• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
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• v.38 no.10
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• pp.1093-1100
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• 2014

The purpose of this paper is to suggest a weight-reduction design method for the hybrid carbody of a high-speed maglev train that uses aluminum extrusion profiles and sandwich composites. A sandwich composite was used on the roof as a secondary member to minimize the weight. In order to assemble the sandwich composite roof and aluminum extrusion side frame of the carbody using welding, a guide aluminum frame located at the four sides of the sandwich composite roof was introduced in this study. The clamping force of this guide aluminum frame was verified by three-point bending test. The structural integrity and crashworthiness of the hybrid carbody of a high-speed maglev train were evaluated and verified according to the Korean Railway Safety Law using a commercial finite element analysis program. The results showed that the hybrid carbody composed of aluminum extrusion frames and a sandwich composite roof was lighter in weight than a carbody made only of aluminum extrusion profiles and had better structural performance.

• Journal of Korean Society of Transportation
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• v.21 no.1
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• pp.115-125
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• 2003

The concrete median barriers are the most popular safety appurtenance that can be installed on narrow medians and are effective in keeping uncontrolled vehicles from crossing into opposing lanes of traffic. It is necessary to install and maintain median barriers because it is very difficult to reserve enough room required for medians in KOREA. Also, concrete median barriers are accepted as the actual alternatives for median barriers, mostly because they require almost no maintenance even after serious collisions. Typical concrete median barriers are 810mm high and have 596mm high glare screens on top of them. However we have experienced a number of "climb" and "roll-over" accidents of heavy vehicles and most of all, there have been some serious accidents caused by the part of broken glare screens. So the improvement study of concrete median barriers started. Prior to this study, a new type of concrete median barrier was suggested which is 1,270mm high and has no glare screens on top of it. So it was required to compare the properties of various types of concrete median barriers including the new type to find the optimal type of concrete median barrier. In this study, we have evaluated the characteristics of four types of concrete median barriers (New Jersey type, F type, constant slope type, and wall type). We have performed many computer simulations for the evaluation of the crashworthiness of them, and through the simulations we have tried to find a proper type of concrete median barrier. Through the computer simulations, we evaluated the structural stability and safety of the four types of concrete median barriers. We confirmed the structural stability and safety of them But in regard to the probability of "roll-over" of heavy vehicles, the higher concrete median barriers showed better performances than the lower. As the result of this study a new type of concrete median barrier was recommended.