Fury 325 Rollercoaster cracking 15

[Tomfh]

A decent crack.

Watch the video in the second link showing how much it moves. Presumably some sort of dynamic/fatigue crack?

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/ar...closed-huge-CRACK-spotted-support-pillar.html

https://www.wcnc.com/video/news/loc...inds/275-d15abbee-1b1c-475e-b692-e7d3be7b3d32

 

[Alistair_Heaton]

make it too strong and unable to flex and you have to rerun the fatigue calcs on the rest of it.

 

[MintJulep]

The fabricator for B&M US coasters is in Ohio.

 

[Retiredat46]

I didn't specify the thickness or length of the sleeve or the size and placement of the plug welds. I knew they would work out the details.

Who knows...they may be incorporating a similar sleeve arrangement in the replacement column assembly. It's pretty obvious the original design didn't work so well.

Even with a closer fab shop, the suggested repair would probably still save some time.

 

[Tomfh]

Who knows...they may be incorporating a similar sleeve arrangement in the replacement column assembly. It's pretty obvious the original design didn't work so well.

If this one failed there are likely others that are overstressed. They’d be crunching the numbers pretty hard right now. Not fun.

 

[SnTMan]

Apparently in service 8 years. Wonder how many runs it accumulated in that time ? How many loading cycles per run?

The problem with sloppy work is that the supply FAR EXCEEDS the demand

 

[Stick.]

I just ran a quick upper limit type calc and got approximately 1.6 million trains passing over the track over it's lifespan, so it's at least possible for the track to have exceeded 1 million cycles.

That assumes it's operating at its theoretical max capacity of 1470 riders/hour and 32 riders/train (source), 12 hours/day and 7 days/week (from google maps listing for the park's hours), and operating 365 days/year since it opened.

 

[ctopher]

The structural supports looks like someone trying to make due with the least amount of steel.
It reminds me when a kid, trying to hold up something with just two tooth picks.

Chris, CSWP
SolidWorks
ctophers home

 

[Brian Malone]

The structural supports looks like someone trying to make due with the least amount of steel.

That is often the goal of good engineering. Use only the material and quantity required to meet the operational, functional and safety requirements. Are you just bench racing with this comment or are you able to back the criticism with real calculations? The ride design engineers are quite skilled at what they do.

 

[ctopher]

No, nothing to back it. Only an observation. I'm not bashing the engineers. But I think if I were building a ride and would add more support for longevity.

Chris, CSWP
SolidWorks
ctophers home

 

[sgw1009]

Workers are currently removing the grout from the bottom of the angled column, so clearly they are planning to replace both complete columns and nut just the vertical column and the top section of the angled column.

 

[sgw1009]

There are also two workers checking the track joint downstream from the failed column.

 

[Alistair_Heaton]

I hope they are going upstream as well.

Personally I would be wanting some dyn analysis of how that support getting removed effected the frequency response of the whole lot.

More to adjust the fatigue life of the rest of it than requiring modification

 

[Luceid]

Does anyone know what "life expectancy" these kinds of amusement park structures are designed for? (Generally)

EDIT: Life Expectancy of the structure, not the riders. I would assume they are designed for 100% human life expectancy

 

[Alistair_Heaton]

Well they used to test them with death row inmate volunteers

 

[resqcapt19]

Does anyone know what "life expectancy" these kinds of amusement park structures are designed for? (Generally)

Another Cedar Fair park, Cedar Point, has a wooden coaster that was put into service in 1964 and a steel coaster that was first opened in 1989. The steel one was the first to break the 200' mark for coasters.

There are a dozen in the US that are still running that opened before 1930. Most of those are wood structures.

https://coasternation.com/americas-12-oldest-roller-coasters-in-operation/

 

[Tomfh]

so it's at least possible for the track to have exceeded 1 million cycles.

If it’s done a million cycles it still has a way to go before fatigue cut off. I wouldn’t be surprised if other supports are replaced too, purely as a precautionary measure of course. Safety being the number 1 concern.

 

[zeusfaber]

There's a wooden coaster in Blackpool currently in its centenary year.

A.

 

[Alistair_Heaton]

The one in cordonas in Aberdeen was going when I was a baby over 50 years ago.

 

[human909]

A cut and paste:

As of January 2023, the oldest running roller coaster in the world was Leap the Dips, located in Lakemont Park, Pennsylvania (USA), which was opened in 1902. Meanwhile, the world's second oldest coaster, Scenic Railway, opened in 1912 in Melbourne, Australia.

The former doesn't seem in current operation and it is uncertain when it will return.

The latter claims to be the oldest continuously operating roller coaster. Though it is currently undergoing maintenance as it is the winter season.

 

[sgw1009]

Workers are at the upstream side of the track this morning. So all I can guess is they are making sure that the bolts are all removable so that they can remove that section of track when the new column arrives. Removal of grout at the base of the verticl column also continues. Question though. If they are prepping to remove bolts ahead of time to save time, then why don't they also just remove that section of track ahead of time to save time?