In a vehicle suspension, roll moment is the moment of inertia of the vehicle's sprung mass (the portion of its weight supported by the suspension). The roll moment is the product of the sprung mass and the square of the distance between the vehicle's roll center and its center of mass. If the vehicle is subjected to centrifugal forces, such as in a turn, the roll moment will cause the body to rotate (lean) towards the outside of the turn.
In aeronautics, the roll moment is the aerodynamic force applied at a distance from an aircraft's center of mass that causes the aircraft to undergo angular acceleration about its roll axis. The roll axis is usually defined as the longitudinal axis, which runs from the nose to the tail of the aircraft. A roll moment can be the result of wind gusts, control surfaces such as ailerons, or simply by flying at an angle of sideslip. See flight dynamics.
Famous quotes containing the words roll and/or moment:
“Rock ‘n’ roll is a combination of good ideas dried up by fads, terrible junk, hideous failings in taste and judgment, gullibility and manipulation, moments of unbelievable clarity and invention, pleasure, fun, vulgarity, excess, novelty and utter enervation.”
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“Here is what sometimes happened to me: after spending the first part of the night at my desk—that part when night trudges heavily uphill—I would emerge from the trance of my task at the exact moment when night had reached the summit and was teetering on that crest, ready to roll down into the haze of dawn....”
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