American Society of Mechanical Engineers

AGR-SAFETY AND SECURITY-SAFETY AND SECURITY ; NTL-RAIL TRANSPORTATION-Rail Safety ; NTL-SAFETY AND SECURITY-Rail SafetyNTL-SAFETY AND SECURITY-SAFETY AND SECURITY ; NTL-SAFETY AND SECURITY-Vehicle Design ;

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This paper describes engineering analyses to estimate the

forces, deformations, and puncture resistance of railroad tank

cars. Different approaches to examine puncture of the tank car

head are described. One approach is semi-empirical equations

to estimate the velocity at which puncture is expected to occur.

Other approaches apply elastic-plastic finite element analysis.

The results from these approaches are compared with

experimental data from impact tests, and are shown to provide

reasonable estimates of impact forces.

Volpe National Transportation Systems Center, Technical Reference Center