Soft Walls Impact

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Soft walls Impact Assignment- Sharni Impact is the action of one object coming forcibly into contact with another. On many race tracks walls are made out of concrete. Concrete walls are solid walls that absorb impact but do it very quickly. A new design that is being engineered and is coming a long way over the past couple of years are these walls called “soft walls” now your probably wonder what soft walls are, correct? Soft walls are walls that have been built/designed for race tracks to absorb impact at a slower speed. Soft walls are walls built with some kind of crushable material that can slowly absorb the impact of a car at high speed compared to a concrete wall absorbing the impact at a quick time. Soft walls were built designed for …show more content…

With having “soft walls” it absorbs the impact over more time. It does this by increasing the time for the car to stop or change momentum and by increasing the time it decreases the force according to the impulse formula. An impulse is equal to the net force on the object times the period over which this force is applied. In a collision, objects and in this example NASCAR’S experience an impulse; the impulse causes and is equal to the change in momentum. For example, a NASCAR entering a corner on a wet track and the steering locking up and taking him straight to the wall. The collision would change the NASCAR’S speed and slow his momentum. PEDS Barriers, plates with high-density polyethylene, a type of plastic have been tested on NASCAR race tracks and were designed so that once hit on impact they would bounce back to their original position. This was exactly what they did, but they also sent the car that hit the wall bouncing back with the wall and sent back onto the track into oncoming traffic. These PEDS Barriers were soon removed as they were found to not be the best/safest choice for race tracks. The next design for a new “soft wall” was a designed with square steel tubs encompassing crushable foam insulation and became known as the ‘Steel and Foam Energy Reduction’. These Steel and Foam Energy reduction walls meant a huge demand for these materials so that they could be

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