Coaster Dynamics: Help



Coaster Dynamics
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How to Design a Roller Coaster Track
The objective with Coaster Dynamics is to design a roller coaster track that will work successfully. Your design goals are:
  1. for the roller coaster car to make it all the way around the track,
  2. finish with a speed less than 5 m/s (so that the car can be safely stopped), and
  3. never exceed a maximum force on the rider of 5 G's.
The track is a traditional, once-around, closed loop. Therefore, the roller coaster car cannot go backwards (even though that is the intent of some non-traditional tracks). The only forces acting on the roller coaster car are gravity and rolling resistance. The rolling resistance is mainly due to friction between the wheels and the track. In the actual
Coaster Dynamics calculations, wind resistance is also included -- however, for most of your calculations, you can safely neglect the affect of wind resistance.

To design your roller coaster, you begin with a basic track layout and then make it your own by changing the types and sizes of track elements. The track elements are individually scalable, so every track is unique.

The basic track layout is shown below.



The track consists of the following segments, each of which contains a track element.

Track Segment 0:   This segment contains the track's starting Lift Hill. The Lift Hill cannot be changed, and has a fixed height of 62.5 m.

Track Segment 1:   This segment contains a "Spiral Hill" that executes a 540 degree turn, with a net change in direction of 180 degrees. The maximum height of the Spiral Hill is variable, while the begin and end points are at the same height.

Track Segment 2:   This is a straight segment that can contain any one of the five
Coaster Dynamics track elements:   Single Hill, Camelback Hill, Round Loop, Teardrop Loop, or Corkscrew. The size of the element is variable.

Track Segment 3:   This is a straight segment that can contain any one of the five
Coaster Dynamics track elements:   Single Hill, Camelback Hill, Round Loop, Teardrop Loop, or Corkscrew. The size of the element is variable.

Track Segment 4:   This segment contains a "Riser" element. A Riser is, in affect, half of a Hill. That is, a Hill has a maximum height with the begin and end points at the same height, while a Riser has a begin and end point at different heights. In this specific case, the height of the end point is always lower than the begin point. The change in height is variable.

Track Segment 5:   This is a straight segment that can contain any one of the five
Coaster Dynamics track elements:   Single Hill, Camelback Hill, Round Loop, Teardrop Loop, or Corkscrew. The size of the element is variable.

Track Segment 6:   This segment contains a "Riser" element. In this case, the height of the end point can be either higher or lower than the begin point. The change in height is variable.

Track Segments 2, 3, and 5 can contain one of these five types of track elements.
Single Hill

A Single Hill begins and ends at the same height, with the maximum height at its center. The shape of the Single Hill is a sinusoid.
Camelback Hill

A Camelback Hill consists of 2 connected Single Hills. The begin, middle, and end points are at the same height. The height of each hill is variable.
Round Loop

For a Round Loop, in the plane parallel to the primary axis of travel, the loop is a circle of constant radius, R. The loop height = (2)(R).
Teardrop Loop

For a Teardrop Loop, in the plane parallel to the axis of travel, the begin and end quarter-arcs are circles of radius, R. The top half-circle has a radius of (1/2)(R). The loop height = (3/2)(R).
Corkscrew

For a Corkscrew, in the plane perpendicular to the primary axis of travel, the loop is a circle of constant radius, R. The loop height = (2)(R).
To design your roller coaster track, you can change the element types in track segments 2, 3, and 5 -- and change the size of any of the elements (other than the starting Lift Hill).

For more help about how to design your track, select one of the following topics:

  1. How to Build a New Track
  2. How to Modify the Track
  3. How to Change the View.