SmartStop 50/80 Crash Cushion
Overview
Crash cushions are mounted to the rear of motorway maintenance vehicles. As the name suggests, the crash cushion is designed to offer protection in the event of high speed collisions from approaching traffic.
The cushion will offer protection to:
- Workers in front of the impacted maintenance vehicle.
- The occupants of the impacting vehicle.
- The maintenance vehicle itself.
SmartStop has not only been designed with saving lives in mind, practicality is also key.
- The SmartStop’s collapsible frame is multifunctional providing controlled crush and significant structural rigidity during everyday use.
- The optimum weight to performance ratio of honeycomb has been exploited in many scenarios. The total cushion weight is only 300kg, minimising the load to the works vehicle.
- The support frame is designed to easily withstand the movements of the crash cushion in its lowered position. Whilst developing the crash cushion, our calculations allowed for large amplitude vibrations and motion, which exceeded the basic requirements.
- The support frame has been designed and tested to withstand multiple impacts, making the cushion reusable.
- The SmartStop is designed from a series of modular components for allowing partial replacement and repair in case of damage.
Development
The design has seen the involvement of approximately 20 multi-disciplined engineers, two world class test houses, research institutes, and of course the customer.
SmartStop has evolved through design, optimisation and evaluation using 3D CAD, and Virtual Finite Element Analysis, prototype testing in Euro Road Safety’s own test laboratories, and full scale testing.
SmartStop has been developed in accordance with the demanding US NCHRP350 and UK TD49/03 standards.
The device is fundamentally designed to provide crash mitigation offering:
- Protection of vulnerable workforce in front of the impact – limiting the roll ahead distance of the works vehicle.
- Protection of the crash victims
- Minimal damage to the works vehicle – through significant reduction in impact stress.
- Prevention of any spillage of debris, or movement of vehicles or people minimising further accidents.