Highway Engineering I

Chapter Four

Highway Geometric Design

Part I
Horizontal alignment
 Horizontal alignment
 Horizontal alignment is a series of straight tangents and curves on
horizontal plane. There are different type of curves such as
 Simple circular curves
 Compound Curves
 Reverse Curves
 Transitional Spirals

 Curves are provided b/n two tangents for :

 Smoothly change of direction

 Aesthetical purpose

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 Straight tangents
 Long tangent section increase the danger from headlight glare and
usually lead to excessive speeding.

 Maximum tangent length measured in meters of 20 times

design speed.

 Tangents between Successive curves should be minimum of

o.6 times design speed.

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 Factors consider in design of Horizontal alignment.
 Radius of the curve
 Design speed
 Side friction b/n tyre and pavement surface
 Super elevation
 Runoff
 Runout

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 The effect of centrifugal force on non-super-elevated
section
•When the vehicle traverse the horizontal curve, the centrifugal force acts
horizontally outwards through the center of gravity of vehicle.
•Centrifugal force depends on speed and radius of the horizontal curve

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Cont...d

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Cont.…d

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Exercise 1.
Both truck and car are traversing the horizontal curve which has the
radius of 200m with operating speed of 60km/hr. and 80km/hr.
respectively. The lateral skidding coefficient between the tyre and
pavement surface is 0.15.
(height and width of truck and =4.1 and 2.1) and (height and width
of car and =1.5 and 1.2) respectively.
1. Show both overturning and skidding occur or not for both
vehicle type?
2. If one of them occur, what will be the operating speed of the
driver to prevent both skidding and overturning effect?

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 Analysis of super-elevation
 Super-elevation or cant or banking is the transverse slope provided
at horizontal curve to counteract the centrifugal force,

 It is provided by raising the outer edge of the pavement with

respect to the inner edge throughout the length of the horizontal
curve.

 When the outer edge is raised, a component of the curve weight will
be complimented in counteracting the effect of centrifugal force.

 The question is how much this raising should be:

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 All component of forces on super-elevated curves

P =the centrifugal force acting horizontally out-wards through the

center of gravity,
W =the weight of the vehicle acting down-wards through the
center of gravity, and
F= the friction force between the wheels and the pavement, along
the surface inward. 11
Cont.….d
 Super-elevation rate
 Super-elevation is depend on:
 Climatic conditions
 frequency & amount of snow/icing
 Terrain condition: flat vs. mountainous
 Area type: rural vs. urban
 Frequency of very slow moving vehicles
 0.1m/m is a logical maximum super-elevation
 Minimum super-elevation rate is determined by drainage
requirement=normal camber cross slope.
 emax: 0.08 (rural) & 0.04 (urban)

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 Methods of Attaining Super elevation
 Revolve traveled way with normal cross slopes about the centerline
profile €:
 depressing the inner edge and rising the outer edge of the
pavement by half super elevation rate.
 Revolve traveled way with normal cross slope about the inside-edge
profile:
 by rising both CL and outer edge. Outer edge is raised by total
amount of super elevation. €
 Revolve traveled way with normal cross slope about the outside-
edge profile €
 Revolve traveled way with straight cross slope about the outside
edge profile.

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 Super elevation Transition Section
Tangent Runout Section + Super elevation
Runoff Section
 Tangent Runout Section: Length of roadway needed to
accomplish a change in outside-lane cross slope from normal
cross slope rate to zero

 Rotation about centerlines:

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 Super-elevation runoff
Length of roadway needed to accomplish a
change in outside-lane cross slope from 0 to
full super elevation or vice versa.
For undivided highways with cross-section
rotated about centerline.

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 Cont.….d
 Locating a portion of the runoff on the tangent, in advance
of the PC, is preferable, since this tends to minimize the
peak lateral acceleration and resulting side friction
demand. €

 For non-spiral curves, the NDDOT places 2/3 of the runoff

on the tangent, and 1/3 of the runoff on the curve.

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Circular curve transition

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Spiral curve transition

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 Shoulder super elevation:
 The super elevation of inner shoulder on super elevated curve
section much with the super elevation of carriageway, but on the
outer shoulder, the super elevation is grade break b/n the roadway
and the shoulder is 8%.

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Minimum length of Super elevation runoff

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Minimum Radius of horizontal curve

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 Side friction
 Side friction is depend on :
 Speed of the vehicle
 Pavement condition(wet or dry)
 Wheel-surface texture

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Simple circular curve

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 Examples
[Link] tangents intersect at Station 4 + 200. The deflection angle to
the right is 40o 00' 00". It is decided to design the curve with 80kmh
speed. The super elevation and side friction are 8%and 0.15
respectively. Determine all parameters of circular curve.

[Link] proposed road which traversing flat terrain is designed to

accommodate 2000 AADT at mid life of design period of highway.
Two tangents intersect at station of 4+200 with azimuth angle of 300
and 700 respectively. Determine all parameters of circular curve.

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 Compound curve
• A compound curve consist of two arcs of different radii curving in
the same direction and lying on the same side of their common
tangent , their centers being on the same side of the curve.

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Cont.…d

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 Examples
1.A long chord from PC to PT of a compound curve is 250m long
and the angle it makes with the longer and the shorter tangent are
100 and 120 respectively. Find the radius of the first and the
second curve so that the tangent will be parallel to the long chord.

[Link] compound curve has total deflection angle of 39050. the

radius and deflection angle of the first curve is 160m and 210150.

The station of PI and PC are 6+020 and 5+[Link] T2,R2

and station of PCC and PT.

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 Reverse curve
• They are absolutely NOT
recommended for high-speed
roads.
• For high-speed roads, we must
provide a tangent section that
will allow full development of
super elevation at both ends.
• Reverse curves usually consist
of two simple curves with equal
radii turning in opposite
directions with a common
tangent.

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Cont.…d

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 Switchback curve
• It is used where necessary traversing mutinous or escarpment terrain.
They have radius of 20m or less with minimum of 10m. They are
generally out of standard.

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 Transition curve(spiral curve)

• Transition curve is provided to change the horizontal alignment

from straight to circular curve gradually

• It has a radius which decreases from infinity at the straight end

(tangent point) to the desired radius of the circular curve at the
other end (curve point).

• There are five objectives for providing transition curve:

1. To introduce gradually the centrifugal force between the tangent point
and the beginning of the circular curve, avoiding sudden jerk on the
vehicle. This increases the comfort of passengers.

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 Cont...d
2. To enable the driver turn the steering gradually for his own
comfort and security,

3. To provide gradual introduction of super elevation, and

4. To provide gradual introduction of extra widening.

5. To enhance the aesthetic appearance of the road.

 There are different types of transition curves: spiral or

clothoid,cubic parabola, and Lemniscate. IRC recommends spiral
as the transition curve because:
 . it fulfills the requirement of an ideal transition curve, that is

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 Cont.…d
(a) rate of change or centrifugal acceleration is
consistent (smooth) and

(b) radius of the transition curve is ∞ at the straight edge

and changes to R at the curve point (Ls ∝ 1/ R ) and
calculation and field implementation is very easy.

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Length of transition curve

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 Examples
1. Calculate the length of transition curve and shift for V=65kmph, R=220m, rate of
introduction of super elevation is 1 in 150, W+We=7.5 m. (Hint: c=0.57,e=0.07,
pav. rotated w.r.t centerline.

2. The road passing through rolling terrain of heavy rainfall areaR=500m. Design
length of Transition curve. (Hint: Heavy rainfall. Pavement surface rotated w.r.t
to inner edge. V=80kmph, W=7.0m, N=1 in 150) (e=0.057, W+We=7.45).

 The transition curves are introduced at both end of a

circular curve by shifting the main curve inwards.

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Spiral curve

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• Let AK and KC to two straights straights
• Δ angle of deflection
• t1 and t2 the point of tangencies of the original curves
• T1 and T2 the point of tangencies of the transition curves
• E and F the junction point of the transition curve with the
circular curve
• R, the radius of the circular curve
• S, the shift of the circular circular curve
• ɸ, the spiral angle
• O the center of the main circular curve
• Spiral angle=Ls/2R…radian
• Lmax.=Square of(24R)

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 The chainage of the main points of the curve

1. T1=chainage of the point of intersection(K) – Total tangent

length

2. 2. The chainange of the first junction point(E) =chainange at

point of T1 + Length of the transition curve(L)

3. 3. The chanaige at second point F= chainange of the first

junction (E) + length of the circular curve

4. 4. T2= The chanaige at second point F + Length of the transition

curve(L)

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 Examples
[Link] straights AB and BC intersect at chainage 2+635.22, the
deflection angle being 48°24’.it is proposed to insert a circular curve
of 300m radius with two transition transition curve, 80 m long at each
end. Calculate the shift of the main curve, the spiral angle of

transition curve and the chainage at the point of commencement.

[Link] angle of intersection between two straights is 140°. The spiral

angle for each transition curve is 5°. If the radius of the main curves
is 400m, calculate the length of transition curve and the length of the
circular curve
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 Curve widening
• Extra widening refers to the additional width of carriageway that is
required on a curved section of a road over and above that required
on a straight alignment.

• Extra widening is required for two reasons:

1. Mechanical widening: when a vehicle negotiates a horizontal curve,

the rear wheels follow a path of shorter radius than the front wheels.

 This phenomena is known as Off-Tracking and has the effect of

increasing the effective width of a road space required by the vehicle.

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Expression of mechanical widening

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 Examples
[Link] both mechanical and physiological widening for two lane
roads which has width of 7.3 m. The longest wheel base is [Link]
design speed and the radius of the curve are 80kmh and 200 m
respectively.
[Link] three lane median divided highway which traversing rolling
terrain has design speed of 120 km/hr. The super elevation and side
friction of the horizontal curve are 0.06 and 0.15 respectively. Fined the
total width of the curve if the width of the lane are 3.5m/lane. The
length of wheel base for the design vehicle is 15m.

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Thank You!!

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