A new mobile anti-ramming system

The recent vehicle-ramming terror attacks in Berlin, Barcelona, London and Nice pointed out our vulnerability: all of us could be victims during a walk in our squares or in crowded places, it is sufficient a car, a van or a truck. The current solution to this problem is the application of concrete barriers in our cities. These devices are not goodlooking and give a sense of danger to the human beings. But are they effective? Starting from this question, the authors studied the effectiveness of these barriers and developed a new goodlooking mobile device. The study was carried out by means of mathematical and numerical models. In particular, a spring-mass system was used in order to macroscopically represent the problem and finite element analyses by explicit calculation in Abaqus were carried out. Also Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamics (SPH) method was used in the numerical models. The final shape of the barrier is a planter full of water which is urban furniture and anti-ramming system at the same time. The barrier is made of metal, without foundation and characterized by high friction coefficient between the ground and the barrier itself and a good mass distribution, studied to stop the vehicle in few meters. The high deformability and the ability of the water in the barrier to take away a lot of energy allow to stop a 3500 kg vehicle running at 64 km/h and the system itself in less than four meters as demonstrated by the crash test carried out. As consequence of this crash test, the anti-ramming system is IWA 14-1:2013 and PAS 68:2013 certificated.