Germany – Research and development services and related consultancy services – Untersuchungen zum Restpotential von Schutzeinrichtungen

Current developments in the vehicle fleet and new registrations in Germany show a trend towards heavier vehicles, primarily SUVs. A similar trend can be observed in the light commercial vehicle/utility vehicle segment. Added to this are changes in general vehicle segmentation and new developments in drive technologies. All these developments and changes influence the impact of a vehicle on a safety barrier. At the same time, it can be assumed that the installation situations of safety barriers on-site differ significantly from the environment on test tracks. Geotechnical properties of the soil serve as an example of this. The DIN EN 1317 standard for impact tests on safety barriers is currently being revised and is over a decade old in its current version. The vehicle classes and impact scenarios defined in the standard no longer fully reflect current developments. It can generally be assumed that the trends outlined will continue, meaning that a sufficient residual capacity for safety barriers must be expected. At the same time, there is still insufficient knowledge about how these and future developments will affect impacts on safety barriers. It is therefore likely that the effects can no longer be adequately mitigated in the long term by the existing, European-agreed individual testing strategy. Objective/Benefit: The aim is to investigate whether the previously unconsidered influences have an impact on the performance of safety barriers. The objective of this project is therefore to make an initial scenario-oriented assessment of possible influences on the performance of safety barriers commonly used on German highways, based on real-world impact tests. To this end, three real-world impact tests based on the requirements of DIN EN 1317 will be carried out. These tests are characterized by the vehicle segments SUV and utility/light commercial vehicle, with particular consideration given to the geotechnical properties of the soil on the test site. The test...