Vertical Alignment

Highway Engineering
The vertical alignment of a transportation facility consists of tangent grades (straight line in the vertical plane) vertical curves. Vertical alignment is documented by the profile.
Tangent grades are designated according to their slopes or grades. Maximum grades vary depending on the type of facility, and usually do not constitute an absolute standard. The effect of a steep grade is to slow down the heavier vehicles (which typically have the lowest power/weight ratios) and increase operating costs.
Passenger cars: all passenger cars can negotiate the grade up to 4 to 5% without much reduction in speed Trucks: effect of grade on speed is more important in trucks than on passenger cars. Max. Speed of truck depends on steepness of grade length of grade weight to power ratio of truck
Max. grade Itself is not a complete design critical length is also important Definition: max. Length of a designated upgrade on which a loaded truck can operate without unreasonable reduction in speed is critical length
For critical length of grade assumptions required are size and power of truck entry speed minimum truck speed below which interference to the following vehicle is considerd unreasonable.
8.1
7.9
7.7
7.5
speed
7.3
1% upgrade
2% upgrade 3% upgrade 4% upgrade
7.1
6.9
6.7
6.5 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
distance
Vertical tangents with different grades are joined by vertical curves.
Symmetrical Vertical Curve
Vertical curves are normally parabolas centered about the point of intersection (P.I.) of the vertical tangents they join. Vertical curves are thus of the form
where
y = elevation of a point on the curve yo = elevation of the beginning of the vertical curve (BVC) g1 = grade just prior to the curve x = horizontal distance from the BVC to the point on the curve r = rate of change of grade
The rate of change of grade, in turn, is given by
where g2 is the grade just beyond the end of the vertical curve (EVC) and L is the length of the curve. Vertical curves are classified as sags where g2 > g1 and crests otherwise. Not that r (and hence the term rx2 /2) will be positive for sags and negative for crests. If grades are in percent, horizontal distance must be in stations If grades are dimensionless ratios, horizontal distances must be in meters.
The R is the percent per unit length The reciprocal of this is known as K value which is a measure of curvature K value is useful in determining minimum length of vertical curves for various design speeds
Design standards for vertical curves establish their minimum lengths for specific circumstances based on sight distance, on comfort standards involving vertical acceleration, or appearance criteria.
In most cases, sight distance or appearance standards will govern for highways. the equations used to calculate minimum lengths of vertical curves based on sight distance depend on whether the sight distance is greater than or less than the vertical curve length.
There are two types of vertical curves crust vertical curves summit vertical curves
For crest vertical curves, the minimum length depends on the sight distance the height of the drivers eye the height of the object to be seen over the crest of the curve.
When SL
When SL
where S = sight distance (from Table) L = vertical curve length A = absolute value of the algebraic difference in grades, in percent, |g1-g2| h1 = height of eye h2 = height of object
If we use the formulae for the calculation of minimum length then in actual the K line will touch the vertical axis So, for small value of A the vertical curve length will be zero But is no desirable design practice General practise is to provide L min= 0.6v, where V is the design speed in km/hr. L is in metre .
A minimum grade of 0.3% should be reached at a point about 50ft from the top level of curve This corresponds to K=167 per percent change in grade Values below this indicates flatter curves, so special care for drainage is required. K=167 is not a design limit, only drainage should be designed more carefully when k is more than 167
For sag vertical curves, stopping sight distance is based on the distance illuminated by the headlights at night. Design standards are based on an assumed headlight height of 600 mm and an upward divergence of the headlight beam of 1. As in the case of crest vertical curves, the formulas for minimum length of vertical curve depend on whether the length of the curve is greater or less than the sight distance.
For sag vertical curves, the formula is
Finally, vertical curve lengths may be limited by the need to provide clearances over or under objects such as overpasses or drainage structures. For the design of sag vertical curve the driver,s comfort is also taken into account. But for crest vertical curve this factor is not considerd.
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Vertical Alignment

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Highway Engineering

Vertical tangents with different grades are joined by vertical curves.

Symmetrical Vertical Curve

The rate of change of grade, in turn, is given by

For sag vertical curves, the formula is

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