Full scale tank car coupler impact tests

Details

• Alternative Title:
  Proceedings of 2003 ASME International Mechanical Engineering Congress and RD&D Expo
• Creators:
  Lyons, Matthew L ; Riddell, William T ; Koch, Kevin D.
• Corporate Creators:
  John A. Volpe National Transportation Systems Center (U.S.) ; Transportation Technology Center, Inc.
• Corporate Contributors:
  United States. Federal Railroad Administration
• Subject/TRT Terms:
  • Couplers
  • Impact tests
  • Fracture tests
  • Accelerometers
  • Speed
  • Tank cars
  • Railroad safety
• Publication/ Report Number:
  IMECE2003-44062
• Resource Type:
  Proceedings
• Geographical Coverage:
  United States
• Corporate Publisher:
  American Society of Mechanical Engineers
• NTL Classification:
  AGR-SAFETY AND SECURITY-SAFETY AND SECURITY ; NTL-RAIL TRANSPORTATION-Rail Safety ; NTL-SAFETY AND SECURITY-Rail Safety ; NTL-SAFETY AND SECURITY-SAFETY AND SECURITY
• Abstract:
  Full scale tests were performed to investigate various ; aspects of tank car behavior during coupler impacts. A tank car ; was equipped with 37 accelerometers and an instrumented ; coupler. Two series of full scale coupler impact tests, ; comprising 26 impacts, are discussed. In the first series, the ; tank car was empty. In the second series, the tank car was full. ; A range of impact speeds was investigated. Accelerometer ; response and coupler force were measured for each test. ; Aspects of the tank car response to coupler impacts can be ; determined by studying the coupler force versus time ; relationship, Shock Response Spectrum (SRS), and Power ; Spectral Density (PSD) analyses of accelerations measured on ; the tank car body. The dominant draft gear load transfer ; mechanism can be determined from the coupler force vs. time ; relationship. Accelerations were measured at many locations ; on the tank car. However, based on preliminary analyses, a ; single location near the manway was chosen for detailed study. ; SRS results of accelerations at this location show good ; correlation with the peak coupler force, although different ; relationships were observed when the car was empty than when ; it was full. PSD analyses of empty tank cars have peaks at ; different frequencies than PSD analyses of full tank cars, so a ; PSD analysis could be used to determine whether a car is ; empty or full. Therefore, the combination of SRS and PSD ; results suggests the possibility of estimating peak coupler ; forces resulting from yard impacts based on SRS and PSD ; analyses of accelerations measured at a single location on a ; tank car.
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• Format:
  PDF
• Download URL:
  https://rosap.ntl.bts.gov/view/dot/9910/dot_9910_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 438.66 KB]
• Collection(s):
  Volpe Center ; Federal Railroad Administration
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha256:6cdbc6b8544c11f0008ce9dabc69a3f6cd6de482d2ed4ecad4692647b0d321d8