Watch truck drive into a metal guard used by embassies at 50mph
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If you've ever wondered exactly how effective the barriers erected around embassies and other federal buildings are, then researchers have just the video for you.
The Texas A&M Transportation Institute has released footage of a truck travelling at 50mph (80km/h) hitting a sturdy steel barrier.
Captured in slow motion, the heavy-duty fence hardly moves as the 15,000lbs (6,830kg) truck flatbed ploughs into it - and comes to a complete stop.
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The Texas A&M Transportation Institute has released footage (pictured) of a truck travelling at 50mph (80km/h) hitting specially-designed safety barriers during a simulated terrorist attack
While the cabin of the truck is destroyed, barrels at the rear, which were used to simulate an explosive device, remain relatively unscathed.
The barrier was built using steel and concrete, moulded into shape.
It measures 24ft (seven metres) wide, was buried 18 inches (46cm) into the ground, and weighs a staggering 50,000 lbs (22,760kg) - the equivalent to two armoured cars.
And during the video, this barrier is shown withstanding 750,000lbs (340,190kg) of force generated when the truck smashed into it.
This is three times the strength required for a Boeing 747 to lift off.
The tests were carried out Texas A&M Transportation Institute's Proving Grounds Research Facility.
There, researchers adapted a former Blue Bell ice cream delivery truck into a test vehicle.
The test was designed to simulate the act of terrorists driving a truck laden with explosives at the barrier.
'The goal of the test was to prevent the bed of the truck going 50mph from passing one metre past the barrier,' the Institute said.
'The bed is where a bomb might be, and that's what the barrier is meant to keep out.'
It is part of the TTI's contract with the US State Department to test various 'perimeter security devices' installed at embassies and other facilities around the world.
Captured in slow motion, the heavy-duty fence hardly moved as the 15,000lbs (6,830kg) truck flatbed (pictured) ploughed into it. The barrier was built using steel and concrete, moulded into shape
It measured 24ft (seven metres) wide, was buried 18 inches (46cm) into the ground, and weighed a staggering 50,000 lbs (22,760kg) -the equivalent to two armoured cars. And during the video, this barrier is shown withstanding 750,000lbs (340,190kg) of force generated when the truck smashed into it (pictured)
While the cabin of the truck was destroyed, barrels at the rear, (pictured) which were used to simulate an explosive device, remained relatively unscathed. The goal was to prevent the truck bed from making it further than one metre past the barrier, a spot marked by a blue pole at the testing site
'The focus is on keeping a terrorist from breaching the barrier,' Dean Alberson with TTI's Crashworthy Structures Program, told the Texas Tribune.
The goal was to prevent the truck bed from making it further than one metre past the barrier, a spot marked by a blue pole at the testing site.
None of the truck's bed made it past the barrier, marking the test a success, Alberson added.
The ability of a driver to survive such a crash is not a primary concern, researchers said.
The tests were carried out Texas A&M Transportation Institute's Proving Grounds Research Facility.There, researchers adapted a former Blue Bell ice cream delivery truck (pictured) into a test vehicle
This aerial shot shows the cabin of the truck being completely destroyed. Designers at the Institute, who have not yet named the barrier, were tasked with creating a new perimeter security fence to protect sensitive facilities from car bombs and terror attacks
Designers at the Institute, who have not yet named the barrier, were tasked with creating a new perimeter security fence to protect sensitive facilities from car bombs and terror attacks.
Associate Research Engineer William Williams is the mastermind behind the 13-year project - which was tested on September 24.
He said: 'We have been working with the State Department since 2001 developing various devices designed to keep locations safe from bombings.
'The State Department wanted a design that was more visually pleasing than the devices used in the past.'
A spokesperson for the American Travel Technology Initiative added that testing of the 15ft (4.5 metre) barrier was a success, because it stopped the truck and its cargo.
A spokesperson for the American Travel Technology Initiative added that testing of the 15ft (4.5 metre) barrier was a success, because it stopped the truck and its cargo (pictured)
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