W-Beam Steel Road Guardrail

Two road products, and this is the standardised one

The range contains two road products and they are never interchangeable. W-Beam Steel Road Guardrail — this page — is the corrugated-beam system published against JT/T 281—2007: a 4320 mm panel on a 4 m post spacing, a twin-wave or triple-wave beam of a stated width and plate thickness, on a stated post section, with a stated mass per panel and a stated quantity of parts per kilometre. Road Guardrail is the general road and municipal line, made to the project specification from barrier units, beam and rail sections, posts and fixings. It cites no JT/T figures, because it is not this system.

The engineering is in the beam profile. A vehicle striking a corrugated beam is guided along it rather than through it: the wave in the plate is what gives the panel its stiffness across the span, and the post spacing is what the beam spans. Both published figures are 4320 mm and 4 m, and they work together — the panel is lapped and bolted so that the net gap between posts comes out at 4 m, which is why the two numbers are always quoted as a pair.

The manufacturer states that the panels have good corrosion resistance and are resistant to ageing. Where a project follows AASHTO, EN or another national standard, the beam profile, plate thickness, post section, hole pattern and accessory set may all differ, so tell us the standard and we confirm in writing what we can supply against it.

W-beam steel road guardrail — published figures

Every row below is a published figure for this system, including the theoretical masses and the quantity of parts in a standard kilometre. They are reproduced unchanged, because they are what a beam quotation is built from.

What the published figures tell you

• A stated standard. JT/T 281—2007, the Ministry of Transport industry specification for highway corrugated-beam steel guardrail panels, cited by the manufacturer.
• Panel and spacing in one pair. A 4320 mm panel with a net 4 m after installation, on a 4 m post spacing — the two figures that turn a run length into a count.
• Two beam widths. Twin-wave at 310 mm in 3 mm or 4 mm plate; triple-wave at 505 mm in 4 mm plate, at a theoretical 102 kg.
• An 85 mm wave height. The same on both beams, which is what gives the panel its stiffness across the span.
• Published masses. 49.16 kg and 65.44 kg per twin-wave panel, 12.15 kg/m and 15.04 kg/m per post, and 12.3 t or 16.388 t of beam per kilometre.
• Post lengths that follow the ground. Normally 1.85 m / 1.95 m / 2.00 m / 2.15 m depending on the requirement.
• One system, not a parts list. Posts, caps, end terminals, spacer blocks and bolt sets are supplied with the beam.
• Stated characteristics. Good corrosion resistance and resistance to ageing, as the manufacturer states.

Published against JT/T — and honest about other standards

The figures on this page are published against the Chinese industry specification JT/T 281—2007, and that is what makes this product quotable from a page rather than from a drawing. It is also its limit. If the project is written to AASHTO, EN or another national standard, the beam profile, the plate thickness, the post section, the hole pattern and the accessory set may all differ, and the published figures here cannot be assumed to satisfy that standard. Tell us which standard you follow and we confirm in writing what we can supply against it.

What is not a standard question is the run. Give us the length in metres and the beam type — twin-wave in 3 mm or 4 mm, or triple-wave in 4 mm — and the per-kilometre quantities above become a bill of parts, with the end terminals, caps, spacer blocks and bolt sets counted to match. Where the road is a municipal or authority detail rather than a corrugated beam, this is the wrong page: that work is quoted as the Road Guardrail, from the drawing.

Packed by weight, because beam is heavy

Panels are stacked and steel-banded into bundles, and posts, caps, spacer blocks, end terminals and bolt sets are bundled and bagged separately, each bundle marked with the panel type, the post section and the drawing reference. A container load of steel barrier runs out of weight long before it runs out of space, so the published masses are the figures the loading plan is built on: tell us the container size, the beam type and the maximum bundle weight you can unload.

Four questions, answered from this page

How is this different from the Road Guardrail?

This is the standardised corrugated-beam system published against JT/T 281—2007, with fixed panel, beam, plate, post and per-kilometre figures. The Road Guardrail is the general road and municipal line made to the project specification from barrier units, beam and rail sections, posts and fixings, and it quotes no JT/T figures. They are two products with separate specifications and separate quotations.

What are the panel and post figures?

A 4320 mm panel with a net 4 m after installation, on a 4 m post spacing. Posts are Φ114 mm or Φ140 mm with a 4.5 mm wall, normally 1.85 m / 1.95 m / 2.00 m / 2.15 m long depending on the requirement.

Twin-wave or triple-wave?

Twin-wave is 310 mm wide with an 85 mm wave height in 3 mm or 4 mm plate. Triple-wave is 505 mm wide with an 85 mm wave height in 4 mm plate, at 102 kg, and goes onto a 130 × 130 mm square-tube post rather than a Φ114 / Φ140 mm round post.

What is in a kilometre?

250 guardrail panels, 250 posts at 4 m spacing, 2 end terminals, 250 post caps, 250 spacer blocks (防阻块), 250 connector bolt sets and 2000 splicing bolt sets.

Can you supply to AASHTO or EN?

Tell us the standard and we will confirm in writing what we can supply. The figures here are published against JT/T 281—2007, and another standard may change the profile, plate, post section, hole pattern and accessories.