Quote:
Originally Posted by JohnG
uhh, what school is that ?
I'm a mechanical engineer, and the first thing I learned is o=F/A
when you have less Area, the "o" (stress) is lessened.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stress_(physics)
this is why drilling holes in a wheel will make it more rigid structurally...
this is why a car with a sunroof is more rigid than a hardtop...
etc. etc. |
im sorry for the confusion, i went to a technical school for cars, and learned that in a unibody construction the body is the frame, it is designed to provide strength and absorb impact and not transfer it to the occupants of the vehicle. All I am is a lowly mechanic, what do I know?
But i will keep what you said in mind...
going by the equation you listed, o=f/a...
o being stress, f being force, a being area...
Throwing in some random numbers...lets say force is 200 whatever unit you would use...area being 12, again whatever unit is used...stress = 16.67...lets have less area now, 10 for instance...force remaining the same...stress now = 20...a higher number...I'm not an engineer, and I stated that...but unless my math is wrong or the equation you gave me is wrong, under the same force conditions, less area = higher stress. However i suppose it goes the other way as well, if the force number is less than the area number, the equation works.
I dont know the units or the way to calculate each, I'm not perfect...but by your statement If I took my car, ran it on a skid pad, recorded the g's it pulled, then cut holes in it, and ran it again, I would pull a higher number because its more "structurally rigid." Or, instead of having a forged bottom end in an engine, you could take a stocker and drill some holes to have it be just as strong if not stronger...
I think this is a job for mythbusters.