Technical Report: A numerical framework to support the certification of barrier testing

To serve as an effective mitigation solution, vehicle security barriers must be carefully manufactured, designed and installed to accomplish various tasks, such as for instance preventing heavy-duty incoming trucks at high velocity from breaking through or narrow vehicles to squeeze in between them and access the protected area. Currently, the performance of barriers against vehicle impact is certified through physical tests using full-scale vehicles. This testing method guarantees that all the complex phenomena during the vehicle impact test are taken into account, but due to the high cost only a limited number of impact scenarios is assessed (usually only one). The methodology for the physical testing of vehicle barriers that are employed by the different standardisation bodies are similar, but substantial differences are present, which causes discrepancy in the performance ratings of products available in the market across the European Union.

The harmonisation of vehicle barrier testing standards across the EU will ensure common performance and security levels and will enhance the single market for security products. Harmonization can be assisted through the use of numerical methods. Numerical simulations are cost-efficient and can be used to assess different impact scenarios (changing the vehicle’s velocity, its type or its angle of impact). Numerical testing methods will also open the way to creativity and the development of innovative protective structures which are integrated to the urban aesthetics and cultural character of the surrounding area. Guidelines for the use of numerical tools can be placed at the disposal of urban authorities and security operators for the assessment of ad-hoc security solutions.   

This report describes the numerical framework to study the impact of vehicles on barriers, as part of the vehicle ramming protection strategy development. The numerical framework covers the set-up of the desired parameters of the model and also the computational efficiency of the analysis. Numerical results of passengers and heavy weight vehicle impact against bollards are presented. Finally, we discuss how the numerical simulations can assist in obtaining a better certification of the Hostile Vehicle Mitigation (HVM) systems via guidelines and enhancement of the existing specifications.