mod 4.4 Ben Meginniss
I am an adrenaline junkie. I enjoy going fast on seemingly dangerous machines, however, due to my geographic location I don't often get to experience one of my favorite forms of engineering.
That being rollercoasters. these machines are a delicate balance of energy, speed, G-forces, and theming to give the riders an enjoyable experience.
however, there are some serious limitations that need to be taken into account. In general, humans can only withstand about 5 Gs momentarily before losing consciousness, furthermore, 2 lateral Gs are generally considered excessive. it's important for a ride designer and operator to take these limitations into account. furthermore, it's important to take into account that roller coaster trains can behave very differently when loaded compared to when empty, with some of the largest trains being multiple tons heavier when fully loaded.
The photo above is of the Flip Flap Railway one of the first-ever looping roller coasters. with a perfectly circular loop, the coney island attraction was a sight to behold. However, there is one major design issue. a perfectly circular loop will cause serious spinal injuries. this is due to the sudden onset of the vertical G-forces, if one looks at a more modern roller coaster loop it will have a more inverted Egg shape allowing for a smooth transition into and out of the loop (Pescovitz, 2023).
another example of human limitations with roller coasters includes numerous examples of operator error.
a notable example of operators behaving negligently is the accident that occurred on June 2 2015 at the Alton Towers theme park.
This accident was on one of the park's most popular roller coasters, the Smiler, prior to the park opening the operators was required to send a train loaded with water dummies around the track. the operators did not load the train. due to high winds as well as the low weight of the train, it was unable to crest one of the hills along the track, falling back to a low point of the track that was not visible from the station. the operators, seemingly forgetting about the empty car, brought a 5th train onto the track to help with expected high crowds. however, they did not update the Train in use number, leaving it at 4. Once the ride opened the first train of the day refused to leave the station due to a safety interlock called a block section. much like the signaling of a train track, a block section does not let a new train enter the block section unless the previous train had cleared it. however, on the day of the accident a supervisor, Presumably checking the trains in use number with the number of trains in the station, seeing that both were 4, overrode the block section interlock. allowing the train to depart. less than a minute later, a loud crunch akin to a car crash was heard outside the station. the 2 trains on the track at the time collided, seriously injuring the 4 riders in the front row, including 2 that had their legs amputated (Rodger, 2020).
errors in judgment like this can be caused by multiple factors, the smile, in particular, had some ergonomic restrictions, due to the theming on the ride the station had very poor visibility outside, which prevented the ride operators from visually confirming the location of the first train. further factors such as pressure to get the ride up and running, as well as a potential culture of complacency greatly increased the likelihood of such a simple mistake.
both operator error and design error are common issues with many machines, however, in the theme park industry it is absolutely essential to get these elements right due to the sheer amount of people flowing through these machines on a daily basis.
Pescovitz, D. (2023). Roller Coaster. Coney Island Amusement Park. Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved from: https://www.britannica.com/topic/roller-coaster/Introduction-of-steel-coasters
Rodger, J. (2020). The harrowing story behind Alton Towers Smiler crash five years on from rollercoaster horror. The Birmingham Mail. Retrieved from: https://www.birminghammail.co.uk/news/midlands-news/harrowing-story-behind-alton-towers-18347683
Ben,
ReplyDeleteI like that you went with roller coasters. I agree with the point you make after reading more of your blog and looking at the incident you're describing. In this case, rollercoasters. Riders are given an enjoyable experience by balancing energy, speed, G-forces, and theming. There are, however, some serious limitations to consider. Most humans cannot withstand more than 5 Gs momentarily before losing consciousness, and 2 lateral Gs are considered excessive. In designing and operating a ride, these limitations need to be considered. Also, roller coaster trains can behave very differently when loaded compared to empty, with some of the largest trains being as much as multiple tons heavier when fully loaded. Roller coasters are surprisingly safe, but they can be terrifying and feel dangerous. Take advantage of Olympus' NDT technology. A theme park or amusement park roller coaster is remarkably safe compared with other rides. It's true that roller coasters have a reputation for being dangerous, but there is very little to fear when riding one
Ben,
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing your blog with the class, once you mention that you are an adrenaline junkie, I was able to see the reason for choosing similar topics for previous assignments. I also love getting on rollercoasters as a kid, and if I could I would have been at the park every day, but now that I am older, my body would only allow me to go at least once a month. The attractions are very fun to ride, but as you mention there is way too much room for human error like the example you mention in your blog. Other errors such as not checking that the individuals are secure properly; these errors would happen once the individual gets too comfortable when doing their job. Meaning since they do it every day, all day, there is a high possibility for them to skip steps or take shortcuts that can cause safety hazards to everyone.
Ben,
ReplyDeleteI, too, have a thing for adrenaline, and I have always wondered about this stuff, like the first rollercoaster test and how it was back then. I can certainly tell that it was not the best just by reading your blog, and I could only imagine those G-forces that are being excreted on a person. It is great to see our engineers see a problem and work to find a way to solve it and make the rollercoaster enjoyable.
What an interesting story as well; that scenario is like every part leading up to the incident. In every aspect, there could have been something to prevent the incident from happening. I trust but verify when it comes to a critical situation such as this. The first sign there was something wrong should have been the safety interlock. That system does not randomly go off, so it should not have been bypassed. A system that would have worked for this scenario is if cameras around the rollercoaster had to be looked at before you could bypass the code. That might have prevented such a terrible accident.
-Austin