Miha Ambrož

Comparative study of European tunnel emergency-stop-area-wall protection measures

Due to the increasing number of traffic accidents involving the collisions of vehicles with the emergency-stop-area head walls in tunnels, a comparative numerical analysis in accordance with the EN 1317 standard has been performed in order to assess the quality of the available protective safety barriers. Based on the simulation results, the values of the relevant injury criteria - the acceleration severity index (ASI), the theoretical head impact velocity (THIV) and the post-impact head deceleration (PHD) - were computed for several collision scenarios involving two different passenger vehicles colliding with two different safety barriers in various ways. The results show that due to the geometrical restrictions in the tunnels emergency stop area none of the barriers can provide total protection for the occupants of the vehicle in the event of a collision. The installation of a steel-sheet-tube crash cushion was, however, found to provide the best possible protection within the given limitations. The results of the analysis were the basis for selecting a safety-barrier design for existing tunnel installations and for the proposed changes in regulations governing the geometry of the tunnels emergency stop area.

The Importance of Friction Coefficient between Vehicle Tyres and Concrete Safety Barrier to Vehicle Rollover - FE Analysis Study

The most important mechanical factors in an impact scenario of a vehicle into a concrete safety barrier are vehicle speed, the impact angle, the static stability factor of the vehicle as well as the concrete safety barrier design and conditions. Concrete safety barriers (CSB) are primarily designed to minimize vehicle damage by allowing the vehicle to be lifted when riding up on the lower slope and then redirected back on to the road. In some cases, though, the vehicle-CSB contact might end up with a rollover often with fatal consequences. To reduce the rollover risk, different concrete barrier shapes were designed in the past while omitting the importance of the friction coefficient between the tyre and barrier. Therefore, the aim of this paper is to research and emphasize the importance of the friction coefficient between the vehicle tyres and the CSB in rollover accidents. For that purpose, a series of Finite Element analyses were performed using different values of the friction coefficient between the vehicle tyres and the CSB. Experimental measurements of the coefficient of friction between the rubber and CSB blocks of different surface were additionally performed in dry and wet conditions in order to examine the real onsite friction characteristics. The results show that the coefficient of friction can have a crucial impact in vehicle rollover scenarios and should therefore be kept as low as possible by the concrete safety barriers manufacturers and maintainers.