Crash cushion and method of utilizing a crash cushion
According to one embodiment of the invention, a crash cushion includes an energy-absorbing structure disposed between a pair of guardrails, in which each guardrail has one or more tension cables coupled between upstream and downstream ends of the guardrail. The guardrails are coupled at their upstream ends to a first support, which may be a slipbase post, and coupled at their downstream ends to a second support, which may be a vertical structure such as a utility pole.
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This application claims the benefit of Ser. No. 60/512,669, entitled “Crash Cushion and Method of Utilizing Same,” filed provisionally on Oct. 20, 2003.
TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTIONThe present invention relates generally to the field of guardrails and, more particularly, to a crash cushion and method of utilizing a crash cushion.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTIONGuardrails are traffic barriers placed along roadsides to screen errant vehicles and protect their passengers from hazards behind the barrier. A common guardrail in the United States is constructed using a standard steel W-beam mounted on spaced wood or steel posts. Another type of highway safety device is the crash cushion device, which is typically utilized to protect the occupants of vehicles from injury due to impact with bridge piers, bridge rail ends, concrete barriers, or other similar objects. Highway agencies have been using crash cushion devices at dangerous locations for a number of years. These devices absorb the energy of head-on impacts with decelerations that are not life-threatening for design conditions.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTIONAccording to one embodiment of the invention, a crash cushion includes an energy-absorbing structure disposed between a pair of guardrails, in which each guardrail has one or more tension cables coupled between upstream and downstream ends of the guardrail. The guardrails are coupled at their upstream ends to a first support, which may be a slipbase post, and coupled at their downstream ends to a second support, which may be a vertical structure such as a utility pole.
Embodiments of the invention provide a number of technical advantages. Embodiments of the invention may include all, some, or none of these advantages. A crash cushion according to an embodiment of the invention saves on cost and space over current methods without the necessity of extensive ground penetration in a zone of crowded underground utilities. This may be facilitated by only one point of anchorage. In addition, such a crash cushion facilitates a combination of slow energy absorption and momentum transfer to reduce initial deceleration and accommodates full kinetic energy absorption. According to another embodiment of the invention, a crash cushion uses a unique combination of mechanical energy absorption and speed reduction by momentum transfer. Such combination is designed to provide an appropriate combination of speed reduction and deceleration to effectively make occupant injuries minor or non-existent.
Other technical advantages are readily apparent to one skilled in the art from the following figures, descriptions, and claims.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGSFor a more complete understanding of the invention, and for further features and advantages, reference is now made to the following description, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:
In the embodiment illustrated in
In the illustrated embodiment, energy-absorbing structure 104 includes a plurality of Z-tubes, such as those described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,082,926 and 6,179,516, which are both herein incorporated by reference. However, energy-absorbing structure 104 may be any suitable energy-absorbing structure, such as the ET family of guardrail extruder terminals (ET-2000™, ET-PLUS™ or similar structures), barrels, fragmented concrete, Advanced Dynamic Impact Extension Modules (“ADIEMs”), or any other suitable energy-absorbing elements. The operation of the Z-tubes during a head-on collision is described in the '926 and '516 patents and, hence, will not be described here. In an embodiment where an ET-2000™ is utilized, the ET-2000™ end terminal may be rotated ninety degrees from its normal position. In this manner, when a vehicle crashes head-on into anti-side penetration device 112 the guardrail associated with the ET-2000™ is extruded vertically upward to avoid any complications with the oncoming vehicle and to allow the head of the end terminal to proceed towards utility pole 102 in an unimpeded manner as designed.
Energy-absorbing structure 104 may couple to one or more of the components of crash cushion 100 in any suitable manner. In the illustrated embodiment, the Z-tubes are suspended from the tension cables 108a, 108b, as illustrated in
Guardrails 106a, 106b are disposed on either side of energy-absorbing structure 104. In the illustrated embodiment, guardrails 106, 106b as thrie beams; however, other suitable guardrails are contemplated by the present invention, such as W-beams. In one embodiment, both guardrails 106a, 106b are slightly curved such that their concave surfaces face each other and, hence, face energy-absorbing structure 104. In this manner, cables 108a, 108b may be coupled between upstream and downstream ends of guardrails 106a, 106b, as illustrated, to form a truss-like structure. Thus, when a vehicle strikes crash cushion 100 laterally, as denoted by the directional arrow 120, the vehicle is redirected away from crash cushion 100 because cable 108b is put into tension during the collision because it is coupled to upstream and downstream ends of guardrail 106b. Therefore, the combination of guardrail 106b and cable 108b acts as a much more substantial composite beam to redirect the vehicle in a safe manner. In some embodiments, it has been found that the addition of tension cables 108a, 108b to guardrails 106a, 106b increases the bending strength by a factor of ten or more.
Guardrails 106a, 106b may couple to one or more of the components of crash cushion 100 in any suitable manner. In the illustrated embodiment, guardrails 106a, 106b are coupled at upstream ends 131 to first support 110 via a front box section 400, which is illustrated and described below in conjunction with
Anti-side penetration device 112 functions to prevent the penetration of the front end of crash cushion 100 into a vehicle crashing relatively sideways (e.g., at a yaw of 90°) into crash cushion 100. Any suitable anti-side penetration device is contemplated by the present invention; however, in a particular embodiment, a collision performance side impact (“CPSI”) is utilized. This CPSI is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,791,812, which is herein incorporated by reference. In one embodiment, anti-side penetration device 112 may be coupled to front box section 400 in any suitable manner. Other suitable structures in lieu of anti-side penetration device 112 are contemplated by the present invention for use on the upstream end of crash cushion 100.
First support 110 functions to support the upstream ends 131 of guardrails 106a, 106b and front box section 400. In other embodiments, first support 110 supports energy-absorbing structure 104. In the illustrated embodiment, first support 110 is a slipbase post that is described in greater detail below in conjunction with
Referring now to
First vertical member 300 is coupled to slipbase 200 and horizontal member 302 is coupled to first vertical member 300 and extends towards the upstream end of crash cushion 100 any suitable length. Second vertical member 304 is coupled to horizontal member 302 at a lower end thereof. Second vertical member 304 couples to front box section 400 at an upper end thereof via a vertical plate 305. In addition, second vertical member 304 couples to guardrails 106a, 106b at an upper end thereof via a vertical plate 307. Vertical plate 307 may also couple to energy-absorbing structure 104 in some embodiments.
Having slipbase post 310 in this type of configuration allows first vertical member 300 and slipbase 200 to decouple from vertical section 204 of base plate 122 during a head-on collision of a vehicle with the upstream end of crash cushion 100 (as most slipbases are designed for) while also allowing vertical member 300 and slipbase 200 to stay relatively coupled to vertical section 204 of base plate 122 as a result of a lateral force applied to crash cushion 100 by a vehicle. This lateral impact causes a torque to be applied to the slipbase connection, as denoted by reference numeral 306 in
Although example embodiments of the invention and some of their advantages are described in detail, a person skilled in the art could make various alterations, additions, and omissions without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention as defined by the appended claims.
Claims
1. A crash cushion, comprising:
- an energy-absorbing structure disposed between a pair of guardrails;
- each guardrail having one or more tension cables coupled between upstream and downstream ends of the guardrail; and
- the guardrails coupled at their upstream ends to a first support and coupled at their downstream ends to a second support.
2. The crash cushion of claim 1, wherein the guardrails comprise thrie beams.
3. The crash cushion of claim 1, wherein the energy-absorbing structure comprises Z-tubes that are suspended from the tension cables.
4. The crash cushion of claim 1, wherein the energy-absorbing structure comprises a guardrail extruder terminal.
5. The crash cushion of claim 1, wherein the first support is a slipbase post.
6. The crash cushion of claim 5, wherein the slipbase post comprises:
- a first vertical member coupled to a base plate;
- a horizontal member coupled to the first vertical member and extending in a direction towards the upstream ends of the guardrails; and
- a second vertical member coupled at a lower end to the horizontal member and coupled at a second end to the upstream ends of the guardrails, whereby the first vertical member decouples from the base plate as a result of a longitudinal force applied to the crash cushion and applies a torque to the base plate as a result of a lateral force applied to one of the guardrails.
7. The crash cushion of claim 1, wherein the second support comprises a vertical structure.
8. The crash cushion of claim 7, wherein the vertical structure is a utility pole.
9. The crash cushion of claim 1, further comprising an anti-side penetration device coupled adjacent the upstream ends of the guardrails.
10. A slipbase post, comprising:
- a first vertical member coupled to a base plate embedded in the ground;
- a horizontal member coupled to the first vertical member and extending toward the front end of the energy-absorbing structure; and
- a second vertical member coupled at a lower end to the horizontal member and coupled at a second end to the upstream ends of the guardrails, whereby the first vertical member decouples from the base plate as a result of a longitudinal force applied to the crash cushion and applies a torque to the base plate as a result of a lateral force applied to one of the guardrails.
11. The slipbase post of claim 10, wherein the base plate is coupled to a concrete footing with one or more anchor bolts.
12. The slipbase post of claim 10, wherein the base plate is coupled to the ground with one or more posts.
13. The slipbase post of claim 10, further comprising a slipbase configured to couple the first vertical member to the base plate, the slipbase having a plurality of notched slots adapted to allow slippage as a result of the longitudinal force and prevent slippage as a result of the lateral force.
14. The slipbase post of claim 10, wherein the first vertical member, the horizontal member, and the second vertical member are formed from circular tubes.
15. The slipbase post of claim 10, further comprising a first vertical plate configured to couple the second end of the second vertical member to the upstream ends of the guardrails.
16. The slipbase post of claim 15, further comprising a second vertical plate configured to couple the second end of the second vertical member to an anti-side penetration device.
17. A crash cushion, comprising:
- an energy-absorbing structure disposed between a pair of thrie beams, the thrie beams being curved such that their concave sides face each other;
- each thrie beam having one or more tension cables coupled between upstream and downstream ends of the concave side of the thrie beam;
- the thrie beams coupled at their upstream ends to a slipbase post and coupled at their downstream ends to a vertical structure; and
- an anti-side penetration device coupled adjacent the upstream ends of the thrie beams.
18. The crash cushion of claim 17, wherein the energy-absorbing structure comprises Z-tubes that are suspended from the tension cables.
19. The crash cushion of claim 17, wherein the vertical structure comprises a utility pole.
20. The crash cushion of claim 17, wherein the slipbase post comprises:
- a first vertical member coupled to a base plate;
- a horizontal member coupled to the first vertical member and extending in a direction towards the anti-side penetration device; and
- a second vertical member coupled at a lower end to the horizontal member and coupled at a second end to the upstream ends of the thrie beams, whereby the first vertical member decouples from the base plate as a result of a longitudinal force applied to the anti-side penetration device and applies a torque to the base plate as a result of a lateral force applied to one of the thrie beams.
Type: Application
Filed: Oct 20, 2004
Publication Date: May 5, 2005
Applicant:
Inventor: Don Ivey (Jennings, LA)
Application Number: 10/970,221