Quote:
|
Originally Posted by tw
Same treadmills exist for Indy and F1 racers designed to test 500 and 800 HP engines. I think we can find those bearings.
|
Not quite the same thing. The dynamometers you speak of are purpose built to carry the load of a race car in normal operation. The "no-fly zone" treadmill must run fast enough to dissipate the equivalant of
all the power of the aircraft engine[s] through friction
at the landing gear bearings alone. (I grant you can postulate treadmills of any desired power handling capability; Heinlein certainly did--convincingly--in "The Roads Must Roll").
The bearings in question are the
landing gear wheel bearings, not anything in the treadmill. They weren't built to do anything more than handle relatively short takeoff and landing rolls near the stall speed of the aircraft, and some taxiing around at speeds about as fast as a man can walk.