AU2006235939A1 - Guardrail type road safety barrier - Google Patents

Description

AUSTRALIA

Patents Act 1990 COMPLETE

SPECIFICATION

STANDARD

PATENT

GUARDRAIL TYPE ROAD SAFETY

BARRIER

The following statement is a full description of this invention, including the best method of performing it known to me:

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GUARDRAIL TYPE ROAD SAFETY

BARRIER

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BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Field of the Invention SThe present invention relates to a guardrail type k D road. More

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road safety barrier installed on a road. More particularly, the present invention relates to a guardrail type road safety barrier, which comprises a plurality of posts spaced at constant intervals in line on the ground, two or more arrays of guardrail plates secured in line to upper and lower portions of each post while being horizontally spaced a predetermined distance from each other in the vertical direction and each of which is bent to form ridge and trough sections substantially perpendicular to each other, a rail reinforcing plate perpendicularly secured between the guardrail plates to increase the strength of the guardrail plate and relieve shock upon collision of a vehicle to protect passengers in the vehicle, and a cylindrical reinforcing post fixedly inserted into a lower interior of each post to prevent the lower portion of the post from being bent upon the collision of the vehicle against the post.

0 z Description of the Related Art Generally, a guardrail type road safety barrier is installed along either side or a central region of a road or a highway to prevent vehicles from straying off the M road or deviating towards an opposite side of the road D for the purpose of protecting vehicles or passengers from a traffic accident while smoothly guiding a travel direction of the vehicles. The guardrail type road safety barrier comprises a plurality of posts spaced at constant intervals and each having a portion buried in the ground, and guardrail plates secured to one or both sides of each post by means of a fastening member.

In order to succeed in the highest level test, the road safety barrier is required to pass both a strength capability test, which evaluates whether or not the road safety barrier withstands shock occurring when a truck of 14 ton collides with the road safety barrier at 80 km per hour, and a passenger protection capability test, which evaluates whether or not the road safety barrier exhibits a high shock absorption capability when an automobile of 1.3 ton collides with the road safety barrier at 100 km per hour. Thus, it is necessary for the road safety barrier not only to withstand the shock caused by collision of large vehicles, but also to protect safety

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of the passengers upon the collision of the automobiles.

0 z In other words, in preparation of collision of the vehicles against the road safety barrier, the road safety barrier must have not only structural rigidity, but also M shock absorption capability so as to protect the M passengers from the traffic accident.

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IND However, although a conventional guardrail type road safety barrier becomes more effective in view of protection from the large vehicle with an increase in strength of the road safety barrier, it suffers from deterioration in shock absorption capability with the increase in strength thereof, failing to satisfy requirement for safety of passengers. In other words, the conventional guardrail type road safety barrier has a problem in that it does not satisfy both structural rigidity and shock absorption capability at the same time.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve the above problems, and it is an object of the present invention to provide a guardrail type road safety barrier which is reinforced in strength of guardrail plates, thereby satisfying requirements for high strength to withstand shock caused by collision of large vehicles and

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for capability of protecting passengers of an automobile, 0 Z that is, improving both protection capability with respect to the large vehicle and shock absorption capability with respect to the automobile at the same time.

In accordance with one aspect of the present invention, the above and other objects can be accomplished by the provision of a guardrail type road safety barrier, comprising a plurality of posts spaced at constant intervals along either side or a central region on a road, a plurality of guardrail plates secured to both outer sides of the posts in a longitudinal direction and each having ridge and trough sections, a connection member for maintaining a space between the guardrail plate and the post to prevent a tire of a vehicle from directly colliding with the post, wherein the guardrail plates are secured in upper and lower arrays to upper and lower portions of both sides of each post while being horizontally spaced a predetermined distance from each other in the vertical direction to provide a clear view and good visibility, each guardrail plate being bent to a width half or less than that of a conventional guardrail plate and to form the ridge and trough sections substantially perpendicular to each other, and wherein a rail reinforcing plate is disposed between the guardrail

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9 plates facing each other and perpendicularly integrated S at either side of the rail reinforcing plate to both C upper and lower arrays of guardrail plates to increase strength of the guardrail plates, thereby not only improving efficiency of protecting from a large vehicle which generally collides with both guardrail plates in the upper and lower arrays, but also relieving shock c- caused by collision of an automobile with the guardrail plate in the lower array, and to shield light passing through a space between the guardrail plates from headlights of the vehicle driving at an opposite side of the road during night driving.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS The foregoing and other objects and features of the present invention will be more clearly understood from the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which: Fig. 1 is an exploded perspective view of a guardrail type road safety barrier according to one embodiment of the present invention positioned along the center of a road; Fig. 2 is a perspective view of the guardrail type road safety barrier shown in Fig. 1;

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Fig. 3 is a longitudinal cross-sectional view taken z along line I-I of Fig. 2; O Fig. 4 is a longitudinal cross-sectional view taken along line I1-fl of Fig. 2; SFig. 5 is a horizontal cross-sectional view taken M along line Hm-m1 of Fig. 3; D Fig. 6 is an enlarged horizontal cross-sectional C-i view of part A of Fig. Fig. 7 is a longitudinal cross-sectional view taken along line V-V of Fig. 6; Fig. 8 is a horizontal cross-sectional view taken along line IV-IV of Fig. 4; Fig. 9 is a longitudinal cross-sectional view taken along line VI-VI of Fig. 8; Fig. 10 is a horizontal cross-sectional view taken along line Vi-V of Fig. 3; Fig. 11 is an exploded perspective view of a guardrail type road safety barrier according to another embodiment of the present invention positioned along an edge of a road; Fig. 12 is a longitudinal cross-sectional view taken along line VI-Vi of Fig. 11; and Fig. 13 is a longitudinal cross-sectional view taken along line IX-IX of Fig. 11.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED

EMBODIMENTS

0 z Preferred embodiments of the invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which like components are denoted by the same reference numerals.

D The guardrail type road safety barrier G comprises a c-i plurality of cylindrical posts 10 spaced at constant intervals and each having fastening holes 10a formed at upper and lower portions of both outer sides thereof, upper and lower arrays of guardrail plates 200 respectively fastened to both outer sides of the posts and connection members 30 having a circular cross-section respectively disposed between the posts 10 and the guardrail plates 200.

Each guardrail plate 200 is formed by bending a plate to form ridge and trough sections substantially perpendicular to each other in the longitudinal direction, and comprises a single trough-based coupling section 230 which has a plurality of fastening holes 230 spaced at constant intervals in the longitudinal direction, two ridge-based vehicle contact sections 270 formed at outer sides of the coupling section 230, and bent sections 290 formed at right and left sides of the guardrail plate 200 in the widthwise direction thereof.

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Here, each of the guardrail plates 200 is bent to a 0 z width half or less than that of a conventional standard guardrail plate.

Each connection member 30 comprises a first arcshaped coupling surface 31 having a fastening hole 31a formed therein to be coupled to a corresponding outer ND side of the post 10, and a second planar coupling surface c- 33 having an elongated hole 33a opposite the fastening hole 31a of the first coupling surface 31 to be coupled to the coupling section 230 of the guardrail plate 200.

A long shaft bolt 100 and a nut 300 are provided to the fastening holes 31a formed in the first coupling surface 31 of the connection member 30 to secure the connection member 30 to the corresponding outer side of the post In addition, a short shaft bolt 100 and a nut 300 are provided to the elongated holes 33a formed in the second coupling surface 33 of the connection member 30 to secure the guardrail plate 200 to the connection member in an overlapped state.

An upper end of each post 100 is open and provided with a closing cap 40. In addition, the safety barrier further comprises rail reinforcing plates 50 which are disposed at constant intervals at respective intermediate portions between the posts 10, and secured between the

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upper and lower arrays of guardrail plates 50 secured to 0 S the posts 100.

Each of the rail reinforcing plates 50 comprises a planar plate 51 having a predetermined thickness, and coupling sections 53 bent perpendicular to the plate 51 at opposite sides of the plate 51 in opposite directions ND and having elongated fastening holes 53a formed at upper and lower portions of each coupling section 53.

A hollow reinforcing post 70 is disposed within each of the posts 10, and extends from underground to above ground.

At this time, the reinforcing post 70 is formed with a fastening hole 70a corresponding to a fastening hole formed at a lower portion of the post 10 such that the reinforcing post 70 is fastened to the post through the fastening holes 10a and 70a by means of the long shaft bolt 100 and nut 300.

With the aforementioned configuration, there will be described hereinafter an operation of installing the guardrail type road safety barrier G according to the present invention installed along the center of the road.

Referring to Fig. 3, for installing the guardrail type road safety barrier of the invention, a plurality of posts 10 are buried to a predetermined depth in the ground at constant intervals. Then, the connection

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members 30 for holding the upper and lower arrays of S guardrail plates are secured at heights L1 and L2 to opposite outer sides of each post 10 extending above the ground surface so as to be vertically spaced from each Mc, other by a distance corresponding to a distance between the heights Ll and L2.

O For example, as shown in Fig. 5, the first coupling c-I surface 31 of each connection member 30 is abutted on an outer peripheral surface of the post 10 such that the fastening hole 31a of the first coupling surface 31 corresponds to the fastening hole 10a of the post Then, the connection members 30 for holding the guardrail plates 200 are secured to the opposite outer sides of the post 10 by inserting the long shaft bolts 100 into the fastening holes 31a and 10a and then fastening the nuts 300 into the bolts 100.

Next, with the connection members 30 vertically spaced from each other on the opposite sides of each post the second coupling surface 33 of each connection member 30 is secured to a corresponding guardrail plate 200 which has the width half or less than that of the conventional guardrail plate.

Specifically, referring to Figs. 5 to 7, with the connection members 30 vertically spaced from each other on the opposite sides of each post 10, the trough-based coupling section 230 of each guardrail plate 200 is matched to the second coupling surface 33 of the connection member Then, with the elongated hole 33a of the second coupling surface 33 of the connection member 30 matched to the fastening hole 230a of the coupling section 230 of the guardrail plate 200, the fastening bolt 100 and the nut 300 are fastened to each other via the elongated hole 33a and fastening hole 230a, thereby completing installation of each guardrail plate 200.

Thus, upon collision with the guardrail type road safety barrier of the present invention, an automobile having a bumper at a lower portion collides only with the lower guardrail plate 200 positioned at the height L2 of the post 10, whereas a large vehicle collides with both of the upper and lower guard rail plates 200 positioned at the heights L1 and L2 of the post In addition, as shown in Figs. 4, 8 and 9, the rail reinforcing plate 50 is secured at opposite ends to the upper and lower arrays of guardrail plates 200 therebetween, which are vertically spaced and secured to the opposite sides of each post 10, so that the guardrail plates 20 facing each other are integrally connected by the rail reinforcing plate Specifically, with the elongated fastening holes 53a

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9 of each coupling section 53 of each rail reinforcing 0 z plate 50 matched to the fastening holes 230a of the C coupling sections 230 of the upper and lower guardrail plates 200, the rail reinforcing plate 50 is coupled to the upper and lower guardrail plates 200 by use of the Mshort shaft bolts 100 and nuts 300 through the holes 53a D and 230a.

Operation of the guardrail type road safety barrier according to the invention will be described hereinafter.

When a vehicle collides with the road safety barrier of the invention, the connection members 30 having a circular cross section disposed between the guardrail plates 200 and the post 10 undergoes a compressive load caused by the collision, and is deformed as shown in Fig.

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That is, when the compressive load is applied to each of the connection members 30 having the circular cross-section, the connection member 30 is gradually deformed from the circular cross-section into an elliptical cross section. Here, the deformation of the connection member 30 from the circular shape to the elliptical shape occurs due to a phenomenon where the connection member 30 absorbs shock caused by the compressive load transferred thereto.

For example, when the vehicle collides with the

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safety barrier, the connection member 30 having the 0 z circular cross-section undergoes plastic deformation as C soon as the compressive load is applied to the connection member 30. Then, as the compressive load increases, the Mconnection member 30 absorbs the shock by an increasing amount of plastic deformation of the connection member IND as repulsive force of a spring increases in proportion to c- an increasing amount in compressive load of the spring.

As such, since the shock transferred to the vehicle is absorbed by the connection members 30, the shock applied to the vehicle is minimized.

According to the present invention, with each of the guardrail plates 200 bent to form the ridge and trough sections substantially perpendicular to each other and have the width half or less than that of the conventional guardrail plate, the upper and lower longitudinal arrays of guardrail plates 200 are secured to the upper and lower portions of the opposite outer sides of each post and are horizontally spaced the predetermined distance from each other in the vertical direction, thereby providing a clear view and good visibility. In addition, as shown in Figs. 8 and 9, the rail reinforcing plate 50 is disposed between the guardrail plates 200 facing each other and is perpendicularly integrated to both upper and lower arrays of guardrail plates to kO IND increase the strength of the guardrail plates, thereby 0 Z not only improving efficiency of protecting with respect to the large vehicle which can collide with both upper and lower arrays of guardrail plates, but also relieving Mshock caused by the collision of the automobile only on the guardrail plate in the lower array.

D When the large vehicle collides with the barrier, c- since the shock is transferred not only to the guardrail plates at one side of the barrier, but also to the guardrail plates at the other side of the barrier via the rail reinforcing plates 50 integral to the upper and lower arrays of guardrail plates 200 secured to the opposite sides of the post, the shock is distributed to allow the guardrail plates 200 to withstand the shock, thereby preventing the guardrail plates 200 from being separated from the post 10 or damaged.

When the small vehicle having the bumper at the lower position collides with the barrier, only the lower guardrail plate 200 undergoes the shock caused by the collision of the small vehicle, and relieves the shock transferred to the vehicle, thereby protecting passengers from the shock.

Meanwhile, it is possible to further improve shock absorption capability for the small vehicle by changing the width or thickness of the guardrail plates fastened

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0 to the lower portion of each post, that is, the lower 0 z guardrail plates, among the upper and lower arrays of guardrail plates 200, or by changing the width or thickness of the connection member 30 disposed between the post 10 and the lower guardrail plate 200.

With this configuration, the safety barrier of the M invention satisfies requirements for high strength to c-i withstand the shock caused by the collision of the large vehicle and for capability of protecting the passengers of the automobile. That is, the safety barrier of the invention improves both protection capability with respect to the large vehicle and the shock absorption capability with respect to the automobile at the same time.

In addition, each of the rail reinforcing plates is disposed between the guardrail plates 200 facing each other and integrated to both upper and lower arrays of guardrail plates 200, thereby shielding light passing through a space between the guardrail plates from headlights of the vehicle driving at an opposite side of the road during night driving.

In the aforementioned description, although the guardrail type road safety barrier has been described as being installed along the center of the road as one embodiment, the present invention is not limited to this

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construction. Referring to Figs. 11 to 13, there is shown 0 Z a guardrail type road safety barrier according to another C embodiment, which can be installed along one side of the road. According to this embodiment, the guardrail type road safety barrier comprises a plurality of posts upper and lower arrays of guardrail plates 200 vertically IND spaced from each other and secured in line to the posts c-i at a traffic side of the road with the connection members disposed between the post 10 and the guardrail plate 200 as in the road safety barrier installed along the center of the road, a single array of guardrail plates secured in line to the posts at a non-traffic side of the road without the connection member 30, and a parallelepiped shaped rail reinforcing plate integrally coupled between the single array of guardrail plates and the upper and lower arrays of guardrail plates.

According to this embodiment, a pipe-shaped reinforcing post 70 is disposed within each of the posts and extends from underground to above ground, as shown in Figs. 3 and 10, thereby preventing a portion of the post 10 corresponding to a boundary between the post and the ground from being easily bent upon collision of the vehicle.

In addition, since the reinforcing post 70 is secured to an inner surface of the post 10 by means of

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bolts 100 and nuts 300, it is possible to prevent the 0 z reinforcing post 70 from being separated from the post in piling work to install the posts 10 in the ground.

As apparent from the above description, with each of M the guardrail plates 200 bent to have a significantly narrowed width half or less than that of that IN conventional guardrail plate, the rail reinforcing plates c-i 50 are perpendicularly integrated to both upper and lower arrays of guardrail plates 200 which are secured to upper and lower portions of the opposite outer sides of each post 10 while being spaced predetermined distances from each other in the horizontal and vertical directions to increase the strength of the guardrail plates 200, thereby not only improving efficiency of protecting from a large vehicle which can collide with both upper and lower arrays of guardrail plates 200, but also relieving shock caused by collision of an automobile only with the guardrail plate in the lower array.

In addition, according to the invention, as a compressive load caused by collision of the vehicle is increasingly transferred to the connection member having a circular cross-section, the connection member undergoes plastic deformation from the circular crosssection to an elliptical cross-section while absorbing shock resulting from the collision by an increasing

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amount of plastic deformation of the connection member 0 as repulsive force of a spring increases in proportion to an increasing amount in compressive load thereof, thereby providing superior shock absorption effect.

In addition, according to the invention, the rail reinforcing plates 50 are disposed between the guardrail M plates 200 facing each other along the road, and serve to c- shield light passing through a space between the guardrail plates 200 from headlights of the vehicle driving on an opposite side of the road at night, thereby preventing the light from obstructing a view of a driver of the vehicle.

In addition, according to the invention, with each of the guardrail plates 200 bent to the significantly narrowed width, the upper and lower longitudinal arrays of guardrail plates 200 are secured to the upper and lower portions of the opposite outer sides of each post while being spaced a predetermined distance from each other in the vertical direction to provide clear visibility, thereby reducing fatigue of the driver and an accident on a curve road.

Furthermore, according to the invention, with each of the guardrail plates 200 bent to the significantly narrowed width, the upper and lower longitudinal arrays of guardrail plates 200 are secured to the post 10 and

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spaced the predetermined distance from each other in the 0 z vertical direction, thereby providing a good view to the safety barrier with a simple design.

Moreover, according to the invention, the pipershaped reinforcing post 70 is disposed within each of the posts 10, thereby preventing the post 10 from being D easily bent due to the collision of the vehicle.

It should be understood that the embodiments and the accompanying drawings have been described for illustrative purposes and the present invention is limited by the following claims. Further, those skilled in the art will appreciate that various modifications, additions and substitutions are allowed without departing from the scope and spirit of the invention as set forth in the accompanying claims.

Claims (1)

1. 3. The road safety barrier according to claim i, further comprising: a pipe-shaped reinforcing post secured to an inner surface of each post by means of a bolt and nut, and extending from underground to above ground to prevent a portion of the post corresponding to a boundary between the post and the ground from being easily bent upon collision of the vehicle. SAMHO C&T PTY LTD. 9 NOVEMBER 2006