Highway and roadside safety is an ever-increasing area of concern for the Federal Highway Administration and all state highway departments. Roadside guardrail systems are presently manufactured from common materials such as cold formed steel plates that are then galvanized to provide adequate corrosion protection. The use of advanced composites has been proposed for applications where the standard W-Beam guardrail has previously been installed. Composite W-Beam guardrails have the potential to improve safety, crashworthiness and corrosion resistance when compared to existing systems. Use of these materials in the construction of guardrails is also attractive due to the potential for lower maintenance. This project will identify guardrail components for which composites can provide an economic advantage over existing materials. The optimum composite materials and production processes for use with each component will then be evaluated. Finally, test samples will be produced and subjected to static and dynamic evaluation.Anticipated Results/Potential Commercial Applications of Results: The potential benefits of producing a composite W-Beam guardrail system are numerous. Composite materials have much better energy dissipation mechanisms than conventional materials which can greatly simplify guardrail terminal design and provide improved safety performance for these critical safety devices. Further, composite materials can provide much more consistency for use in breakaway posts than is currently available using CRT wood posts. Further, the improved corrosion resistance of composites can greatly reduce maintenance costs in corrosive environments.
