Finite Element Analysis of Truck Platoon Impact into Roadside Safety Barriers
Abstract
Platooning is an extension of Cooperative Adaptive Cruise Control (CACC) and forward
collision avoidance technology that provides automated lateral and longitudinal vehicle control to
maintain a tight formation with short following distances. A truck platoon is led by a manually
driven truck while the drivers of the following trucks can disengage from driving tasks, but remain
alert and monitor the performance of the system. As platooning is a new technology, it is necessary
to understand whether the capacity of existing roadside safety devices is adequate to resist the
potential multiple impacts due to errant truck platoons. It is also important to know how the errant
platoons will behave, and what are the risks imposed to the occupants as well as other motorists
during and after such impacts.
As full-scale crash test can be expensive and time consuming, finite element analysis
(FEA) can be a valuable tool to simulate and assess the roadside impact events. LS-DYNA is a
very popular software for explicit FEA analysis in roadside safety community. This project will
utilize computer simulations in LS-DYNA to understand the adequacy of the critical roadside
safety devices, vehicle stability and occupant risks during errant truck platoon impacts. Truck
platoon impact into two representative reinforced concrete barriers are analyzed in this study under
Manual for Assessing Safety Hardware (MASH) Test Level 5 (TL5) criteria. The minimum truck
platoon fleet size that the existing roadside safety devices can handle without any design changes
can be potentially predicted. Also, the results will indicate if any roadside safety device
improvements and/or platooning constraint modifications will be necessary to ensure safety of
occupants as well as other motorists, pedestrians and/or work zone personnel before truck
platooning can be deployed.
Subject
patooningtractor-van trailer
concrete barrier
bridge rail
MASH
impact simulation
roadside safety
finite element analysis
LS-DYNA
Citation
Sharma, Roshan (2018). Finite Element Analysis of Truck Platoon Impact into Roadside Safety Barriers. Master's thesis, Texas A & M University. Available electronically from https : / /hdl .handle .net /1969 .1 /174571.