Next MeetingNewsletterPast NewslettersAmusement Park Related
     
     

CURVES

HORIZONTAL CURVES AND TURNS
A horizontal curve is a curve that does not rise or fall. There are two type of curves, flat curves and banked curves.

FLAT CURVES
A flat curve gives a rider the sensation of being thrown sideways. If the roller coaster car's velocity is fast enough and the radius small enough, the stresses on the car's under carriage can be tremendous. For a flat curve the inward net acceleration felt by the rider is calculated from the equation.

Where "a" is the acceleration felt by the rider to the inside of the circle, "v" is the velocity of the car and "R" is the radius of the curve. This acceleration can be converted to g's by dividing it by 9.80 m/s2.

BANKED CURVES

A banked curve reduces the rider's sensation of being thrown sideways by turning the car sideways. The car is tilted. The trick is to tilt the track just the right amount.
The ideal banked curve is one where no outside forces are needed to keep the car on the track. In other words, if the banked curve were covered with ice -no friction- and the coaster did not have a steering mechanism the car would stay on the track. These are the forces acting on the car as the car travels around horizontal banked curves.

therefore

 


This is for the ideal banked curve where no friction is required to keep the car from sliding to the outside or inside of the curve. On a given curve if the velocity is greater or less than the design velocity then the cars may need a little frictional help to keep them on the track.


If your not comfortable with trigonometry functions, the equations can be rewritten and used as shown below.

Calculating g's Felt on a Banked Curve
Recall that the g's felt is equal to the normal force divided by mass and then divided by g to convert to from m/s2 to g's.

 

 


If you use or find this page useful or have any comments, please contact the author so maybe he'll do more. Author: Tony Wayne
"ROLLER COASTER PHYSICS" TABLE OF CONTENTS ... PHYSICS PAVILION TABLE OF CONTENTS
<--PREVIOUS SECTION ... NEXT SECTION -->


 
A special thanks to VASTfor hosting our web site.