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DegreeofCurvature

DegreeofCurvature
Acircularcurveisoftenspecifiedbyitsradius.Asmallcircleis
easilylaidoutbyusingtheradius.Inamathematicalsense,the
curvatureisthereciprocaloftheradius,sothatasmaller
curvatureimpliesalargeradius.Acurveoflargeradius,asfora
railway,cannotbelaidoutbyusingtheradiusdirectly.Wewill
seehowtheproblemoflayingoutacurveoflargeradiusis
solved.InAmericanrailwaypractice,theradiusisnotnormally
usedforspecifyingacurve.Instead,anumbercalledthedegree
ofcurvatureisused.Thisisindeedacurvature,sincealarger
valuemeansasmallerradius.Thereasonforthischoiceisto
facilitatethecomputationsnecessarytolayoutacurvewith
surveyinginstruments,atransitanda100ftengineer'stape.Itis
moreconvenienttochooseroundvaluesofthedegreeofcurvature,ratherthanroundvaluesfortheradius,forthenthe
transitsettingscanoftenbecalculatedmentally.AcurvebeginsattheP.C.,orpointofcurvature,andextendstotheP.T.,
orpointoftangency.Theimportantquantitiesinacircularcurveareillustratedabove.
ThedegreeofcurvatureiscustomarilydefinedintheUnitedStatesasthecentral
angleDsubtendedbyachordof100feet.Thereasonforthechoiceofthechord
ratherthantheactuallengthofcircumferenceisthatthechordcanbemeasured
easilyanddirectlysimplybystretchingthetapebetweenitsends.Arailwayislaid
outinlengthscalledstationsofonetapelength,or100feet.Thiscontinuesthrough
curves,sothatthelengthisalwaysthelengthofaseriesofstraightlinesthatcanbedirectlymeasured.Thedifference
betweenthislength,andtheactuallengthfollowingthecurves,isinconsequential,whiletheuseofthepolygonallength
simplifiesthecalculationsandmeasurementsgreatly.
TherelationbetweenthecentralangledandthelengthcofachordissimplyRsin(d/2)=c/2,orR=c/(2sind/2).When
c=100,thisbecomesR=50/sinD/2,whereDisthedegreeofcurvature.SincesinD/2isapproximatelyD/2,whenDis
expressedinradians,wehaveapproximatelythatR=5729.65/D,orR=5730/D.AccuratevaluesofRshouldbe
calculatedusingthesine.Forexample,a2curvehasR=2864.93(accurate),while5730/D=2865ft.
Ifsomeothervalueandlengthunitarechosen,simplyreplace100bythenewvalue.Inthemetricsystem,20metersis
generallyusedasthestationintervalinsteadof100ft,thoughstationsarenumberedasmultiplesof10m,andthese
equationsaremodifiedaccordingly.Witha20mchord,R=1146/Dm,orabout3760/Dft.Ofcourse,agivencurvehas
differentdegreesofcurvatureinthetwosystems.Thereareseveralmethodsofdefiningdegreeofcurvatureformetric
curves.Dmaybethecentralangleforachordof10minsteadof20m.
Thedeflectionfromthetangentforachordoflengthcishalfthecentralangle,or=d/2.Thisisageneralrule,so
additional100ftchordsjustincreasethedeflectionanglebyD/2.Therefore,itisveryeasytofindthedeflectionanglesif
aroundvalueischosenforD,andusuallyeasytosetthemoffontheinstrument.Forexample,ifacurvebeginsat
station20+34.0andendsatstation28+77.3,thefirstsubchordis10034.0=66.0fttostation21,then7100ftchords,
andfinallyasubchordof77.3ft.ThedeflectionanglefromtheP.C.totheP.T.fora2curveis0.660+7x1.0+0.773=
8.433,or826'.Ihaveusedtheapproximaterelation=(c/100)(D/2)tofindthedeflectionanglesforthesubchords.
ThelongchordCfromP.C.toP.T.isavaluablecheck,easilydeterminedwithmoderndistancemeasuringequipment.It
isC=2Rsin(I/2),whereIthetotalcentralangle.Fortheexample,C=2(2864.93)sin(8.433)=840.32ft.Thelengthof
thecurve,bystations,is843.30ft.Thisfigurecanbecheckedbyactualmeasurementsinthefield.Theactualarclength
ofthecurveis(2864.93)(0.29437)=843.34ft.Notethatthisisthearclengthonthecentrelinefortherails,useRg/2,
whereg=4.7083ft=56.5in=1435mmforstandardgauge.
Beforeelectroniccalculators,smallangleapproximationsandtablesoflogarithmswereusedtocarryoutthe
computationsforcurves.Now,thingsaremucheasier,andIwritetheequationsinaformsuitableforscientificpocket
calculators,insteadofusingthetraditionalformsthatusetabularvaluesandapproximations.
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DegreeofCurvature

A1curvehasaradiusof5729.65feet.Curvesof1or2arefoundonhighspeedlines.A6curve,aboutthesharpest
thatwouldbegenerallyfoundonamainline,hasaradiusof955.37feet.OnearlyAmericanrailroads,somecurves
wereassharpas400ftradius,or14.4.Streetrailwayshaveevensharpercurves.Thesharpestcurvethatcanbe
negotiatedbynormaldiesellocomotivesisnotlessthan250ftradius,or23.Itisnotdifficulttoapplyspirals,inwhich
thechangeofcurvatureisproportionaltodistance,totheendsofacircularcurve.Circularcurvesareagoodfirst
approximationtoanalignment.
ThecentrifugalaccelerationinacurveofradiusRnegotiatedatspeedvisa=v2/R.Ifvisinmph,a=2.1511v2/R=
3.754x104Dv2ft/s2,whereDisdegreesofcurvature.Thisisnormaltothegravitationalaccelerationof32.16ft/s2,and
thetotalaccelerationisthevectorsumofthese.Forcomfort,amaximumratioofatogmaybetakenas0.1(tan15.71).
Theoverturningspeeddependsontheheightofthecentreofgravity,andoccurswhenalinedrawnfromthecentreof
gravityparalleltotheresultantaccelerationpassesthroughonerail.TheheightofthecentreofgravityofAmerican
railwayequipmentis10ftorless.Taking10ftastheheightofthecentreofgravity,a/g=0.2354(tan113/25).
Therefore,theoverturningspeedvocanbeestimatedbyDvo2=20,000andthecomfortspeedvcbyDvc2=8500.
Acurvemaybesuperelevatedbyanamountssothattheresultantaccelerationismorenormaltothetrack.Exact
compensationoccursonlyforonespeed,ofcourse.Thisangleofbankisgivenbytan=a/g=1.167x105Dv2,andsin
=s/gauge.Considera2curve.Forv=60mph,tan=0.08404,sin=0.08375ands=4.73in.Ifthespeedisgreater
thanthis,therewillbeanunbalancedacceleration,whichwillhavearatioofa/gof0.1ataspeedv'givenby0.1=1.167
x105D(v'2v2),orv'=89mph.Theoverturningspeedonthiscurveisgivenby(0.2354+0.08404)=(1.167x105)Dv2,
orv=117mph.Notethatalargesuperelevationwillcausetheflangesofaslowmovingtraintogrindthelowerrail.
Superelevationisgenerallylimitedto6to8inmaximum.

ReturntoRailwayIndex
ComposedbyJamesB.Calvert
Created1June1999
LastRevised20June2004

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