Improved Tank Car Safety Research

Abstract

Three recent accidents involving the release of hazardous material have focused attention on the structural integrity of railroad tank cars:

Analysis of Railroad Tank Car Shell Impacts Using Finite Element Method

“…Moreover, puncture force is estimated from applying equation (3). Puncture velocity is then estimated using the calculated puncture force and applying equation (1). For a tank car with minimum ultimate tensile strength and shell thickness of 0.777 inch impacted by a 6" by 6" indenter, the puncture velocity is 11.3 mph, compared to 11.9 mph calculated from FEA assuming 85 ksi.…”

“…In its role to provide technical support to the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA), the Volpe National Transportation Systems Center (Volpe Center) is conducting and managing research to examine the structural integrity of railroad tank cars under a wide range of conditions that vary from the normal operating environment to rare and extreme circumstances such as impact loading during accidents [1].…”

“…Validation was accomplished through comparisons with data obtained from full-scale tests that were performed at the Transportation Technology Center in Pueblo, Colorado. 1 In this paper, the verified and validated FEA models are exercised to examine the effect of various factors on the forcedeformation behavior of the tank structure to shell impacts. These factors include tank geometry (i.e., shell thickness and tank diameter) and indenter geometry.…”

Finite Element Analyses of Railroad Tank Car Head Impacts

“…The implementation of progressive damage in ABAQUS is actually in the form of a stress-displacement where the effective plastic strain is multiplied by a characteristic length. 4 This material is declared a work of the U.S. Government and is not subject to copyright protection in the United States. Approved for public release; distribution is unlimited.…”

“…Consequently, the industry began efforts to develop improved designs while the government initiated research to develop performance standards for tank cars carrying hazmat [4].…”