TTI Research Supervisor:
Nauman M. Sheihk, P.E.
Associate Research Engineer
Texas A&M Transportation Institute
TAMU 3135
College Station, Texas 77843-3135
(979) 845-8955 [email protected]
Pooled Fund Technical Representative:
Derwood C. Sheppard, Jr., P.E.State Roadway Design Engineer
Florida Depart. of Transportation
Roadway Design Office
605 Suwannee Street, MS-32
Tallahassee, FL 32399-0450
(850) 414-4334 [email protected]
ABSTRACT
In the State of Florida, Modified Special Steel Posts are mount on Concrete Structures in areas where standard posts embedded in soil are not applicable. The special posts and baseplates use a bolted connection with a concrete curb inlet to support the guardrail during impact. Because of the wide use of special guardrail post and baseplates, there is a need to evaluate their compliance to American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) Manual for assessing Safety Hardware (MASH). This will allow Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) to either continue using these posts or adopt a new design for future projects.
The objective of this research is to develop a MASH compliant version of Florida Department of Transportation’s (FDOT) Modified Special Steel Posts for Concrete Structure Mount. With this goal, the research team will analyze the current FDOT Modified Special Steel Posts for Concrete Structure Mount detail, provide alternate solutions to the current details, perform component pendulum testing on possible solutions, and perform MASH crash testing on the final selected design detail.
The Modified W-Beam Guardrail with Modified Special Steel Posts for Concrete Structure Mount met the performance criteria for MASH Test 2-11 for longitudinal barriers. Justification was provided for completing the critical MASH test 2-11. The research team concluded the W-Beam Guardrail with Modified Modified Special Steel Posts for Concrete Structure Mount was MASH compliant.
