State-of-the-Art Endframe Grade-Crossing Impact Test
This video, approximately one minute and 12 seconds in length, shows three sequences where a 14,000-lb metal-frame cart, specially constructed for this test, collides with the two collision posts of the state-of-the-art (SOA)-design cab-car end frame. The SOA design is experimental: it incorporates reinforced collision and corner posts to control the deformation of car structures in order to protect occupants. The test cart, painted yellow, is a welded frame with supports, and it has four wheels that ride on the rails. At the top, a horizontal beam is welded in place with a curved surface, similar in profile to a steel coil that will impact the collision posts of the end frame.
The test was successful if there was no more than 10 inches of longitudinal crush of the collision posts and no separation of the structural member attachments.
A title screen first appears, with the following text:
Federal Railroad Administration
US Department of Transportation
State-of-the-Art Endframe
Grade-Crossing Impact Text
April 16, 2008
Transportation Technology Center
Pueblo, Colorado
The second screen displays the following text:
Test Conditions
Cart Speed: 18.7 MPH
Standing Cab Car
Cart Weight: 14,000 lbs
Cab Car Weight: 70,000 lbs
Level, Straight Track
The first sequence is a side view of a collision of a specially designed test cart with an SOA-design end-cab passenger-rail car, at normal speed. The text at the upper-right corner of the screen says "USDOT CRASH TEST VIDEO." At the beginning of the sequence, the cab car is stationary on the left side of the view. The test cart approaches the end car from right to left. When the test cart collides with the cab car, the collision posts bend and the cab car starts to move to the left. After the posts bend, the front end of the test cart lifts off the rails, then falls off them and onto the track ties. After a few feet, the cab car stops.
The second sequence is a repeat of the first sequence.
The third sequence is a side view of the same collision but is focused on the collision area and shown in slow motion. The title screen says "High Speed Test Video." The sequence begins just before contact. As the test car contacts the collision posts, the entire frame of the end car shifts slightly under the loads, then the center of the collision post deforms below the contact point. The collision posts continue to deform; however, neither the corner post nor the rest of the endframe in view deform, and no structural components become unattached. The sequence ends as the cab car end gains speed and the two objects start to separate.
