Vehicle load is a static distributed load in the middle of the longest tube and is 1/3 the tube length. Material is nominal size (material is commonly under nominal size, but within material geometry specs, like. 095 wall is actually stronger for bending loads! You can also look at individual parts of a roll cage under load, but please understand that evaluating roll cages is work done by trained professionals and any evaluation you do on individual parts does not indicate the overall safety of the structure. Type them both into our calculator, and check other sources if you still aren’t sure. But you look at the thin wall on the 1.75x.095 and decide that light junk can’t be as strong as the 1.25 solid bar, right? Wrong. You pick them both up and look at them, and they both feel pretty beefy. For example, lets say your local metal distributor has 1.75x.095 tube and 1.25 solid bar on sale from some huge bulk purchase that fell through with another customer.
You should use this calculator to compare materials, diameters, and wall thicknesses to find out how to make your designs safer. This will typically result in the structure failing as a safety device. Pressure level that will fracture a material.
