Why do coasters have differant support types?

When we were at CP earlier this month, my brother, who's a strucutral engineer, was checking out the supports and connections, etc. It's an engineer thing. He mentioned that on some of the projects he's worked on, he's used similar connections and members, where the other engineers would use standard I-beams and angles.

They'd marvel at his ideas and ask where he came up with them. He answered, "Cedar Point, Hersheypark, Busch Gardens..."

Fewer supports would also mean fewer footers. Concrete ain't cheap either.

Nope concrete is not cheap.

Just noticed that on Maverick's supports, there are plugs near the top.

When they were building Maverick, the eating pavilion next to Round Up was filled with dozens of pallets of sand, and I guess there was more elsewhere. On one of the tours, I think it was Monty Jasper who mentioned that the sand actually works as a structural reinforcement as well.

I would guess with all those supports, they'll need a lot of sand. I know that when sand gets wet its weight increases, the trash cans at KI had sand in the bottom, and when it rained it was a pain moving them, the weight would almost double.

Presumably, trapping moisture inside of steel would be suboptimal. :)

It appears to me that many of the new Intamin coasters have more square/rectangle/I-beam type supports than circular ones.

And by many, you mean I-305?

I think he means I-305 and the F1 Coaster. But I still don't think that constitutes all new Intamins.

By many I meant I-305, F1 Coaster, iSpeed, Jet Rescue, and Mick Doohan's Motocoaster.

Doesn't the Intamin supports at the bottom have a I shape, that fits into the footer?

Yes Intamin supports do have an I shaped piece that fits into the footer, but I believe that other companies do that as well.

Sometimes they're even cross shaped.

Wow, I did not know this was done. I always wondered huccumb coasters were so quiet compared to the older B&M's. Maurer Sohne probably did the same thing with HRRR.

Speaking of muting coasters, is it me or is Riddler's Revenge the loudest coaster ever. Good Lord!

delan said:
Wow, I did not know this was done. I always wondered huccumb coasters were so quiet compared to the older B&M's. Maurer Sohne probably did the same thing with HRRR.

Speaking of muting coasters, is it me or is Riddler's Revenge the loudest coaster ever. Good Lord!

What is a huccumb?

IMO, Riddler is downright quiet compared to the aircraft carrier sounds emanating from S:TE...

huccumb translates roughly to 'why'...."how come?" When did delan start taking classes in southern redneck-ese? :) ;)

Delan, that may have more to do with the type of wheels used on the train of Riddler. Nylon and Poly-urethane wheels can produce different speeds, and different noise levels.

Well at the start of the season, Diamondback had to roar. Then I'm guessing a few weeks ago, they must have changed the wheels. Brown train is the loudest, Green is second, Red does not have any roar. Hearing that roar walking up the DB gets me excited!

I use CATIA (CAD software) at ,which has a stress analysis workbench. I could show the stresses in a round support column versus an I-beam if anyone is interested. All I need to know is: the dimensions of the columns, the column material, and the applied force or load. It would look something like this.

I lift my cap to CATIA users. I learned it 5 years ago and I think my eyes were glazed over for the week long training session. I'll settle for Pro-E / Pro-Mechanica, thanks :-)