CONCRETE SAFETY BARRIERS.Indd
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CONCRETE SAFETY BARRIERS: A SAFE AND SUSTAINABLE CHOICE Photo : A. Nullens CONTENTS 1. Introduction 3 2. Benefits of concrete safety barriers 4 3. History of safety barriers in Europe 5 4. The European standards: EN 1317 8 5. Performance and test methods for vehicle restraint systems 9 6. Terminals, transitions and removable barrier sections 17 7. Protection of motorcyclists 18 8. Road restraint systems and noise barriers 20 9. Sustainability of concrete safety barriers 21 10. Design and construction 26 11. Conclusions 29 12. References 30 Photo : M. Van Kerckhoven INTRODUCTION Involvement in a road traffic crash is the leading cause of death and hospital admission for citizens of the European Union under the age of 45 years. With 39 000 road traffic deaths in 2008 and socio-economic costs of € 180 billion, road safety continues to be a priority area for action in the EU. Although the actions taken so far have been effective in several Member States, the num- bers of road fatalities remain unacceptably high. That is why the European Commission (EC) has adopted challenging plans to reduce the number of road deaths on Europe’s roads by half in the next ten years. One of the seven strategic objectives, amongst others such as intelligent vehicles and better enforcement, is safer road infrastructure. The use of passive safety systems and, more spe- cifically, road restraint systems undoubtedly contributes to higher safety. There will also be more focus on vulnerable road users, motorcyclists in particular. [Ref. 8] Photo : Britpave 3 CONCRETE SAFETY BARRIERS: A SAFE AND SUSTAINABLE CHOICE 2. BENEFITS OF CONCRETE SAFETY BARRIERS Another concern of the EC is the use of sus- below lists the benefits of concrete safety tainable solutions, fitting in the concept of barriers in the three domains of sustain- Green Public Procurement. Concrete safety able construction: environment, economy barriers give answers to both the issues of and society. These statements will further road safety and sustainability. The figure be discussed in this publication. > ENVIRONMENT > SOCIETY • 80% less embodied CO2 than • Increasing safety for road user competing systems and worker • Minimum material usage and • No break-through of collision waste vehicle • Non polluting in service • Low maintenance increases • 100% recyclable road availability and reduces • Virtually maintenance-free over traffic congestion their 50-year design life • Safe solution for motorcyclists • Reduce traffic congestion and associated emissions > ECONOMIC factors • Very long design life • Minimum space required • Almost maintenance-free • Remain functional even after severe collisions • High daily production of 400 to 800 m possible • Temporary systems available for road works 4 CONCRETE SAFETY BARRIERS: A SAFE AND SUSTAINABLE CHOICE 3. History OF CONCRETE SAFETY BARRIERS IN EUROPE Since the 1970s, the central reserves of high- ceptable reduction in safety soon arose. ways and motorways in Europe have been The concrete safety barrier with what protected with (steel) guardrail structures. is known as a New Jersey profile fitted The necessary maintenance on the road due these requirements. This type of bar- to damages from accidents led to conges- rier was originally designed in America tion, especially at narrow road sections. by General Motors in 1955 and first used This raised the question of how to develop in New Jersey. The first applications other types of roadside safety structures. in Europe were found in Belgium and France from the 1970s onwards. [Ref. 4] NEW JERSEY PROFILE The New Jersey profile in Europe was more The need for durable construction with or less standardised in two versions: minimal maintenance and without unac- Figure 1 Versions of the old New Jersey barrier One-sided version that was used in wider central reserves Double-sided version, for (very narrow) central reserves and roadsides New Jersey barrier in the central reserve of a motorway Photo : W. Kramer 5 CONCRETE SAFETY BARRIERS: A SAFE AND SUSTAINABLE CHOICE CONCRETE STEP BARRIER (CSB) The concrete step barrier is today the stan- dardised solution for cast in situ barriers in International experience had shown that Europe. collisions of a small vehicle at high speed 0,05 against the New Jersey profile often result- ed in accidents where the vehicle turned over. 0,085 9,0 gon This caused Rijkswaterstaat, the Dutch Road Administration, to explore other bar- rier profiles. In the 1990s they developed in the Netherlands the “embedded step” profile, based upon the English “single- slope” barrier. The advantages of this step 0,90 0,60 profile compared to the New Jersey profile is the greatly reduced chance of roll-over accidents and the reduced damage to the 0,05 vehicle thanks to the “step”. [Ref. 4] 9,0 gon 0,25 0,542 Figure 2 Standard geometry of the concrete step barrier One of the first applica- tions of the concrete step barrier on motorway E429 in Belgium (1999) Photo : P. Van Audenhove 6 CONCRETE SAFETY BARRIERS: A SAFE AND SUSTAINABLE CHOICE IN SITU CAST AND PRECAST Surface mounted CSB CONCRETE SAFETY BARRIER installation A concrete barrier can either be cast in situ Photo : BAM Wegen or be precast in a production unit. The in situ installation is done by means of a slipform paver using ready mixed concrete. This kind of installation allows very high daily production rates and con- sequently competitive prices. The barrier can be tied to the substructure (a cement treated or asphalt base layer) or can be sur- Photo : L. Rens face mounted without any anchoring. Prefabricated elements are manufactured in an indoor environment and assembled on the worksite, making their installation less dependent on climatic conditions. Since they can easily be displaced, they are very often used for protection of the work site during road construction. Precast barriers in a permanent and a temporary installation Photo : Omnibeton – Deltabloc 7 CONCRETE SAFETY BARRIERS: A SAFE AND SUSTAINABLE CHOICE 4. THE EUROPEAN standards: EN 1317 In the beginning of the 1990s, CEN, the European Committee for Standardisation, set up a Technical Committee on road equipment (CEN/TC 226) and a working group (WG 1), dedi- cated to the drafting of standardised rules for different types of road restraint systems. The initial and revised versions, including amendments, of the European standards of the EN 1317 series are the following (status August 2012): EN 1317-1:1998 Terminology and general criteria for test methods EN 1317-1:2010 (revision) EN 1317-2:1998 + A1:2006 Performance classes, impact test acceptance criteria and test methods for safety barriers including vehicle parapets EN 1317-2:2010 (revision) EN 1317-3:2000 Performance classes, impact test acceptance criteria and test methods for crash cushions EN 1317-3:2010 (revision) ENV 1317-4:2001 Performance classes, impact test acceptance criteria and test methods for terminals and transitions of safety barriers EN 1317-5:2007 + A2:2012 Product requirements and evaluation of conformity for vehicle restraint systems CEN/TR 1317-6:2012 Pedestrian restraint systems – Pedestrian parapets CEN/TS 1317-8:2012 Motorcycle road restraint systems which reduce the impact severity of motorcyclist collisions with safety barriers CEN/TR 16303-1 to 4:2012 Road restraint systems – Guidelines for computational mechanics of crash testing against vehicle restraint system The following normative documents are in phase of preparation (status August 2012): prEN 1317-4 Performance classes, impact test acceptance criteria and test methods for transitions and removable barrier sections prEN 1317-5 Product requirements, test / assessment methods and acceptance criteria for vehicle restraint systems Notes: prEN 1317-7 Performance classes, impact test acceptance criteria and test methods for terminals of safety barriers • crash cushions and pedestrian restraint systems will not be dealt with in this publication; • EN = European standard, approved • A = Amendment • ENV = Pre-standard • TS = Technical specification • TR = Technical report pr = project, in state of preparation, not yet approved 8 CONCRETE SAFETY BARRIERS: A SAFE AND SUSTAINABLE CHOICE 5. PerforMANCE AND TEST METHODS FOR VEHICLE RESTRAINT SYSTEMS PERFORMANCE CLASSES – ContainMENT LEVELS The first version of the European standard The low angle containment levels are EN 1317-2 was published in 1998. A revised intended to be used only for temporary version was published in 2010. The original safety barriers. However, temporary safety version defined 10 performance classes. barriers can also be tested for higher levels The higher the performance level, the of containment. stronger the construction needs to be in or- der to withstand higher impact demands. A successfully tested barrier at a given Each performance class refers to a number containment level should be considered as of crash tests. A road restraint system, al- having met the containment requirements located to a specific class, must be able to of any lower level, except that N1 and N2 retain the specified vehicles at determined do not include T3. This is because level T3 speeds and impact angles. Table 1 gives includes a test with a rigid truck (TB41) an overview of the different standardised while for levels N1 and N2 only crash tests crash tests. with cars are provided. The very high containment levels H4a and H4b should not be regarded as equivalent and no hierarchy is given between them. The difference in tests TB71 with a rigid truck and TB81 with an articulated truck originates from the use of significantly dif- ferent types of heavy vehicles in different countries. TABLE 1 Standardised CRASH TESTS Test Type of vehicle Mass Speed Impact angle (kg) (km/h) (o) TB11 car 900 100 20 The following containment levels are TB21 car 1300 80 8 defined (EN 1317-2:1998): TB22 car 1300 80 15 TB31 car 1500 80 20 • low angle containment: containment levels T1,T2 and T3; TB32 car 1500 110 20 • normal containment: TB41 rigid truck 10000 70 8 containment levels N1 and N2; TB42 rigid truck 10000 70 15 • high containment: TB51 bus 13000 70 20 containment levels H1,H2 and H3; TB61 rigid truck 16000 80 20 • very high containment: TB71 rigid truck 30000 65 20 containment levels H4a and H4b.