Analysis of a safety barrier connection joint post-testing

The purpose of this paper is to examine the effect of a full impact vehicle crash test on the joint material and the mechanical fasteners that form part of the safety barrier beam to beam connection joint. Corrugated beam safety barriers have been installed on Britain’s roads for several decades. New legislation introduced in 2004 has had a direct impact on the UK safety barrier market. Many companies have embarked on extensive testing and development programmes to produce fully compliant safety barrier systems that are both low cost and high performance. The results showed that there is significant deformation of the barrier material surrounding the slotted holes in the safety barrier beam of tested components. The mechanical fasteners faired slightly better but they sustained some damage to the threaded portion of the bolts that were in contact with the barrier section. The results show changes in the safety barrier beam material microstructure in the area of the slotted holes where the mechanical fasteners were subjected to shear loads due to tension forces in the safety barrier beam. Additional information is presented to demonstrate that changes in the material microstructure have not been caused by cold work deformation sustained in the manufacturing process.