Impact Performance of W-beam Guardrail Supported by Different Shaped Posts

This study applied the finite element code LS-DYNA for evaluating the crashworthiness of W-beam guardrail. Four crash test simulations were conducted for evaluating the safety performance of the W-beam guardrail with four different post configuration according to the European standard EN1317. The results showed that the best performance was demonstrated by the sigma-shaped posts and the I-shaped posts absorbed the lowest amount of impact energy. The optimal result was registered by the barrier with sigma-shaped posts, which demonstrated a lower ASI value and higher energy crash absorption than the other models did.