• Journal of Korean Society of Steel Construction
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• v.13 no.3
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• pp.313-325
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• 2001

Tubular bridge rail was developed to restrain and redirect a 14ton van-type truck. The developed bridge rail permits better visibility than concrete safety-shape bridge rail, and it has better structural adequacy than the existing steel and aluminum bridge rails in Korea. The new bridge rail consists of a tubular thrie beam(TTB) rail and a steel guard rail, which are connected to composite posts. The TTB shape provides both better containment of diverse bumper heights and more tight fit between the ends of bridge rail and roadside guardrails than the existing bridge rail sections currently used in Korea. Making composite post by filling concrete inside the steel pipe of the same size as are used for the roadside guardrail post was found to be more efficient in increasing the stiffness and ultimate strength than simply increasing the size of the steel pipe. The system was crash-tested for the impact condition of 14ton-80km/h-$15^{\circ}$, and it satisfied all evaluation criteria set forth in NCHRP Report 350 for a Test Level 4 safety appurtenance. Acceptable performances were obtained in computer simulations for the impact condition of S2.