NTL Record

Title Development of a passenger rail vehicle crush zone
Record ID 48053
Personal Name
Creator
Mayville, Ronald; Stringfellow, Richard; Johnson, Kent N.
Source 8p. in various pagings; Proceedings of the 1999 IEEE/ASME Joint Railroad Conference, April 13-15, 1999
Corporate Creator Arthur D. Little, Inc.
Publisher Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers; American Society of Mechanical Engineers
Publication Date 19990413
Language English
Abstract The use of crush zones in passenger rail vehicles is rapidly growing in the United States and throughout the world. Such crush zones are an important part of the crash energy management philosophy of train occupant protection. The objective of this study was to determine the advantages, disadvantages and issues related to incorporating crush zones at the ends of coach cars for protection in collisions between two trains. The general specifications for the crush zone were selected after consideration of the energy and forces that can be accommodated in such structures. Various designs were considered to meet these requirements and one of these was selected for more detailed development and evaluation. The effort included design layout and nonlinear dynamic finite element analysis to determine crush response.
Rosap ID dot:10053
Rosap URL https://rosap.ntl.bts.gov/view/dot/10053
TRT Terms Crashes; Passenger cars; Commuter cars; Railroad cars; Crashworthiness; Crash tests; Crash injury research; Fracture tests; Energy absorption; Finite element method; Structural analysis
General Subjects Crash energy management
Classification AGR - SAFETY AND SECURITY - SAFETY AND SECURITY;
NTL - SAFETY AND SECURITY - Vehicle Design;
NTL - SAFETY AND SECURITY - Rail Safety;
NTL - RAIL TRANSPORTATION - Rail Safety
Geographical
Coverage
United States
Report Number 99CH36340
Availability Volpe National Transportation Systems Center, Technical Reference Center
Resource type Proceedings
URL https://ntlrepository.blob.core.windows.net/lib/48000/48000/48053/rail_cw_1999_5.pdf
Format PDF
Database NTL Digital Repository