Sequential Kinking and Flared Energy-Absorbing End Terminals for Midwest Guardrail System (05-0785)**
Robert Bielenberg, University of Nebraska, Lincoln
John Rohde, University of Nebraska, Lincoln
Dean L. Sicking, University of Nebraska, Lincoln
John D. Reid, University of Nebraska, Lincoln

The Midwest Guardrail System (MGS), developed at the Midwest Roadside Safety Facility, was designed to improve the performance of traditional strong-post, W-beam guardrail systems. These improvements include decreasing the potential for rollover with high center-of-gravity vehicles, decreasing the potential for rail rupture at the splice locations, and decreasing the sensitivity of the system to the installation rail height. However, safe guardrail termination options for the MGS must be developed before the system can be implemented on the roadside. Two end terminal designs, the Sequential Kinking Terminal (SKT) and the FLared Energy Absorbing Terminal (FLEAT), were partially re-designed and crash tested in conjunction with the MGS guardrail system according to NCHRP Report No. 350 criteria. The new versions of the terminals were named the SKT-MGS and the FLEAT-MGS in order to designate them for use with the MGS guardrail system. In order to evaluate the performance of the terminals with the MGS system, a series of four full-scale crash tests were conducted. Two redirection tests, NCHRP Report No. 350 test designations 3-34 and 3-35, and two head-on impacts, test designations 3-30 and 3-31, were conducted. The results from the four crash tests conducted were found to meet all relevant safety requirements. The SKT-MGS and FLEAT-MGS end terminals are the first successfully tested end terminals for use with the MGS guardrail system.