Banking of roads

Consider a vehicle of mass 'm' is moving along a horizontal curve road of

maximum speed 'v'. The radius of curvature of road is 'r'. When the vehicle is
moving al ong the hori zontal curve road, the necessary centripetal force is
provided with the frictional force between surface of road and tyres of vehicle. In
absence of this force, a vehicle is tangential thrown off from the road.
Centripetal force = Force of friction

Where is a coefficient of force of friction.

Thus from the equation , it is concluded that maximum safety speed of a vehicle
along the horizontal curve road is independent of mass of vehicle, but it depends
upon.
1. Coefficient of force of friction.
2. Radius of curvature of road.
3. Acceleration due to gravity.

Necessary of banking of roads
The safety speed of the vehicle along the horizontal curved road is,


1. The safety speed of the vehicle depends upon the coefficient of force of
friction. The force of friction between the tyres and road surface is not reliable, it
changes due to the nature and condition of the road i.e. rough and smooth. It
also changes in rainy season. So the force of friction will not provide the necessary
centripetal force for the safety turning. Hence the vehicle will skid or over turn the
road.
2. The maximum force of friction also provides wear and tear of the tyres due to
making a road surface rough.
To ensure the safety speed of the vehicle along the hori zontal banked curved
road the hori zontal component of normal reaction acting on the vehicle
provides the necessary centripetal force for safe turning. Thus the vehicle moves
safely along the banked curved road.


Banking of roads :
The arrangement of road in which outer edge of the horizontal curve road is raised
over the inner edge of the road is called banking of roads.
Angle of banking :
The angle of inclination of the road surface with the horizontal surface of road is
called angle of banking.
Expression for angle of banking
Consider a vehicle of mass 'm' is moving along a horizontal banked curve road
of radius of curvature 'r'. The maximum safety speed of a vehicle along the
banked curved road is 'v'. Let 0 be the angle of banking of the curved road.



The frictional force between tyres of vehicle and road surface can be resolved
into,
i) fcos - along horizontal direction,
ii) fsin - along vertically downward direction.
The normal reaction force is greater than weight of the vehicle. The normal
reaction force is resolved into two components.
The component N cos of normal reaction is balanced by weight mg of
vehicle and component f sin 0 of frictional force,

N cos = mg + f sin
mg = N cos - f sin

Hori zontal component N si n al ong wi th component f cos of
frictional force provides the necessary centripetal force.

N sin + f cos = -------------------(1)
=N sin + f cos
---------------------(2)

The magnitude of frictional force depend on speed of vehicle for given road
surface and tyres of vehicle.
Let v
max
denote maximum speed of vehicle the frictional force produced at
this speed should be,
----------------------------------(3)
For a horizontal curved road, = 0, hence equation becomes,



Combining equation (1)&(2)maximum safe speed of vehicle on a banked
road is greater than that of horizontal curved road.
If u
s
= 0, then equation becomes,
---------------------------------(4)
At this speed the frictional force is not needed to provide necessary centripetal
force. There will be a little wear and tear of tyres, if vehicle is driven at this speed
on banked road. V
o
is called as optimum speed.
From equation (4) we can write,
Thus angle of banking is independent of mass of vehicle.
This is the required expression for safety speed of a vehicle along the banked
curved road. From the above equation it is concluded that safety speed of a
vehicle is independent of mass of a vehicle but it depends on
1. radius of curvature of road.
2. acceleration due to gravity at that place.
3. angle of banking of road.
Thus safety speed of vehicle is same for any vehicle along the banked curved road.


Hei ght of banki ng :
Ellevation Raising of outer edge above the inner edge is called elevation.
Let lbe the width of the road and h be the
height of banking.




In order to avoi d acci dents the fol l owi ng precautions should be taken
when a motor vehicle moves over a curved path or track.

1.The curved path should be banked (tan = v2/rg)
2.The distance between the rails or wheels should be large.
3.The height of centre of mass of the vehicle from the earth surface should be
small.
4.The velocity of the vehicle should be decreased at the curved path.