How much horse power(vehicle) needed to pull 1000 tons weight trailer?

[Dftodd]

Engineering project for a college course?

 

[CobyRupert]

I need to move 1000 tons weight stone about 300 km. And I want to know how much horse power(vehicle) needed to pull 1000 tons weight trailer? And also need to calculate it?

Interesting misunderstanding of units and physical principles. Force vs. Energy vs. Power.
We’re mixing up metric and imperial systems, using tons, then kilometers, then asking about horsepower...whew!

You could use 1 hp, 10 hp, 1000, hp, 100,000 hp.
Theoretically all could work. Just depends on how fast you want to go.

 

[4570Man]

Maybe in theory. Even 1000 hp is only one hp per ton for the load itself. The trucks and trailer is probably another 1000 tons. Imagine trying to move a car with 1 hp. I guess it’s do able with enough gears but it would be turtle slow on flat ground and probably measured in inches per hour up hill. Using the fairly generous sounding rating of 300 hp my dump truck has 18 hp per ton loaded and it’s 30 or so mph up hills. A load like that will never hit 30 mph on flat ground but still only 1/2 hp or so per ton isn’t even close to enough.

 

[Richard]

If this is real, it would be in the top five of the heaviest loads moved, in modern times

.....and just think..... we all had a hand in it!!

:thumbsup:

 

[Richard]

Picture of this large rock?

I'm afraid that would take too large of a camera to capture it

Perhaps a satellite photo would work though??

 

[Richard]

....and why carry it in one piece?

Pfffft.... why? Well first, why ask why?!!

But to answer your question, obviously "because it's there"

Don't you see mega-boulders every now & then and decide to move them 100 miles and go to a tractor forum for advice? (compact tractor at that)

geeze.... simpleton......









(all said in jest to you of course, nothing offensive intended)

 

[CobyRupert]

....these questions and answers are making my head explode. :banghead:

It's like asking: "How many oranges do I need to make an apple pie?"

Here goes:
1000 tons = 907,185 kg.

On earth, Gravity (g) accelerates objects at 9.81m/s^2, the rock with a mass (m) of 907,185 kg exerts a downward force (F=mg) on the trailer of (F=907,185kg x 9.81m/s^2 = 8,900,000 Newtons (or 8.9 mega-Newtons)

If there could be zero friction, in the trailer bearings, tire rolling resistance, air resistance, and on level ground, just the slightest of slight force (F) could move it horizontally. Specifically, this force would accelerate it at a rate that can be calculated. Force = mass x acceleration (F=m x a); or acceleration a = F/m. This acceleration would occur for as long as you applied that force. Given an infinite amount of time any force would accelerate it to light speed (if there is no friction or hills).

In "reality" (I know, a 1000 ton rock!), the "trailer"(!) has friction that needs to be overcome.
Here's where the problem gets tricky, as often this friction, and the force required to overcome it, is not a constant; or even linear. (Example: How much force is required to overcome wind resistance on a 10 ton truck? It depends not that the truck is 10 tons, but how fast it's going and it's shape (surface area, etc..))

....but for the sake of simplicity, let's say this friction is a constant 1% of the weight. (i.e. the coefficient of friction is .01).
(Example: I regularly push my 3000 lb sedan out of my flat garage with one hand; once rolling applying about 30 lbs of force easily keeps it at speed. So, coefficient of friction is about 1%. Follow?)
That is, while gravity is causing the rock to exert a downward force of 8.9 megaNewtons downward, we'll say it takes a Force (8.9 megaNewtons x .01 =) 89 kiloNewtons to overcome the friction and maintain a constant speed (neither accelerating or decelerating) once moving.
So any force over 89 kiloNewtons will start the trailer accelerating.
Applying 89 kiloNewtons on a 300km trip requires (89kN x 300 km = 26.7 x10^9 Newton-meters (or Joules). That's 26,700 kJ (kilo-joules) of ENERGY required for the trip.

Now HOW FAST DO YOU WANT TO MAKE THE TRIP? THAT determines the POWER that's required.
1 Watt = 1 Joule/sec.

Want to do it in 10 hours (36,000 seconds)?
Then it takes: 26,700 kJ/36,000s = 741.7 kiloWatts.
1 horsepower = 746 Watts, so that's: 1000 hp, just to overcome the friction at speed. ....on flatground.

You also need horsepower (actually: Force / torque) to accelerate it up to your travel speed of 30 km/h (for a 10 hour trip).
Let's say you only want to take 10 minutes to accelerate. (That's 600 seconds to get up to a speed 8.33 meters/sec (30 km/h). That's an acceleration rate of .0139m/sec^2

To accelerate the 907,185 kg rock at this rate requires a force of (F=m x a)= 12.6 kiloJoules of torque (9293 foot-pounds)(but only about 21hp!), on top of the 1000 hp it takes to maintain speed. (Yeah, I'm mixing units.)

You then need to brake that 1000 tons at the destination! Finding the equipment that does this (tractor and trailer) may be difficult. And if there's any hill or inclines....you're going to need a bigger tractor!

 

[nikerret]

Somebody stayed at a Holiday Inn Express, last night!

 

[ruffdog]

If the rock is the shape of a wheel, we could just roll it to its destination using MUCH less HP. Problem solved.

 

[bcp]

Probably have to rebuild all the bridges between origin and destination, too.

Bruce