Vehicular Turning Radius

[Thom]

Tools for showing outside and inside turning radius for vehicles and trucks.

[B.Balemi]

Like a plugin object ?

Brendan

[AndiACD]

Yep!! Anything that helps calculate and design specific mech objects.

VW offers, Metric/Imperial Nuts, Bolts, Bearings, Gears, Springs etc in 2D and some even in 3D,(Wow!!!!!) but it would be nice if we could start seeing some Engineering Specific elements included in those editions that need them, like Thom says.

Architects are offered a substantial amount of specific tools of the trade, Engineers and Designers should start seeing more tools for their trades.

isn't that why we pay for one VW option instead of another

NNA, you can leave out the Steam Powered Traction engines for now . . . . . . . but a calculator and system specific choice for steering geometry would be a step in the right direction. Suspension elements, that'd be nice too . . . .

[Christiaan]

This would certainly be a valuable tool, especially if it was dynamic in some way (rather than just separate static symbols for instance).

My only caveat, if NNA were to implement this?and this actually goes for all of NNA's plugins?is that NNA should concentrate on creating a plugin that is country neutral, and that can be extended very easily for each country. The tool should do as much as possible out of the box without straying into country-specific areas.

No doubt what we'd end up with if developed like other VW plugins is a U.S.-centric tool, subsidised by the rest of us.

By the way, in the UK here are a few resources I know of for turning circles:

The Metric Handbook:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Metric-Handbook-Planning-Design-Data/dp/0750652810

And a separate CD-ROM, which I think includes the turning circles from the book.

And the FTA (Freight Transport Association), freight and lorry turning circles:

http://www.shop.fta.co.uk/pc-181-40-designing-for-deliveries-guide.aspx

And CD-ROM:

http://www.shop.fta.co.uk/pc-182-40-designing-for-deliveries-cd-cad-templates.aspx

There's also Neufert, which probably has turning circles too:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Architects-Data-Ernst-Neufert/dp/0632057718/

[AndiACD]

"a plugin that is country neutral" . . . .

No doubt what we'd end up with if developed like other VW plugins is a U.S.-centric tool, subsidised by the rest of us.

That's the probable hickup in the suggestion . . .

[jbrhwy]

One thing to keep in mind when using published "Minimum Vehicle Turning Radii Guidelines" - the minimum values assume that the vehicle is turning at a minimum speed (usually a minimum of 15 km/h). My low speed residential road designs are attempting to provide "Liveable Roads for All Travellers". Minimum radii that encourages motor vehicle drivers to enter residential intersections at speed ≥ 15 km/h increases the risk to pedestrians & cyclists. The minimum turning radii that I use were developed from actual measurements of motor vehicles turning from a stopped position, which in the residential situation is encouraged.

[holsteinson]

This tool could have each vehicle minimum turning radius either input by users from specs sheet or brochures, or from an official vehicle database?