Jump to content

Safety factor for rigging


Philippe

Recommended Posts

Posted

A question for Tom:

(Bearing in mind the many calculations you will have done over the years) what has been the maximum 'force' that a performer of, say, 75kg has exerted on a suspension point?

  • Replies 31
  • Created
  • Last Reply
Posted

It's not a single number....

 

If it's a single performer on a static trapeze doing one of the contemporary routines that involves lots of drops and twists then they themselves are exerting loads of 200kg quite easily, however that particular rig also requires the baring bar (the top metal bar above the trapeze) to be held absolutely rock-solid with zero movement so you'll have a web of downward guys (at least 4) that are ratcheted against it. Whilst they have theoretically no downwards effect in reality you have to tension them so that the natural elasticity of everything in the rig is overcome otherwise on a catch/landing the whole rig could move and stability be lost resulting in a fall so you add a few hundred Kg of load there.

 

So in a fairly simple looking single performer routine I'd be expecting everything upline to be rated at 1000kg. As I mentioned before though it's always dependant on precisely what the routine is

 

Caveat to add that the sums are actually done in newtons even though, rather confusingly, virtually all rigging equipment is marked in Kg - it's like they don't expect us to be taking their kit to another planet one day :-p

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue.