CEReference

searchthissite

CivilEngineeringOnlineHandbook
Home Calcu Geotech Hydrau Theory Timber Transpo WSD

SimpleCurvesorCircularCurves
SPONSOREDLINKS

TerminologiesinSimpleCurve
PC=Pointofcurvature.Itisthebeginningofcurve.
PT=Pointoftangency.Itistheendofcurve.
PI=Pointofintersectionofthetangents.Alsocalledvertex
T=LengthoftangentfromPCtoPIandfromPItoPT.Itisknownassubtangent.
R=Radiusofsimplecurve,orsimplyradius.
L=LengthofchordfromPCtoPT.PointQasshownbelowisthemidpointofL.
Lc=LengthofcurvefromPCtoPT.PointMinthethefigureisthemidpointofLc.
E=Externaldistance,thenearestdistancefromPItothecurve.
m=Middleordinate,thedistancefrommidpointofcurvetomidpointofchord.
I=Deflectionangle(alsocalledangleofintersectionandcentralangle).Itisthe
angleofintersectionofthetangents.TheanglesubtendedbyPCandPTatOisalso
equaltoI,whereOisthecenterofthecircularcurvefromtheabovefigure.
x=offsetdistancefromtangenttothecurve.Note:xisperpendiculartoT.

=offsetanglesubtendedatPCbetweenPIandanypointinthecurve
D=Degreeofcurve.Itisthecentralanglesubtendedbyalengthofcurveequaltoone
station.InEnglishsystem,onestationisequalto100ftandinSI,onestationisequal
to20m.
Subchord=chorddistancebetweentwoadjacentfullstations.
Sharpnessofcircularcurve
Thesmalleristhedegreeofcurve,theflatteristhecurveandviceversa.Thesharpnessof
simplecurveisalsodeterminedbyradiusR.Largeradiusareflatwhereassmallradius
aresharp.

FormulasforCircularCurves
Theformulasweareabouttopresentneednotbememorized.Allweneedisgeometry
plusnamesofallelementsinsimplecurve.Notethatweareonlydealingwithcircular
arc,itisinourgreatadvantageifwedealitatgeometrylevelratherthanmemorizethese
formulas.Foreasyreference,thefigureshowninthepreviouspagewillbeshownagain
here.

Lengthoftangent,T
Lengthoftangent(alsoreferredtoassubtangent)isthedistancefromPCtoPI.Itisthe
samedistancefromPItoPT.FromtherighttrianglePIPTO,
I
tan

T
=

R
I

I
T = R tan
2

Externaldistance,E
ExternaldistanceisthedistancefromPItothemidpointofthecurve.Fromthesame
righttrianglePIPTO,
I
cos

R
=

R + E
R

R + E =
I
cos
2
I
E = R sec

R
2

Middleordinate,m
Middleordinateisthedistancefromthemidpointofthecurvetothemidpointofthe
chord.FromrighttriangleOQPT,
I
cos

R m
=

R
I

R cos

= R m
2
I
m = R R cos
2

Lengthoflongchord,L
LengthoflongchordorsimplylengthofchordisthedistancefromPCtoPT.Again,from
righttriangleOQPT,
L/2

I
sin

=
2

R
I

R sin

= L/2
2
I
L = 2R sin
2

Lengthofcurve,Lc
LengthofcurvefromPCtoPTistheroaddistancebetweenendsofthesimplecurve.By
ratioandproportion,
Lc
I

2R
=
360

RI

RI
Lc =

180

Analternateformulaforthelengthofcurveisbyratioandproportionwithitsdegreeof
curve.
Lc

1 station
=

D
1 station I

Lc =

SIunits:1station=20m
20I
Lc =

Englishsystem:1station=100ft
100I
Lc =

IfgiventhestationingofPCandPT
Lc = Stationing ofP T Stationing ofP C

Degreeofcurve,D
Thedegreeofcurveisthecentralanglesubtendedbyanarc(arcbasis)orchord(chord
basis)ofonestation.Itwilldefinethesharpnessofthecurve.InEnglishsystem,1station
isequalto100ft.InSI,1stationisequalto20m.Itisimportanttonotethat100ftis
equalto30.48mnot20m.

ArcBasis
Inarcdefinition,thedegreeofcurveisthecentralangleanglesubtendedbyone
stationofcirculararc.Thisdefinitionisusedinhighways.Usingratioand
proportion,

1 station

2R

1 station

2R
=

360

SIunits(1station=20m):
20

2R
=

360

Englishsystem(1station=100ft):
100

2R
=

360

ChordBasis
Chorddefinitionisusedinrailwaydesign.Thedegreeofcurveisthecentralangle
subtendedbyonestationlengthofchord.Fromtherighttriangleshadedingreen
color,

D
sin

half station
=

SIunits(halfstation=10m):
D
sin

10
=

Englishsystem(halfstation=50ft):
D
sin

50
=

MinimumRadiusofCurvature
Vehicletravelingonahorizontalcurvemayeitherskidoroverturnofftheroaddueto
centrifugalforce.Sidefrictionfandsuperelevationearethefactorsthatwillstabilizethis
force.Thesuperelevatione=tanandthefrictionfactorf=tan(phi).The
minimumradiusofcurvesothatthevehiclecanroundthecurvewithoutskiddingis

determinedasfollows.

Fromtheforcepolygonshownintheright
CF
tan( + ) =
W
Wv

gR
tan( + ) =
W
Wv

tan( + ) =
W gR
v

tan( + ) =
gR

Thequantityv2/gRiscalledimpactfactor.

Impactfactor
v
if =

Backtotheequationtan(+phi)=v2/gR
v

tan( + ) =
gR
tan + tan

=
1 tan tan

gR

gR

Recallthattan
e + f

= e

andtan

= f

=
1 ef

Butef

gR
0
v

,thus

e + f =
gR

RadiusofcurvaturewithRinmeterandvinmeterpersecond
v

R =
g(e + f )

Fortheaboveformula,vmustbeinmeterpersecond(m/s)andRinmeter(m).Forvin
kilometerperhour(kph)andRinmeter,thefollowingconvenientformulaisbeingused.
2

km
(v

1000 m

) (
hr

1 hr
)

km

3600sec

R =
g(e + f )
2

v (

)
3.6

R =
g(e + f )
v
R =

(3.6 )g(e + f )
v
R =

(3.6 )(9.80)(e + f )

RadiusofcurvaturewithRinmeterandvinkilometerperhour
v

R =
127(e + f )

Usingtheaboveformula,Rmustbeinmeter(m)andvinkilometerperhour(kph).

Tags:
circularroad horizontalcurve road circularcurve
radiusofcurvature sidefriction superelevation

simplecurve

Problem01SimpleCurve
Problem02SimpleCurve
Problem03SimpleCurve
CompoundandReversedSimple

up

Problem01SimpleCurve

Curves
Addnewcomment

SurveyingandTransportationEngineering
CompoundandReversedSimpleCurves
SimpleCurvesorCircularCurves
Problem01SimpleCurve
Problem02SimpleCurve
Problem03SimpleCurve
SpiralCurveorTransitionCurve
SymmetricalParabolicCurve

SPONSOREDLINKS

CEReference
1,028likes

LikePage

Share

Bethefirstofyourfriendstolikethis

SPONSOREDLINKS

HomePrivacyPolicyPoweredbyDrupalHostedbyDigitalOcean
CEReferenceCivilEngineeringOnlineHandbookCopyright2015CEReference.comAllrights

reserved