Phantom Theater Posted October 21, 2008 Posted October 21, 2008 Why do they have bends in the Lift Supports? Why cant they be Straight up?Is it some B & M thing?
FOFreak Posted October 21, 2008 Posted October 21, 2008 ^ That little bend in the support is supposed to be there. That little "bent" portion is plum (true vertical) as opposed to the rest of the left half of that support which is angled. The support becomes purely vertical to align with the center line of the lift track.
DropZone99 Posted October 21, 2008 Posted October 21, 2008 Why do they have bends in the Lift Supports? Is it some B & M thing? I think it's because if the support would go 90º down, and not bend, the footing would have to be in an un-convenience location? Or maybe it's to support the track more?
CoastersRZ Posted October 21, 2008 Posted October 21, 2008 The lift supports are angled to provide lateral stability for the structure. They also combat against lateral loads, which in this area consists primarily of lateral wind loads (which was important about a month ago when we had the strong windstorm remnants of the hurricane blow through, knocking out power to 90% of the Cincinnati area.) And lets admit it, B&M`s support structures for their coasters just look awesome to, the way they engineer their supports so elegantly. In other areas of the ride, like in the helixs, the diagonal supports are to resist the lateral gravity loads caused by the train. Depending where the diagonal support is placed, the support would be acting in either compression or tension. Steel is great in tension but lousy with compression. (You have to be concerned with buckling with steel.) As an aside, while steel is great in tension and terrible with compression, concrete is the exact opposite. It is great in compression and has little or no tensile strength on its own. Both concrete and steel have the same thermal properties, which is why steel reinforcing bars are used in concrete; they compliment each other.
The Interpreter Posted October 21, 2008 Posted October 21, 2008 Steel: Oh, concrete, you are so pretty. Concrete: And you are so strong...we compliment each other! Even on the helices.... Terpy, who just HAD to
CoastersRZ Posted October 21, 2008 Posted October 21, 2008 Dang it! I knew I flubbed something up. Helices instead of helixs as I posted in my post above! It`s been a long day.
The Interpreter Posted October 21, 2008 Posted October 21, 2008 It's okay...it was a mere footer to your brilliant post, which was otherwise on sound footing! Terpy, who's been known to go round in circles!
Captain Nemo Posted October 21, 2008 Posted October 21, 2008 ^^Hey Nemo, can you try to post some of those photos now and again to show progress between days? I love those kind of pictures! I'll do one every week or two
FOFreak Posted October 21, 2008 Posted October 21, 2008 ^OK, sweet! I love those things! I never noticed how much more we actually have to go on the lift, compared to what we thought we had.
CoastersRZ Posted October 21, 2008 Posted October 21, 2008 Feel free to ask any other more technical questions. I might know some of them, as I am a grad student at UC majoring in architecture and have had my fair share of structures classes.
FOFreak Posted October 21, 2008 Posted October 21, 2008 OK, is the so called "hammerhead" actually a hammerhead or just an overbank turn?
The Interpreter Posted October 21, 2008 Posted October 21, 2008 OK, is the so called "hammerhead" actually a hammerhead or just an overbank turn? Yes. More seriously, B & M likes to use aeronautical terms....
DropZone99 Posted October 21, 2008 Posted October 21, 2008 OK, is the so called "hammerhead" actually a hammerhead or just an overbank turn? In my opinion it's neither, but it's alot more like a hammerhead turn.. http://rcdb.com/ig594.htm?picture=10 That is what an overbanked turn is in my opinion.
Beast1979 Posted October 21, 2008 Posted October 21, 2008 Ugh not the Hammerhead turn vs. Overbank Turn argument again. I believe the last time it was settled somewhat like this: B&M Likes to mimic plane manouvers. They design some of their elements after certain moves in aironautics (See also, Immelmann Manouver first preformed by a Mr. Immelmann in his plane). Hammerhead turns are technically Overbanks, but are designed after the Hammerhead air manouver where it goes up and makes most of the turn high in the air so it looses very little speed. It's footers vs. footings almost. Either one works but the term B&M uses is Hammerhead turn.
Beast1979 Posted October 21, 2008 Posted October 21, 2008 They are preparing to install the next piece of Lift Track.
RailRider Posted October 21, 2008 Posted October 21, 2008 OK, is the so called "hammerhead" actually a hammerhead or just an overbank turn? Yes. More seriously, B & M likes to use aeronautical terms.... So true, know if they could just introduce the Bent Cuban Eight in to their inversion play book.
Beast1979 Posted October 21, 2008 Posted October 21, 2008 They are installing the next track piece now. Man it is tall now! And of course we all know the next thing after this track piece...... BIGGEST SUPPORT!
RailRider Posted October 21, 2008 Posted October 21, 2008 Scary thing, even with the piece that is going up the lift still isnt topped off. This thing is huge and the lift hill will look amazing with the steep lift going up and the very steep drop.
Beast1979 Posted October 21, 2008 Posted October 21, 2008 There's still one More strait piece of track before the lift is crowned! This is probably about 160 feet high right now!
CoastersRZ Posted October 21, 2008 Posted October 21, 2008 And how do you know that there is only one more piece of straight track before the ride is topped off?
firehawkboy Posted October 21, 2008 Posted October 21, 2008 If they do what they did just now, it'll be 2 track pieces put together then they'll lift it up, which will top it off.
DropZone99 Posted October 21, 2008 Posted October 21, 2008 There's still one More strait piece of track before the lift is crowned! This is probably about 160 feet high right now! Looks more like two or three more lift pieces until the lift is complete. And probably another three for the main drop.
UCbengal985 Posted October 21, 2008 Posted October 21, 2008 So is the entire lift hill up? Well at least until the crest? The webcam cuts off the top of it....
firehawkboy Posted October 21, 2008 Posted October 21, 2008 ^No. It's still got a couple more pieces to go until the crest.
tigellinus Posted October 21, 2008 Posted October 21, 2008 I greatly enjoyed the lattest blog post from Don. Although I am a bit saddend my calculations for the lift hill were off 5degrees. Although not 45, 40 is quite steep. RR, care to bust out the protractor for Behemoth's and Nitro's lift angle??
RailRider Posted October 21, 2008 Posted October 21, 2008 Drop or Ascent? Why does it matter about them? I speculated that DB would rise at 45degrees and its only 40. Still a very steep lift when you consider MF is 45.
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