Hensley Arrow: How does it REALLY work?

BurbMan wrote:
Not quite....mathematically, you are right, moment = force x distance. BUT, increasing the distance only lessens the force required to produce the same moment.

Well, if I'm the TV and I have a longer lever to work with against the TT's moment, I'm not going to need to apply as much force to counter that moment. Follow?

BurbMan wrote:
...If we assume that the crosswind is blowing at 20mph, changing the length of the lever is not going to make the wind blow slower.

No, but it's going to make it easier for the TV to counter the composite moment it creates.

BurbMan wrote:
...Further, we can assume that the wind gust exerts pressure at all points along the side of the trailer, not just at the coupler, so theoretically, there are an infinite numbers of points where force is applied, each with corresponding moments from the TT axle.

Yes, and that's why you want to reduce all those moments to a single composite moment in order to know the reaction at the coupler. Remember the old rule, the sum of the moments must equal zero?

BurbMan wrote:
...Of course, the same wind is applying its force to an infinite number of points along the same side of the TV also, so does that produce a series of counter moments?

Dealing with the wind effect on the TV is a much more complex issue due to the fact that the front axle has turning wheels attached, but the TV is not affected nearly as much by the wind as the TT. You want to break the problem down to the simplest terms possible, so I would think it sufficient to concentrate on the lateral force the TV needs to adequately react to a given lateral force from the TT.

Tim