An innovative approach on the renewable hybrid barrier: combined use of wood and sand

Abstract

Background: Wooden materials have been among the basic materials used in many different areas due to some advantages throughout the history. Roadside barriers, which are called passive safety structures, can be produced with different materials such as wood, steel, concrete, and plastic. In this study, Renewable Hybrid Barriers (RHB), a new type of barrier that is used wood in terms of aesthetics, renewability, high shock resistance, and used sand in terms of impact absorption capacity and low cost, produced by taking into account some of the disadvantages of other barrier types. These barriers are planned to be used especially in historical/touristic areas, scenic roads, and in urban areas as urban furniture. Real-time crash tests in accordance with EN 1317 (Road Restraint Systems) standard require high cost and long time. Therefore, the pendulum crash test mechanism frequently used in the literature was manufactured at which the experiments were carried out. Results:The results revealed that the RHBs which has 2 cm thick timber and sand used together, were sufficient and suitable in terms of both cost and necessary safety criteria. It was observed that impregnation and heat treatment applications did not have a considerable negative effect on the performance of RHBs which provide an opportunity to use RHBs for outdoor conditions.. Conclusion:In the light of the results of the study, the optimum wood timber thickness was determined as 2 cm regarding TB 31 test criteria. It is proposed that the crash tests for different wood species, timber thickness, and/or barrier dimensions should carry out in future studies. This study can serve as the basis for the next step, real-time real crash tests. Since the study includes an interdisciplinary subject, it is thought that it will inspire different studies.

Renewable hybrid roadside barrier: Optimization of timber thickness

“…There are various standards that can be used to assess the crash performance of vehicle barrier types, such as Road Restraint Systems standard EN 1317 ( 2010 2010) Road Restraint Systems instructions were determined for optimization studies. The next step was the design of the RHBs and the design of the experimental crash pendulum system (Yumrutaş et al 2021). The crash pendulum experiments provided verification data for virtual pendulum tests and a validation process for virtual full-scale crash tests was conducted.…”

“…For each crash test, 3 RHBs were employed, and the finished product is presented in Figure 3 with the dimensions (Yumrutaş et al 2021).…”

“…Then it crashes into the barrier system with this energy. In this pendulum system, the rammer was lifted to 1.73 m height and generated 25.5 kJ energy for every test cycle (Yumrutaş et al 2021).…”

“…Recently, Yumrutaş et al (2021) developed an innovative roadside barrier called "renewable hybrid barrier" (RHB) employing wood and sand material together. They conducted experimental pendulum crash tests and virtual tests to evaluate the efficiency of the novel barrier type.…”

“…In this study, performance analyses for the normal (N2) containment level of wood material thickness in the renewable hybrid barrier (RHB) system, which was originally produced by Yumrutaş et al (2021) using wood and sand, were revealed by virtual tests. In this context, verification and validation processes were completed based on the previous pendulum crash test data.…”