Engineering Commons^™

Optimization Of Physical Properties Of Hydraulic Cushion Cells For Vehicle Impact Restraint, William Evans Hughes

Theses and Dissertations

In recent years, the United States has witnessed a vast expansion of its internal highway system. Concurrently the number of vehicles has increased as has the average yearly milage per vehicle. Unfortunately, along with increased vehicle use there has been an alarming increase in annual loss of life and property due to traffic accidents. Statistics verify that the modem freeway systems greatly reduce dangerous head on collisions but the rate of accidents due to collisions with fixed objects in or near the roadway has increased almost 50 percent in the past thirty years.^1 In 1966, about 13>300 deaths were …