Testing of State Roadside Safety Systems Volume VI: Appendix E - Crash Testing and Evaluation of a Modified Breakaway Cable Terminal (BCT) Design
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 two crash tests conducted on a modified Breakaway Cable Terminal (BCT) in accordance with guidelines set forth in National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP) Report 230. Both crash tests involved an 817-kg (1800-1b) passenger car impacting the terminal end-on at a nominal impact speed and angle of 96.5 km/h (60 mi/h) and 0 degree. The modified BCT terminal was judged to have performed unsatisfactorily in both tests. The buckled rail element impacted the door on the driver side of the vehicle, penetrating the occupant compartment in one test and deforming the occupant compartment considerably in another test, showing potential for hazard to occupants of the impacting vehicle.|This volume is the sixth 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 Tbrie-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 VII, Appendix F - Crash Testing and Evaluation of the Minnesota SwingAway 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-98-041
Electronic Link(s):
Document/Product
http://tti.tamu.edu/documents/TTI-1996-ID15107.pdf
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