Investigations into the residual potential of safety barriers

Current developments in vehicle stock and new registrations in Germany show a trend towards heavier vehicles, predominantly belonging to the SUV vehicle segment. Similar trends can be observed in the light commercial vehicle/utility segment. In addition, there are changes in general vehicle segmentation and new developments in drive technologies. All these developments and changes have an impact on the impact of a vehicle on a safety barrier. At the same time, it can be assumed that the installation situations of safety barriers on-site differ significantly from the environment at test sites. Geotechnical soil properties can be cited as an example. The DIN EN 1317 standard for impact tests on safety barriers is currently undergoing revision and its current version is over a decade old. The vehicle classes and impact constellations defined in the standard no longer reflect current developments in some cases. It can generally be assumed that the developments shown will continue as a trend, whereby a sufficient residual potential of safety barriers must be expected. At the same time, there is still insufficient knowledge about how these and future developments will affect an impact on a safety barrier. Thus, it is suspected that the effects thereof can no longer be permanently and sufficiently compensated by the previously agreed European individual testing strategy. Goal/Benefit: It is to be investigated whether the previously unconsidered influences have an impact on the performance of safety barriers. The goal of this project is therefore to make an initial scenario-oriented assessment of possible influences on the performance of safety barriers commonly used in German long-distance road traffic, based on real impact tests. For this purpose, three real impact tests based on the requirements of DIN EN 1317 are to be carried out. These are characterized by the SUV and Utility/Light Commercial Vehicle segments, with particular consideration of the geotechnical properties of the soil at the test site. The results of the tests are to be compared with the results of the initial test according to DIN EN 1317 for the safety barrier used, with regard to system and vehicle behavior. The focus of the analysis should be on possible influences of the changed vehicle parameters on the test result. Furthermore, the influence of the changed geometric boundary conditions is to be considered. As a result, an assessment is expected regarding the relevance of the changes in impact constellations in relation to the performance indicators of the safety barrier examined.