Line of thrust

The line of thrust is the locus of the points, through which forces pass in a retaining wall or an arch. It is the line, along which internal forces flow, , .

In a stone structure, the line of thrust is a theoretical line that through the structure represents the path of the resultants of the compressive forces, . For a structure to be stable, the line of thrust must lie entirely inside the structure, , .

Where important

The line of thrust is important in almost any architecture bearing weight. This includes aircraft, bridges, plus arches; see catenary arch.

An arch won't collapse, when the line of thrust is entirely internal to the arch, .

gollark: Someone was annoying and refused to accept that.
gollark: It's the JIT compiler for WHY, my "esolang".
gollark: https://esolangs.org/wiki/WHY
gollark: No, the better compiler being WHYJIT.
gollark: GCC banned you? That must be very problematic.

See also

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