Comparison of Thermally Coated and Uninsulated Rail Tank Cars Filled With LPG Subjected to a Fire Environment

Details

• Creators:
  Townsend, William ; Anderson, Charles ; Zook, John ; Cowgill, Gregory
• Corporate Creators:
  Ballistic Research Laboratory
• Corporate Contributors:
  United States. Federal Railroad Administration. Office of Research and Development
• Subject/TRT Terms:
  • Electric insulating materials
  • Explosions
  • Fire resistant coatings
  • Flammability tests
  • Hazardous materials
  • Insulating materials
  • Tank cars
  • Liquefied petroleum gas
  • Railroads
  • Safety and Human Factors
• Publication/ Report Number:
  FRA-OR&D 75-32
• Resource Type:
  Tech Report
• Geographical Coverage:
  Maryland ; United States
• TRIS Online Accession Number:
  00091406
• Edition:
  Final Report
• Corporate Publisher:
  United States. Federal Railroad Administration. Office of Research and Development
• Abstract:
  Two fire tests were conducted on 128 kiloliter, high pressure rail tank cars filled with liquefied petroleum gas. Both tank cars were exposed to an intense hydrocarbon fire after being outfitted with appropriate instrumentation. The instrumentation was monitored and its output recorded throughout the fire tests. To test the feasibility of insulating railroad tank cars to protect them from fire exposure, one of the cars was coated with a 0.318 cm thermal shield. A comparison of data conclusively shows that a thermal shield significantly alters the thermal response of a rail tank car in a fire environment.
• Format:
  PDF
• Funding:
  DOT-AR-30026
• Download URL:
  https://rosap.ntl.bts.gov/view/dot/40232/dot_40232_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 1.99 MB]
• Collection(s):
  US Transportation Collection ; Federal Railroad Administration
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha256:aa1ff42f22578d220c80b66ee877d26e685d6050ef47c29fcc9b0037e2d5b88f