Cracked Up—Broken Rails are Serious Business
Dr. David Y. Jeong, senior mechanical engineer in the Center for Infrastructure Systems and Engineering at Volpe, The National Transportation Systems Center, presented "Cracked Up—Broken Rails are Serious Business" on December 6, 2012.
In 2011, Class I railroads operated trains on over 112,000 miles of track in the United States. Rails represent a majority of the railroads' capital assets, and the maintenance of the rail is a significant part of railroads' budget. According to the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA), broken rails accounted for nearly one-third of all track-caused incidents in 2011. The consequences from broken rail derailments can be severe.
Since the 1970s, Volpe has conducted track safety research and technical support for FRA. One area of long-term research is rail integrity, determining ways to prevent and control rail failures. Broken rails, or rail failures, generally occur as a result of metal fatigue. Fatigue cracks develop and grow in the rail steel from cyclic forces caused by the repeated passage of trains over the rails. Volpe's research for FRA has concentrated on understanding the mechanics of metal fatigue and crack growth. This research has led to the development of guidelines to schedule periodic rail tests, or nondestructive inspections of rail, to search for fatigue cracks before they develop enough to cause rail failure.
Dr. Jeong's talk related to recent accidents caused by broken rail derailments, Volpe rail integrity research accomplishments, and future challenges.
About the Speaker
Dr. Jeong has been with Volpe since 1980. His work experience at Volpe has involved the structural behavior of aging airplanes for the Federal Aviation Administration, nonlinear analysis of viscoelastic materials used to construct automobile crash test dummies for the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, and studies of structural integrity of railroad tank cars and rails for FRA. Dr. Jeong's published work is available in Volpe's Technical Reports & Presentations database.
Dr. Jeong holds a bachelor of science degree in mechanical engineering from Tufts University, a master of science degree in mechanical engineering also from Tufts University, and a PhD in applied mechanics from Lehigh University.
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