United States Department of Transportation
i
Comparison of Measured and Simulated Longitudinal Coupler Force on Tank Cars
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2023-04-01
[PDF-1.78 MB]
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Edition:Final Report
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Abstract:Fractures in the stub sills of tank cars pose a significant problem for the rail industry due to the potential for damage to the tank structure and eventual release of the contents. Previous FRA research revealed that high magnitude coupling forces that occur in yard operations have the potential to exceed the yield limits of mild steel. FRA, Union Tank Car, and Amsted Rail completed a cooperative test program at Amsted Rail’s test facility in Camp Hill, PA, in 2018 to characterize coupling loads for tank cars in yard operations. The statistical analysis revealed that the peak longitudinal coupler force is mostly influenced by coupling speed and draft gear type, not configurations of loaded and empty cars. The TEDS software tool was used to run simulations on a subset of these impact tests. The comparison between the measured and simulated longitudinal coupler force showed relatively good results. However, the simulation could be improved. One or two more iterations of fine tuning the model parameters could potentially improve the comparison in the future.
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