*slaps forehead* Thanks Dave! Excellent explanation. Now I'm having a 'duh' moment.
I still think it's interesting that the force diagrams can't fully explain the ridgeline tension vs. comfort question. My gut tells me it has to do with the fact that the models (at least the ones I've seen so far) idealize the human body as a point load. In reality, we're complicated assemblies of different weight pieces of meat attached by hinges. (Hey, I'm a civil engineer -- not a doctor.) Getting a better handle on the weight and distance ratios of the pieces might explain it and be useful for figuring out the ideal hammock end cut shape too.
Maybe if I get really bored someday I'll build a "simple" pressure distribution from something like this.... http://www.smf.org/articles/hic/USAARL_88-5.pdf. After that I'll just fire up the finite element program and... wait, would this earn me credit towards my Bachelors of Hammockology?
I do that too. And the fact that the equations don't keep me awake is what makes me an engineer and not a scientist.
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