Impact of vehicle movement simulation on the size of forest road traveled way widening in small radius curves

Abstract

Smooth movement of vehicles on forest roads necessarily requires widening of the traveled way in small radius curves. This paper presents the results of a comparison of two methods for determining the required widening of a forest road traveled way in small radius curves: the traditional method based on formulas and the traces curve method, obtained by simulating the movement of vehicles. Both methods were applied in the preparation of the Main project of reconstruction of the forest road “Rasadnik - Pustinac” with a length of 5.285 km in the teaching base of the Faculty of Forestry “Majdanpečka domena”. In the project which determined the traveled way widening by the traces curve method, the total area of the surfacing was by 2.79% smaller than the area of the surfacing in the project which determined the widening using a formula. The width of the traveled way directly affected the scale of earthworks. In the first case, the volume of the cut was by 4.17% lower than in the second one. The volume of the filling decreased by 7.05%, and the amount of material needed for making the surfacing decreased by 2.94%. A smaller volume of earthworks and material required for pavement construction in the preparation of the Main project of reconstruction, in which the size of widening was calculated by the traces curve method, influenced the estimated value of reconstruction is lower by 3.34% than the total cost of reconstruction obtained in the preparation of the Main project of the same forest road reconstruction that calculated the widening size using the traditional method.