Acceleration in one, two, and three dimensions in launched roller
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Acceleration in one, two, and three dimensions in launched roller
SPECIAL FEATURE: E XTREME P HYSICS www.iop.org/journals/physed Acceleration in one, two, and three dimensions in launched roller coasters Ann-Marie Pendrill Department of Physics, Göteborg University, SE 412 96 Göteborg, Sweden E-mail: [email protected] Abstract During a roller coaster ride, the body experiences acceleration in three dimensions. An accelerometer can measure and provide a graph of the forces on the body during different parts of a ride. To couple the experience of the body to pictures of the ride and an analysis of data can contribute to a deeper understanding of Newton’s laws. This article considers the physics of launched roller coasters. Measurements were performed with a three-dimensional co-moving accelerometer. An analysis is presented of the forces in the different ride elements of the Kanonen in Göteborg and the Speed Monster in Oslo, which both include loops and offer rich examples of force and acceleration in all dimensions. Introduction 3, 2, 1 . . . launch! The traditional lift hill, which gives the initial potential energy for the ride, is absent in some newly built roller coasters. Instead, the initial energy is provided in the form of a horizontal launch, giving sufficient kinetic energy to bring the train to the top of the first hill. From then on, the ride is characterized by the interchange between potential and kinetic energy, in the same way as in traditional roller coasters. The first Intamin hydraulic launch coaster in Europe was Rita the Ride at Alton Towers, which opened in April 2005, followed two weeks later by Kanonen at Liseberg in Göteborg (figure 1). The Speed Monster at Tusenfryd in Oslo (figure 2) and the Stealth at Thorpe Park (figure 3) both opened in 2006. In 2007, similar launch coasters were added to Heide-Park in Germany and PortAventura in Spain [1–3]. (See also the Roller Coaster Data Base at www.rcdb.com.) The Stealth is the highest of the European launch coasters. After the launch, the train passes the ‘top hat’ (figure 3) and then returns over a camel back into a hairpin turn back into the station. The Kanonen and Speed Monster roller coasters both feature a loop and a screw during the ride. The accelerometer data and elevation profile from these rides are shown in figures 4 and 5, and discussed in more detail below. One-dimensional horizontal motion In schools, the study of motion traditionally starts with non-motion, continuing with motion in one dimension. The traditional lift hill is an example of uniform rectilinear motion, where Newton’s first law applies. The launch is an example of accelerated motion in one dimension—as is the final brake. These situations can be useful as illustrations to textbook presentations. In one dimension, the measurement of the acceleration 0031-9120/08/050483+09$30.00 © 2008 IOP Publishing Ltd PHYSICS EDUCATION 43 (5) 483 A-M Pendrill Figure 1. The Kanonen roller coaster viewed from the side, showing the launch from the left into the ‘top hat’ on the right, as well as the shape of the clothoid loop. Figure 2. Panorama of the Speed Monster. The launch is from the right into the Norwegian loop, which encircles the entrance escalator. (Photo: Jochen Peschel [1].) in the direction of motion gives full information about the motions if the initial speed is known. The variation of speed and distance with time is obtained by integration, which can be performed numerically or analytically, after approximation of the acceleration time dependence. The launch Flags in the launch area enhance the sensation of motion during launch of the Speed Monster, as shown in figure 6. Horizontal launches of roller coasters have been used since the 1970s: for example, in the Revolution [2] which is a Schwarzkopf ‘shuttle launch coaster’ [4], where the energy is stored in a flywheel. Magnetic launch techniques were introduced during the 1990s, with LIMs (linear induction motors) and LSMs (linear synchronous motors). The compressed air launch was introduced in 2002, followed by the hydraulic launch in 2002. The hydraulic launch was used to break a new altitude record in 2003 for the Top Thrill Dragster at Cedar Point, Ohio [2, 5]. In the hydraulic launch, oil is pumped from a reservoir into storage cylinders filled with nitrogen. The energy is built up as the 484 PHYSICS EDUCATION nitrogen is compressed to a pressure of around 300 bar. During launch, the gas is allowed to expand rapidly, sending the hydraulic oil through the motors, and energy is transferred to the accelerating roller coaster. The technique is described in some detail by Peschel [3], who also presents an animation of the launch process. The pressure drops to about 250 bars, consistent with the drop in horizontal acceleration during the launch, seen from the graphs in figures 7 and 8. Figures 7 and 8 shows the accelerometer data for the Kanonen and Speed Monster rides. The graphs also include speed and distance, obtained by numerical integration. From the graphs in figures 7 and 8, we can conclude that the force drops during the launch. This is natural since the pressure of the nitrogen would drop as the gas expands, as discussed below. A fully loaded Kanonen train with four cars weighs about 8 tonnes. The Speed Monster train with three cars is lighter, about 6 tonnes. These weights include the mass of the sled used during acceleration. Exercises for the reader. • What average power is needed to accelerate the trains (in W and horsepower (1 hp = 735 W))? September 2008 Acceleration in one, two, and three dimensions in launched roller coasters avert/g 4 2 0 height (m) 0 5 10 15 20 25 t(s) 30 35 40 45 20 10 0 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 t(s) Figure 5. Accelerometer and elevation data for the Speed Monster. avert/g, atot/g Figure 3. The 62 m high ‘top hat’ of the Stealth roller coaster at Thorpe Park. Figure 6. The launch of the Speed Monster, with a side view of the ‘Norwegian loop’. 4 2 0 –2 height (m) 0 5 10 15 t(s) 20 25 30 35 • How high above the starting point can the Kanonen and Speed Monster trains go after launch? 20 10 Acceleration measurements in three dimensions 0 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 t(s) Figure 4. Accelerometer and elevation data for Kanonen. The green accelerometer curve shows magnitude of the ‘g-force’, whereas the blue curve shows only the vertical component. • How does the power, P , vary during the launch? (Remember that power is force times velocity, P = Fv .) September 2008 In roller coasters, as in everyday life, acceleration is rarely restricted to one dimension. The forces required for the acceleration in a roller coaster are evident throughout the body. What the body can experience can also be measured with a co-moving sensor. Since the body moves in the gravitational field, g, from the Earth, the additional force per mass unit required to obtain an acceleration, a, is (a − g). What is measured by an accelerometer is thus in general not acceleration, but one or more PHYSICS EDUCATION 485 30 20 10 0 0 1 2 2 Figure 7. Horizontal acceleration (m/s ) for the Kanonen launch, together with velocity (m/s) and distance (m) obtained through numerical integration. Which graph is which? The drop in acceleration in figures 7 and 8 corresponds to a drop in force and thus to the drop in pressure during launch, which can be used to estimate the fraction of the maximum possible work exerted by the gas during the Kanonen and Speed Monster launches. components of this vector. Since the gravitational acceleration is used as a reference, it is natural to give results in terms of the ratio (a − g)/g . This expression can be taken as a vector definition of the ‘g -force’. The accelerometer data in this paper were obtained using a wireless dynamic sensor system from Vernier. This system also measures the air pressure and converts the barometer data to provide indications of altitude during the ride. Through Bernoulli’s principle, the altitude data are influenced by speed, thus leading to an overestimate of altitude for high speeds. (This can be seen, for example, around launch in the graphs in figures 4 and 5.) Coordinate system for amusement ride acceleration data The experience of the body depends on the orientation. A natural coordinate system to describe the experience follows the moving body, thus changing direction throughout the ride, and this is also the coordinate system used by the sensor to record the motion. Here, we define the positive z -axis to be the ‘vertical’ axis directed along the spine towards the head of the rider. The positive x -axis points to the front of the rider—in most roller coaster rides, including these ones, the x -axis coincides with the direction of motion. The y -axis gives the direction of the ‘lateral’ g -force. In a right-handed system it will point out to the left of the rider. Apart from launch and brake, the longitudinal component should vanish if friction and train length are neglected. Except for screw 486 PHYSICS EDUCATION x(m), vx(m/s), ax(m/s2) A-M Pendrill 30 20 10 0 2 3 4 5 t(s) Figure 8. Launch of the Speed Monster: acceleration 2 (m/s ), velocity (m/s) and distance (s). elements in a roller coaster, the lateral components vanish if the curves are perfectly banked. A problem in measuring acceleration in three dimensions is to keep the sensor axis aligned with the body axis. When the sensor is kept safe in a vest on the body, the z -axis tends to slope slightly backwards and sometimes also sideways. A mathematically simple option is to use the magnitude of the vector |a − g|, possibly incorporating the sign from the dominating vertical component to maintain ‘negative g ’ readings. The Kanonen data in figure 4 show a comparison of the total g -force and the vertical component. When the other coordinates are also of interest, as for launch, break and roll, it is necessary to perform a coordinate transformation. The data in this paper were transformed by rotating the axes so that the data have only a vertical component before the ride starts, and assuming that the sensor orientation relative to the track is fixed. Two-dimensional motion in loops Both the Kanonen and the Speed Monster include loops, where the train moves essentially in two dimensions. The photographs in figures 1 and 9 show that neither the loop in the Kanonen nor in the Speed Monster is a perfect circle. In a circular loop, weightlessness at the top would be accompanied by 6g at the bottom of the loop (neglecting energy losses and the length of the train). To reduce the load on the body, the shape of the track has a larger radius of curvature at the bottom. This can be achieved in different ways, as discussed in more detail in [6, 7]. The Kanonen loop is a classic ‘clothoid loop’, which was introduced by Werner Stengel in 1976 in the roller coaster revolution [6]. September 2008 Acceleration in one, two, and three dimensions in launched roller coasters Figure 9. The ‘Norwegian loop’ of the Speed Monster roller coaster encircles the roller coaster entrance to the park, making a very large loop possible. In view of the short Speed Monster train, the ratio between train length and loop radius thus becomes unusually small in this case. In traditional roller coaster loops, the train enters the loop from below. The Speed Monster train instead enters the loop from above. This feature, conceived by project director Morten Bjerke at Tusenfryd, makes the Speed Monster loop unique. Is is classified as a ‘Norwegian loop’ in the Roller Coaster Data Base (www.rcdb. com). It gives the rider two inversions, during both entrance to and exit from the loop. The Kanonen train passes the highest point at time 15 s in the data series in figure 4, showing essential weightlessness at the top and close to 4g during entrance to and exit from the loop. Similarly, the Speed Monster rider is essentially weightless at the entrance and exit from the loop (at 10 s and 15 s, respectively, in figure 5), while experiencing close to 4.5g at the bottom. Comparing the loop shapes, we see that, whereas the traditional loops are somewhat narrower than a circle, the larger curvature at the bottom of the Norwegian loop leads instead to a slightly wider shape. Three-dimensional motion in corkscrews The picture of the Speed Monster launch (figure 6) also shows the large Norwegian loop from the side. All of the loop is nearly in the same plane. Separating the coils by a larger distance would lead to a corkscrew, such as in the Speed Monster, as seen in figures 2 and 10. A corkscrew can, as a first approximation, be described in cylindrical coordinates, where the circular motion with a radius R is then September 2008 Figure 10. The large corkscrew of the Speed Monster. Technically, only the last hill is considered as a corkscrew element. The track twists so that the train runs on top of the track in the first two coils. Only the last coil leads to an inversion of the rider. The train position in the photo corresponds to t = 33 s in the graph in figure 5. accompanied by a perpendicular motion along the cylinder axis. In the photograph of the corkscrew in figure 2, the track seems a bit flattened at the top. At the same time, the track twists, so the heartline of the rider moves more along the cylindrical shape. Let L denote the distance between the coils along the axis. For the train to move a full coil, it then moves a distance 2π R around the circle and L along the axis. The velocity component along the cylinder axis is unchanged during the motion. The angle of the track to the axis is given by tan α = 2π R/L. Exercise. • Show that a train moving with speed v along a corkscrew track leads to a centripetal acceleration with magnitude (v sin α)2 v2 1 ac = = . R R 1 + L 2 /4π 2 R 2 • Show that the difference between the g -force at the top and bottom of the corkscrew is given by 4 2g + 4g sin2 α = g 2 + . 1 + L 2 /4π 2 R 2 In the formula above, the first 2g arise due to the different direction of the body relative to gravity, when the rider stays on the inside of PHYSICS EDUCATION 487 A-M Pendrill Kanonen, Heartline Roll a/g 2 total 0 lateral –2 25 Figure 11. The photograph shows the Kanonen train on the way back through the loop into the heartline roll, where the centre of mass of the rider moves essentially along a straight line. the screw and is upside down at the top. This obviously does not apply in situations, such as figure 12, where the train has twisted around to the top of the track in the highest point. Corrections may also arise due to the motion of the train around the track. Any difference in radius of curvature between the high and low points also leads to a change in g -force difference to what is expected from these formulae. Speed Monster corkscrew The corkscrew in the Speed Monster is quite stretched, making good use of the available space, as seen from the panorama picture in figure 2. In the Kanonen ride, the corkscrew is stretched to the point where the riders move along a straight line while the track twists around them, giving a ratio R/L close to zero. As an exercise, estimate R/L for the Speed Monster corkscrew from figure 2. Use this ratio to estimate the difference in g -force for the different parts of the ride. Does your result agree with the accelerometer data in figure 5, where the corkscrew spans the period of about 10 s, starting at t = 28 s? Are there any deviations from expectations that would prompt you to make additional observations or measurements in the park? The heartline roll of Kanonen On the way back to the station, the Kanonen train performs a show-off passage over guests in the queue (figure 11). The track turns about 270◦ in a 488 PHYSICS EDUCATION 26 vertical 27 28 29 t(s) 30 31 32 33 Figure 12. Accelerometer data for the ‘heartline roll’. The vertical (red) and lateral (green) components are shown together with the total g-force (black) on the body. Since the body moves with essentially constant velocity, the total force from the train on the body is mg, counteracting the force of gravity throughout the roll. However, the direction is changed relative to the rotating coordinate system of the body and of the accelerometer. ‘heartline roll’. The body’s centre of mass moves with nearly constant velocity. What forces act on the body? Figure 12 shows the accelerometer data for this part of the tour. It is tempting to believe that measurement with a three-dimensional accelerometer gives a complete description of the motion, which can be used to recreate the shape of the track. However, the accelerometer data between 27 and 30 s in figure 12 could be obtained without rotation by moving up–down and left–right, some 20 m in each direction (although the altitude profile does, indeed, show that this was not the case). Newton’s first law tells us that a body remains in uniform rectilinear motion unless acted on by unbalanced forces. However, when the ‘body’ in Newton’s laws is our own it is clear that the direction of the forces relative to the body matters: we are not point-like particles. A ‘motion tracker’ needs also to measure rotation around the three axes to get a complete description of the motion [9]. Nevertheless, three-dimensional accelerometer data provide much material for analysing familiar motions. Personal experiences The wireless sensor system The WDSS system is extremely simple to use. Once set up from a computer, it can be used by a large number of students to collect data over a whole afternoon. It is, however, important to keep notes of what rides have been studied, since no additional information is stored on the sensor. September 2008 Acceleration in one, two, and three dimensions in launched roller coasters Should the memory fill up, the data are quickly transferred to a laptop, and the sensor is again ready for additional measurements. The measuring vest, although not particularly aesthetically pleasing, seems to convince ride attendants that the wearer is serious. Most importantly, the vest keeps the sensor from falling out during the ride: safety concerns must always come first. A disadvantage is, however, that it is difficult to keep the coordinate axes aligned [10]1 , but in most cases this can be dealt with afterwards. One-dimensional accelerometer data are sufficient to obtain velocity and position rectilinear motion, at least in principle. For a complete description of three-dimensional motion, accelerometer data for the three axes must be complemented by rotational data around all axes, as discussed by Pendrill and Rödjegård [9], in connection with the analysis of motion tracker data for a roller coaster. Still, the simplicity of use for the WDSS sensor makes it a useful tool, bringing the amusement park experience to the classroom. are, of course, during off-season, when you do not have to wait more than a few minutes to board the train. Rita—Queen of Speed, Kanonen and the Speed Monster all have slower speeds and lower hills than the Stealth. Rita—Queen of Speed reaches a higher speed (98 km h−1 ) than the Scandinavian launch coasters, but the ride heights at Alton Towers are limited by the tree tops. The speed gained from the launch is instead used in a helix with an extended period of relatively strong g -forces. The whole 640 m tour in Rita the Ride lasts 25 s, which may seem a bit short after a long time in the queue. Alton Towers has more rewarding roller coaster rides! The Kanonen and the Speed Monster both turn the rider upside down a few times during the ride, in loops and screws, discussed above. Although the inversions could be captured by a rotational sensor, the visual experience could not. The Kanonen launch goes across a small river, giving the riders the impression of falling into the water after the top hat. The Speed Monster has a most spectacular track layout, encircling the The roller coasters Although a three-dimensional accelerometer records entrance escalators. It runs on a hillside, and the time series of forces acting on the body, it can brings the rider through the terrain, close to the tree tops. The Kanonen track is woven back and obviously not capture the whole experience. Part of the experience is the build-up of forth, making maximum use of a small available expectations during the time in the queue. The area. Its complicated structure is more difficult to Stealth queue at Thorpe offers TV screens with memorize, which possibly brings more surprises its own disc jockey. During my one-hour wait to to the rider. The Speed Monster makes use of the get on (August 2006), people in the queue were natural drops to bring the train considerably below dancing to the music, and in general having a the starting point, thereby increasing the maximum good time. There was also the occasional speaker speed. The ride is only about 2 s longer than message telling NN to get ‘back to the entrance the Kanonen ride, as seen from the accelerometer where mum has got a FastTrack ticket for you’. data. However, the difference feels larger, possibly Just before entering, the riders are brought in close because the Speed Monster track is more than 50% view of parts of the launch technology. The queue longer: 690 m compared to 440 m. (The Stealth also lets you look up towards the 62 m high top tour is even shorter: 400 m.) The longer track hat (figure 3), and I have to confess that it was also accounts for the smoother ride, where more the first time in many years that I had the feeling distance is allowed for the different elements [8]. Which coaster is the ‘best’? To some extent ‘am I really going to go on that ride?’. But, yes, I did, and even got a FastTrack ticket for a second this depends on your personal preferences. The ride. The long period of acceleration followed by results from annual voting by riders can be found at BestRollerCoasterPoll.com. weightlessness is quite a strong experience. Both the Kanonen and the Speed Monster offer good views of different parts of the ride as Lessons in the amusement park or roller coasters the queue moves on. The best queuing experiences in the classroom? Is it best to have physics lessons in the amusement 1 Figure 3 of [10] shows the spillover from the vertical park or to have lessons in school about physics accelerometer reading, which results when the coordinate axes are not correctly aligned. in amusement rides? Even without easy access September 2008 PHYSICS EDUCATION 489 A-M Pendrill to an amusement park, most students are likely to have been on the rides and can relate the experience of their body to the physics description of the rides. Swings in a nearby playground are a good way to introduce amusement park physics [11]. Discussions of forces in the rides are likely to change students’ ways of thinking during future park visits, as many students have reported. As with all field trips [12], the learning outcome from an amusement park visit depends to a large extent on the preparation. Several Internet sites provide material for preparing amusement park visits (e.g. [13, 14]). Some parks, including Alton Towers and Thorpe Park, offer educational programmes for visiting school classes. Thorpe Park also quotes education secretary Alan Johnson: ‘Learning outside the classroom should be at the heart of schools’ curriculums and ethos.’ Measurements in the park can easily overshadow analysis, which is left for later. Back in the classroom, the rides are no longer at hand for investigating questions arising from the data. The balance between measurement and analysis is worth careful consideration. The analysis of measurement data also takes somewhat different forms depending on what data can be obtained from the park. Drawings are usually secret, as required by the agreements between parks and designers. The length of a roller coaster train can, however, usually be obtained. (If not, it can be estimated by measuring the width of the gates in the boarding queues.) It can provide a length scale for analysis of different elements of the roller coaster from photographs or video clips. The length, combined with the time of passage at a given point, gives a speed measurement. Comparing timing from stop watches of a number of students’ mobile phones provides good material for discussions of measurement uncertainty. Sometimes the track layout also makes it possible to estimate energy losses from measurement of the time of passage. I find that every time I get new data from a ride, they give rise to questions, and an urge to go back and check. Now, I would like to go back to Tusenfryd and take a good look at the corkscrew to see if what looks like an extra large radius of curvature at the bottom of one of the coils can explain the dip in g -force around 35 s in figure 5; and I would need to ride it again to feel that dip. I would also like to feel the ‘negative g -force’ at 490 PHYSICS EDUCATION the top of the first coil (figure 6, at about 28 s in the data shown in figure 5). Measurements are not only about numbers, but about questions, answers and insight. Acknowledgments First, I would like to express my appreciation to roller coaster designer Werner Stengel for kindly sharing part of his knowledge about various aspects of roller coasters, including loop shapes. I would also like to thank Jochen Peschel from Coasters and More for permission to use the photograph in figure 2, and for interesting e-mail correspondence. Finally, I would like to thank the helpful people at Liseberg and Tusenfryd, in particular Ulf Johansson and Morten Bjerke, for practical help and for stimulating discussions. Received 2 January 2008, in final form 6 February 2008 doi:10.1088/0031-9120/43/5/003 References [1] Peschel J 2006 Speed monster—Powerrausch am Felshang Coasters and More www. coastersandmore.de/rides/speedmonster/ speedmonster.shtml [2] Marden D 2003 3, 2, 1, launch! Fun World Mag. www.iaapa.org/industry/funworld/2003/Jul03/ Features/3 2 1 Launch!/3 2 1 Launch!.html [3] Peschel J 2007 Xcelerator—Intamin’s accelerator coaster premiere Coasters and More www. coastersandmore.de/rides/xcel/xcelerator. shtml, see also www.coastersandmore.de/rides/ kanonen/kanonen eng.shtml [4] Schwarzkopf A 1979 Amusement ride with vertical track loop US Patent Specification 4165695 (DE2703833) [5] Higgins A 2003 The coaster with the moster Machine Design www.machinedesign.com/ ASP/strArticleID/55720/strSite/MDSite/ viewSelectedArticle.asp [6] Schützmannsky K 2001 Roller Coaster—Der Achterbahn-Designer Werner Stengel Ingenieurbüro Stengel www.rcstengel.com [7] Pendrill A-M 2005 Roller coaster loop shapes Phys. Educ. 40 517–21 [8] Stengel W 2007 Private communication [9] Pendrill A-M and Rödjegård H 2005 A roller coaster viewed through motion tracker data Phys. Educ. 40 522–6 [10] Butlin C A 2006 Flying high with sensor system Phys. Educ. 41 577–9 [11] Pendrill A-M and Williams G 2005 Swings and slides Phys. Educ. 40 527–33 September 2008 Acceleration in one, two, and three dimensions in launched roller coasters [12] Rennie L R and McClafferty T P 1996 Science centers and science learning Stud. Sci. Educ. 27 53 [13] Bakken C 2007 Physics/Science/Math Days@Great America http://physicsday.org [14] Pendrill A-M 2007 Science in the Liseberg amusement park http://physics.gu.se/ LISEBERG/ September 2008 Ann-Marie Pendrill is professor in physics at Göteborg University, with a background in computational atomic physics. Her teaching involves engineering, physics and teacher programmes and she is involved with different forms of informal learning, including amusement park physics. PHYSICS EDUCATION 491
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