Structural Mechanics: Les Misérables And The Phantom Of The Opera
Introduction to Structural Mechanics
1-1 Introduction
In an effort to compete with film and TV, theatrical stage scenery has been growing larger, more complicated and more ambitions year after year. This trend began with Broadway shows such as Les Misérables and The Phantom of the Opera and continues today. This trend has been expanding from the commercial markets to regional theatres across the country. In order to meet the needs of these large scale and often non-traditional physical productions technical directors and theatre technicians need to understand the forces at work on structural members and be able to determine what is necessary to resist those forces. In the past scenery would often constructed using tried and true methods, …show more content…
For example, if you tie a rope to a hook in a wall and pull on the rope, you are said to be applying a force to the rope (later we will see how this force is also applied to the hook, the wall, etc). If the rope is strong enough to not break (fail) it is said to be resisting the force applied to it. A force could also be applied to a moving object such as a wrench falling from a grid. In this case gravity is the force pulling the wrench toward the center of the earth. As you let go of the wrench it starts out not moving at all, but then gravity pulls it down. This is called acceleration. A platform resting on six 2x4 legs on a stage floor is also being pulled on by gravity. The stage floor provides an equal and opposite force pushing back up on the platform legs and hence the platform itself. Statics is the branch of mechanics which studies bodies held motionless by balanced forces such as this and is known as static equilibrium. Before you let go of the wrench, your hand is supplying a force equal and opposite to the gravitational force pulling the wrench down. Gravity is pulling the wrench down and your hand is pushing the wrench up. In the rope example, if the rope is not tied to a wall, but is being held by a nearby electrician and you each pull equally as hard, neither of you will move. You are balanced or in static equilibrium. Dynamics on the other hand, is the study of bodies in motion and forces which are dependent upon time. Examples are the falling wrench or a really weak electrician pulling the rope. Most of our study will be contained within the field of
1-1 Introduction
In an effort to compete with film and TV, theatrical stage scenery has been growing larger, more complicated and more ambitions year after year. This trend began with Broadway shows such as Les Misérables and The Phantom of the Opera and continues today. This trend has been expanding from the commercial markets to regional theatres across the country. In order to meet the needs of these large scale and often non-traditional physical productions technical directors and theatre technicians need to understand the forces at work on structural members and be able to determine what is necessary to resist those forces. In the past scenery would often constructed using tried and true methods, …show more content…
For example, if you tie a rope to a hook in a wall and pull on the rope, you are said to be applying a force to the rope (later we will see how this force is also applied to the hook, the wall, etc). If the rope is strong enough to not break (fail) it is said to be resisting the force applied to it. A force could also be applied to a moving object such as a wrench falling from a grid. In this case gravity is the force pulling the wrench toward the center of the earth. As you let go of the wrench it starts out not moving at all, but then gravity pulls it down. This is called acceleration. A platform resting on six 2x4 legs on a stage floor is also being pulled on by gravity. The stage floor provides an equal and opposite force pushing back up on the platform legs and hence the platform itself. Statics is the branch of mechanics which studies bodies held motionless by balanced forces such as this and is known as static equilibrium. Before you let go of the wrench, your hand is supplying a force equal and opposite to the gravitational force pulling the wrench down. Gravity is pulling the wrench down and your hand is pushing the wrench up. In the rope example, if the rope is not tied to a wall, but is being held by a nearby electrician and you each pull equally as hard, neither of you will move. You are balanced or in static equilibrium. Dynamics on the other hand, is the study of bodies in motion and forces which are dependent upon time. Examples are the falling wrench or a really weak electrician pulling the rope. Most of our study will be contained within the field of