040
Electronic Link(s):
Document/Product
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