A Flaw with "going back to nature"

[Yellow Saddle]

Road damage is proportional to the fourth power of the axle weight, not tyre size or pressure.

You are confusing weight and pressure. The old elephant and stiletto analogy.

If road damage is indeed related to the fourth power, then it will be the fourth power of pressure. I.e. an elephant will do less damage than a woman heelstriking on a stiletto.

I can see this clearly in the wooden floor of my cabin. The visiting ladies do huge damage by way of little punch marks leading to my bedroom, whilst the elephant in the room leaves no mark at all.

 

[Deleted member 1258]

I suspect arthritis was a common thing in times gone past. Poor diet, heavy work, exposure to the cold and chills, the wet, the further you go back the worse it may well have been.
Same with availability of food, particually for hunter gatherers in winter months.
If modern living is abusing your body doing things it hadn't evolved to do...I'll take it, rather that than the uncertainties of life in times gone by.

arthritis is still a common problem today, its what has brought my Good Lady to a stop and is what I've got in my hips and back

 

[Dirk]

Well, it all started with a big bang...

Expansion...

 

[Dayvo]

I'm starting a separate buttocks thread !

One thread each, Shirley!?

 

[classic33]

Squatting can be better than sitting in terms of load bearing surfaces (though I'm not sure if it's better or worse for your knees). It's also a better way of doing a poop.

Some say that the "Rodin Pose" works as well if not better.

 

[roubaixtuesday]

Yes they did. One site in Turkey shows massive partying with roast antelope and beer in the time period when agriculture was just starting (10-12,000 yrs ago), leading to the hypothesis that beer was the driving force behind agricultural grain production.

My understanding of the theory goes that wild grains were inadequate to use as food before we selected to improve them. But they were adequate for use in brewing. Ergo, first such cultivation must have been for brewing, and farming for eating only followed once the grain had been improved sufficiently.

Take home: human civilisation is due to beer.

 

[mudsticks]

“The story so far: In the beginning the Universe was created. This has made a lot of people very angry and been widely regarded as a bad move.”

I'm pretty happy about the existence of the universe, all in all.

I'm a bit sad that some people aren't so bothered about looking after our tiny wee corner of it.

But I try to keep cheerful, and busy, looking after these few acres, in case it helps

 

[mudsticks]

My understanding of the theory goes that wild grains were inadequate to use as food before we selected to improve them. But they were adequate for use in brewing. Ergo, first such cultivation must have been for brewing, and farming for eating only followed once the grain had been improved sufficiently.

Take home: human civilisation is due to beer.

I grow grains, and drink beer, therefore I must be deeply civilised

 

[presta]

You are confusing weight and pressure. The old elephant and stiletto analogy.

If road damage is indeed related to the fourth power, then it will be the fourth power of pressure. I.e. an elephant will do less damage than a woman heelstriking on a stiletto.

I can see this clearly in the wooden floor of my cabin. The visiting ladies do huge damage by way of little punch marks leading to my bedroom, whilst the elephant in the room leaves no mark at all.

A stiletto heel is like the tip of a pneumatic road drill, but vehicles don't drive around on road drills. Think of a heavy weight on a bookshelf, as long as you don't support it on a fine metal spike it won't dent the surface, but the sag (and breakage) of the shelf is determined by the weight of the object and the modulus of the shelf. So it is with your floor and the road surface, yes increasing the contact area reduces the pressure, but as the pressure reduces, the dominant mode of damage shifts from one type to a completely different type. An elephant is more likely to break the joists than a woman in high heels.

There are two formulas for calculating road damage, and the difference depends on flexibility of the road, not tyre pressure, which is just as well really, as cycle tyre pressures are 2-3 times higher than cars.

https://pavementinteractive.org/reference-desk/design/design-parameters/equivalent-single-axle-load/

 

[swee'pea99]

human civilisation is due to beer

If that's not a t-shirt in waiting I don't know what is.

 

[Yellow Saddle]

A stiletto heel is like the tip of a pneumatic road drill, but vehicles don't drive around on road drills. Think of a heavy weight on a bookshelf, as long as you don't support it on a fine metal spike it won't dent the surface, but the sag (and breakage) of the shelf is determined by the weight of the object and the modulus of the shelf. So it is with your floor and the road surface, yes increasing the contact area reduces the pressure, but as the pressure reduces, the dominant mode of damage shifts from one type to a completely different type. An elephant is more likely to break the joists than a woman in high heels.

There are two formulas for calculating road damage, and the difference depends on flexibility of the road, not tyre pressure, which is just as well really, as cycle tyre pressures are 2-3 times higher than cars.

https://pavementinteractive.org/reference-desk/design/design-parameters/equivalent-single-axle-load/

Yes, the stiletto/elephant analogy fails the joists test, but roads don't have joists, so total weight spread over a large area has less of an adverse effect than the opposite.

Loaded HGVs expert more pressure on the road than an SUV with big tyres, hence causes more damage. The actual tyre's pressure doesn't come to play as you suggested, it is the pressure of the contact patch on the road.

Take road design out of the equation because we are obviously trying to compare apples with apples. No need to mention oranges.

 

[newfhouse]

According to this research it appears that road damage may be proportional to as much as a sixth power of axle weight in some circumstances. Given that, it seems to me that even a large increase in contact surface area from one vehicle to another will make some but not the largest difference. Weight is the most significant factor by some margin.

 

[Fab Foodie]

Oh good..

"Buttock chat"

I have to do a lot of that in my professional life, it'll be good practice.

I get to talk professionally about juicy breasts and fatty thighs on a regular basis....

 

[mudsticks]

I get to talk professionally about juicy breasts and fatty thighs on a regular basis....

Oh, I'm glad to hear there's some gender balance creeping into that particular gig.

Most of the ads you see for that kind of service are posted by da ladies..

 

[gbb]

arthritis is still a common problem today, its what has brought my Good Lady to a stop and is what I've got in my hips and back

Me too. It's almost finished me with cycling when it's hard enough to do a days work without aching at the end of it. How folk managed in days gone by, heaven knows.