I agree with Leo as an Structural Engineer the round shape design takes care
of the load. NO baffles are needed. 20+ years ago I watched a bunch of
40-50' tank cars being scrapped and I never saw a baffle. My uncle in WI
cleaned "food" truck tanks (Mostly milk) and none of them had baffles which
supprised me. When I asked they said the tanks were full and could not
really slosh. A friend of mine is a long distance truck driver and he agreed
that the slosh was not bad, Meat loads were worst when the carcasses start
swinging!
Rich
-----Original Message-----
From: qutlx1@a... [SMTP:qutlx1@a...]
Sent: Monday, April 10, 2000 10:22 PM
To: BRHSlist@o...
Subject: [BRHSlist] Tanks
Tom,Rich,Karl,In my best politically correct manner I must advise
that you
nice gentlemen are completely incorrect. THERE ARE NO BAFFLES OF ANY
KIND IN
TANK CARS . The only exception is at the top of the safety vent or
valve
flange where by special option you can install a "milkstool baffle"
that
keeps the surges of product from breaking out the frangible disc in
the
safety vent when cars are coupled in compliance of OT5(under 4 mph).
Excuse
me while I pick myself up off the floor from laughing. If by special
order
you order a compartment car then by its nature the interior "heads"
will form
a baffle between the compartments but these types of cars are
extremely rare
and probably make up less than 1% of the fleet today. In bygone eras
when
petroleum products were distributed by rail to retailers there were
more 2
and 3 compartment cars(a note,multiple manway openings do not mean
there are
compartments,today they're there to expedite loading,the way to tell
if its a
compartmented car is to look at the nozzle or immediately below for
an alpha
character A,B,C, which designates compartments by the
letter).Baffles in cars
would defeat the purpose of the UTC "funnel flow" design which is
highly
prized for its ability to completely drain a car as opposed to our
competitors cars that are flat bottomed and don't drain as
completely.
Another footnote is an ongoing AAR Rules committee issue of residual
product
in mty cars that are derailed and the RR is responsible for cleaning
costs to
make the repairs. The RR's argue that the cars weren't mty and they
shouldn't
have to pay the full costs. The shippers argue the residue is normal
business
and wouldn't be a concern if car hadn't been wrecked (and around and
around
we go).There are no internal stiffing rings in tanks. The
reinforcement is on
the exterior called repads that are extensions of the stub sills at
the ends
of the cars where the platforms, safety appliance, brake
components,etc
reside. The repads are steel plate welded to the tank bellys and
generally
extend a few feet inboard of the body bolsters at the center
fillers. Except
in special(old) designs they do not run the length of the car. The
tank shell
itself is the structual member that takes all the draft and buff
loads of
train action as well as the weight of the commodity. In addition to
the
repads the other support the tank receives is at the body bolsters
which are
above the trucks and generally extend about 1/3 the way up the
tank(note if
you learn the styles of body bolsters,you can tell which builder
made the car
regardless of whose marks its wearing). Well I'll close this session
of tank
car 201 for now. Leo
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