COMPUTER SIMULATION OF TANK CAR HEAD PUNCTURE MECHANISMS. CLASSIFICATION YARD ACCIDENTS

A number of railroad accidents have been aggravated by couplers puncturing the shell head of hazardous material tank cars. Development of means for identifying possible puncture mechanisms and quantifying the coupler forces involved is the subject of this report. A mathematical model, capable of simulating train action in the vertical plane, has been developed and used for simulation of three classification yard accidents. A detailed description of the model and the results of simulation are presented. The conclusions of this report must be considered tentative until the results of verification studies become available.

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• Record URL:
  • https://rosap.ntl.bts.gov/view/dot/40231
• Supplemental Notes:
  • Sponsorship was from the Federal Railroad Administration, DOT.
• Corporate Authors:

  Washington University, St Louis

  School of Engineering and Applied Science
  St Louis, MO  United States  63130
• Authors:
  • Hohenemser, K H
  • Diboll, W B
  • Yin, S K
  • Szabo, B A
• Publication Date: 1975-2

Media Info

• Media Type: Digital/other
• Features: Figures;
• Pagination: 74 p.

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Classification yards; Couplers; Crash analysis; Crashworthiness; Mathematical models; Simulation
• Old TRIS Terms: Impact vulnerability; Tank car heads
• Subject Areas: Railroads; Safety and Human Factors; Terminals and Facilities;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00129151
• Record Type: Publication
• Source Agency: Federal Railroad Administration
• Report/Paper Numbers: FRA-ORD&D-75-23 Prelim Rpt
• Contract Numbers: DOT-OS-40106
• Files: NTL, TRIS, USDOT
• Created Date: Feb 19 1976 12:00AM