Rail tiedown tests with heavy casks for radioactive shipments
A rail tiedown test program was conducted at the Savannah River Plant in July and August 1978. For each test, a 40- or 70-ton cask was secured on a railcar. The railcar was pushed to speeds up to 11 mph and allowed to couple to parked railcars simulating ordinary railyard operations. The test car carrying the cask was heavily instrumented to measure the accelerations and forces generated at strategically selected places. Eighteen test runs were made with different combinations of railcars, couplers, casks, speeds, and tiedown configurations. The major objectives of the test program were to (1) provide test data as a basis to develop a tiedown standard for rail cask shipments of radioactive materials and (2) collect dynamic data to support analytical models of the railcar cask tiedown system. The optimum tiedown configuration demonstrated for heavy casks was a combination of welded, fixed stops to secure the cask longitudinally and flexible cables to restrain vertical and lateral cask movement. Cables alone were inadequate to secure a heavy cask to a standard railcar, and bolting was found disadvantageous in several respects. The use of cushioning coupler mechanisms dramatically reduced the tiedown requirements for the rail coupling operation. The test program and general conclusions are discussed.
- Research Organization:
- Du Pont de Nemours (E.I.) and Co., Aiken, SC (United States). Savannah River Lab.
- DOE Contract Number:
- AC09-76SR00001
- OSTI ID:
- 5101356
- Report Number(s):
- DP-1536; TRN: 80-016955
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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