ABSTRACT
For specialized equipment such as roller coasters, design and safety analysis are very important. In this paper, the dynamic performance of a four-ring (four-loop) roller coaster is investigated. The velocity, acceleration and force curves of various elements are simulated using ADAMS software. The acceleration of the roller coaster is experimentally measured by using an accelerometer, and the results align closely with the simulation (the maximum error is 4.5%). From the results, we found that the value of dynamic response of the first car is larger than the others, and it should be considered to represent a higher level of risk. The changes of dynamic responses of the roller coaster under different loads and different wind speeds are then analyzed. We found that the peak acceleration of the roller coaster decreases with the increase of wind speed, while the force on the connecting fork increases with the increase of load of the roller coaster.
