Beam axle

A beam axle, rigid axle or solid axle is a dependent suspension design, in which a set of wheels is connected laterally by a single beam or shaft. Beam axles were once commonly used at the rear wheels of a vehicle, but historically they have also been used as front axles in rear-wheel-drive vehicles. In most automobiles, beam axles have been replaced by front and rear independent suspensions.

Implementation

With a beam axle the camber angle between the wheels is the same no matter where it is in the travel of the suspension.

A beam axle's fore and aft location is constrained by either: trailing arms, semi-trailing arms, radius rods, or leaf springs. The lateral location is constrained by either: a Panhard rod, a Scott Russell linkage or a Watt's linkage. While shock absorbers and either leaf springs, coil springs, or air bags are used to control vertical movement.

The Twist-beam rear suspension is a similar suspension design, however its beam axle is able to twist thereby functioning as an anti-roll bar to control the roll motion of the body and is considered to be an semi-independent suspension design.

Beam

Beam may refer to:

BEAM

Beam (music)

In musical notation, a beam is a horizontal or diagonal line used to connect multiple consecutive notes (and occasionally rests) in order to indicate rhythmic grouping. Only eighth notes (quavers) or shorter can be beamed. The number of beams is equal to the number of flags that would be present on an un-beamed note.

Grouping

The span of beams indicates the rhythmic grouping, usually determined by the time signature. Therefore, beams do not usually cross bar lines, or major sub-divisions of bars. If notes extend across these divisions, this is indicated with a tie.

In modern practice beams may span across rests in order to make rhythmic groups clearer.

In vocal music, beams were traditionally used only to connect notes sung to the same syllable. In modern practice it is more common to use standard beaming rules, while indicating multi-note syllables with slurs.

Positioning

Notes joined by a beam usually have all the stems pointing in the same direction (up or down). The average pitch of the notes is used to determine the direction – if the average pitch is below the middle staff-line, the stems and beams usually go above the note head, otherwise they go below.

Beam (nautical)

The beam of a ship is its width at the widest point as measured at the ship's nominal waterline. The beam is a bearing projected at right-angles from the fore and aft line, outwards from the widest part of ship. Beam may also be used to define the maximum width of a ship's hull, or maximum width plus superstructure overhangs.

Generally speaking, the wider the beam of a ship (or boat), the more initial stability it has, at expense of reserve stability in the event of a capsize, where more energy is required to right the vessel from its inverted position.

Typical values

Typical length-to-beam ratios for small sailboats are from 2:1 (dinghies to trailerable sailboats around 20 ft or 6 m) to 5:1 (racing sailboats over 30 ft or 10 m).

Large ships have widely varying beam ratios, some as large as 20:1.

Rowing shells designed for flatwater racing may have length to beam ratios as high as 30:1, while a coracle has a ratio of almost 1:1 – it is nearly circular.

Formula

The beam of many monohull vessels can be calculated using the following formula: