LBarron
Well-Known Member
Hello all,
I've been doing a bit of reading about torsional vibration and one common theme is interesting - it appears that the aviation community is by far and away the most concerned about this issue. There are plenty of other "systems" that use long drive shafts - automobiles, boats, jet skis, machinery - but they all seem to be satisfied with a quick and easy flywheel or damper/absorber solution (and a generic solution at that - nothing that targets the precise frequency where the most damage would occur) and there doesn't seem to be too much of an uproar about shaft failures. Cars aren't stranded by the side of the road, aluminum jet ski shafts don't bust after a few hours, boats cruise around with long propshafts quite nicely. Granted, falling off your jet ski isn't going to hurt as much as falling out of the sky in your homebuilt, but the concern does seem quite lopsided.
So, does anyone know why (yes, I understand the safety issue) it strikes terror into aviation folks but is just one more thing to be addressed by everyone else?
onder:
Leland
I've been doing a bit of reading about torsional vibration and one common theme is interesting - it appears that the aviation community is by far and away the most concerned about this issue. There are plenty of other "systems" that use long drive shafts - automobiles, boats, jet skis, machinery - but they all seem to be satisfied with a quick and easy flywheel or damper/absorber solution (and a generic solution at that - nothing that targets the precise frequency where the most damage would occur) and there doesn't seem to be too much of an uproar about shaft failures. Cars aren't stranded by the side of the road, aluminum jet ski shafts don't bust after a few hours, boats cruise around with long propshafts quite nicely. Granted, falling off your jet ski isn't going to hurt as much as falling out of the sky in your homebuilt, but the concern does seem quite lopsided.
So, does anyone know why (yes, I understand the safety issue) it strikes terror into aviation folks but is just one more thing to be addressed by everyone else?
onder:
Leland