NCHRP Report 350 Compliance Test 5\u201312 of the 1.07-m Vertical Wall Bridge Railing

1997McDevitt, Charles F.PDFTech ReportFHWA-RD-96-199DTFH61-95-C-00136Bridge railingsSafety analysisCrashesUnited StatesUnited States. Federal Highway Administration. Office of Safety and Traffic OperationsAlberson, Dean C.Zimmer, Richard A.Menges, Wanda L.United States. Federal Highway Administration. Office of Safety and Traffic Operations R&DTexas Transportation InstituteTurner-Fairbank Highway Research CenterMcDevitt, CharlesFederal Highway AdministrationFHWA recently adopted new performance evaluation guidelines for roadside safety features set forth in NCHRP Report 350. Most of the existing roadside features were tested according to the previous guidelines contained in NCHRP Report 230 and there are concerns as to how the existing roadside safety features would perform under the new guidelines. Specifically, there is concern that existing bridge railing systems, including the 1.07-m vertical wall bridge railing, may not perform satisfactorily to contain and redirect the 36000V test vehicle, i.e. 36 000-kg tractor/van trailer, and the vehicle may roll over. In a previous study conducted by the Texas Transportation Institute, a 22 680-kg tractor/van trailer steered around the end of a 1.07-m vertical wall bridge railing and rolled onto its side. In order to determine if a longer installation would prevent this from happening, the bridge railing was extended from 30 m to a total length of 40 m. There were also questions about the strength of the bridge railing and the strength of its connection to the deck. This report contains the results of a crash test performed on the 1.07-m vertical wall bridge railing with a 36000V test vehicle under NCHRP Report 350 test level 5 conditions, i.e., impacting the length of need at a nominal speed and angle of 80 km/h and 15 degrees. The purpose of the test was to determine if the bridge railing would perform satisfactorily in containing and redirecting the heavy vehicle without rolling the vehicle. The impact performance of the 1.07-m vertical wall bridge railing was considered satisfactory according to evaluation criteria set forth in NCHRP Report 350 for test designation 5-12. The 36000V vehicle did not roll after exiting the longer installation as the 22 680-kg tractor/van trailer did on the 30-m installation used during an earlier study. There was no sign of structural damage in the bridge railing or in the connection of the bridge railing and bridge deck.80