Bolster Barrier (BOLER) as a Guardrail Impact Device to Enhance Energy Absorbtion

Abstract

Guardrails are the most important road furniture which prevent vehicles from going off the road or into the opposite lane. It also protects objects at the roadside and prevent vehicles from entering into dangerous areas such a ravine or river. Performance of guardrails is not only influenced by their own design, but also the design of the vehicle. The design of guardrails is mostly aimed to reduce serious effects towards vehicles and users in an event of an accident. Bolster Barrier (BOLER) is an impact device that enhances the existing W-shape guardrails that are intended to reduce the accident impact between road users and the guardrails themselves. The application of BOLER is focused at critical areas. The purpose of this device is to reduce the numbers of serious injuries and fatalities in an accident. BOLER involved an impact test known as dolly test at MIROS Lab, Provisional CRASE Crash Centre (PC3) of Ayer Molek, Melaka. The test measured the dolly’s velocity, W-beam guardrail bar’s deformation and the overall force overtime trace. The results for standard the W-beam guardrail with new impact device showed a lower peak force (47.6kN versus 51.5kN) and a delay in reaching peak force by 11.4 milliseconds as compared to guardrails without the new guardrail device. This delay of 11.4 milliseconds is crucial allowing airbags to inflate before full impact.