NTL Record

Title Reduced-Scale Rail Car Floor Fire Test Specimen Feasibility Study
Record ID 74389
Personal Name
Creator
Shurland, Melissa
Corporate Creator United States. Federal Railroad Administration. Office of Research, Development, and Technology
Publisher United States. Department of Transportation. Federal Railroad Administration
Publication Date 20200500
Language English
Abstract The Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) contracted with Jensen Hughes (JH) to conduct research on the feasibility of reducing the size of the test article for floor fire resistance testing. Rail car assemblies manufactured in the United States are currently required to demonstrate (per Title 49 Code of Federal Regulations Part 238) their fire resistance rating which includes structural integrity and limited heat transmission according to ASTM International, ASTM E119 and NFPA 130. According to NFPA 130, the current test requirement is to use a floor assembly test article that is 3.6 m (12 ft.) long and as wide as a rail car (approximately 3 m [10 ft.]). The test article is simply supported along the transverse ends and has an applied total distributed load comprised of live loads (e.g., passenger crush load), dead loads (e.g., equipment, other articles), and other relevant design loads. The NFPA 130 test limits the fire rating determination using the following three parameters: 1. Transmission of heat through the assembly shall not be sufficient to raise the temperature on its unexposed surface more than 139 °C (250 °F) average and 181 °C (325 °F) at a single point. 2. The assembly shall not permit the passage of flame or gases hot enough to ignite cotton waste on the unexposed surface of the assembly. 3. The assembly shall support the representative loading.
Rosap ID dot:49354
Rosap URL https://rosap.ntl.bts.gov/view/dot/49354
TRT Terms Rolling stock; Fire resistance; Passenger cars; Research; Railcar structural components
General Subjects ABAQUS; floor fire resistance test; NFPA 130; structural floor assembly; passenger rail car; rail car floor
Geographical
Coverage
United States
TRIS Online
Accession No
1740992
Contract Number 693JJ618000022
Report Number RR 20-05
Resource type Brief
URL https://ntlrepository.blob.core.windows.net/lib/74000/74300/74389/RR-20-05_2020520.pdf
Format PDF
Database NTL Digital Repository