Evaluation of occupant volume strength in conventional passenger railroad equipment : a thesis submitted by Michael E. Carolan

Details

• Alternative Title:
  Evaluation of occupant volume strength in conventional passenger railroad equipment
• Creators:
  Carolan, Michael E.
• Corporate Creators:
  Tufts University
• Contributors:
  Perlman, A. B.
• Subject/TRT Terms:
  • Finite element method
  • Structural analysis
  • Railroad cars
  • Passenger cars
  • Collisions
  • Occupant protection devices
  • Compression tests
  • Load tests Finite element method
  • Structural analysis (Engineering)
  • Railroad cars
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• Resource Type:
  Thesis
• Geographical Coverage:
  United States
• Corporate Publisher:
  Tufts University
• Abstract:
  To ensure a level of occupant volume protection, passenger railway ; equipment operating on mainline railroads in the United States must currently be ; designed to resist an 800,000 pound compressive load applied statically to the ; underframe. An alternative manner of evaluating the strength of the occupied ; volume is sought that will ensure the same level of protection for occupants of the ; equipment as the current test but will allow for a greater variety of equipment to ; be evaluated. ; A finite element (FE) model of the structural components of the railcar has ; been applied to examine the existing compressive strength test and evaluate ; selected alternate testing scenarios. Using simplified geometry and material ; properties in the model, the gross behaviors of the railcar are captured without ; excessive processing time. This simplified modeling technique was used to ; construct FE models of a generic single-level railcar and an exemplar multilevel ; railcar. ; Both models can be interpreted to have some single beam-like behaviors. ; In each model, the existing compressive load results in a significant bending ; moment as well as the prescribed compressive load. The alternative load cases ; examined demonstrate that a larger total compressive force may be distributed ; across the end structure of the railcar and result in similar stress levels throughout ; the structural frame as are observed from application of the conventional proof ; load.
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• Format:
  PDF
• Download URL:
  https://rosap.ntl.bts.gov/view/dot/10034/dot_10034_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 6.35 MB]
• Collection(s):
  Volpe Center
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:96f4c24c1fb1a05057dca1ae6459846a549607b0d60fb8421a86bf2b22fb80e7a7afe5dca6ad5d13a43f4477987fa3651cae22fac0c90fb458404c255b02173e