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The simulation of the vehicle impact against deformable barriers has been commonly used for the design of vehicle bodies for a number of years. However, the use of similar procedures to study side impacts against road barriers is innovative and presents new challenges. The main technological challenge of simulating vehicle impacts against road barriers is based on an accurate characterization of barrier elements and materials such as the locking of the barrier with the ground, the deformation of the materials at high impact speeds, fracture modelling, correct definition of parameters such as friction between the elements that impact with the barrier, or characterization of elements embedded in the concrete such as the fibres. An essential part of the work is the realization of both characterization tests as well as real-scale tests, in order to validate the results obtained in the simulations.

A recent Spanish survey reveals that opposite to vehicle and pedestrian accidents, motorcycle fatalities have increased in the last 7 years. One third of these correspond to collisions of motorcyclists against roadside guardrails. In response to this serious safety demand, manufacturers and governments in Spain and France have started their own initiatives in both, launching smart road restraint systems safer for vulnerable users, and developing new protocols and regulations to evaluate the behavior of these systems against motorcyclist collisions. In order to provide support to roadside guardrails manufacturers to fulfill these regulations and develop friendly systems for motorcyclist, Applus IDIADA is carrying out a project to develop a robust methodology to create CAE simulation models that represent these impacts.