Lecture 6: Design of Horizontal

alignment
TR 320 Highway Geometric Design
 Objective of the Lecture

• To introduce horizontal alignment

design
The learner should be able to:
• To design horizontal tangents and
curves to satisfy safety and other
criteria
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 Horizontal Tangent as a design
element
• Design elements of the horizontal
alignment are:
–The tangent
–The circular curve including
super-elevation design, and
–The transition curve
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• To enhance safety the tangent
should be designed to:
–Achieve passing sight distance
on two lane roadways
–Minimize excessive speeding
–Minimize danger of glare
–Minimize driver fatigue
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• This is achieved by:
–Avoid long tangents with
constant grade
–Allow enough distance between
successive curves
–Limit tangents lengths to
discourage speeds beyond design
speed
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 Design Recommendations
• German and SA guidelines discourage tangent
lengths longer than 20 times the design
speed.
• Consistent design is defined in terms of
changes in operating speed and driver mental
effort. Changes > 20 km/hr indicate
inconsistent design. The designer should aim
at not more than 10 km/hr.

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 The Circular Curve
• Purpose is to achieve “smooth” transition from
one tangent to the next when direction changes
• May be introduced to limit tangent length so as
to achieve safe/pleasant design
• A transition curve may be introduced at the
beginning and end of the circular curve for
comfort when entering a circular curve at
speeds above 80 km/hr

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 The Circular Curve Geometry
/Nomenclature See sketch:
– BC: Beginning of curve – PC: Point of Curvature
– EC: End of Curve – PT: Point of Tangency
– PI: Point of intersection
– Deflection angle (change in direction)
– R: Radius of Curve
– L: Length of Curve – compute from R and
deflection angle
– Tangent length - Compute from R and deflection
angle
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 Applications
• Given deflection angle and curve radius, to
compute
– Curve length
– Tangent length
• Given Station of PI, deflection angle and radius,
to compute:
– Station of BC and EC
– This is a very important application in road
construction
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 Geometry /Nomenclature of a
Circular Curve with transition -
See sketch:
• Deflection angle
• Spiral angle
• Spiral length – Ls
• Radius of Circular part
• Shift – p

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 cont…
• TS – Start of spiral
• SC – Spiral/Circular curve
• CS – Circular Curve/ Spiral
• ST – Spiral Tangent
• Ts – Tangent distance from PI to TS

• For basic formulae please study H/O

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Determination of Minimum Radius
• Consider a vehicle of mass M travelling
at the design speed V on a curve of
radius R. The surface of the road is
inclined at an angle α to the horizontal

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• The vehicle is subject to the
following forces which are in
equilibrium:
–Centrifugal force M V2/R
causing it to slide outwards
(component in the plane (road
surface) is M V2/R Cos α )
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• This force is opposed by
• Component of the weight
MgSin α
• Frictional resistance =
µ[MgCos α + (M V2/R) Sin α ]
µ is the side friction factor

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• Therefore:
V2/gR = tan α + µ + (µ V2/gR) tan α
• Neglect the last quantity since it is so
small and Express the slope in terms
of super-elevation e (e.g. 8% = 0.08)
• V2/gR = e + µ
• or V2/127R = e + µ ; V in km/hr and R
in m and e in decimal
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 Or, as it is often written:
• V2/127(e + µ) = R
• Called the minimum radius equation
• If super-elevation and design speed is known,
minimum radius for an acceptable level of
side friction and rider comfort can be
determined.
• Note that side friction is quite different from
longitudinal friction (see ORN no. 6)
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• Design are usually based on e = 4% to 8%, in
most countries maximum super-elevation is
10% sometimes up to 12% (unsightly
though!!!)

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 Examples
• Given:
– Project V = 110 km/hr
– Design super elevation e = 6%
– Side friction µ or fs = 0.10
• Determine minimum radius

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Discussion - AASHTO
Recommendations

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•

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Thank You

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