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            Full-Scale Shell Impact Test of DOT-113 Tank Car Surrogate Using Liquid Nitrogen
      

      
  Document Series
              Research Results


      
  Author
          Federal Railroad Administration


      
Report Number
              RR 21-22

  Office
              RDI-22


      Subject
                    Hazardous Materials


      
  Keywords
              DOT-113, tank cars, impact testing, puncture resistance, hazardous materials, HAZMAT, finite element analysis, model validation


      

      
      
              
                  
      
              
  Document
              Impact Test of a DOT-113 Tank Car.pdf (757.12 KB)

      
              On July 24, 2021, the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) conducted a full-scale shell impact test (Test 12) of a surrogate DOT-113 specification tank car at the Transportation Technology Center (TTC) in Pueblo, CO. This test was the third DOT-113 impact test in a planned series of four. A DOT-113 is a double-walled tank car (i.e., tank-within-a-tank) designed to transport authorized cryogenic liquids by rail. The tested “surrogate” tank car was purposefully built for this test with the essential features of a DOT-113 and an outer tank of a slightly thicker steel than required by specification. The tested surrogate did not feature all the equipment required of a DOT-113 tank car (e.g., cabinet, couplers, and trucks) and was approximately 35 percent shorter in length. The shell of the outer tank was struck by a ~297,000-pound ram car equipped with a 12-inch by 12-inch impactor at its mid-height and longitudinally offset ~2.5 feet towards the A-end. This offset impact location was intended to be consistent with the impact location in the previous two DOT-113 impact tests (Tests 10 and 11).
      
            
      
      
              Last updated: Friday, October 8, 2021 U.S. DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

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