I agree that the 'capstan effect' is overstated ... but, i have to juggle different viewpoints.
I am in direct contact with Constant Xarax and
am presently digesting his comprehensive email to me.
i am trying to find some ground 'half-way' (or middle ground) here....
having reviewed some early feedback and also going back to the drawing board...
the 'capstan effect' plays a role during initial stages of loading,
but the compressive power of the nipping loop takes over and dominates.
So the middle ground here is that there is a 'capstan effect',
but, it is not a significant factor at higher loading where the compressive
power of the nipping loop is the dominant force.
That is your problem, then! The issue at hand isn't what
anyone thinks so much as what
IS. Anyone can conjecture
this or that, but some things can be better analyzed, and
in this case one could better think about this "myth" (shall
we call it?). Try testing the conjecture with a pulley for
the collar, pulley anchored in parallel with S.Part (so to keep
collar at a reasonably matching aspect to what it would
have in the knot, and having that turNip-stabilizing effect)
and then loading it :: see any "lack-of-capstan-effect" effect?!
--that would be cordage moving around the frictionless
pulley, if the conjecture has merit.
Trying this myself, in reply, with 1/2" solid-braid nylon
(old but pretty sort & flexible, moderately slick?) and
a 5"-dia clothesline pulley (as measured from rope centers),
I see turning upon loading, but it seems to me that this
much comes in some effect of pulling the pulley'd collar
away from the turNip, and then of course the tail is much
less secured than the loaded-in-eye eye-leg collar part,
so the tail is pulled up into the pulley. With some little
adjustment to try to stem such seeming mis-match of
loads on S.Part & turNip & pulley'd collar, I get little or
no movement.
I do NOT see movement of the eye leg through the nip.
If anything, it is at higher forces that some slippage of
the collaring eye leg can occur and for which there could
be seen some effect at the friction & bending at the
collar; but this could be hard to measure-discern vs.
simple resistance from the nipped tail --i.e., tension
on the collar legs coming equally by the S.Part pulling
into it ... . !?
--dl*
====