International Journal of Automotive Technology

The Korean Society of Automotive Engineers (한국자동차공학회)
권호 표지

DYNAMIC CHARACTERISTICS OF SCALED-DOWN W-BEAMS UNDER IMPACT

  • Hui, T.-Y.-J. (Department of Mechanical Engineering, Hong Kong University) ;
  • Ruan, H.-H. (Department of Mechanical Engineering, Hong Kong University) ;
  • Yu, T.-X. (Department of Mechanical Engineering, Hong Kong University)
  • Published : 2003.03.01
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Abstract

W-beam guardrail system has been the most popular roadside safety device around the world. Through large plastic deformation and corresponding energy dissipation, a W-beam guardrail system contains and re-directs out-of-control vehicles so as to reduce the impact damage on the vehicle occupants and the vehicles themselves. In this paper, our recent experiments on 1 : 3.75 downscaled W-beam and the beam-post system are reported. The static and impact test results on the load characteristics, the global response and the local cross-sectional distortion are reveled. The effects of three different end-boundary conditions for the beam-only testing are examined. It is found that the load characteristics are much dependent on the combined contribution of the local cross-sectional distortion and the end-supporting conditions. The energy Partitioning between the beam and the supporting Posts in the beam-Post-system testing were also examined. The results showed that the energy dissipation partitioning changed with the input impact energy. Finally, a simple mass-spring model is developed to assess the dynamic response of a W-beam guardrail system in response to an impact loading. The model's prediction agrees well with the experimental results.

Keywords

References

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