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    Cubic Parabola PDF

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    Suciu Florin
    The document discusses the use of cubic parabolas in railway transition curves. It provides equations to calculate key elements of the cubic parabola curve such as radius of curvature, length, coordinates of the center of curvature, and angle of the tangent line. These equations allow one to determine secondary elements given primary elements like radius of curvature and length, or to calculate coefficients given different combinations of known primary elements.

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    © All Rights Reserved
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    Cubic Parabola PDF

    Uploaded by

    Suciu Florin
    281 views4 pages
    The document discusses the use of cubic parabolas in railway transition curves. It provides equations to calculate key elements of the cubic parabola curve such as radius of curvature, length, coordinates of the center of curvature, and angle of the tangent line. These equations allow one to determine secondary elements given primary elements like radius of curvature and length, or to calculate coefficients given different combinations of known primary elements.

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    The document discusses the use of cubic parabolas in railway transition curves. It provides equations to calculate key elements of the cubic parabola curve such as radius of curvature, length, coordinates of the center of curvature, and angle of the tangent line. These equations allow one to determine secondary elements given primary elements like radius of curvature and length, or to calculate coefficients given different combinations of known primary elements.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
    281 views4 pages

    Cubic Parabola PDF

    Uploaded by

    Suciu Florin
    The document discusses the use of cubic parabolas in railway transition curves. It provides equations to calculate key elements of the cubic parabola curve such as radius of curvature, length, coordinates of the center of curvature, and angle of the tangent line. These equations allow one to determine secondary elements given primary elements like radius of curvature and length, or to calculate coefficients given different combinations of known primary elements.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
    of 4

    Cubic parabola in railway applications

    Cubic parabola is used in transition curves of the railway. The cubic


    3
    parabola function is y=kx (1)
    The “main” elements in railway transition curve are: The radius of curvature
    at the end of transition, the length L of the curve, the length l of its
    projection on x axis and the coefficient k. Two of these elements must be
    given in order for the curve to be defined, the other two can be calculated
    as described in this article.
    The 'secondary elements” of the curve are: the coordinates Rx and Ry of the
    center of curvature at the end of the transition, the shift f between the
    curve R and the x axis, the angle τ of the tangent to the curve at the end of
    the transition and and Yl, the y coordinate of the curve at length l. When the
    “main” elements are known, the “secondary” elements can easily be calculated.
    (Fig. 1).

    The radius of curvature r at a point of the curve y=f(x) is given by:

    r=
     1 +f'  x   2
    r=
      19k 2
    x 4
    3

    .
    f''  x  For the cubic parabola therefore: 6kx (2)

    Fig. 1. Elements of transition curve

    The centre of curvature in a point (x,y) of a curve y=f(x) has the following
    coordinates:
    2 2
    1 +f'  x  1 +f'  x 
    x c =x − f'  x  y c =y+
    f''  x  f'  x 

    For the cubic parabola these coordinates are:


    x  1−9k 2 x 4  15 k 2 x 41
    x c= y c= (3)
    2 6kx
    The length s of a curve y=f(x) from 0 to x is:
    x x


    s= ∫ 1 +f'  x  dx
    2
    and for the cubic parabola: s= ∫  19k 2 x 4 dx (4)
    0 0
    The tangent to the parabola at a point x (which is perpendicular to the
    corresponding radius r) forms an angle φ with x-axis whose tangent is equal
    to the derivative at point x: tan  φ= kx 3 '  2
    ή: tan  φ= 3kx (5). 
    Equalities (2), (3), (4),(5) are especially useful at the end of the
    transition curve. At this point, the radius of curvature is R, the x
    coordinate is l, the projection of the curve on x-axis and the total length
    of the transition curve is L. For this particular point the following
    equations apply:

    R=
      19k l  2 4 3

    6kl (6),

    l  1−9k 2 l 4  15k 2 l 4 1
    x R= yR = (7)
    2 6kl

    L=∫  19k 2 x 4 dx (8)


    0
    2
    The angle of the tangent at this point can be defined by : tan τ= 3k l (9).
    An interesting property of the cubic parabola can be proved as follows:
    3 εφτ
    BC kl l
    tan τ= 3k l 2= = , so: AB= . From (9) it follows k= .
    AB AB 3 3l 2

    The relations (1), (6), (7), (8), (9) are use to calculate the elements of
    the transition curve. Usually R and l are given.

    The first derivative of (2)as a function of x is: r'=


     45k 2 x 4 −1   19k 2 x 4
    6kx 2
    1
    When, therefore, 45k x =1
    2 2
    or k=
      45  x 2 or x=

    4 1 2
    45
    k , radius r is at

    6 6
    an absolute minimum. Substituting these values in (2) one gets: R min = x.
    10
    At the end of transition curve, x equals l, so the radius R cannot be less
    66
    than: l , while in combination with (5), for the maximum angle of the
    10

    tangent at the end of the transition one gets: max tan  τ= 3


    1
    45
    or τ≈24,09ο.

    Beyond this limit, cubic parabola is of no use for railway transition curve.

    Other useful equations for the cubic parabola elements are:
    1
    R x =l −Rημτ,           f=Y l +Rσυντ − R,          k=
    6Rl συν 3 τ
    Calculation of k when l and R are known

    In this case relation (6) as a function of k is used:   1 9k l  − R= 0 .


    2 4 3
    The
    6kl

    derivative of this function for k is:


     18k 2 l 4 −1   19k 2 l 4 (10) which has a
    6k 2 l
    1
    minimum when 18k l =1 in other words when: k=
    2 4
    . Since the value of
     18 l 2
    1
    (10) for k=0 is +∞, if the value of (10) for k= (11) (which is the
     18 l 2
    minimum) is:
    >0: there is no solution for k (non compatible combination of R-l)
    =0: there is only one solution for k (as above)
    <0: there are two solutions for k, one less than the value in (11) and one
    more than it.
    1
    But, since k must be less than (in order for the cubic parabola to
     45 l 2
    1
    be usable as transition curve) all solutions for k that fall between
     45 l 2
    1
    and are not valid.
     18 l 2
    Calculation of l when k and R are known

    Equation (2)as a function of x is used:   19k 2


    x4 
    3

    −R= 0 . The first


    6kx
     45k 2 x 4 −1   1 9k 2 x 4
    derivative is:
    6kx 2
    (12) which has a minimum when x=

    4

    45k
    1
    2

    Since the value of (12) for x=0 is ∞ , if the value of (12) for

    (13) is:
    x= 4
     1
    45k 2

    >0: there is no solution for x (non compatible combination of R-k)


    =0: there is one solution (given by (13) )
    <0: there are two solutions for x, one smaller and one greater than in (13)
    Calculation of L when k and l are known

    l
    The length L of cubic parabola is given by: L= ∫  19k 2 x 4 dx . Since there is
    0
    no analytic formula for this integral, it can be calculated by the power
    series:
    1 1. 1 1 .1 .3 1 .1 . 3 . 5 1 .1 . 3 . 5 .7 1 .1 .3 . 5 . 7 . 9
     1 +z=1 2 z − 2 . 4 z 2 2 . 4 .6 z 3− 2 . 4 . 6 . 8 z 4  2 . 4 .6 .8 .10 z 5 − 2 . 4 .6 .8 . 10. 12 z 6 .. ...

    This relation is valid for z< 1. ‌In our case z is equal to 9k 2 x 4 which
    always is less than 1, since its maximum value αφού η μέγιστη τιμή του είναι
    1 1
    9∗ =
    45 5
    Integrating the second part of this equation between 0 and 1 one gets:
    l

    ∫  19k 2 x 4 =l 1
    0
     t
    −
    t2

    3t 3
    −
    3.5t 4

    3. 5 . 7t 5
    −
    3. 5. 7 . 9t 6
    2 . 5 2 . 4 . 9 2. 4 .6 .13 2. 4 .6 .8.17 2 . 4. 6. 8. 10 .21 2. 4 . 6 .8. 10. 12. 25
    ... . 
    where t=9k 2 l 4 . It can be observed that after the 2nd term of the series,
    every new term is derived from the previous one by multiplying it with
    − 12v   54v 
    t (ν=0,1,2.., ν=0 for the 3rd term).
     42v   94v 
    Since t has a maximum value of 1/5 (max(45* k2*l4 ) = 1 ⇒ max(9* k2*l4 ) =
    1/5), for this value of t the power series converges to 1,01947959990638 (no
    mathematical proof could be derived), the maximum value of L with relation to
    l is είναι max L= l* 1.01947959990637971401 with an accuracy of 20 decimal
    digits.

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