September 13, 2017: Week 3
We are currently still waiting on the CAD drawings from Dr. Furman. Hopefully we will be able to get the drawings by next week and begin to start looking at the railings and drafting some parts. During the discussion of our full scale model, a couple key points came up about the structural integrity of the railings.
In this discussion, Dr. Furman realized that having vertical supports every meter to hold the railings together would not be efficient enough to carry the weight of multiple or even one fully loaded tram. Because of this, we are planning on implementing trusses that will support the upper and lower beams more effectively and distribute the weight as if it was a thicker solid rail.
This also brought up another similar topic on the weight distribution of the support columns. As we are only planning on doing one side of the track, the T shaped column will be split in half forming an upside-down L. This will put a lot of force as well as moment on the top beam as well as the connecting column.
Adding onto that, we will need to create a footing for the columns in order to support the whole system. This footing will need to be strong enough to be placed about 3 meters apart and hold the whole system together.
For all these problems, we will need to find a solution that will be effective yet time and cost efficient.
In addition to the structure of the rail system, we will also be adding another railing in the center when the rail splits to create a more stable guide system for the bogies.
If you refer to the image above, the red lines is the new set of tracks we will need to implement in the existing track to provide more solid support of the wheels in the bogie system as they split off. The blue section indicates a T support and column that we will need to create which will help counter the force and moment created from supporting only one side. The green lines will need to be a sort of switching mechanism that will force the bogies and car to continue or depart on the main railway.
While there are many other issues that we will overcome in the full scale design, these were the main problems that were acknowledged and focused on during this week's meeting. Hopefully by next week we will have some drawings and data sheets that we can start reference and begin our calculations as well.
In this discussion, Dr. Furman realized that having vertical supports every meter to hold the railings together would not be efficient enough to carry the weight of multiple or even one fully loaded tram. Because of this, we are planning on implementing trusses that will support the upper and lower beams more effectively and distribute the weight as if it was a thicker solid rail.
This also brought up another similar topic on the weight distribution of the support columns. As we are only planning on doing one side of the track, the T shaped column will be split in half forming an upside-down L. This will put a lot of force as well as moment on the top beam as well as the connecting column.
Adding onto that, we will need to create a footing for the columns in order to support the whole system. This footing will need to be strong enough to be placed about 3 meters apart and hold the whole system together.
For all these problems, we will need to find a solution that will be effective yet time and cost efficient.
In addition to the structure of the rail system, we will also be adding another railing in the center when the rail splits to create a more stable guide system for the bogies.
While there are many other issues that we will overcome in the full scale design, these were the main problems that were acknowledged and focused on during this week's meeting. Hopefully by next week we will have some drawings and data sheets that we can start reference and begin our calculations as well.
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