Fitness-for-Service Assessment of Passenger Railcars and Trucks

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrew Smyth ◽  
Kevin Carmody ◽  
Derek Maier
Keyword(s):  
Fatigue Life ◽  
Field Testing ◽  
Valuable Insight ◽  
Improvement Program ◽  
Passenger Rail ◽  
Remaining Service Life ◽  
Service Testing ◽  
Critical Flaw ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Critical Regions

An important consideration when operating a fleet of passenger rail consists is the remaining service life of both the car structure and the trucks. Agencies may choose to undertake studies like this when considering a fleet wide capital improvement program, ranging from minor aesthetic upgrades to major system replacements and interior reconfigurations. With this in mind, the owner needs to determine the remaining fatigue life of the individual cars and trucks within the fleet. This paper describes the fitness-for-service (FFS) assessment performed on railcars and trucks and an example of the method applied in practice. To establish the current condition of the fleet, an initial structural and service history review was undertaken. In addition, nondestructive examinations (NDE) of a sample of cars and trucks were performed to investigate any regions that have experienced damage due to the years of service. After the baseline condition of the cars and trucks was determined, finite element analyses (FEA) were performed on both the cars and the trucks to assist in locating the potential fatigue critical regions. Strain gages and accelerometers were then installed on both the cars and trucks for field testing. Multiple runs of in-service testing were performed and a typical revenue service fatigue life of both the cars and trucks was calculated based on an S-N approach. Based on the calculated fatigue life and the current accumulated consist mileage, the remaining car and truck service lives were determined. For regions with known flaws more detailed fracture mechanics based crack growth analyses were developed to determine critical flaw sizes and their propagation times to critical from the known initial flaw sizes. Results of the FFS assessment provide information on the susceptible areas within the car structure and trucks. Depending on those results, decisions can be made on the required inspections, repairs, or decommissioning necessary to operate the fleet in the short term, while also providing valuable insight into long term fleet planning.

Measuring Concrete Crosstie Rail Seat Pressure Distribution With Matrix Based Tactile Surface Sensors

2012 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christopher T. Rapp ◽  
J. Riley Edwards ◽  
Marcus S. Dersch ◽  
Christopher P. L. Barkan ◽  
Jose Mediavilla ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
High Speed ◽  
Laboratory Data ◽  
Field Testing ◽  
The United States ◽  
System Component ◽  
Valuable Insight ◽  
High Speed Rail ◽  
Passenger Rail ◽  
Increasing Demand ◽  
Increased Strength

A sustained increase in gross rail loads and cumulative freight tonnages, as well as increased interest in high and higher-speed passenger rail development in the United States, is placing an increasing demand on railway infrastructure. According to a railway industry survey conducted by the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC), rail seat deterioration (RSD) was identified as one of the primary factors limiting concrete crosstie service life. Therefore, it can be seen that there is a need for infrastructure components with increased strength, durability, and ability to maintain the tighter geometric track tolerances under demanding loading conditions. Researchers have hypothesized that localized crushing of the concrete rail seat is one of five potential mechanisms that contribute to RSD. Therefore, to better understand this mechanism, UIUC is utilizing a matrix based tactile surface sensor (MBTSS) to quantify the forces acting at the interface between the bottom of the rail pad and the concrete tie rail seat. The MBTSS measures the forces and distribution of pressure as a load is applied to the rail seat. Preliminary laboratory testing has shown that higher modulus rail pads distribute forces poorer than lower modulus rail pads, leading to localized areas with high contact pressure and a higher probability of crushing. Testing has also shown that as the lateral/vertical (L/V) force ratio increases, the pressure on the field side of the rail seat also increases, possibly accelerating RSD. The objective of future field testing is to be able to validate the assumptions made from this preliminary laboratory data. Data collected and analyzed throughout this research project will provide valuable insight into developing future concrete crosstie and fastening system component designs that meet the operational and loading demands of high speed rail and joint passenger/freight corridors.

scholarly journals Identifikasi bentuk partisipasi masyarakat Dalam pelaksanaan program Peningkatan kualitas permukiman Studi Kasus : Pada Pelaksanaan Program PLPBK di Permukiman Masyarakat Berpenghasilan Rendah di Kelurahan Tenilo Kota Gorontalo

2018 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 73
Author(s):  
Mochamad Athar Jantu
Keyword(s):  
Community Participation ◽  
Low Income ◽  
Secondary Data ◽  
Community Empowerment ◽  
Improvement Program ◽  
Community Group ◽  
Internal Factors ◽  
Gender Education ◽  
The Government ◽  
The Individual

The participation of the community in an implementation of the program or activity greatly affects the success of the program. This participation itself was born because of the factors from inside and outside the individual as members of that community group. This writing is based on a study that takes place in low-income community settlements in Tenilo RT II / RW II Kelota Kelota Gorontalo, Gorontalo Province with the aim of identifying the forms of community participation as well as the factors that influence the participation of the community in the implementation of the quality improvement program which is part of the Community-Based Settlement Environment Management (PLPBK) program by the government in the National Urban Empowerment Community Empowerment Program (PNPM-Mandiri Urban). The method used in this research is by qualitative analysis approach to analyze the primary and secondary data. The study finds that the form of community participation in the implementation of the program of improving the quality of settlements of low income community groups in Tenilo RT II / RW II Kelota District Gorontalo in the form of energy and goods . Internal factors that influence are gender, education, occupation, age, and income, while external factors as the incentive is the willingness, ability and opportunity.

Improving Intercity Passenger Rail Planning using Evidence from Passenger Survey Data

2018 ◽  
Vol 2672 (10) ◽  
pp. 236-246 ◽  
Author(s):  
Benjamin R. Sperry ◽  
Tyler Collins
Keyword(s):  
Valuable Insight ◽  
Market Area ◽  
Investment Strategies ◽  
Federal Mandates ◽  
Alternative Mode ◽  
Mode Shift ◽  
Passenger Rail ◽  
Data Driven Approach ◽  
Insight Into ◽  
Rail Services

Federal mandates require that states develop comprehensive state rail plans that clarify a vision for the role of intercity passenger rail services in the state’s transportation system and a program of projects necessary to achieve that vision. In that context, this paper presents an analysis of more than 10,000 surveys obtained during the past 10 years from passengers of five U.S. state-supported intercity passenger rail routes. The purpose of the analysis is to support the development of state rail plans by gaining valuable insight into passenger behavior, the market area for passenger rail services, and the broader mobility impacts of passenger rail services. The market area analysis found that approximately three-quarters of rail passengers live within 30 mi of a rail station, affirming the use of this distance as a radius for planning purposes. The mobility analysis indicated that automobile is the primary alternative to passenger rail services among passengers of the five routes; statistical models of alternative mode preference yielded significant insight into strategies that states can implement to increase the mode shift of automobile and airplane passengers to rail services. The findings and recommendations of this paper can be used by planners and policymakers to implement a practical yet data-driven approach to the development of passenger-related components of state rail plans, providing a clear linkage between investment strategies and statewide mobility goals.

Experience with Field Testings of SHE on Research Catchments

1984 ◽  
Vol 15 (4-5) ◽  
pp. 283-294 ◽  
Author(s):  
Børge Storm ◽  
K. Høgh Jensen
Keyword(s):  
New Zealand ◽  
Soil Water ◽  
Flow Model ◽  
Complete System ◽  
Field Testing ◽  
Practical Applications ◽  
Extensive Field ◽  
Soil Water Flow ◽  
Hydrologic System ◽  
The Individual

The development of the European Hydrologic System (SHE) has now reached such a stage, that it is ready for practical applications. Extensive field testings and associated developments have been carried out in recent years. The testings have included the complete system as well as the individual components. Particular emphasis has been given to the development and testing of the soil water flow model. The paper demonstrates results from a field testing of SHE on the Wye Catchment in Britain, as well as examples of applications on small experimental catchments in Germany and New Zealand.

Skimming and Scanning Improvement: The Needs, Assumptions and Knowledge Base

1972 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 47-59 ◽  
Author(s):  
Martha J. Maxwell
Keyword(s):  
Knowledge Base ◽  
Field Testing ◽  
Reading Programs ◽  
Improvement Program ◽  
College Reading

The best way, and perhaps the only way, for today's student to cope with the effects of the information explosion on college reading lists is to become a competent and confident skimmer and scanner. Despite this obvious “need,” it is difficult to get students to skim and scan because of the negative attitudinal biases of both students and teachers. As a result, these skills are either ignored or not taught effectively. Failure to teach skimming and scanning skills is postulated as the reason many reading programs fail to produce flexible readers. Evidence is presented that skimming and scanning skills can be taught effectively. The results of a series of studies conducted in the process of developing and field-testing a skimming and scanning improvement program are described and their implications discussed.

Impact of Soil Modeling on Fatigue Design of Lazy Wave Riser Systems

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rupak Ghosh ◽  
Haydar Arslan
Keyword(s):  
Fatigue Life ◽  
Water Injection ◽  
Field Testing ◽  
Vertical Displacement ◽  
Soil Response ◽  
Fatigue Design ◽  
Steel Catenary Risers ◽  
Design Requirements ◽  
Seabed Stiffness

Abstract The Liza risers comprise production risers, water injection risers and gas injection risers, and a lazy wave configuration is selected considering FPSO motion, reservoir fluid and overall project execution requirements. During operation, the risers are expected to move cyclically with small vertical displacement amplitudes (e.g. 0.1% to 1% of the riser diameter), and a key design issue is the fatigue life of these risers at critical locations including the touch-down zone which will be governed by the seabed stiffness. The role of soil response on fatigue life of riser with buoyancy has been investigated through nonlinear finite element and comprehensive lab and field testing program. Published methodologies for determining seabed stiffness values for risers concentrate more on larger amplitude motions based on the design requirements of steel catenary risers. The paper presents the sensitivity of the fatigue life at TDP to various soil model and provides insight in the results. Also included is the importance of site specific soil investigation in the context of design of riser.

Analytical Methodology to Evaluate Flexible Risers Fatigue Lives at the Top Region

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fernando Jorge Mendes de Sousa ◽  
Marcos Queija de Siqueira ◽  
José Renato Mendes de Sousa ◽  
George Carneiro Campello
Keyword(s):  
Fatigue Life ◽  
Structural Complexity ◽  
Analytical Methodology ◽  
Life Estimation ◽  
Flexible Pipes ◽  
Fatigue Life Estimation ◽  
Riser Design ◽  
Flexible Risers ◽  
Critical Regions ◽  
Computer Resources

Abstract Traditionally, fatigue life calculations are very expensive in terms of time and computer resources. They are usually performed during riser design phases, when several lines with similar characteristics need to be analyzed. While operating, when problems are detected, fatigue analyses are also necessary to help to decide if any action is needed. In both situations, end fittings and bendstiffeners are usually the critical regions. Considering the high number of flexible risers installed in Brazil and the structural complexity of this kind of structure, a robust and fast methodology to evaluate the fatigue life of flexible risers becomes attractive. In this way, this paper proposes a analytical/numerical methodology to evaluate the fatigue life at the top region of flexible pipes. Using the top imposed motions and taking into account the properties of all structures in the riser, it is possible to evaluate tension analytically. Combining tension and the rotations imposed at the top of the riser, curvatures are determined, and stresses can be calculated. Finally, SN curves and the Miner’s rule for damage accumulation allow the estimation of fatigue life. The obtained results indicate that the proposed methodology is conservative when compared to traditional ones. Also, it is very fast, allowing the fatigue life estimation in minutes.

Up Close and Personal: A Statewide Collaborative's Effort to Get Individual Surgeon Quality Improvement Data to the Practitioner

2016 ◽  
Vol 82 (3) ◽  
pp. 192-198
Author(s):  
Brian J. Daley ◽  
William Cecil ◽  
Joseph B. Cofer ◽  
P. Chris Clarke ◽  
Oscar Guillamondegui ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Quality Improvement ◽  
Best Practice ◽  
Quality Improvement Program ◽  
Surgical Morbidity ◽  
Improvement Program ◽  
Surgical Quality ◽  
Prolonged Intubation ◽  
Personal A ◽  
Individual Surgeon ◽  
The Individual

Ranking of surgeons and hospitals focuses on procedure volume and hospitality. The National Surgical Quality Improvement Program provides vetted outcomes of surgical quality and therefore can direct improvement. Our statewide collaborative's analysis creates personalized surgeon data to drive quality improvement. Statewide National Surgical Quality Improvement Program data generated specific measures from 103,656 general/vascular cases and identified individual surgeon's outcome of occurrences and length of procedure. We assumed a normal distribution and called the top 2.5 per cent as exemplars and the bottom 2.5 per cent as outliers. For length of operation, a standard duration was calculated, and identified outliers as longer than the 95th percentile of the upper confidence interval/procedure. Since 2009, sharing best practice reduced statewide mortality rate by 31.5 per cent and postoperative morbidity by 33.3 per cent. For length of surgery, long outliers have more complications (urinary tract infection, organ space/surgical site infection, sepsis, septic shock, prolonged intubation, pneumonia, deep venous thrombosis, deep incisional infection, and wound disruption). No significant trends in surgeon performance were seen over 24 months. A statewide collaborative has resulted in substantial risk-adjusted reductions in surgical morbidity and mortality. These results of the individual surgeon demonstrate best practices are shared, a proven tool for improvement in our collaborative.

scholarly journals Meteorological Impacts on Commercial Aviation Delays and Cancellations in the Continental United States

2019 ◽  
Vol 58 (3) ◽  
pp. 479-494 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christopher J. Goodman ◽  
Jennifer D. Small Griswold
Keyword(s):  
Extreme Weather Events ◽  
Valuable Insight ◽  
National Airspace System ◽  
Safety Hazards ◽  
Commercial Aviation ◽  
Weather Events ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Causes Of Delays ◽  
Weather’S Impact ◽  
Insight Into

AbstractWeather creates numerous operational and safety hazards within the National Airspace System (NAS). In 2014, extreme weather events attributed 4.3% to the total number of delay minutes recorded by the Bureau of Transportation Statistics. When factoring weather’s impact on the NAS delays and aircraft arriving late delays, weather was responsible for 32.6% of the total number of delay minutes recorded. Hourly surface meteorological aviation routine weather reports (METARs) at major airports can be used to provide valuable insight into the likely causes of weather delays at individual airports. When combined with the Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA’s) Operations Network (OPSNET) delay data, METARs can be used to identify the major causes of delays and to create delay climatologies for a specific airport. Also, patterns for delays and cancellations for the study period of 2003–15 can be identified for the individual airports included in this study. These patterns can be useful for operators and airport planners to optimize performance in the future.

Self-instruction in ranking of railway enterprise for energy efficiency

2020 ◽  
pp. 69-80
Author(s):  
V. V. Tsyganov ◽  
◽  
A. A. Roshhin ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Energy Efficiency ◽  
Adaptive Methods ◽  
Improvement Program ◽  
Ranking Procedure ◽  
Energy Efficiency Improvement ◽  
Suitable Parameter ◽  
Energy Efficiency Indicator ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Self Instruction

Adaptive methods of energy efficiency control are looked upon under ambiguity conditions, based on self-instruction and human factor. The objective of dichotomous ranking of energy efficiency stochastic potential was set and solved in case when its probabilistic characteristics are known. In a reverse situation, it is suggested to use self-instruction for determination of the most suitable parameter of ranking procedure. A case of asymmetrical awareness of a decision-making person about ranking and a personnel responsible for energy efficiency was studied. Herewith, the forward-looking personnel chooses its indicators in such a way that the individual objective function which depends on ranking results , can be maximized. Such activity of the personnel may bring to under-estimation of the energy efficiency indicator as compared to the potential. As a consequence, application of self-instruction may pervert ranking parameter assessment. In order to solve this problem there were suggested self-instruction mechanisms in ranking which simulate personnel management under conditions of ambiguity. The results of these mechanisms functioning are estimates of ranking parameters, norms and ranks, determining personnel stimuli. There were found out appropriate conditions of mechanism synthesis of self-instruction in ranking, when a decision-making person identifies the most suitable parameter of the ranking procedure. These conditions are illustrated with the example of energy efficiency ranking self-instruction of the railway enterprise in the process of realization of «RZD» holding energy efficiency improvement program.

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