The American railroad passenger car

White, John H.

doi:10.1007/bf02694822

Cited by 29 publications

(11 citation statements)

References 0 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…These cars were designed to "withstand…a minimum end force of 200 tons" [4]. It is unclear how this value was chosen as the basis for longitudinal strength.…”

Section: History Of Compressive Strength Requirementsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Evaluation of Occupant Volume Strength in Conventional Passenger Railroad Equipment

Carolan

Perlman

Tyrell

2008

ASME 2008 Rail Transportation Division Fall Technical Conference

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

To ensure a level of occupant volume protection, passenger railway equipment operating on mainline railroads in the United States must be designed to resist an 800,000-lb compressive load applied statically along the line of draft. An alternative manner of evaluating the strength of the occupied volume is sought, which will ensure the same level of protection for occupants of the equipment as the current test, but will allow for a greater variety of equipment to be evaluated. A finite element (FE) model of the structural components of a railcar has been applied to examine the existing compressive strength test and evaluate selected alternate testing scenarios. Using simplified geometric and material properties, a generic single-level railcar model was constructed that captured the gross behaviors of the railcar without excessive processing time. When loaded, the carbody structure exhibits some single beam-like behaviors. Application of the existing 800 kip compressive load results in a significant bending moment as well as significant compressive forces. The alternative load cases examined show that a larger total compressive force may be distributed across the end structure of the railcar and result in similar stress levels throughout the structural frame as observed from application of the conventional proof load.

show abstract

“…These cars were designed to "withstand…a minimum end force of 200 tons" [4]. It is unclear how this value was chosen as the basis for longitudinal strength.…”

Section: History Of Compressive Strength Requirementsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Evaluation of Occupant Volume Strength in Conventional Passenger Railroad Equipment

Carolan

Perlman

Tyrell

2008

ASME 2008 Rail Transportation Division Fall Technical Conference

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…The test vehicle, shown in Figure 4, was a Budd Pioneer cab car [7] retrofitted with a CEM design end structure. All work performed on this car was completed at TTC by Transportation Technology Center Inc.…”

Section: Test Descriptionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Impact Test of a Crash-Energy Management Passenger Rail Car

2004

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

On December 3, 2003, a single-car impact test was conducted to assess the crashworthiness performance of a modified passenger rail car. A coach car retrofitted with a Crash Energy Management (CEM) end structure impacted a fixed barrier at approximately 35 mph. This speed is just beyond the capabilities of current equipment to protect the occupants.The test vehicle was instrumented with accelerometers, string potentiometers, and strain gages to measure the gross motions of the car body in three dimensions, the deformation of specific structural components, and the force/crush characteristic of the impacted end of the vehicle.The CEM crush zone is characterized by three structural components: a pushback coupler, a sliding sill (triggering the primary energy absorbers), and roof absorbers. These structural mechanisms guide the impact load and consequent crush through the end structure in a prescribed sequence.Pre-test activities included quasi-static and dynamic component testing, development of finite element and collision dynamics models and quasi-static strength tests of the end frame. These tests helped verify the predicted structural deformation of each component, estimate a force-crush curve for the crush zone, predict the gross motions of the car body, and determine instrumentation and test conditions for the impact test.During the test, the passenger car sustained approximately three feet of crush. In contrast to the test of the conventional passenger equipment, the crush imparted on the CEM vehicle did not intrude into the passenger compartment. However, as anticipated the car experienced higher accelerations than the conventional passenger car.Overall, the test results for the gross motions of the car are in close agreement. The measurements made from both tests show that the CEM design has improved crashworthiness performance over the conventional design. A two-car test will be performed to study the coupled interaction of CEM vehicles as well as the occupant environment. The train-to-train test results are expected to show that the crush is passed sequentially down the interfaces of the cars, consequently preserving occupant volume.

show abstract

“…Since the buff load is not applied at the extreme ends of the car, but instead about 1.8 m (six feet) inboard at the buff stops, it is possible to design a car with end structures which crush in a controlled fashion and meet the static end strength requirement. The static end strength requirement is based on longstanding practice, and originated in specifications for U.S. Railway Postal Office (RPO) cars (27,28) in the 1940's. Numbers of earlier RPO cars, which were built to lower static end strength requirements, were crushed in train collisions.…”

Section: Design Standardsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…During a collision substantial compressive loads would be applied to such cars. For cars not built to the 800 kip static end strength requirement, the results could be catastrophic, with structural collapse of the cars and many postal workers killed (27). The introduction of cars that met the 800 kip static end strength requirement effectively eliminated this type of complete structural collapse.…”

Section: Design Standardsmentioning

confidence: 99%

US rail equipment crashworthiness standards

Tyrell

2002

Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, Part F:

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

In 1999 the US Department of Transportation's Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) issued new regulations and the American Public Transportation Association (APTA) issued new standards for rail passenger equipment crashworthiness. These new regulations and standards include conventional strength-based requirements for equipment used below 200km/h (125 mile/h), crashenergy management for equipment used above 200km/h (125 mile/h) and dynamic sled testing of occupant seats.

show abstract

The American railroad passenger car

Cited by 29 publications

References 0 publications

Evaluation of Occupant Volume Strength in Conventional Passenger Railroad Equipment

Evaluation of Occupant Volume Strength in Conventional Passenger Railroad Equipment

Impact Test of a Crash-Energy Management Passenger Rail Car

US rail equipment crashworthiness standards

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About