Roller Coaster Failure

When there’s an accident on a huge wooden roller coaster, are the classic materials or the design at fault?

With the large scale of premier roller coasters and the speeds at which they operate, steel comes to mind as the material of choice for construction. But to coaster enthusiasts, the sound and the rough ride of a wooden coaster makes it authentic. An accident on a well-known roller coaster brought the use of wood into question and S-E-A was asked by the state to investigate and evaluate the coaster’s design, construction and the wood itself to find an answer for why the popular ride had failed while in use.

Case Study – Roller Coaster Failure

The roller coaster had originally been built from a design by a legendary German ride engineer and designer. Over the years, the huge structure’s tendency to sway had become a concern. A secondary design had proposed stiffening the structure using cables attached to a central point.

While these modifications increased the overall stability of the coaster, they changed the distribution of force and torque on parts of the structure.

When some of the wooden supports split around the bolts which connected them, the track carrying the trains of cars dropped out of alignment suddenly, causing an accident as the cars passed over.