Strategy for Alternative Occupant Volume Testing

PDFProceedingsRTDF2009-18025CollisionsImpact testsCrash injury researchCrash victim simulationMechanical testsRailroad safetyPassenger carsFinite element methodAmerican Society of Mechanical EngineersCarolan, Michael E.Muhlanger, MichelleJohn A. Volpe National Transportation Systems Center (U.S.)NTL-RAIL TRANSPORTATION-Rail SafetyNTL-SAFETY AND SECURITY-Rail SafetyVolpe National Transportation Systems Center, Technical Reference CenterThis paper describes plans for a series of quasi-staticcompression tests of rail passenger equipment. These tests aredesigned to evaluate the strength of the occupant volume understatic loading conditions. The research plan includes a detailedexamination of the behavior of conventional equipment duringthe 800,000-pound buff strength test. The research will alsoinclude a demonstration of an alternative static test that isdesigned to load and test the occupant volume at a locationother than the buff lugs. The alternative test will demonstrate atesting and evaluation method for the occupant volume strengthof passenger rail cars that accounts for the collision load paththrough the occupant volume