Day 19: June 27, 2013

We began the morning with the weekly safety group meeting. Both Professor Saat and Professor Barkan joined us in a conference call. We all described briefly what we have been doing for the past days and then Jesus gave a great presentation focusing in the analysis of multiple consequences of tank car release. It was very interesting, not only the presentation but also all the comments that he received.

Then I read Xiang's article: Liu, X., M.R. Saat, C.P.L. Barkan, 2013. Safety Effectiveness of Integrated Risk Reduction Strategies for the Transportation of Hazardous Materials by Rail. Transportation Research Record - Journal of the Transportation Research Board. In the article a new methodology is developed to estimate the reduction of hazardous materials release risk by implementing integrated risk reduction strategies. The strategies that are considered are tank car safety design enhancement, reduction of train speed, accident prevention. One of the tables in this article shows the speed dependent CPR for different types of tank cars. I plan on using the speed dependent CPR on the model to evaluate risk more precisely.

For the rest of the day I work on a preliminary outline for the ppt modules of the final project (Railroad Risk Analysis Case Study). I plan on finishing it by tomorrow and then I will start to work on the power point presentation.

Today:

-Create an outline of the different "udemy" modules                                     (to be finished)

-Start to work on the "udemy" ppt (module 1 introduction)                            (no time)
-Read Xiang's article regarding Safety Effectiveness strategies for the Transportation of Hazardous Materials by rail                                                                                                              (done)                                       

-Determine the risk model to be used in the case study                               (to be finished)
-Literature review on Railroad Hazmat Transportation                                  (to be finished)

-Safety group meeting (Jesus presentation)                                                  (done)

Next day:

-Create an outline of the different "udemy" modules
-Start to work on the "udemy" ppt (module 1 introduction)
-Determine the risk model to be used in the case study
-Literature review on Railroad Hazmat Transportation