Fibre-reinforced composite road guardrails - CompoRail

Project summary

The objective is to design, manufacture and test an innovative road restraint system whose guardrail is made of a thermoplastic composite material. The partners will propose a material, a modelling methodology, a structural design and a manufacturing technology adapted to the application. The development will be based on physical and virtual prototypes. The objective is to reach TRL 6, starting from TRL 2. Composite material is a good solution for replacing concrete and steel barriers that can damage cars a lot in case of light impact, and that are expensive and subjected to corrosion. The partners will put their expertise together: University of Latvia for the selection and testing of the composite material, GDTech for the simulation of crash, for modelling composite structures and for its knowledge of the safety barriers context for certification and standardisation, Desami for the design and installation of the barrier and soil testing and Sobelcomp as producer of the plastic beam.