PURPOSES : In this study, a method for improving roadside barrier performance by introducing additional reinforcing materials without dismantling or drilling the old underperforming roadside barrier is developed based on the Installation and Management Guide for Roadside Safety Feature. METHODS : Reinforcing roadside barriers comprising reinforcement rails, impact absorbers, blockouts, and support reinforcement plates attached to an old underperformance roadside barrier were designed and manufactured. The manufactured prototypes were subjected to a vehicle crash test to verify their performance. RESULTS : In a structure whose performance is measurable after it collides with a large truck, the minimum strength of the structure to withstand the collision is maintained. Additionally, the safety of passengers measured via the collision test of a small vehicle is excellent. Hence, the reinforcement plan for the old underperforming roadside barrier satisfies all the performance evaluation standards. CONCLUSIONS : The cost of the improvement technology specifications proposed herein is approximately 50% lower than that of a SB3 level roadside barrier. The proposed method for improving the old underperforming roadside barrier is expected to be widely applied as it can be applied conveniently to road sites.

PURPOSES: In this research, an SB3-level roadside barrier for a highway transition zone that meets the newly established guide Installation and Management Guide for Roadside Safety Appurtenance is developed. Its performance is evaluated by a numerical simulation and real-scale vehicle impact testMETHODS: The commercial explicit dynamic software LS-DYNA is utilized for impact simulation. An FE model of a passenger vehicle developed and released by the National Crash Analysis Center (NCAC) at George Washington University and a heavy goods vehicle (HGV) model developed by the TC226/CM-E Work Group are utilized for impact simulation. The original vehicle models were modified to reflect the conditions of test vehicles. The impact positions of the passenger vehicle and truck to the transition guardrail were set as 1/2 and 3/4 of the transition region, respectively, according to the guide.RESULTS : Based on the numerical simulation results of the existing transition barrier, a new structural system with improved performance was suggested. According to the result of a numerical simulation of the suggested structural system, two sets of transition barriers were manufactured and installed for real-scale vehicle impact tests. The tests were performed at a test field for roadside safety hardware of the Korea Highway Corporation Research Institute.CONCLUSIONS: The results of both the real-vehicle impact tests and numerical simulations of the developed transition barrier satisfied the performance criteria, and the results of numerical simulation showed good correlation with the test results.