Details:

Alternative Title:
Proceedings of the 2007 ASME Rail Transportation Division Fall Technical Conference
Creators:
Tyrell, David ; Jeong, David Y. ; Jacobsen, Karina ; Martinez, Eloy
Tyrell, David ; Jeong, David Y. ; Jacobsen, Karina ; Martinez, Eloy Less -
Corporate Creators:
John A. Volpe National Transportation Systems Center (U.S.) ; United States. Federal Railroad Administration
John A. Volpe National Transportation Systems Center (U.S.) ; United States. Federal Railroad Administration Less -
Subject/TRT Terms:
[+]
Collisions Hazardous Materials Impact Tests Prototype Tests Railroad Accidents Railroad Cars Railroad Safety Tank Cars
Publication/ Report Number:
RTDF2007-46013
Resource Type:
Proceedings
Geographical Coverage:
United States
Corporate Publisher:
American Society of Mechanical Engineers
NTL Classification:
NTL-RAIL TRANSPORTATION-RAIL TRANSPORTATION;NTL-RAIL TRANSPORTATION-Rail Safety;NTL-SAFETY AND SECURITY-Rail Safety;NTL-SAFETY AND SECURITY-Vehicle Design;
Abstract:
Three recent accidents involving the release of hazardous

material have focused attention on the structural integrity of

railroad tank cars: (1) Minot, ND, on January 18, 2002; (2)

Macdona, TX, on June 28, 2004; and (3) Graniteville, SC, on

January 6, 2005. Each of these accidents resulted in fatalities.

Research is being conducted to develop strategies for

improving railroad tank cars so they can maintain tank integrity

in severe accidents. A collaborative effort called the Next

Generation Rail Tank Car (NGRTC) Project intends to use

these research results to help develop improved tank car

designs. Dow Chemical Company, Union Pacific Railroad, and

Union Tank Car Company are the industry sponsors of the

NGRTC Project. The Federal Railroad Administration (FRA)

and Transport Canada participate in the NGRTC project

through Memoranda of Cooperation. FRA and the Pipeline and

Hazardous Materials Safety Administration intend to use these

research results to support rulemaking.

The approach taken in performing this research is to define

the collision conditions of concern, to evaluate the behavior of

current design equipment in these scenarios, and to develop

alternative strategies for increasing the maximum impact speed

for which tank integrity is maintained.

The accident scenarios have been developed from a review

of accidents and are intended to bound the range of main-line

accidents that can lead to a release of hazardous material from a

tank car. The accident scenarios and collision modes have been

used to define car-to-car impact scenarios. These car-to-car

impact scenarios define the conditions under which the

commodity must be contained. The impact scenarios are being

used to evaluate the integrity of current design and improved

design tank cars.

Full-scale impact tests are also being conducted, to help

validate modeling of the baseline equipment. The models have

been refined based on the test results. The models are now

being applied to develop the improved equipment designs.

This paper describes the overall research framework and

provides an overview of the research done to date, as well as

the planned efforts.


Format:
PDF
Collection(s):
Volpe Federal Railroad Administration
Main Document Checksum:
[+]
urn:sha256:ed5ebc37d1b0b29e3076b4b180038576b6364cf2f8ee3fe68feb9612eb99c890
Download URL:
https://rosap.ntl.bts.gov/view/dot/9905/dot_9905_DS1.pdf
File Type:

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