Expedient barrier apparatus

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10024008-B2
Application number	US-201615135312-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 21, 2016
Priority date	Nov 10, 2015
Publication date	Jul 17, 2018
Grant date	Jul 17, 2018

Abstract

A vehicle barrier apparatus includes a horizontal barrier component, a vertical barrier component, at least one rigid stabilizer beam having two end surfaces and at least one elongated side surface. One end of the stabilizer beam is affixed to the vertical barrier component. The elongated side surface of the stabilizer beam is affixed to the horizontal barrier component to prevent rotational movement of the vertical barrier component. A lower surface of the horizontal barrier component is a friction-enhanced surface which creates a sliding friction interface upon contact of a moving vehicle with the vertical barrier component.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A vehicle barrier apparatus, comprising:
at least one vertical barrier component, wherein said at least one vertical barrier component is rigid;
at least one horizontal barrier component, wherein said at least one horizontal barrier component includes a lower barrier surface having a friction-enhanced surface, wherein said friction-enhanced surface creates a sliding friction interface upon contact of a moving target vehicle with said at least one vertical barrier component; wherein said horizontal barrier component prevents contact between the target vehicle and a road surface, and said vehicle barrier apparatus skids along the road surface under the target vehicle's momentum, wherein said at least one horizontal barrier component further includes a plurality of apertures extending therethrough; wherein an average diameter of said plurality of apertures is inversely proportional to a road roughness surface coefficient K calculated by the equation:

K
s

=

∑

i
=
1

i
=
n

⁢

(

b
i

-
a

)

2

n

wherein b is the height of a road surface at a measurement point i, a is the average height of the road surface and n is the total number of measurement points i;
at least one stabilizer beam having two end surfaces and at least one elongated side surface, wherein one end of said stabilizer beam is affixed to said at least one vertical barrier component, wherein said at least one elongated surface is affixed to said at least one horizontal barrier component to prevent rotational movement of said at least one vertical barrier component; and
wherein said at least one horizontal barrier component is a flexible horizontal barrier component attached to at least one spreader bar.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein said at least one vertical barrier component has a minimum vertical height equal to a target vehicle bumper.

3. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein said at least one vertical barrier component and said at least one stabilizer beam are movably attached to alter an angle between said at least one vertical barrier component and said at least one stabilizer beam.

4. The apparatus of claim 3 , further including an actuating component connected to said at least one vertical barrier component and said at least one stabilizer beam, wherein said actuating component is selected from the group consisting of: springs, pneumatic cylinders, and hydraulic cylinders.

5. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein said at least one vertical barrier component forms an angle with said at least one stabilizer beam ranging from approximately 15 degrees to approximately 90 degrees.

6. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein said at least one stabilizing beam is permanently affixed to said at least one horizontal barrier component.

7. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein said at least one stabilizing beam is selectively affixed to said at least one horizontal barrier component.

8. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein said friction-enhanced surface has a minimum coefficient of kinetic friction with a road surface of approximately 0.3.

9. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein said friction-enhanced surface comprises at least one frictional structure selected from the group consisting of: metal grating, at least one layer of elastomer, integral metal protrusions, welded metal angles and bolted metal angles.

10. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein at least one of said plurality of apertures includes a barrier anchor extending through said at least one of said plurality of apertures and into a road surface.

11. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein said at least one horizontal barrier component is at least one section of rigid material.

12. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein said at least one horizontal barrier component is a plurality of flexible panel components interconnected by a plurality of link components.

13. The apparatus of claim 12 , wherein said plurality of flexible panel components are a plurality of metallic panel components.

14. The apparatus of claim 12 , wherein said plurality of link components are selected from the group consisting of: a plurality of polymer straps having a tensile strength of at least 10,000 lbs. and a plurality of interconnected woven metal wires.

15. The apparatus of claim 11 , wherein said at least one horizontal barrier component is comprised of a plurality of interconnected link components.

16. The apparatus of claim 15 , wherein said plurality of interconnected link components are selected from the group consisting of: a plurality of interconnected polymer straps having a tensile strength of at least 10,000 lbs., a plurality of interconnected woven metal wires, and interconnected para-aramid synthetic fibers.

Assignees

• Us Army

Inventors

• Holmer Matthew S
• Ray James C
• Steed Bradford A
• Foust Bradley W
• Edwards Micael C
• Price Christopher G
• Oesch Tyler S
• Wilkes Jr Daniel W
• Flournoy Keith A
• Mcmahon Gordon W
• Durst Bartley P

Classifications

• E01F13/12 Primary

  for forcibly arresting or disabling vehicles, e.g. spiked mats · CPC title

• E01F15/00

  Safety arrangements for slowing, redirecting or stopping errant vehicles, e.g. guard posts or bollards; Arrangements for reducing damage to roadside structures due to vehicular impact (arrangements for fastening signs or signals to safety barriers or the like E01F9/669; for forcibly arresting vehicles E01F13/00) · CPC title

• E01F13/02

  free-standing; {portable, e.g. for guarding open manholes (E01F9/688 takes precedence); Portable signs or signals specially adapted for fitting to portable barriers} · CPC title

• E01F13/123

  depressible or retractable below the traffic surface, e.g. one-way spike barriers, power-controlled prong barriers · CPC title