Engineering Studies on Structural Integrity of Railroad Tank Cars Under Accident Loading Conditions

This report describes research conducted to support the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) in addressing safety recommendations made by the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) regarding a train derailment that occurred near Minot, North Dakota on January 18, 2002. Engineering studies entailing analysis and testing are described, which include (1) analysis of derailment dynamics based on lumped-parameter models, (2) analysis of the structural behavior of tank car components (such as the head and shell) based on finite element modeling, (3) tank car steels characterization based on laboratory testing of samples obtained from tank cars. Specific details of the research are described. Conclusions based on the research findings to date are outlined.