title: Effect of joint mechanism on vehicle redirectional capability of water-filled road safety barrier systems.
abstract: Portable water-filled barriers (PWFBs) are roadside appurtenances that prevent vehicles from penetrating into temporary construction zones on roadways. PWFBs are required to satisfy the strict regulations for vehicle re-direction in tests. However, many of the current PWFBs fail to re-direct the vehicle at high speeds due to the inability of the joints to provide appropriate stiffness. The joint mechanism hence plays a crucial role in the performance of a PWFB system at high speed impacts. This paper investigates the desired features of the joint mechanism in a PWFB system that can re-direct vehicles at high speeds, while limiting the lateral displacement to acceptable limits. A rectangular "wall" representative of a 30m long barrier system was modeled and a novel method of joining adjacent road barriers was introduced through appropriate pin-joint connections. The impact response of the barrier "wall" and the vehicle was obtained and the results show that a rotational stiffness of 3000kNm/rad at the joints seems to provide the desired features of the PWFB system to re-direct impacting vehicles and restrict the lateral deflection. These research findings will be useful to safety engineers and road barrier designers in developing a new generation of PWFBs for increased road safety.
authors.affiliation: School of Chemistry, Physics and Mechanical Engineering, Science and Engineering Faculty, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia.
authors.forename: M I
authors.initials: MI
authors.lastname: Thiyahuddin
authors.affiliation: School of Civil Engineering and Built Environment, Science and Engineering Faculty, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. Electronic address: d.thambiratnam@qut.edu.au.
authors.forename: D P
authors.initials: DP
authors.lastname: Thambiratnam
authors.affiliation: School of Chemistry, Physics and Mechanical Engineering, Science and Engineering Faculty, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. Electronic address: yuantong.gu@qut.edu.au.
authors.forename: Y T
authors.initials: YT
authors.lastname: Gu
mesh_terms: D000056:Accident Prevention / Q000295:instrumentation*; D000063:Accidents, Traffic / Q000517:prevention & control*; D001336:Automobiles; D003198:Computer Simulation; D004779:Environment Design; D006801:Humans; D012449:Safety; D014947:Wounds and Injuries / Q000517:prevention & control*
keywords: Finite element method; Impact; Re-direction; Revolute joints; Road safety barriers; Water-filled barriers