Numerical Simulation on Concrete Median Barrier for Reducing Concrete Fragment Under Harsh Impact Loading of a 25-ton Truck

Recently, there was a collision accident involving vehicle–concrete median barrier in South Korea, and unfortunately, passengers on the opposite direction road were killed by the flying broken pieces of concrete generated by the collision. Primarily after this accident, we felt the need for developing an improved concrete median barrier up to level of SB6 impact severity in order to minimize the amount of broken pieces of concrete and any possibility of traffic accident casualty under the impact loading of truck. Accordingly, in this study, several designs of concrete median barriers have been examined, and a preliminary study has been conducted for developing and verifying appropriate collision model. First, type of vehicle was selected based on impact analysis on rigid wall. Then, the effects of element size and other key parameters on the capacity of the concrete median barrier under impact were studied. It was found that the key parameters for controlling behaviors of the median barrier under impact loading were contact option, threshold value, and mesh and boundary conditions. Furthermore, as a parametric study, effect of geometry and amount of wire-mesh or steel rebar in concrete median barrier on impact resistances of median barrier for reducing the collision debris were investigated. The amount of volume loss after the collision of truck was compared for various reinforcement ratios.