Design of high-tension elastic cable barriers preventing rollover and climbing-over of various vehicles with high impact severity

A design procedure was presented for long-span semi-rigid cable barriers with strong posts that can prevent the rollover and climbing-over of various vehicles impacting with high impact severity while providing good occupant safety against high-speed small car crashes. The effective height of the barrier to prevent the climbing-over of buses was greater, regardless of a post spacing, than to prevent the rollover of pickup trucks. The effective height of the barrier increased as the post spacing decreased. The effective height of the cable barrier, required to prevent the rollover of pickup trucks colliding at 160 km/h speed (impact energy of 262 kJ) 60% larger than the commonly used impact speed of pickup trucks, was 0.65 m, similar to that of conventional rail-type barriers. A semi-rigid cable barrier for a 287 kJ (13-ton bus − 70 km/h − 20°) impact severity could provide THIV approximately 23% below the THIV threshold for a small car impact velocity of 160 km/h, 60% larger than the maximum impact speed typically applied to rail-type barriers. It could also limit the damage of cars and barriers due to small car and large vehicle impacts to a smaller section as compared to existing semi-rigid rail type barriers.