Is 90 Degrees possible on wood support structure?

Yes Dave, both cables and rods are used to deal with tension in wood structures. Of course, they are both steel. The design can get difficult at times though. trying to find somewhere to anchor them on a tall structure while keeping the angle of the cable reasonable.

Really, I personally don't think that 90* drops are possible/feasible on a full length wooden coaster train, key word train. Think of how wide the radius is on MF just to get to 80*, now try to move that 10 more degrees on a lets say a 150' drop and you have 1) going to have a shorter train, 2) a very small 90* section, or 3) some very high negative G's in the back cars.

It would have to be a very tall wooden coaster and we all know how much people like 200+' woodies (although the intamin one seems to do alright).

At the same time I agree with Jim, that getting some tension pulling back on that hill would be very hard to do, because the train would want to pull out on the entire structure. Putting bracing on both sides is a possibility, and would lead to some headchoppers, but all in all I don't feel that its practical.

^^ What?!?

No more wooden cables? :)

Wood can be used in tension or compression, and the design values for tension and compression perpendicular to the grain are similar. Connections will often govern the design, not the strength of the entire wood section.

Actually, you can see on most GCII coasters that tension batters are used in many of the higher turns with tight radii. They serve essentially the same purpose as the cables that RideMan was talking about (and they look much nicer too!).

As for a 90 degree drop, I think Dave is right that you reach a point where the weight of the track can no longer be supported at intervals, but I wonder if the entire track could be "Hung" from a tall wood structure, kind of like a ribbon hanging off of a stick. The stiffness of the track would be less of a concern, since gravity is no longer working against you and trying to "sag" the track between supports.

It's worth thinking about, though. I'm sure it's possible.

Assuming the question was wood TRACK: A 90* banked turn, certainly, no problem...

a 90* DROP, though, would take an ENORMOUS amount of bracing, would need to reach that angle of descent for a SHORT period of time, and would need QUITE the pullout to transition back to uphill track. Might not need nurses at the station, but chiropractors WOULD advertise on the benches nearby...OUCH!

That being said, someone *will* do it, probably in the next 5-10 years...and it'll likely NEED to be above 200' tall, lest it result in all the maintenance and popularity of that looping woodie in Cincy... ;)

If the question really was wood SUPPORTS, then all bets are off since you could have wood OR steel track on wood supports, and that's an *entirely* different can of worms...so to speak...
*** Edited 9/28/2005 5:40:24 AM UTC by rollergator***

Enjoy El Toro...76° drop, 90° banked turns

Or why not go beyond a vertical drop to 91+ degrees? Not that I think it would actually be that fun once you start putting body weight on what would probably be an OTSR.I think we're going to see some radical new changes in wooden coaster construction in the next few years.

Don't know if this makes cents, but here's my vision of 90* of a wooden drop...

Many coasters have "handrails" going up the lift. You could simply extend those all the way down the first drop and have supports coming from behind the drop as well as where the "hand rails" would be from in front of the drop. The train would basically be traveling though a wooden tube.

talk about great head choppers...

Not too dissimilar from Ghost Rider... except that wasn't added for support but to placate the neighbors about a noise issue. Either way, I thought it really added to the whole experience of the ride.

BWizzle: That's pretty much what I was thinking. You build a large box with track running down the inside of one wall, and that solves the support problem. In fact, that's kind of what Bussink did to build the Tower of Terror at Gold Reef City.

As for the forces on the roll-over...how many times does it have to be said? It's all about the speed and the radius, and it doesn't matter how far you go down the rollover to get into the drop. It's all about speed and radius, and it is quite possible to keep the forces under control.

--Dave Althoff, Jr.

hmm.. with all this said...

Beast has a loop, tracking through a box would make 90* drop possible... how about the world's first woodie zero-g? ...world's first woodie cobra? (through a wooden box.... talk about insane and thrilling :) :) )