Trim brakes installed on DC Rivals HyperCoaster as testing continues

As opening day nears, fans may have been dismayed to see brakes installed along the course of the record breaking roller coaster, but really trim brakes are only about ensuring that the ride operates as intended.

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Cue the theme park nerd frenzy who read just the title and not the whole article in 3,2...

After reading this article I'm definitely willing to stop judging the trims until I get a ride on it. This is Mack here we're talking about, not B&M who install trims to make sure all hills are perfect floater airtime. They'll make sure the airtime on the ride is as ejectorish as safely (and comfortably) as possible.

The trims were obviously added to reduce those crazy forces at the turn around. 

Out of curiosity for those of you who know how this stuff works, what magically changed between all their computer modelling and testing to actual construction that results in these trims having to be added to slow it down and reduce the forces?

3 minutes ago, Reanimated35 said:

Out of curiosity for those of you who know how this stuff works, what magically changed between all their computer modelling and testing to actual construction that results in these trims having to be added to slow it down and reduce the forces?

...kinda thought Richard addressed this in the article? The modelling gets performance accurate to within x%, trimming gets the forces to intended levels?

10 minutes ago, Glubbo said:

...kinda thought Richard addressed this in the article? The modelling gets performance accurate to within x%, trimming gets the forces to intended levels?

That doesn't tell me what changes though. I just find it odd that with all the tech available today that can design this stuff in the first place that in the end, it still comes down to "let's see what happens when we build it".

Just now, Reanimated35 said:

That doesn't tell me what changes though. I just find it odd that with all the tech available today that can design this stuff in the first place that in the end, it still comes down to "let's see what happens when we build it".

We're talking the last few tweaks here, not a test-and-see, right?

I think it comes more down to they design it to be faster so it doesn't valley. Something big coasters in high wind areas like Cedar Point do often. They can then add trims to slow it down to optimal speed. You don't want a coaster to not make the end of the course so they make it faster just to give them that safety net and Rivals did have trims slots installed from day 1.

I'm thinking it's a matter of accounting for margin of error. Even with the computer models, you couldn't predict it perfectly.

Car makers build trial cars before proceeding to full production, to make sure that you can actually assemble a car based on the plans.

We will never know what it was like before the trims. 

Since magnetic brakes can be engineered so precisely for speed control I've been pondering the thought whether sometimes trims don't even slow the train at all, i.e. if the train's speed does not exceed the calibration of the trim. In that vein instillation of trims could be used as more of a preventative measure rather than a 'fix' for mismatch between simulated and actual performance. With what I've heard of Mack coasters getting faster as they warm up it would make sense that the engineers may have to design for a considerable variance in speed across different running conditions.

Best case for Rivals is that the trims may be there as a precaution for warmer weather / heavy train loads / other variables that could result in faster than normal runs.  Should be easy enough to tell in videos / person since heavy magnetic braking has quite a distinct noise.

1 hour ago, Reanimated35 said:

Out of curiosity for those of you who know how this stuff works, what magically changed between all their computer modelling and testing to actual construction that results in these trims having to be added to slow it down and reduce the forces?

As someone who's done a bit of modelling and then construction/testing of objects in the past (okay, model gliders aren't exactly the same as coasters but still) I can confirm that even the best modelling tools can be really inaccurate. There's a lot of factors that can play out in real life that are very hard to account for in models.

19 minutes ago, rummy said:

Since magnetic brakes can be engineered so precisely for speed control I've been pondering the thought whether sometimes trims don't even slow the train at all, i.e. if the train's speed does not exceed the calibration of the trim. In that vein instillation of trims could be used as more of a preventative measure rather than a 'fix' for mismatch between simulated and actual performance. With what I've heard of Mack coasters getting faster as they warm up it would make sense that the engineers may have to design for a considerable variance in speed across different running conditions.

Best case for Rivals is that the trims may be there as a precaution for warmer weather / heavy train loads / other variables that could result in faster than normal runs.  Should be easy enough to tell in videos / person since heavy magnetic braking has quite a distinct noise.

The trims will always slow the train unless it is not moving, in which case magnetic braking could not hold it still. Like Richard said in the article, the braking force will change in relation to the speed that the train is going. So a train going faster past the trims will experience a larger braking force, purely due to the physics behind magnetic braking. 

Edited September 1, 20179 yr by mba2012

Not the first time changes have been made to a ride after initial testing. A number of Intamin coasters have had whole sections replaced due to forces. I'm sure the ride is still going to be great even with the trims installed.

Happy to be proven wrong, but wouldn't the main purpose of these trims be to reduce long term maintenance costs? I find it hard to believe that a park/manufacturer would slow down their ride (ie make it less thrilling) just so they can 'perfect' the forces to what it was designed as. Of course unless you want a hill to be perfect floater ie B&M.

Edited September 2, 20179 yr by AllegroCrab

Hmm.. did you read the article from Richard which addressed that?

Quote

harsher friction brivarakes

 

^ what he said