Experimental and analytical studies on the highway cable barrier were initiated in 1968 at the national aeronautical establishment. This report describes the basis for these studies and the analytical model of the cable barrier which has been formulated and programmed for digital simulation. The analysis contains a complete description of an erected curved barrier in terms of post locations, post strength, cable elevations, cable length, cable modulus and cable pretension. With this detailing, the simulation realistically follows, in time, the cable interaction on the sprung mass and the release of the deflected cables by fracturing of the posts. The condition of friction between the vehicle and cables and the constraint posts and cables is included in the analysis. This cable barrier model is processed as a building block subroutine of the bpr-cal single vehicle accident simulation program. The data from five experiments with speeds up to 55 mph are used to provide an initial assessment of the cable barrier analysis and the simulation redirection of the vehicle.
Abstract