X is bendy. - CoasterBuzz

Anyone else notice the way the seat wings on X bend on the high g-force sections? Check out a pic of the train at the first two pull-outs and you can plainly see that each side bends from the force. If you're really attentive, you can see it while riding.

This is possibly the intriguing topic ever posted on Coasterbuzz. Think of the endless discussions about this. Woowee.
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Can't this thing go any faster?

You wouldnt happen to have a photo of this would you!?
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Out of the coasters i've ridden here is wat i rank them overall:(ive been to canobie lake and SFNE)
1. S:RoS 2. Yankee Cannonball 3. Riverside Cyclone 4. Canobie Corkscrew 5. Thunderbolt 6. Galaxy 7. Mind Eraser 8. Dragon coaster 9. poison ivy's tangled

yeah, give us a link lol

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Idle hands were orient to her.

This may not be the most intriguing topic, but the title made me laugh out loud. :)
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You can't spell "dishonorable" without "honorable."

According to Alan [what's his last name? Bollingbroke?] the seat supports are designed to do that. Its nothing to worry about.

I was watching it when I walked up there (since i didn't feel like paying for parking) and I noticed this as well. I thought it was just me, but I guess it isn't.
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Is it a dream or a memory? It's both, it's X

A pic would be helpful

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http://www.islandguide.8m.com
all about PKI
SOB/TG crew in 2002

Vertigo is designed to bend also, but I believe a tower broke at CP.............. Hmmm I wonder how long til WT,S:UE or V2 give out.
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My other car is a Giovanola!

Good grief! Vertigo probably didn't collapse because of poor design. It was likely some sort of shoddy welding or fabrication work. I really don't think parks would install the Impulse coasters if they thought there was an inkling of a chance of a structural failure.

LoadedG, the Petronis (Sp?) Towers, Sears Tower, and Trans America Tower bend... Sears Tower has been around 25-35 years, and I havn't heard anything of that breaking. If these much taller structures have all stood longer than those other ride's age combine (well, maybe not Petronis), then it shows your reasoning is flawed. Things that sway do not break under normal circumstances, and I'm sure that Vertigo did not break because it was in good condition... it obviously wasn't.
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I have no signature.

Also, if it was in good condition, Thrillshot at SFMM would have broken by now, since it has been open longer and probably had more launches, yet it's still standing and is in perfect condition.
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Is it a dream or a memory? It's both, it's X

I noticed this a while ago & meant to start a thread on why it does so. Forgot to do so.

Here's the photo.

It probably bends because it needs to. If not, it might break. Remember that Discovery special...a guy from GCI said "If it doesn't shake, it will break" I bet this is the same thing, although I'm no engineer!
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- Peabody

Yup...if it doesn't bend it'll break. There are actaully sky scrapers that bend some much that they would make the people in them very unfomcortable if they didn't have a counter weight system.

At the very top of the tower, they will have a huge, huge, block made out of some very heavy material. Usually this weight weighs many, many tons, to displace the weight of the tower. Using a complicated system of rollers, the weight is essentially "floated" at the top of the tower, so that as the tower sways one way, the weight sways the other, diminishing the sometimes naseuating affect of the swaying.

Even buildings which aren't remarkably tall by most standards sway a bit. I've been in the 5/3 building in Lexington which if i remember correctly is about 450 ft. tall and feeling it move. Its pretty cool, or unerving, depending on who you are. Hell, I remember going to Water Works at PKI when it first opened, and feeling the slid structures swing. My dad (electical engineer) explained to me why they had to swing.

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Idle hands were orient to her.

The St. Louis Arch is designed to sway some 18 feet. And having been up in the top during a really bad thunderstorm, I can tell you it sways at least that much!

Still standing, too...

WARNING: ENGINEERING RANT

LoadedG said, "Vertigo is designed to bend also, but I believe a tower broke at CP.............. Hmmm I wonder how long til WT,S:UE or V2 give out. "

Well, if the engineers did their homework right (and I'm sure they did), the answer is...
not in our lifetimes.

When discussing a steel structure subjected to loads, everyone properly brings up the question of fatigue. Fatigue is the cracking of a material due to a load repeated over many cycles. Steel is heavily used in most machinery because it has a "fatigue limit". If you plot the load versus the
cycles on a graph, you'll see a point on the curve where it flattens out. This means that as long as you keep the loads below a certain level, you can subject your material to one million cycles, or one hundred million cycles, without worrying about fatigue damage.

Now, if you look at a different metal like aluminium, for example, it has no fatigue limit. If you plot it out, the load/cycle curve keeps going down until it reaches zero. Thus, no matter how low you keep your loads, aluminium will ALWAYS eventually fail due to fatigue. That's why aircraft (made of mostly aluminium) have strict, defined service lives.

However, if you add other things like rust, defects in materials, poor welds, etc. you can create stress risers which will ruin your nice, fatigue-resistant properties of steel. I'll bet you ten bucks that coaster manufacturers have some of the nicest, cleanest welders you'll ever see.

Later,
EV
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"Just remember, wherever you go, there you are." - Buckaroo Banzai

*** This post was edited by EchoVictor on 2/15/2002. ***

Yea, well, i guess it was a bit silly of me not to include a link, and someone beat me to it. Here it is again.
http://www.twistedrails.com/sfmm2k1/jan10-14.shtml

I'm sure the bending is nothing to be worried about ( i only mentioned it cause it's amusing), although the first time you notice it while riding, it's disconcerting! I'd say I'm a veteran coasterer, and rarely get scared (sadly Magnum was a little boring my first time, (but since has earned it's reputation). But I'll tell you, riding those first few days of previews.... Knowing that there was some issue that kept it from opening on time.... made you wonder if the guys at Arrow were taking a gamble with safety for the sake of fun. You know they wouldn't but you wonder.

"Buildings and Bridges are made to bend in the wind.
To withstand the world, that what it takes."
Ani DiFranco

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Can't this thing go any faster?

Mamoosh said:
"According to Alan [what's his last name?Ê Bollingbroke?] the seat supports are designed to do that.Ê Its nothing to worry about."

Mamoosh... what's up man. Lost your email. I think we chatted about this while riding! Have you seen yourself in any promo photos?

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Can't this thing go any faster?

Ever notice how much a jet airliner's wings flex? I imagine X being 'bendy' is similar.

faster-faster! said:
"Buildings and Bridges are made to bend in the wind.
To withstand the world, that what it takes."
Ani DiFranco

*surprised smiley face* Will you be my new best friend?