Fury 325 closed due to fractured support

I've had the same experience, RC. It is interesting how this incident made national headlines (and NBC Nightly News), while other incidents that have involved actual injuries/deaths haven't gotten the same level of coverage. Speaks to the power of having dramatic video, for one.

Brian Noble:

For a vertical loop, gravity acts in the plane of the loop, so the loop structure itself potentially acts as a support. For an almost horizontal curve, more of the impact of gravitational force is met by that support.

I'm mostly in agreement Brian, but looking at the shape of the track and the shape of the crack (rhyme unintentional), I see it a little bit differently. For the big B&M vertical loops that Jeff is referring to, I would guess that the positive Gs range between 0.5 and 1.5; that is, you are still attached to your seat, but depending on how big the loop is and how fast you take it, you either feel slightly lighter or slightly heavier. Therefore, the live load on the "unsupported" section of the loop is probably comparable to any other part of the track where the train is just sitting on it at 1G. The other extreme would be a pullout, which can see 4 to 5Gs. Another way to think about it: the top of loop curvature and the pullout curvature could be the same, and you could even take them at the same speed, but even if the curve plus speed combination results in a 2G acceleration, you'll feel (and the track will react) 1G in the loop (2G curve/speed - 1G gravity) and 3Gs in the pullout (2G curve/speed + 1G gravity).

A horizontal curve is a little bit more complicated. For the support in question, there are two elements: the vertical column and the angled column. Both support the dead and live vertical load, but only the angled column reacts the lateral load of the train passing through the curve, which to the rider feels like positive Gs because the track is banked so sharply. But this sharp banking also clues us in on the vertical load. You can see by the shape of the track that this portion of the curve looks like it's at the apex of a slight hill, and because the track is banked near 90°, we can say that the live vertical load is zero Gs when the train passes through. So other than the weight of the track, this support structure doesn't see much additional load in the vertical direction. Almost all of the reaction is in the lateral direction, transferred through the angled column to the foundation. This lines up with our understanding of how the crack formed, starting on the inside and working its way out horizontally through the column--the upper portion of the column that is above the joint where the angled column meets the vertical column. I bet that weld sees some very high stress. I would guess, based on how tight the curve is and how fast the train takes it, that is a 2 to 3G turn.

I’m back to say that I should’ve checked my PointBuzz factoids before I made broad statements. It seems Tony Clark has surfaced with some business-as-usual posts on Twitter.
Sorry for any false alarm.

Stumbled upon this... This guy ran an FEA analysis on the column, simulating the same failure. Scroll down to play/see the animation visual.

https://www.linkedin.com/po...5840-Wn4t/

I mean, cool graphic, but what he says in the (poor) translation is an awful lot of conjecture and assumptions. You can't say, "It is also evident the lack of maintenance and NDT checks that would have caught the problem months before this situation," unless you know what the maintenance and inspection was. I doubt he knows the weight of the train, or the track, the gauge of the steel, or anything else to accurately simulate it. If the footer settled, he wouldn't know that either. And this is really stretching: "At the design level, there are clear shortcomings, with a cantilevered structure not supported by adequate reinforcements that would have prevented the problem (through an accurate calculation)." Really? This design is found on hundreds (thousands?) of roller coaster support columns by many manufacturers. How does he arrive at this conclusion?

And LULZ for concluding the column can break in that way after it broke that way.

Exactly. That analysis has no value. It’s kind of like the RCT version of an FEA.

"I'm not going on Fury 325, it isn't safe"

Regarding “cantilevered” supports, I’ve long been fascinated by the supports on Arrow Suspended coasters.

Cantilever city on the entire course, and those supports don’t seem to mind, even without the extra 45degree supports that Fury has.

Cantilevered supports on The Bat at Kings Island

"Paging Great Bear...Great Bear, your cantilevered supports are ready."

New column went up today. Didn't even take the time to paint it. Dang do they work fast.

I saw photos today that they have painted the support. I wouldn't be surprised if it started testing Monday or Tuesday and possibly open by next weekend. Impressive at how quickly they were able to fix it. A lot of people including me thought it might be closed for the rest of the year, but it might reopen within 20 days.

Don't know why people thought it would take so long to fix/repair. It honestly is a very easy fabrication and relatively easy location/install. Once the go ahead was given to do the repair, it's a quick process.

SteveWoA:

Don't know why people thought it would take so long to fix/repair. It honestly is a very easy fabrication and relatively easy location/install. Once the go ahead was given to do the repair, it's a quick process.

You work in a similar industry. Us plebes don’t know any of that. :P

Unfortunately, most of us plebes don't know much of anything about anything, and refuse to even do the absolute minimum of Googling (or Snopes-ing) it before making it go viral. Which is why it's so easy to profit by creating clickbait in the first place.

SteveWoA:

Don't know why people thought it would take so long to fix/repair. It honestly is a very easy fabrication and relatively easy location/install. Once the go ahead was given to do the repair, it's a quick process.

Probably because Cedar Fair has had rides sitting closed all season at some parks, including Carowinds. And the parks are still using the supply chain excuse. They can get the rides open when they want to…….

Have you been to Carowinds? Did you like it?

Domestic steel production for the most important ride in the park. I’m sure they’d just let it sit and rot for a year like Tilt-a-Whirl or whatever.

I was certain The Bat was going to remain closed for good but CF got that turned around pretty quickly too.

All B&M US steel is made at Claremont, and S&S handles most of the Arrow repairs, refits, and refurbs as they bought everything in the bankruptcy.

The next question is will Xcelarator go Zamperla this off-season? or at least LIM.

Actually, I believe the rails for B&M's are shaped in Europe.