Our Expertise | AUTOMOTIVE

Woodrail Road Barrier Impact Analysis

The Woodrail® road barrier is designed to improve vehicle safety blending in with the surrounding environment.

<h5>Woodrail Road Barrier</h5>
Woodrail Road Barrier

Abstract

The Woodrail® road barrier is designed to improve vehicle safety blending in with the surrounding environment. The barrier has been thoroughly tested and certified against car and bus impact conditions. Since road barriers are built to improve safety of larger road vehicles, they are potentially very dangerous for motorcyclists. For this reason, Woodrail designed a protection system to explicitly account for impact of a human sliding on the road surface and hitting the road barrier; the system can be easily integrated with an existing barrier.

Impact Analysis using Numerical Simulation

Woodrail needed to test the road barrier with the motorcyclist protection system installed for:

  • car and bus impact conditions
  • the consequences of a human impact on the modified road barrier

EnginSoft  provided consultancy in extending the certification of the barrier to the new configuration with the motorcyclist protection system installed. This was efficiently achieved using numerical simulation with a significant cost reduction compared to physical testing. The study included:

  • simulation of car and bus impact scenarios
  • an adapted numerical dummy model provides biometric results including head acceleration and neck moments

Although the simulations were quite demanding from a computational standpoint we ran them within hours exploiting the EnginSoft Cluster and other in-house high performance computing resources.

Thanks to the results obtained through this study, the Woordrail safety barrier was approved as a Level I protection system for motorcyclists following the UNE135900 code.

Comparison of total plastic strain and wheels trajectory with and without the motorcyclist protection system installed

Find out more

CASE STUDY

Simulation-Based Engineering Science: a heritage to cherish and invest in for a sustainable future

The adoption of SBES has significantly increased in the last two decades, driven by advancements in computing technology and the rise of Industry 4.0, which promotes nine key enabling technologies, including engineering simulation and big data analytics. SBES is crucial for the integration and automation of production systems, improving flexibility, speed, and quality.

automotive construction energy cfd metal-process-simulation

Read more  

NEWSROOM

Stay connected with us: news, analysis and trends from our experts.

Newsroom  

MEDIA CENTER

Scroll through our Media Center to view all the videos, video-tutorials and recorded webinars.

Media Center  

CASE STUDY

Improving the reliability of multibody simulation by implementing a hysteretic tyre model for radial dynamics

Multibody simulation is integral to engineering, enabling precise analysis of structural loads and dynamic behaviours in complex systems. In the context of forklifts, where tyres play a critical role due to the absence of suspension systems, accurate tyre modelling is essential. This study develops and validates a hysteretic Bouc-Wen model for the radial dynamics of solid rubber tyres to enhance simulation reliability.

multibody recurdyn mechanics automotive

Read more