Highway and Roadside Structures

• Guardrail crash facility
  
  • Brooks AFB runway location near SwRI
    
  • self-contained digital acquisition system
    
  • high speed photography
    
  • instrumented dummies
    

• Pendulum facility
  
  • FHWA-approved
    
  • 1,800- and 4,000-lb mass with 10-stage crushable nose
    
  • 8-ft deep soil pit
    
  • perimeter concrete beam for rigid mounting
    
  • acceleration instrumentation and recorders
    

• Design capabilities
  
  • registered PE civil engineering staff
    
  • intergraph software
    
  • SwRI-developed software for film data reduction
    
  • Barrier VII impact code
    
  • finite element analysis

A 40,000-lb intercity bus is remotely guided into a bridge rail at 69 mph and 15-degree angle. The bridge rail successfully redirected the bus, and the rail sustained no significant damage.

The SwRI outdoor pendulum test rig, which can accommodate masses to 10,000 pounds, offers unique capabilities for experimental and developmental work, especially in automotive safety.

SwRI has full-scale crash tested several designs of security barriers. The purpose of this barrier is to prevent terrorist vehicle intrusion into secure areas. In this test, the 15,000-lb truck, traveling at 50 mph, was remotely guided into the barrier. The barrier stopped the vehicle and was operational after the test.

For more information on materials and structures, contact Dr. Ben H. Thacker, Mechanical Engineering Division, Southwest Research Institute, P.O. Drawer 28510, San Antonio, Texas 78228-0510, Phone (210) 522-3896, Fax (210) 522-6965.

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