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Abstract
Through this research an energy absorbing guardrail terminal was developed which is capable of bringing errant vehicles to a safe and controlled stop. This terminal incorporates a mechanism which cuts standard W-beam guardrail into strips, thereby producing a force which absorbs the kinetic energy of an impacting vehicle. A nonlinear finite element code, LS-DYNA3D, was used to simulate the cutting phenomenon. The model consisted of fully integrated solid elements in conjunction with an elastic-plastic material model with strain based failure. A very fine mesh with multiple elements through the thickness of the material being cut was used to capture the highly localized cutting phenomenon. The results of this computer simulation effort have implications in not only the safety community, but in industrial applications where an accurate model can be used to develop more effective and economical shearing procedures.
