INVESTIGATION OF ROAD BARRIERS ON THEIR ABILITIES TO ABSORB ENERGY OF HITTING

In the article the results of tests and numerical computations of road infrastructure elements-protective barriers are presented. On the base of carried out tests (in laboratory conditions) the forms of deformations of each of elements and their assemblies, components of road protective barriers, were described. The determination of stiffness of each type of barriers, at the moment of their destruction, enabled to elaborate the methodology of the construction of numerical models and numerical simulations of the process of the barrier destruction. The absorption of energy of three subassemblies of road barriers, consisting of the W-beam guard rail section of 0.7 m, a post and SP01, SP05 and SP09 mounting hardware, was experimentally determined. From the comparison the experimental results with the numerical simulation ones it is seen that proposed numerical models with a good accuracy present the behaviour of the real elements of barriers. Investigations enabled to estimate the distribution of absorbed energy of each constructional elements of barriers at the moment of their destruction. Further step in the investigation is to be an attempt to modify the construction, paying special attention to increasing its ability to absorb energy of collision. On this base the protective road barrier system can be enriched with elements absorbing energy. Great energy absorbing abilities have elements which are subjected to progressive destruction e.g. by plastic deformation or delamination of elements produced from relatively cheap fiberglass reinforced plastic composites. The elaborated methodology of numerical simulation with the use of LS-DYNA software enables the essential shortening of the test period of worked out solutions.