Turbulence and maneuvering speed

[bd32322]

Xavion has g meter functionality. I haven't had the opportunity yet to test it, though.

Jim

Just thought of a simple home made G meter. Put a small metal ball in a glass tube. Knowing the mass of the ball, you can calculate how high up the tube it will go for x number of Gs. Mark the tube accordingly and affix said tube on instrument panel and watch the fun.

If you want more resolution, use a lighter ball and longer tube. Heavier ball for coarse resolution and shorter tube.

If you want a g trip meter that will trip after x Gs, cut the tube at the x G mark, so that the ball escapes the tube if more than x Gs is imparted to it

[FloridaMan]

Unless something's changed, the iPhone cannot measure much more than 2G of acceleration. 

[bumper]

Unless something's changed, the iPhone cannot measure much more than 2G of acceleration. 

 

You need to work on your pitching. If you throw it overhand against a hard wall you should be able to get way more than 2Gs.

[Awful_Charlie]

Just thought of a simple home made G meter. Put a small metal ball in a glass tube. Knowing the mass of the ball, you can calculate how high up the tube it will go for x number of Gs. Mark the tube accordingly and affix said tube on instrument panel and watch the fun.

If you want more resolution, use a lighter ball and longer tube. Heavier ball for coarse resolution and shorter tube.

If you want a g trip meter that will trip after x Gs, cut the tube at the x G mark, so that the ball escapes the tube if more than x Gs is imparted to it

i think you're going to need a spring in that tube too, or the ball is just going to fallout/sit in the bottom of it

 

You need to work on your pitching. If you throw it overhand against a hard wall you should be able to get way more than 2Gs.

[Steve Dawson]

I think you'd have to have a way to graph the G's that would show how fast and to what extent those happen and in which direction to find out if there was any damage. 2 G's over 10 seconds isn't going to hurt as many things as 1 G over a 1/4 of a second. So measuring the accelleration rate would be important. Besides how many of us are going to look at a ball in a tube while you're going through moderate to severe turbulance?

[Hank]

Bad news: all of our planes experience 1 G every 1/4 second on the ground, during level cruise and most descents. I rarely bank far enough over (60° isn't it?) to hit 2G on purpose. In turbulence, I cannot estimate it with any accuracy, other than what makes me physically uncomfortable. That's when I slow down some, so that it won't increase to temporary loss of control.

[bd32322]

I think you'd have to have a way to graph the G's that would show how fast and to what extent those happen and in which direction to find out if there was any damage. 2 G's over 10 seconds isn't going to hurt as many things as 1 G over a 1/4 of a second. So measuring the accelleration rate would be important. Besides how many of us are going to look at a ball in a tube while you're going through moderate to severe turbulance?

Thats why i offered my trip G meter model, which has a hole at the top of the tube. In severe turbulence you wont be able to read a g meter either.

If you want something that shows the maximum G attained, put a bit of ink at the bottom of the tube. As the ball jumps around its going to color the inside of the tube. The highest colored point is your highest G.

After the flight rinse the tube and refill with ink.

I'll sell the ink at exorbitant prices and also require that the ink be changed every annual

[bd32322]

i think you're going to need a spring in that tube too, or the ball is just going to fallout/sit in the bottom of it

 

Yes, the ball does not work for sustained positive Gs as in aerobatics but since the discussion was about turbulence with both pos and neg Gs ...

its possible to add a spring and have it work for both Gs .. The math gets slightly more complex in order to account for the spring's degree of springiness