I am a bit puzzled. The damage to the roads in DC with TRAITOR**'s insane,

[niyad]

self-pleasuring obscene military parade has been thoroughly discussed. What I don't understand is why the weight of the metal plates is not also going to cause damage. Won't they add to the burden? Or do I need more caffeine? My head hurts.

[radical noodle]

1. Is it the just the weight or

is it the weight plus the way the tracks sort of dig into whatever they're going across? I don't know either. I hope someone here can clarify.

[Attilatheblond]

2. Since there are roads & bridges in D.C. that cannot take the weight of the Presidential 'Beast',

one might speculate that weight is a primary concern.

And someone around here mentioned the tanks have padded tracks to lessen road damage. I dunno if that's accurate, but considering how modern warfare now included a lot of urban fighting, it wouldn't surprise me if the tracks are a bit different now than decades ago.

[Wiz Imp]

3. Here's what I found

Tank tracks spread the weight over a large area and have rubber track pads. Thus, there is little effect on paved surfaces as long as the motion is in a, more or less, straight line. It’s when they turn, skidding that massive weight across the pavement, that the damage occurs. It’s not like turning a wheeled vehicle; a tank pivots around a center point, doesn’t follow the front axle.

Concerns over the tanks' weight, and what that would do to D.C.‘s streets, ultimately kept them from being used for a parade during Trump’s first term. The metal plates are seen as the best way to protect the streets Each plate weighs hundreds of pounds and will be placed at points along the parade route where the tanks will turn — and where their metal and rubber-shoed tracking that helps them move can do the most damage, the official said.

Metal plates are supposed to be engineered to distribute the weight of heavy vehicles, like tanks, over a larger area, minimizing the stress on the road surface.

https://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/army-place-large-metal-plates-dc-streets-protect-121884835#:~:text=Concerns%20over%20the%20tanks'%20weight,most%20damage%2C%20the%20official%20said.

It is likely that the plates will not completely prevent damage, but (in theory at least) should reduce damage at the turning points by distributing the weight over a larger area during the skidding that occurs during turns.

[niyad]

7. Thank you for that information. I understand what those monstrous plates

are supposed to do. My question is, how much additional damage are the plates themselves, by their sheer weight and size, going to do.

[Wiz Imp]

8. they shouldn't do any damage.

They're not really that heavy. All references I can find say they weigh "hundreds of pounds". Even the lightest cars weigh more than 1 ton and the average weight of a car in the US is 4100 pounds. So even if they weighed 2 tons (and the weight of the largest ones I could find reference to weigh less than that), they'd be lighter than the average car. There are dozens of cars on these streets at any given time during a normal day meaning at least easily 50000 to 100000 pounds (probably more) at a time without any serious damage being done. Fully loaded tractor-trailers weigh around 80,000 pounds and hundreds of them drive through city streets every day without significant damage.

There's no way the plates alone will cause any damage - they're just not that heavy. And they will only be placed at turning points where the tanks could cause serious damage. The weight of the tank on top of the plate could cause some damage, but it will be far less than the tank would cause driving directly on the street, Anyway, it's not the weight that causes the problem as the weight of the plates and most vehicles is spread out across the entire size of the object. It's the movement of the tanks which effectively causes an extra large amount of weight to all be concentrated at a single small point (which happens during turns) which is what would cause the damage.

https://www.wjtv.com/washington/washington-dc/ap-army-to-place-large-metal-plates-on-dc-streets-to-protect-them-from-tanks-during-june-parade/

Concerns over the tanks’ weight, and what that would do to D.C.‘s streets, ultimately kept them from being used for a parade during Trump’s first term. The metal plates are seen as the best way to protect the streets Each plate weighs hundreds of pounds and will be placed at points along the parade route where the tanks will turn — and where their metal and rubber-shoed tracking that helps them move can do the most damage, the official said.

[Ms. Toad]

12. Each tank weighs 60 tons.

The plates are described as weighing "hundreds" of pounds, and that weight is spread over a large surface area. For reference, even a small car weighs thousands (around 2.5 thousands), not hundreds, of lbs. And the weight of a car is focused on four (generally) points - where the four wheels touch the ground.

Absent something like difficulties in placing the plates and doing damage by swinging them around, close to zero damage.

[dalton99a]

4. Moscow parade:

(Yuri Pasholok)

[WarGamer]

10. those are steel tracks, Abrams have rubber pads... this is much ado about nothing.

https://taskandpurpose.com/news/army-tanks-dc-streets-parade/

And do the math... those rubber pads do a better job of distributing weight than an 18 wheeler with just 18 small 8-10" square contact patches

[surfered]

5. And the waste of money....the fuel efficiency of an M1 Abrams Tank, at 60-74 tons depending on the model,

...is measured in miles to the gallon.

[niyad]

6. More like gallons to the mile???

A dear old family friend used to talk about some cool car (Stutz???)) he had back in the early 30's, if I remember the time correctly. He would joke that it got 5 gas stations to the mile, and that one had to bring along 5 friends to help pay for that gas. Why have such a pain in the wallet, I asked. It was, apparently, some sort of status symbol.

[surfered]

9. You are correct. I mistyped. 1-2 gallons per mile

[Meowmee]

11. I don't know

Better remember last time it was canceled because it was going to damage the roads.

[LetMyPeopleVote]

13. They may try to protect the roads with metal plates

https://www.democraticunderground.com/100220321378

[Happy Hoosier]

14. Simply put, the plate will spread the weight NT