Almost 12,000 doses, packaged in reusable “protection boxes”, could lead to safer roads in Thailand.
The innovation, developed by Cranfield University (UK), focuses on addressing the devastating effects of high-speed collisions with road maintenance trucks, which lead to around 70 deaths in Thailand each year. Dr. Hessam Ghasemnejad, professor of aerospace structures, is leading this project at Cranfield.
In 2021, 28% of road accidents in Thailand were rear-end collisions. These collisions often occur at high speeds (over 90 km/h) and the fatality rate increases when one of the vehicles is significantly more rigid than the other, for example when a car hits a heavy truck or a maintenance vehicle on the highway.
Dr. Ghasemnejad is developing an innovative method that could lead to safer roads in the event of such accidents, using common materials such as aluminum cans.
Safer roads, with the help of aluminum cans
Researchers are creating reusable protective boxes filled with aluminum canisters that mount on the back of road maintenance vehicles. Each box contains 11,776 cans arranged in four “stacks” of 2,944, and all cans are filled with natural waste such as coir. In the event of a collision, the pods will compress, absorbing a significant amount of impact energy and reducing the risk of injury to drivers and passengers, writes Phys.org.
In addition to the protection provided, these boxes are designed to be reusable, with cans being replaced after an accident and crushed ones being able to be recycled.
Initial simulations were based on numerical modeling and analytical calculations, but physical tests have already taken place at the Cranfield Impact Centre.
A project that reduces waste
“Road accidents happen every day all over the world. Fitting these protective boxes to road maintenance vehicles will protect both drivers and road workers by absorbing much of the energy that makes high-speed collisions so dangerous,” said Dr. Hessam Ghasemnejad.
“Using recycled materials for these boxes makes sense because accidents are inherently destructive. Using recycled materials, which can be recycled again in the future, virtually eliminates waste, compared to using non-recyclable materials that would have to be thrown away after a single impact,” he says.
The project aims to design two different types of waste-filled protective boxes for road maintenance vehicles, with the objective of implementing portable waste-filled protective boxes for at least three types of maintenance vehicles from different operators.
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Source: www.descopera.ro
