Annual Report 2019
(2020)
In its Annual Report 2019, the BASt has compiled a selection of its research. For example, the climate impact analysis, among other things, describes an essential research focus for the federal main road network. The new information and evaluation platform "BaustellenCheck" is presented, and reports on digitization in road equipment and maintenance as well as on various activities on the innovative test site duraBASt.
The results of current simulator and test track studies are also part of the annual report, as are the results of level 3 automation studies in real road traffic with an appropriately equipped test vehicle. Approaches to solutions for the infrastructure requirements of automated driving on motorways and federal trunk roads are presented, as well as the current status of the development of regulations in the field of vehicle technology.
The BASt scientists investigated the significance of virtual reality in road safety work. Whether influencers can be used effectively in road safety communication was also considered, as well as other proposed measures to reduce the risk of accidents, especially among young novice drivers.
Highlights as well as facts and figures in short and concise form complete the report.
Die schnell voranschreitende Entwicklung im Bereich der Fahrzeugautomatisierung wirft unter anderem die Frage auf, welche Anforderungen an eine entsprechende Gestaltung bzw. Adaptation der Infrastruktur daraus hervorgehen. Es kann davon ausgegangen werden, dass bei einer Infrastruktur mit regelwerkskonformer Umsetzung der Standards automatisiertes Fahren auf Autobahnen grundsätzlich möglich ist. Da in der Praxis automatisiert fahrende Fahrzeuge aber mit allen Gegebenheiten zurechtkommen müssen und der Status Quo der Infrastruktur nicht immer dem technischen Regelwerk entspricht, werden relevante infrastrukturseitige Umfeldbedingungen erörtert und im Vergleich mit dem Status Quo technologieoffen möglichen Lösungsansätzen sowie ihrer Realisierbarkeit gegenübergestellt. Dabei kommt einer digitalen Referenzkarte mit temporären Merkmalen eine zentrale Bedeutung zu. Entscheidend ist dabei auch der Aspekt der Bidirektionalität: So sollte die Referenzkarte einerseits Informationen zur Verfügung stellen, andererseits aber auch durch die Fahrzeugflotte selbst über plötzlich auftretende, durch die Fahrzeugsensorik erkannte Ereignisse Informationen aus der Fahrzeugflotte erhalten.
Annual report 2018
(2019)
With this annual report, BASt is giving the 2018 research year a face. A part of its work is present and in the focus of the public, for example the field test of long trucks, the unique research area duraBASt at the motorway junction Cologne East or the innovative measuring vehicle MESAS for the condition assessment of road surfaces in flowing traffic. A large part of the BASt's work is less effective in attracting public attention but no less important, such as the essential updating of regulations, the testing and approval of products and processes, and the compilation of forecasts and statistics. More than 50 employees report on their research activities and thus give an insight into the tasks of BASt with its core areas of vehicle technology, traffic safety, traffic engineering, road construction as well as bridge and civil engineering. Highlights as well as facts and figures in short and concise form complete the report.
The road transport infrastructure is facing many challenges and the subsequent adaptation of the infrastructure is of utmost concern. These challenges are as follows: globalization, sustainability, technological and demographic change, an increase in goods transport and climate change. Various climate projections predict changing climatic parameters such as temperature, precipitation and wind speed for Germany. This could have severe impacts on road transport infrastructure as well as road traffic itself. At the Federal Highway Research Institute (Bundesanstalt für Straßenwesen), a strategy was developed to adapt roads and engineering structures to the impacts of climate change. The strategy "Anpassung der Straßenverkehrsinfrastruktur an den Klimawandel /Adaptation of road traffic infrastructure to climate change (AdSVIS)" currently comprises about 15 projects. Adaptation measures are to be developed for the identified risk areas and consequently their effectiveness has to be assessed.
Fire incidents are among the most relevant for people in a tunnel. Therefore, it is important to be sufficiently prepared for such events. A large scale fire test is to be used to help evaluate the initial burning duration and the time it takes for the fire to spread to other vehicles in the tunnel, and in particular how long it takes for a truck carrying wooden pallets to catch fire, taking into consideration the extremely high temperatures. The goal, therefore, is to determine the time it takes for a fire to spread to other vehicles in the tunnel. In the large scale fire test, an accident in a tunnel with one-way traffic is simulated between a truck loaded with approximately 3.7 t of wooden Europol pallets and a passenger car. Directly behind each of the vehicles involved in the accident there is another car which stops at a distance of 1.0 m. Approximately 300 litres of burning diesel are discharged from the truck's fuel tank, which is simulated by using approximately 400 litres of isopropanol. A 10 m-² burning pool forms underneath the truck. Other objectives of the large scale fire test are the validation of the CFD models and the evaluation of the progression of the thermal release ratios estimated for the simulation. The thermal release ratios generated in the test are determined and evaluated using various models.
Risk-based approach for the protection of land transport infrastructure against extreme rainfall
(2016)
The aim of the research project "Risk based approach for the protection of transport infrastructure against extreme rainfall RAINEX" is the development of a practical methodology for the identification and assessment of both vulnerable as well as critical transport infrastructures towards extreme rainfall events consequences. The developed methodology is based on expert knowledge and includes qualitative and semi-quantitative analyses regarding the assessment of the vulnerability and criticality of relevant transport infrastructures. The process chain from the spatial rainfall to the concentrated runoff in the river channel was shown to assess the local hazard resulting in the local risk. The main result of the project is a practice-oriented and applicable methodology and a comprehensive and well-developed security handbook.
Road authorities, freight, and logistic industries face a multitude of challenges in a world changing at an ever growing pace. While globalization, changes in technology, demography, and traffic, for instance, have received much attention over the bygone decades, climate change has not been treated with equal care until recently. However, since it has been recognized that climate change jeopardizes many business areas in transport, freight, and logistics, research programs investigating future threats have been initiated. One of these programs is the Conference of European Directors of Roads (CEDR) Transnational Research Programme (TRP), which emerged about a decade ago from a cooperation between European National Road Authorities and the EU. This paper presents findings of a CEDR project called CliPDaR, which has been designed to answer questions from road authorities concerning climate-driven future threats to transport infrastructure. Pertaining results are based on two potential future socio-economic pathways of mankind (one strongly economically oriented "A2" and one more balanced scenario "A1B"), which are used to drive global climate models (GCMs) producing global and continental scale climate change projections. In order to achieve climate change projections, which are valid on regional scales, GCM projections are downscaled by regional climate models. Results shown here originate from research questions raised by European Road Authorities. They refer to future occurrence frequencies of severely cold winter seasons in Fennoscandia, to particularly hot summer seasons in the Iberian Peninsula and to changes in extreme weather phenomena triggering landslides and rutting in Central Europe. Future occurrence frequencies of extreme winter and summer conditions are investigated by empirical orthogonal function analyses of GCM projections driven with by A2 and A1B pathways. The analysis of future weather phenomena triggering landslides and rutting events requires downscaled climate change projections. Hence, corresponding results are based on an ensemble of RCM projections, which was available for the A1B scenario. All analyzed risks to transport infrastructure are found to increase over the decades ahead with accelerating pace towards the end of this century. Mean Fennoscandian winter temperatures by the end of this century may match conditions of rather warm winter season experienced in the past and particularly warm future winter temperatures have not been observed so far. This applies in an even more pronounced manner to summer seasons in the Iberian Peninsula. Occurrence frequencies of extreme climate phenomena triggering landslides and rutting events in Central Europe are also projected to rise. Results show spatially differentiated patterns and indicate accelerated rates of increases.
Efficient and widely available transport infrastructure is one of the most important prerequisites for sustainable economic development to meet the demand for mobility. In this context, being able to manage traffic growth forecasts is of particular importance. In Germany, current forecasts indicate a 40% increase in rail and road transport in the country. However, about 60% of bridges (as measured by bridge area) on the national German highway system that are suitable for freight transport were built before 1985. In other transport sectors as well, aging infrastructure is one of the key challenges for the availability and the resilience of European transport infrastructure. Many bridges in the national German highway system are already at their load-bearing limit. Furthermore, required maintenance measures have not been adequately carried out in the past due to limited budgets, leading to overall bridge deterioration. Further challenges for owners and operators of transport infrastructure result from the effects of climate change, associated climate extremes, natural catastrophes, and possible criminal and terrorist threats. To ensure that future infrastructure challenges can be successfully addressed, strategies and solutions must be developed and implemented in a timely manner to enable holistic and sustainable life-cycle management. The concepts of Resilience Management as well as Resilience Engineering are essential building blocks in this process. Resilience is the ability to survive in the face of a complex, uncertain, and ever-changing future. It is a way of thinking about both short-term cycles and long-term trends. Using this concept, owners and operators can reduce the risk of disruption in the face of shocks and stresses. Resilience requires cyclical, proactive, and holistic risk management practices.
Gesellschaftlich bedingte Änderungen in der Mobilität sowie die politisch gewollte Attraktivitätssteigerung und Förderung des Radverkehrs sollen die Verkehrsmittelwahl hin zum nichtmotorisierten Verkehr verschieben. Dies kann einen Beitrag zu einer umweltfreundlicheren Mobilität liefern. Aufgrund der veränderten Fahrradnutzung, der zunehmenden Verbreitung von elektrisch unterstützten Fahrrädern und der gestiegenen differenzierten Anforderungen unter anderem an Verkehrsqualität werden Anpassungen der Infrastruktur im Hinblick auf die Radverkehrsplanung, -konzeption sowie Straßenbau beziehungsweise -erhaltung notwendig sein. Vor diesem Hintergrund sowie der hohen Unfallanzahl, Unfallschwere und steigenden Unfallanteile im Radverkehr werden in den einzelnen Forschungsbereichen der Sicherheitsforschung des Radverkehrs (Einflussfaktor Mensch, Infrastruktur und Sicherheitsausstattung/Fahrzeugtechnik) zahlreiche Forschungsaktivitäten durchgeführt, um die Entwicklung der Verkehrssicherheit im Radverkehr nicht weiter von der positiven Entwicklung der Verkehrssicherheit insgesamt abzukoppeln. Dieser Beitrag gibt aufbauend auf den Fakten und Potenzialen des Radverkehrs einen Überblick über die Radverkehrssicherheit hinsichtlich Gesamtunfallgeschehen, Unfallentwicklung und Unfallstruktur. Die Darstellung der abgeschlossenen, laufenden und geplanten Forschungsaktivitäten soll die wesentlichen Erkenntnisse und Maßnahmen in den jeweiligen Forschungsbereichen verdeutlichen.
Die Richtlinie 2008/96/EG der EU zum Straßenverkehrsinfrastruktur-Sicherheitsmanagement wurde im Dezember 2010 in nationales Recht überführt. Sie sieht Sicherheitsaudits für Infrastrukturprojekte, Sicherheitseinstufung und Sicherheitsmanagement des in Betrieb befindlichen Straßennetzes sowie regelmäßige Sicherheitsinspektionen vor. Während mit den Empfehlungen für das Sicherheitsaudit von Straßen seit 2002 ein bewährtes formalisiertes Verfahren zur Beurteilung der Sicherheitsbelange geplanter Straßen zur Verfügung steht, besteht insbesondere Bedarf an einem geeigneten Verfahren zur Detektion von Sicherheitsdefiziten im Bestand. Dies verdeutlichte die Grundlagenanalyse. Durch Befragungen, Erfahrungsaustausche und erste Pre-Tests mit Straßenmeistereien und Verkehrsbehörden zeigten sich in der Verfahrensanalyse Stärken und Schwächen der bestehenden Verfahren. Die Streckenkontrolle baut dabei auf wesentlich zuverlässigeren und stabileren Strukturen auf als die Verkehrsschau. Abgeleitet wurden hieraus Verbesserungsbedarf für die bestehenden Verfahren sowie Grundlagen und Ansätze für ergänzende Sicherheitsüberprüfungen. Mit der erweiterten Streckenkontrolle als flächendeckende Inspektion für ausgewählte Themenschwerpunkte und dem anlassbezogen Bestandsaudit als ganzheitliches Verfahren wurden zwei unterschiedliche Ansätze entwickelt. Geeignete Werkzeuge wie Defizitlisten, Schulungsprogramme und Anweisungen für die Anwender wurden aufgebaut und anhand von Pilotanwendung und Expertengesprächen abgestimmt. In der erweiterten Streckenkontrolle wurden etwa 1.840 km Strassennetz durch die Streckenwarte inspiziert. Es zeigte sich, dass der Strassenbetriebsdienst über einen großen Erfahrungsschatz hinsichtlich der Straßeninfrastruktur und Straßenausstattung verfügt und grundsätzlich in der Lage war, sicherheitsrelevante Defizite aus dem planerischen Bereich zu benennen. Die meisten Defizite wurden allerdings bei Hindernissen im Seitenraum und Fahrzeug-Rückhaltesystemen festgestellt. Die Durchführung von exemplarischen Bestandsaudits auf sechs Strecken brachten wichtige Erkenntnisse im Hinblick auf die Ausgestaltung des Verfahrens. Wie bei der erweiterten Streckenkontrolle zeigte sich, dass die methodische Vorgehensweise und die entwickelten Werkzeuge von Grund auf funktionieren und lediglich kleinerer Anpassungen bedürfen.