HIGHWAY ENGINEERING B

Session 2: Horizontal Curves,

Superelevation and Geometric Design
Standards, Transition Curves

LEARNING OBJECTIVES
Part A: Horizontal Curves
Part B: Superelevation
Part C: Geometric Design Standards
Part D: Transition curves

STRUCTURE
Horizontal Curves
Superelevation
Geometric Design Standards
Transition Curves

HORIZONTAL ALIGNMENT DESIGN

Objective
Match the physical elements of the road to the needs of the
driver and the vehicle.
What are Physical elements of the road?
- Curvature
- Gradient
- Cross fall Camber, superelevation
- Junctions
- Visibility

What are Driver and Vehicle needs?

Speed, Safety, Operational efficiency, no delay,
Manoeuvrability

Horizontal Alignment (cont.)

Things to consider:
Safety- visibility for stopping and overtaking
Operation relate alignment to the design speed of the
road
Economy- value for money by making designs efficient
Environment- minimize environmental impact

Horizontal Alignment

Straights and Curves

T1

R1
T2

IP1

IP2
2
T3
T4
R2
B
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Some basic terms

Cross fall and Longitudinal fall

Basic terms (cont.)

CAMBER AND SUPERELEVATION

Basic terms (Cont.)

ADVERSE CAMBER OR NEGATIVE CAMBER

Traffic Flow Terms

Annual Flow - Total flow (in both directions) on a road in
a year.
Annual Average Daily Traffic (AADT) - Annual Flow
divided by 365 the number of days in a year. Basis for
selection of new road width/type and pavement design.
Annual Average Hourly Traffic (AAHT) - Annual
Average Daily Traffic divided by 24 the number of
hours in a day . i.e. AAHT = AADT/24
Peak Hour Flows (PHFs) -Theoretical maximum flow
occurring on the road at some time during the year
typically during the rush hours
Classified traffic counts traffic count split into vehicle
categories.
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Circular Curves

NOTE
Two straights and circular arc
Deflection angle .
Tangents and Tangent distance
Circle properties

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Circular Curve Parameters

Deflection,
Tangent Length or Tangent distance Distance T1I
Length of Curve Length along the arc T1T2.
Long chord straight distance T1T2
Radius of curve- Radius of circle of which the arc T1T2 is a segment
(OT1 or OT2)
Through chainage- measured from arbitrary chainage Zero defined

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Circular Curve Calculations

length T1I or T2I

Tangent

T1I = RTan(/2) i.e. the tangent of half the angle.

Who doesnt know how to calculate the tangent of an angle?

Length of curve T1 to T2
Derived from
Hence
Where is in degrees

Length of Long Chord T1T2 and Chainages

Length of Long chord T1T2

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Examples
1. A horizontal curve is designed with a radius of 800m. The
curve has a tangent length of 150m and the point of
intersection of the gradients at a chainage of 250m.
Determine the chainage of the second tangent point given
a deflection angle of 20 degrees.
2. Two straight horizontal sections of a road intersect at a
point I which is 1040.480 m from the beginning of the
route. The deflection angle () is 16 and a radius of 560m
is to be inserted.
Determine:
i. The tangent distance
ii. The length of the circular curve
iii. The chainage of the point of curve (start) and point of tangent
(end)
iv. The length of the long chord (distance between the first and
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second tangent

Designing the horizontal Alignment

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Calculating curve Properties

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Desirable Characteristics of Horizontal Curves

Maximise straights and minimise number of
curves
Keep curve radii above the minimum values in
the standards
Keep the alignment consistent. No sudden
changes in the standards or introduction of sharp
curves.
For small deflection angles, makes curves long
enough to avoid the appearance of a kink
Avoid compound or abrupt reverse curves

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SUPERELEVATION

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Forces on a vehicle moving round a bend

Outward centrifugal force

Frictional force developed between the road surface and
the tyre
The weight of the vehicle
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Resulting Superelevation Equation

tan + F or
Replacing the speed in m/s by Km/h and using g= 9.81m/s 2
The Equation becomes:

e
Where :
V = speed in Km/h
R= radius (m)
e= rate of superelevation (tan - angle of slope)
F or = Coefficient of friction
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Superelevation (cont.) UK Practice

Design
is based on 55% of centrifugal force

balanced by friction, and the rest by

superelevation.
Hence

and

=
Expressed as a percentage:

The amount of superelevation i.e. the height of

the outer channel above the inner channel is
given by the Width of the road multiplied by e.

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Typical Values of Superelevation

Urban roads 0.05 (5%)
Rural Roads 0.07 (7%)
Minimum for drainage 0.02 (2%)
Maximum value is 7%
We can now calculate the required curve radius
given a limiting superelevation or coefficient of
sideways friction.
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Example of Calculation
Example

What is the minimum radius of curvature on a rural road
with a design speed of 100km/h given that the
superelevation should not exceed 7%?
R= 505.150m

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Application of Superelevation

Axis of Rotation Centre line or either channels

Circular Curves 2/3 on Straight and 1/3 on Curve

Transition Curves Wholly along the transition length

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Transition Curves

Advantages:
-centrifugal force increases and decreases gradually on entry
and exit
-vehicles can keep to the middle of the lane on the curve
-convenient for application of superelevation
-No kinks at the beginning and end of circular curves
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Transition Curves (cont.)

Transition Curve details

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Transition curve details (cont.)

Length of Transition curve (TT1, T2U)
Two Criteria:
i)
Comfort and safety
ii) Application of superelevation
Comfort
Let length of transition curve (TT1) = LT (m)
And final radius be R (i.e. circular curve)
If the design speed is v (m/s) then the radial acceleration on the circular curve
=v2/R
Time t to traverse T.C = LT/v
Therefore rate of change of accl = v2/R*1/t=v3/R LT
Acceptable value of radial acc, c =0.3m/s3
Therefore 0.3 =v3/RLT or LT=V3/0.3R
Where v = design speed (m/s), R=radius of circular curve(m) or LT=V3/14R, if v is
in Km/h)

More generally, LT =V3/(3.6)3cR = V3/46.7cR where c is the rate of change of

radial acc.

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Transition Curves (cont.)

Transition Curve details (cont.)

max = LT/2R
S= LT2/24R

(rads)

(m)

Tangent distance IT =IV+VT= (R + S)tan(/2) + LT/2

Total length of curve from above= TT1 + T1T2 +T2U
= LT + R(-2 max)
VF= LT2/48R = the SHIFT
The shift at VG is bisected by the transition curve and the
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Transition Curves (cont.)

Wholly transition curves

Advantage- only one point where the radial force is a maximum

Hence safety possibly improved.
From fig 2.8, =2max but max = LT/2R
= 2LT/2R=LT/R (radians)
But LT =V3/46.7cR
For any value of c, we have 2 equations in LT & R which can be
solved. (c=<0.3)

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DESIGN STANDARDS TD9/93 (DMRB) HIGHWAY

LINK DESIGN

NEED TO ESTABLISH DESIGN SPEED

Factors affecting Design Speed

Rural Areas
Urban Areas
Existing Roads

DESIGN PARAMETERS

Summary table

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Main Table in TD9/93

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Factors Affecting Design Speed

i.

Alignment constraint (Ac ) measures constraining effect of

alignment- a bendy' alignment will make it difficult to achieve
higher speeds

Depends on Bendiness and Visibility on the road thus:

Single carriageways

Ac =12 VISI/60 + 2B/45

Dual carriageways

Ac = 6.6 + B/10

Where B= bendiness (/km) Sum of deflection angles

divided by length of road.
VISI = harmonic mean visibility (m)
VISI = n/(1/V1 +1/V2 +1/V3+ + 1/Vn) m.
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Factors Affecting Design Speed (cont.)

ii. Layout Constraint (Lc) km/h
Measures effect of road cross-section, verge width and
the
frequency of junctions and accesses.

L = Low Access numbering 2 to 5 per km

M = Medium Access numbering 6 to 8 per km
H = High Access numbering 9 to 12 per km.

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Factors Affecting Design Speed (cont.)

Measurement of Layout constraint Lc

Source : TD9/93 (DMRB)

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Factors Affecting Design Speed (cont.)

iii. Mandatory speed limitsTheir use with more confined alignments will restrict
speeds below those freely achievable.

Source : TD9/93 (DMRB)

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Selection of Design Speed

New Rural Roads - Use the values of the layout constraint Lc

and Alignment Constraint Ac to derive this from Figure 1.
Existing Rural Roads Similar to New Rural Roads but with Ac
measured over a minimum length of 2km including the section
of improvement.
Urban roads selected in line with speed limit for the road
using Table 2.

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Selection of Design Speed (cont.)

37

Design speed related parameters

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NOTE ON SIGHT DISTANCES - VISIBILITY

Minimum sight distances required depend on design speed of
road
i) STOPPING: Two Components Perception-Reaction distance and
Braking distance

ii) OVERTAKING

a) 4 Components
b) Usually about 2 Times the
Stopping Sight Distance
Typically:
X ranges
fromUnder
2.4m
iii) TURNING (at junctions): visibility splays
(Covered
to 9m
Junctions)
Y ranges from 15m
to 60m
(for residential and
industrial roads)
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Designing a Road Alignment

Locate a route series of straights and curves for the centreline

Select a trial design speed

Use Design speed to select design parameters (Table 3 TD9/93)

Draw up a trial alignment

Measure Ac and Lc for each section of the road showing significant

changes over a minimum length of 2km.

Use Ac and Lc to calculate new design speed

Check Design speed against initial choice- identify areas of the

route which may be relaxed to achieve savings

Re-calculate the Design speed if changes in geometry result and

start process again at appropriate step

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Relaxations and Departures from standards

TD9/93 applies to trunk roads

Contains details of relaxations for different categories of
roads in steps below the desirable minimum.
Local roads are designed as relaxations or complete
departures from trunk road standards
Based on sound knowledge and historic data.
I have added the Leeds Street Design Guide in X-stream for
comparison of criteria.

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Summary

You now have enough Information for Horizontal curves

Understand Superelevation

Can now use design speed to derive parameters from

standards
Look at Relaxations and compare to Local Standards
Have a go at transition curves.

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References

Dept. for Transport, Design Manual for Roads and Bridges

Institute of Highways and Transportation (1997), Transport in the Urban

Environment, The Institution of Highways and Transportation (now the
chartered Institution of Highways and Transportation, CIHT).

Mannering F.L, Kilareski W.P (1998), Principles of Highway Engineering

and Traffic Analysis, 2nd Edition, John Wiley and Sons, Inc.

OFlaherty C. A et al (2002), Highways: The location, design, construction

and maintenance of road pavements, 4th Edition, Butterworth Heinemann

OFlaherty C.A. (1986), Highways: Vol. 1, Traffic Planning and

Engineering, 3rd Ed., Arnold.

Underwood, RT (1995), Road Engineering Practice, Macmillan Education

Australia PTY Ltd,.

Uren J, Price B, Surveying for Engineers , 5th Edition, Palgrave Macmillan*

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