Development of a MASH Test Level 4 Open Concrete Bridge Rail
REPORT NUMBER
TRP-03-406a-23
AUTHORS
Jacob DeLone, Ronald Faller, Jennifer Rasmussen (Schmidt), Scott Rosenbaugh, Bob Bielenberg
PUBLICATION DATE
2023-11-30
ABSTRACT
<p>An open concrete bridge rail was developed according to safety performance guidelines in the American Association of State Highway Transportation Officials (AASHTO) Manual for Assessing Safety Hardware (MASH) for Test Level 4 (TL-4). Systems designed and developed under previous safety guidance were reviewed, and their geometry and crash testing performance were used to establish the geometry of the new bridge rail. Yield-Line Theory and the AASHTO Inelastic Post and Beam design methods were modified and utilized to determine the capacity of the new open concrete bridge rail. Both 36-in. and 39-in. tall variants of the new open concrete bridge rail were configured. Both variants incorporated a 27-in. tall by 14-in. wide rail, supported by 36-in. long x 10 in. wide posts in the interior region, and 72-in. long posts in the end region. Posts in both regions were separated by a 72-in. long gap. Posts in the 36-in. tall variant were 9 in. tall, and posts in the 39-in. tall variant were 12 in. tall. Three bridge deck reinforcement configurations were developed to provide different reinforcement patterns that were compatible with the new bridge rail. Three full-scale crash tests were recommended to be conducted under MASH test designation nos. 4-10, 4-11, and 4-12 to evaluate the safety performance of the new open concrete bridge rail.</p>
KEYWORDS
<p>Highway Safety, Roadside Appurtenances, MASH 2016, Open Concrete Bridge Rail, Roadside Safety, Bridge Deck, Design, Analysis, Inelastic Analysis</p>