Development and Application of Methodology for Reliability Assessment of Tank Car Structures: Phase I

Safe packaging and transport of hazardous materials is of vital importance to tank car builders, users, Federal regulatory agencies, and the general public. Reliability-centered maintenance (RCM) can be used to effectively maintain the reliability of tank car systems in guarding against lading loss due to equipment failures. Adequate and cost-efficient maintenance decisions depend on the ability to understand the tank car’s characteristics and its responses under various service conditions, as well as the ability to analyze and predict the tank car’s performance and resistance deterioration as a function of usage. To support the informed decisionmaking and planning for the RCM through quantitative risk analysis and prediction, this project has developed a methodology that applies modern reliability methods to perform reliability analysis on tank car structures.