Full-Scale Testing and Performance Evaluation of Rockfall Concrete Barriers

Author(s):  
Anil Patnaik ◽  
Abdisa Musa ◽  
Srikanth Marchetty ◽  
Robert Liang

Rockfall hazards are present throughout the state of Ohio. The Ohio Department of Transportation (DOT) employs Test Level 3 standard concrete barriers along the edges of roadways to contain rockfalls in high-risk areas. The performance of these barriers under impact from rocks on the ditch side and their effectiveness for rockfall catchment are relatively unknown. Full-scale impact tests were performed on concrete barriers to simulate the effects of impacts from rocks of various sizes and shapes. Numerous impacts were made at different sections and levels of the barriers to test their structural integrity and energy absorption capacity. The results from this study revealed that 32-in.-high precast concrete barriers with current Ohio DOT details had an impact energy absorption capacity of up to 24 kJ under a single impact. The corresponding energy absorption capacity of 42-in.-high cast-in-place concrete barriers was about 56 kJ under a single impact. Moreover, these barriers experienced severe cracking and spalling of concrete under impact loading. Several design modifications were studied in this test program. These modifications included reducing the spacing of rebars and rebar sizes, using welded wire fabric, and using different types of fibers in the concrete. The tests conducted on the modified concrete barriers showed an impact energy increase of more than 100% with the modifications suggested in this study. Barriers made from the modified designs also experienced significantly reduced extent and severity of cracking and a reduction in spalling and splashing of concrete under impact loading.

Author(s):  
H. Fang ◽  
K. Solanki ◽  
M. F. Horstemeyer

In this paper, we use a full-scale finite element vehicle model of a 1996 Dodge Neon in simulating two types of vehicle crashes, offset-frontal and side impacts. Based on an analysis of the vehicle’s histories of internal energy absorption under both impacts, we select twenty components as design variables in the optimization of the vehicle’s weight without decreasing the vehicle’s energy absorption capacity and energy absorption rate. We use the second-order polynomials in creating the metamodels for the response functions of energy absorption under both impacts. The optimization result shows a significant reduction on the total weight of the selected components. The LS-DYNA MPP v970 and a full-scale finite element vehicle model of 320,872 nodes and 577,524 elements are used in the simulations. A simulation of 100 ms offset-frontal impact takes approximately 17 hours with 36 processors on the IBM Linux SuperCluster, which has a total of 1038 Intel Pentium III 1.266 GHz processors and 607.5 GB RAM. A simulation of 100 ms side impact takes approximately 29 hours with the same condition as the offset-frontal simulation.


Author(s):  
Venkateswarlu Gattineni ◽  
◽  
Venukumar Nathi ◽  

Thin-walled tubes made of CFRP (Carbon fiber reinforced Polymer) are being increasingly used as CC (Crush Cans) due to their higher specific energy absorption capacity in the automotive domain for absorbing impact energy during a frontal crash. Finite element analysis (FEA) based computational methods have matured over the years with increased accuracy and acceptable correlation with experimental results. FEA-based computational studies when used appropriately can reduce the number of physical tests and prototypes required besides accelerating the overall cycle design time. The present work proposes an FEA based design validation approach for the evaluation of post-tensioned crush can design that can absorb more impact energy compared to a normal CFRP thin tube. The FEM based method uses a combination of multiple simulation techniques to predict the behavior of a post-tensioned tube. The post-tensioning in the present work has been proposed in the form of internal pressure for the thin tube. It was found that a safe value of pressure, when applied as a post-tensioning load, can improve the energy absorption capacity without increasing the weight of the tube.


2016 ◽  
Vol 852 ◽  
pp. 23-28
Author(s):  
S. Subha ◽  
Battu Sai Krishna ◽  
Dalbir Singh ◽  
R. Gokulnath

In this study, an attempt has made to explore the low-velocity impact response of a Carbon/epoxy laminate (CFRP) and E-Glass/epoxy laminates (GFRP). The composite was reinforced with Graphene Nanoplatelets (GnPs) and impact energy absorption capacity was studied. The plain GFRP and plain CFRP were served as a baseline for comparison. These composite laminate plates were fabricated using hand layup technique. The tests were carried out on the laminate plate as per ASTM D5628 FD. Impact tests were performed using a specially designed vertical drop-weight testing machine with an impactor mass of 1.926 kg. The result shows that laminate plate reinforced with GnPs reinforcement enhances the impact energy absorption capacity of the composites almost 4.5 % in the case Carbon/epoxy laminate and 3.5 % in the case of and E-glass/epoxy laminate. The enhanced impact resistance could be attributed to increased interlaminar fracture toughness of the fibres.


2019 ◽  
Vol 2019 ◽  
pp. 1-11
Author(s):  
Hai-long Li ◽  
Ying Xu ◽  
Pei-yuan Chen ◽  
Jin-jin Ge ◽  
Fan Wu

Adding rubber to concrete aims to solve the environmental pollution problem caused by waste rubber and to improve the energy absorption and impact resistance of concrete. In this paper, recycled rubber particles were used to replace fine aggregates in Portland cement concrete to combine the elasticity of rubber with the compression resistance of concrete. Fine aggregates in the concrete mixes were partially replaced with 0%, 20%, 40%, and 60% rubber by volume, and the cement in the concrete mixes was replaced with 0%, 5%, and 10% of silica fume by mass. The properties of the concrete specimens were examined through compressive strength, splitting tensile strength, flexural loading, and rebound tests. Results show that the compressive strength of concrete and the splitting tensile strength decreased to 11.81 and 1.31 MPa after adding silica fume to enhance the strength 37.8% and 23.7%, respectively, and the dosage of rubber was 60%. With the addition of rubber, the impact energy of rubberized concrete was 2.39 times higher than that of ordinary concrete, while its energy absorption capacity was 9.46% higher. The addition of silica fume increased its impact energy by 3.06 times, but the energy absorption capacity did not change significantly. In summary, the RC60SF10 can be used on non-load-bearing structures with high impact resistance requirements. A scanning electron microscope was used to examine and analyze the microstructural properties of rubberized concrete.


Author(s):  
H Geramizadeh ◽  
S Dariushi ◽  
S Jedari Salami

The current study focuses on designing the optimal three-dimensional printed sandwich structures. The main goal is to improve the energy absorption capacity of the out-of-plane honeycomb sandwich beam. The novel Beta VI and Alpha VI were designed in order to achieve this aim. In the Beta VI, the connecting curves (splines) were used instead of the four diagonal walls, while the two vertical walls remained unchanged. The Alpha VI is a step forward on the Beta VI, which was promoted by filleting all angles among the vertical walls, created arcs, and face sheets. The two offered sandwich structures have not hitherto been provided in the literature. All models were designed and simulated by the CATIA and ABAQUS, respectively. The three-dimensional printer fabricated the samples by fused deposition modeling technique. The material properties were determined under tensile, compression, and three-point bending tests. The results are carried out by two methods based on experimental tests and finite element analyses that confirmed each other. The achievements provide novel insights into the determination of the adequate number of unit cells and demonstrate the energy absorption capacity of the Beta VI and Alpha VI are 23.7% and 53.9%, respectively, higher than the out-of-plane honeycomb sandwich structures.


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