A bear managed to bend a steel door to a food locker in Yosemite. The door is hinged on one side and pinned on one corner ( the camper forgot to close it properly!!) , so the bend is across the diagonal. I wondered how much force the bear had to use to bend it. The doors are about 24" square and about .1" thick. Anyone have any ideas? My calculations based on sheet metal bending formula come out to nearly 7000 pounds., and I do not think a bear can have that much strength. I have a jpg of the bent door if anyone would like to see.
strength of steel door
Feb 13, 2006
4 Replies
I think the force number is for a small radius bend, while the bear was not concerned with bend radius. Also if two guys could grip a door and pull on it without cutting themselves[like if they had claws] I think they could do a similar job
Using yield strength of 50 KSI, I figure about 120 lb of force would do the job.
120 pounds sounds about right to me. The bear only weighed about that!
On 13 Feb 2006 10:05:45 -0800, with neither quill nor qualm, "motor man" quickly quoth:
120 lbs of bear might easily have 300 lbs of pull, though, and if jumping up and down while hanging on it, maybe 700-800 lbs.- The advantage of exercising every day is that you die healthier. ------------
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