Does anyone have any thoughts on this failure? I’m curious what the typical inspection schedule and process is for a roller coaster like this.

I’m also curious about the root cause of the failure. I have a guess, but it would be interesting to see an actual failure report. I don’t expect to see it in the news, though.

Here is a video of the crack moving as roller coaster cars go by.

Someone also got a photo of the crack a week prior before it had fully propagated through the support.

  • surfcocktailsynthEnglish
    2·
    1 year ago

    Just looking at the picture

    • the crack is open. Meaning the pillar went through traction / compression all the time in use.
    • the weld broke due to fatigue then the crack propagated.

    I’d guess poor adjustment, possibly due to the pillar sinking, and an issue in the weld. Issues in weld can have so many causes, but supposing the welder knew their job, it’s probably a poor welding procedure, poor NDT (but then 100% radio/UT is expensive for a roller coaster), maybe lack of pre/post heating…