Recent content by timotola

So, I've had a go at this with some example numbers and have come across some pretty poor results. I've either made a significant error that I can't spot or, the fact that cables don't obey Hooke's law has had a large effect on the final calculations. I'll attach my working on this for now...

Incredibly helpful information (I must admit I would've used the linear spring constant if you hadn't mentioned). Thanks for the extra sources on cable related theory, again, very useful. All the best and thanks again for the guidance.

Would I be correct in setting the second equation equal to the rotational kinetic energy before rearranging for x. Then substituting this for x in the first equation where F would be the tension in the cable? Then find an appropriate stiffness value, k, to solve?

Yes I'm assuming the steel cable will still have some extension and act like a spring for a short while. I'm mainly wondering how to relate this to find the tension in the cable and hence the stress. The application is similar to the drawbridge example but focused on if the main cable was to...

Thanks for the response, very interesting to use a dashpot type of element to reduce the force on the cable due to the momentum - would make a lot of sense in safety products. Taking it back to its basic form however, without any kind of dampener and assuming a very stiff (steel type) cable...

Hi, I'm currently looking into the forces exerted on a cable if the cable was to go from slack to taut due to a falling object that is pivoted about a lower hinge - such as a drawbridge but instead of slowly lowering, there is slack in the cable causing the bridge to freely rotate about the...