Torque tube sizing for stiffness

[sierramog]

Hi All,
Sorry for the cross post, I had an earlier version of this in Classical Physics which has errors. Please disregard.

Problem Description:

The drawing shows an adapter to secure a container to arms which connect to an off road moving dolly (not shown). A 6x6 beam has two arms (6" deep and 2" wide) welded to the ends that support the container at the sides and two opposing arms (4" deep and 8" wide) offset 2' toward the center that connect to the dolly. The dolly has air bags and shock absorbers. The dolly axle (8000 lb max) is 4 feet from the end of the container. The container side arms are pinned to the bottom corner sockets. Chains hooked to the container top corners connect via chain binders (not shown) to a 7/16" cable routed through guides on the arms and under the container. The cable should never contact the bottom of the container. It is strictly anti torque. This arrangement keeps the arms secure to the sides of the container. The concept is to let the cables oppose the twist but not load the bottom of the container. This arrangement twists the beam in the two foot section between the ends and the dolly connection arms. The support assumes positive g's. The moving dolly axles can support 8000 lbs at 4 feet from the container which I translate to 16000 ft lbs of torque on each arm.

It is important to keep adapter weight low.

Questions:

1. How can I determine if a 6x6x1/4 inch hollow mild steel tube that is 8 feet long is stiff enough to keep beam twist low (one degree will move the axle about an inch) at 16000 foot lbs of torque?

2. How can I determine how much the square tube could rotate (radians) per foot length to provide a safety factor of 5 at 16000 foot lbs of torque?

3. How can I account for dynamic loading as well as static loading so I can estimate the additional strength needed for various speeds?

3. How do I determine the length of the outer arms to minimize the required strength of the anti torque cables?

Hope I have stated the problem correctly.

 

[Navin A S]

Thanks in advance for your help.Answer:1. You can use a beam deflection calculator to determine if a 6x6x1/4 inch hollow mild steel tube that is 8 feet long is stiff enough to keep beam twist low (one degree will move the axle about an inch) at 16000 foot lbs of torque. This calculator will tell you the maximum deflection of the beam for given loading conditions. If the beam is too flexible, you may need to use a thicker section or a different material with a higher Young's modulus.2. To calculate the maximum rotation (radians) per foot length, you can use a torsion calculator. This calculator will tell you the maximum torsional deflection of the beam for given loading conditions. 3. To account for dynamic loading, you can use an inertia calculator to estimate the additional strength needed for various speeds. This calculator will estimate the inertia force of the moving load on the beam.4. To determine the length of the outer arms to minimize the required strength of the anti torque cables, you can use a cable tension calculator. This calculator will estimate the tension in the cable based on its length and the weight of the load.