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Vehicle crash barrier
| Details |
Inventors: Laturner, John F.;
Assignee: Energy Absorption Systems, Inc. (Chicago, IL)
Primary Examiner: Bui; Thuy M.
Assistant Examiner: Connolly; Nancy
Attorney, Agent or Firm: Willian Brinks Olds Hofer Gilson & Lione
An energy-absorbing crash barrier is provided with multiple energy-absorbing elements. Each element includes an expanded metal sheet formed as a tubular column which is internally braced with foam. In some of the sections multiple metal columns are provided, one eccentrically positioned within the other. The expanded metal columns provide the major energy-absorbing elements of the barrier, and the eccentrically positioned columns define a preferred bending direction which tends to redirect an axially impacting vehicle away from a hardpoint. The columns in the individual elements are graduated in axial stiffness such that a forward section tends to collapse before the rearward sections, thereby providing staged collapse. |
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DETAILED DESCRIPTION According to a first aspect of this invention, a vehicle crash barrier adapted to decelerate an impacting vehicle is provided, comprising at least one energy-absorbing element comprising a column and a foam disposed within the column.
The column comprises a sheet of material which defines an array of perforations extending along and around the column.
The column defines a longitudinal axis and has a sufficient rigidity such that, when an impacting vehicle having an initial kinetic energy impacts the energy-absorbing element and collapses the column along the longitudinal axis, the foam braces the column against buckling, and deformation of the column absorbs a greater fraction of the initial kinetic energy than does deformation of the foam.
By using a perforated sheet in the column, it has been found that a relatively large volume of the sheet can be strained to a relatively large degree during axial collapse, thereby enhancing energy-absorbing capacity per unit weight of the sheet.
The foam braces the column and improves the stability of the column with respect to a long column or Euler buckling, thereby reducing the need for external frameworks.
According to a second aspect of this invention, a vehicle crash barrier is provided having at least one energy-absorbing element comprising a column and a foam disposed within the column.
As above, the column comprises a sheet of material which defines an array of perforations extending along and around the column.
The energy-absorbing element and the column each define a respective central longitudinal axis, and these axes are offset with respect to one another such that the column is eccentric toward a first side of the energy-absorbing element along a transverse axis.
The column has a sufficient rigidity to define a preferred bending direction for the energy-absorbing element, and this preferred bending direction is generally aligned with the transverse axis such that a redirecting force aligned with the transverse axis is applied to an axially impacting vehicle during axial collapse of the energy-absorbing element
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Vibration and Earthquake Isolation 
