Old 02-12-19 | 11:45 AM
  #103  
Johno59
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Joined: Oct 2016
Posts: 854
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From: Cambridge UK

Bikes: 1903 24 spd Sunbeam, 1927 Humber, 3 1930 Raleighs, 2 1940s Sunbeams, 2 1940s Raleighs, Rudge, 1950s Robin Hood, 1958 Claud Butler, 2 1973 Colnago Supers, Eddie Merckx, 2 1980 Holdsworth, EG Bates funny TT bike, another 6 or so 1990s bikes

Chicken cannons and carbon fiber

One of difficult realities to anticipate when CF failure is concerned is the pressure spike of a sharp projectile/object striking CF. If the offending entity has a hard sharp point that strikes the surface of the CF and that tiny point exceeds the yield strength of material the monocurque nature of CF can result in the shock causing the adjoining structure turns to a fur ball.

After the space shuttle re-entry disaster it was discovered heat entered the wheel bay of the wing via the CF leading edge of the wing and this ingress subsequently destroyed the vehicle.
The chicken cannon was deployed to reaffirm the integrity of the leading edge. As expected the high velocity chickens comfortably bounced off the leading edge of the wing.
Someone suggested the insulation seen falling off the main fuel tank and striking the wing's leading edge during lift off might have been frozen. The chickens were subsequently frozen and to everyone's horror the frozen chickens comfortly punched thru the wings CF leading edge.
CF can handle astonishing loads way beyond any other materials. When it comes to sharp pointed loads like a handle bar end, a sharp piece of flying flint, a falling bike striking a pedal axle, chainring, chunks of frozen insulation or a frozen chicken beak the potential for unexpected catastrophic failure is much more complex and unpredictable.

Last edited by Johno59; 02-13-19 at 04:51 AM.
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