Experimental-numerical analysis of steel - foam energy - absorbing panels for road barriers modernization

The works on steel -foam energy-absorbing structures for the road barrier W-beam guardrail were carried out because of the necessity of increasing the passive safety of road barriers [1-5]. A road barrier guardrail is made of steel sections. These types of sections are characterized by good strain properties, although their energy-absorbing abilities and possibilities for "softer" vehicle impact energy are unsatisfactory. In order to increase energy-absorption on the road barrier guardrail additional tin-foam sections were used. Experimental tests on the modifled road barrier guardrail were carried out on a testing machine INSTRON at the Faculty of Mechanics and Applied Informatics of the Military Academy of Technology. Two meters long W-beam guardrail was investigated in a three point bending test, perpendicularly and under the angle of 20°. As a result of the experimental research diagrams of dependence of bending force on displacement were obtained. On the basis of aforementioned diagrams the energy that was absorbed by individual road barrier elements: tin coating, foam insert and steel guardrail, was estimated. Obtained results of the experimental research were also compared with the results of the numerical simulation of the finite elements method in LS-DYNA system.