In alignment of a hill road, it is frequently necessary to insert sharp turning
angles with in which it is very difficult and sometime even impossible to lay out curve by normal geometrical design. In such case a case it is preferable to round off the route by circumscribing the curve around the turning point. Such compound curves are called hairpin bend. A hair pin curve bend is located on the section having minimum cross-slope and maximum stability. It must be safe against land-slide and ground water seepage.
Design parameters of hairpin bends:
Design speed 20Km/hr
Minimum radius of main Curve 8m Maximum length of transition curve 15m Maximum gradient with in bend 2.5% Super elevation in curve portion 10%
Now from Geometrical design,
Tangent length of reverse curve (T) = r tan /2 Where, r = radius of reverse curve = Deflection angle Again, AE = BF = T+M M= Length of straight portion in between reverse & main curve Then, from AOE, tan = OE = R . = R .. (1) AE (T+M) r tan /2 + M
R = Radius of main curve
From trigonometric law we have,
tan = 2 tan /2 (2) 1 - tan2 /2
Solving (1) & (2) tan /2 = -m+ m2 + R(2r+R)
r+2r Hence the distance of the apex of reverse curve to the center of main curve is
AO = OB= (T+M) = R . cos sin
Length of main curve (Cr) = R = (180+2-)
180 Total length of Hairpin Bend is S = 2(Cr+M) +C Cr = length of reverser curve = R 180