Originally Posted by smokepole

In other words, who came up with the 1500 ft-lb benchmark, and how did he get there? What information did he evaluate and how did he evaluate it in order to conclude that 1500 is the right number? Why not 1250 ft-lbs, or 2,000, I've seen 2,000 thrown around too?

So, what is the magical 1500 ft-lbs based on ?


Without commenting on it's validity, the 1,500 ft-lbs minimum apparently was generated by Whelen, and 2,000 ft-lb minimum was adopted by Boddington (the author of the chapter excerpted below). I think Boddington later downplayed this.

[Linked Image from i.imgur.com]

[Linked Image from i.imgur.com]