Safety Performance of Concrete Median Barriers under Updated Crashworthiness Criteria

This working paper is a compilation of recent efforts and findings intended to solicit feedback on the approach, scenarios analyzed, findings, interpretations, conclusions, and implications for practice resulting from the efforts of the research team. Please forward comments or questions to the authors noted above. These efforts will ultimately be documented and made available to advance research efforts related to this topic and guidance for practice. The safety performance of concrete median barriers (CMB) was investigated using non-linear finite element crash simulations. The investigation was motivated by concerns over the viability of commonly used CMB designs under the proposed update to the national crashworthiness standards, particularly the Test Level 4 requirements for longitudinal barriers. The analysis focused on procedures for Test 4-12 from National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP) report 350, and the update of it. Test 4-12 involves impacts of a single unit truck (SUT) into the longitudinal barrier. This effort was undertaken to study the effects of various factors in crash performance for CMBs to assess alternative criteria and identify design retrofit options. A modeling and crash simulation analysis approach was seen as a cost efficient method to consider variou