Testing the results of a passenger vehicle collision with a rigid barrier

High accident index in Poland, including one of the highest death rates in EU, forces undertaking the intense works in order to improve traffic safety. Published road accident statistics indicate that the most dangerous accidents include a vehicle collision with a tree, post or other road object. The road safety barriers make the road infrastructure elements that can signiflcantly protect against that type of accidents. The work presents basie tasks and requirements imposed on the barriers. Problems related to a proper selection of the barriers have been also highlighted. The tools facilitating the barrier design include numerical modelling. The modelling has been done by means of the LS-DYNA software, using the finite element method. A general structure and a developed barrier model as well as vehicle model have been presented. The conditions of the numerical tests have been also specifled. The work presents the results of influence of car impact angle with a rigid safety barrier. Presented results refer to a car o f mas s of 900 kg, making a bas is for the tests of the limiting systems for several limiting levels: including normal limit N2 (according to EN 1317-2). Compared to standard requirements, the scope of numerical tests has been extended by other car impact angle values. The work presents vehicle trajectories and deformations of their bodies. It also includes examples of velocities and acceleration courses and acceleration severity indexes (ASI) calculated on their basis. Obtained results indicate that the barrier location angle has a high influence on the safety level ofthe car passengers as well as on the car motion trajectory after collision