Abstract
The design of arrestor beds, also known as deceleration beds, is dependent on a accurate estimation of the deceleration of a vehicle entering the bed at speeds up to 160 km /h. This paper describes field testing undertaken. Two arrestor beds one made with dune sand and the other with 10 mm rounded river gravel, were tested at entry speeds ranging from 60 km /h to 94 km /h by loaded and unloaded rigid body and articulated vehicles. Deceleration in an arrestor bed was found to be dependent on vehicle type, vehicle load, entry velocity, bed material and bed depth.