Rail passenger equipment crashworthiness testing requirements and implementation

PDFProceedingsCrashworthinessPassenger trainsRailroad safetyRailroad commuter servicePassengersCollisionsImpact testsComputer modelsUnited StatesUnited States. Federal Railroad AdministrationTyrell, DavidSeverson, KristinePerlman, A. BenjaminBrickle, BarrieVanIngen-Dunn, CarolineJohn A. Volpe National Transportation Systems Center (U.S.)NTL-RAIL TRANSPORTATION-RAIL TRANSPORTATIONNTL-RAIL TRANSPORTATION-Rail SafetyNTL-SAFETY AND SECURITY-AccidentsNTL-SAFETY AND SECURITY-Vehicle DesignVolpe National Transportation Systems Center, Technical Reference CenterThis paper describes the requirements and the implementation of a series of impact tests of rail passenger equipment. The testrequirements the desired measurements are dictated by thecharacteristics of the vehicle, as well as uncertainties in the analysis techniques used to evaluate the collision behavior of the equipment. The required measurements are implemented with availablemeasurement transducers, including accelerometers, strain gages, andstring potentiometers. The measurement data are gathered using anon-board data acquisition system