Numerical analysis of a two-rail steel RHS traffic barrier to vehicle impact

Abstract

In this paper, the non-linear finite element code LS-DYNA is used to evaluate the performance of an existing traffic barrier system in Western Australia in collisions with vehicles. The vehicle types, speeds and impact angles to the barrier specified in the revised Bridge Code AS 5100.2 are adopted in the analysis. Numerical models of three kinds of vehicles, a small passenger car, a utility vehicle and a single-unit truck, as specified in the revised Bridge Code, are used for the analysis. The numerical model of the guardrail is set up according to the actual design of the traffic barrier. Before the analysis of barrier response to the vehicle impact can be carried out, convergence tests on the numerical model of the traffic barrier were conducted, resulting in the selection of the final grid element sizes and the number of spans in the numerical model. Numerical simulations of the performance of the traffic barriers in collisions with vehicles with different speeds, different impact angles, and colliding with the barrier at different locations are carried out. The adequacy of the steel RHS traffic barrier to meet the required performance levels is examined. Numerical results indicate that the existing two-rail steel RHS traffic barriers in Western Australia meet the requirements of the low performance level tests, but fail to satisfy the regular and higher performance levels.