TY - JOUR

T1 - Two-bay pultruded GFRP safety Barrier/Guardrail – Testing, analysis and compliance with standards

AU - Turvey, G.J.

AU - Milburn, J.

N1 - This is the author’s version of a work that was accepted for publication in Composite Structures. Changes resulting from the publishing process, such as peer review, editing, corrections, structural formatting, and other quality control mechanisms may not be reflected in this document. Changes may have been made to this work since it was submitted for publication. A definitive version was subsequently published in Composite Structures, 253, 2020 DOI: 10.1016/j.compstruct.2020.112745

PY - 2020/12/1

Y1 - 2020/12/1

N2 - The paper describes a series of material/structural property tests on pultruded GFRP (glass fibre reinforced polymer) circular cross-section tubes used in guardrails. The tests enabled the elastic flexural and shear moduli of the tubes and the rotational stiffness of the post-base connections to be quantified. This information was then used to set up ANSYS FE (finite element) models of the guardrails using cubic beam elements and revolute joints to simulate the out-of-plane deflections of a two-bay plane guardrail loaded at the top of the centre-post and the mid-bays of the handrail. Load tests were carried on a full-scale guardrail in order to demonstrate that it complied with the load and deflection requirements given in the most recent design standard for guardrails. Thereafter, the ANSYS FE model deflection predictions were compared with those recorded during the load tests on the guardrail. It was shown, that including revolute joints in the model gave deflections that were, in the worst instances, within 15% of the values recorded in the physical tests.

AB - The paper describes a series of material/structural property tests on pultruded GFRP (glass fibre reinforced polymer) circular cross-section tubes used in guardrails. The tests enabled the elastic flexural and shear moduli of the tubes and the rotational stiffness of the post-base connections to be quantified. This information was then used to set up ANSYS FE (finite element) models of the guardrails using cubic beam elements and revolute joints to simulate the out-of-plane deflections of a two-bay plane guardrail loaded at the top of the centre-post and the mid-bays of the handrail. Load tests were carried on a full-scale guardrail in order to demonstrate that it complied with the load and deflection requirements given in the most recent design standard for guardrails. Thereafter, the ANSYS FE model deflection predictions were compared with those recorded during the load tests on the guardrail. It was shown, that including revolute joints in the model gave deflections that were, in the worst instances, within 15% of the values recorded in the physical tests.

KW - Deflection (structures)

KW - Fiber reinforced plastics

KW - Load testing

KW - Regulatory compliance

KW - Safety testing

KW - Circular cross-sections

KW - Design standard

KW - Glass fibre reinforced polymers

KW - Out-of-plane deflection

KW - Physical tests

KW - Revolute joints

KW - Rotational stiffness

KW - Safety barriers

KW - Guard rails

U2 - 10.1016/j.compstruct.2020.112745

DO - 10.1016/j.compstruct.2020.112745

M3 - Journal article

VL - 253

JO - Composite Structures

JF - Composite Structures

SN - 0263-8223

M1 - 112745

ER -