TY - GEN
T1 - MASH TL-3 Development and Evaluation of the Thrie-Beam Bullnose Attenuator
AU - Bielenberg, Robert
AU - Faller, Ron
AU - Stolle, Cody
N1 - Funding Information:
Acknowledgements. The authors wish to acknowledge the Midwest Pooled Fund Program for sponsoring and supporting this research effort and MwRSF personnel for constructing the barriers and conducting and analyzing the crash tests.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2022, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.
PY - 2022
Y1 - 2022
N2 - The thrie-beam bullnose system is a non-gating, redirective crash cushion that provides a safe, cost effective, non-proprietary option for shielding median piers and other median hazards. It consists of a guardrail envelope comprised of thrie-beam panels mounted at a height of 803 mm and supported by breakaway steel posts. The nose rail section and the first two adjacent rail sections are radiused and slotted, and the fourth and fifth rail sections are slotted. The combination of the radiused and slotted rail segments along with the breakaway posts allow the system to safely capture and decelerate vehicles impacting near the end or nose of the system, while redirecting vehicles impacting along the side. The barrier system was originally developed and evaluated under National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP) Report 350. In 2009, the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) implemented an updated standard for the evaluation of roadside hardware. The new standard, the Manual for Assessing Safety Hardware (MASH), improved the criteria for evaluating roadside hardware beyond the previous NCHRP Report 350 standard through updates to test vehicles, test matrices, and impact conditions. A research effort was undertaken to evaluate the thrie-beam bullnose to MASH Test Level 3 through full-scale crash testing and modify the design as needed to meet the revised safety criteria. This paper details the evaluation of the thrie-beam bullnose through MASH TL-3 full-scale crash tests, modification of the original design to meet MASH criteria, and recommendations for implementation of the system.
AB - The thrie-beam bullnose system is a non-gating, redirective crash cushion that provides a safe, cost effective, non-proprietary option for shielding median piers and other median hazards. It consists of a guardrail envelope comprised of thrie-beam panels mounted at a height of 803 mm and supported by breakaway steel posts. The nose rail section and the first two adjacent rail sections are radiused and slotted, and the fourth and fifth rail sections are slotted. The combination of the radiused and slotted rail segments along with the breakaway posts allow the system to safely capture and decelerate vehicles impacting near the end or nose of the system, while redirecting vehicles impacting along the side. The barrier system was originally developed and evaluated under National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP) Report 350. In 2009, the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) implemented an updated standard for the evaluation of roadside hardware. The new standard, the Manual for Assessing Safety Hardware (MASH), improved the criteria for evaluating roadside hardware beyond the previous NCHRP Report 350 standard through updates to test vehicles, test matrices, and impact conditions. A research effort was undertaken to evaluate the thrie-beam bullnose to MASH Test Level 3 through full-scale crash testing and modify the design as needed to meet the revised safety criteria. This paper details the evaluation of the thrie-beam bullnose through MASH TL-3 full-scale crash tests, modification of the original design to meet MASH criteria, and recommendations for implementation of the system.
KW - Breakaway posts
KW - Bullnose
KW - Compliance test
KW - Crash test
KW - Highway safety
KW - MASH 2016
KW - Roadside appurtenances
KW - Thrie beam
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U2 - 10.1007/978-3-030-79801-7_54
DO - 10.1007/978-3-030-79801-7_54
M3 - Conference contribution
AN - SCOPUS:85128886361
SN - 9783030798000
T3 - Sustainable Civil Infrastructures
SP - 755
EP - 771
BT - Advances in Road Infrastructure and Mobility - Proceedings of the 18th International Road Federation World Meeting and Exhibition, 2021
A2 - Akhnoukh, Amin
A2 - Kaloush, Kamil
A2 - Elabyad, Magid
A2 - Halleman, Brendan
A2 - Erian, Nihal
A2 - Enmon II, Samuel
A2 - Henry, Cherylyn
PB - Springer Science and Business Media B.V.
T2 - 18th International Road Federation World Meeting and Exhibition, 2021
Y2 - 7 November 2021 through 10 November 2021
ER -