Proceedings of the 2008 IEEE/ASME/ASCE Joint Railroad Conference

PDFProceedingsJRC2008-63052Tank carsCrashworthinessCollisionsRailroad safetyFabricationFinite element methodHazardous materialsImpact testsEnergy absorptionUnited StatesAmerican Society of Mechanical EngineersInstitute of Electrical and Electronics EngineersCarolan, Michael E.Talamini, BrandonTyrell, DavidJohn A. Volpe National Transportation Systems Center (U.S.)NTL-RAIL TRANSPORTATION-Rail SafetyNTL-SAFETY AND SECURITY-Rail SafetyNTL-SAFETY AND SECURITY-Vehicle DesignVolpe National Transportation Systems Center, Technical Reference CenterResearch is currently underway to develop strategies for maintaining the structural integrity of railroad tank cars carrying hazardous materials during collisions. This research, sponsored by the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA), has focused on four design functions to accomplish this goal: blunting the impact load, absorbing the collision energy, strengthening the commodity tank, and controlling the load path into the tank. Previous papers have been presented outlining the weight and space restrictions for this new design, as well as the approach being taken in developing the design. The performance goals for the new car have also been outlined. A key goal for the new design is the ability to contain its lading at four times the impact energy of the baseline equipment