For new, brown or green field residential real estate development projects multiple stakeholders have to work together for a successful, high-quality final design. One of the details which is often forgotten is analysing what effect will the local vehicular traffic have on the future residents’ everyday life.
Not only the volume of the traffic can be disturbing, but also other aspects of it, such as noise or light pollution.
This can be avoided with a detailed analysis of vehicle headlights when all the applicable plans are in place (the internal layouts of the newly designed housing units, the landscaping and the infrastructure layout).
This analysis can be carried out by using AutoTURN, the de-facto standard software for vehicle swept path analysis. AutoTURN allows you to lay out vehicle manoeuvres, then define the contours of the vehicle’s headlight and analyse its sweep around the corners.
Using AutoTURN’s 2D Sight Lines features
In AutoTURN, you have the possibility to define vehicle specific 2D Sight Lines, representing (in this case) the contour of the vehicle’s headlamps. Defining the 2 sight line objects will allow you to model an typical asymmetric headlight contour:
When a swept path simulation object is laid out, the sight lines will clearly illustrate the area swept by the headlights as shown below on the animation:
Using AutoTURN’s 2D Loads features
However, this already shows it clearly which are the residential units affected by the light pollution of the turning vehicles, AutoTURN can even perform a more detailed analysis by using the 2D Loads feature.
This feature originally aims to allow engineers to assign oversized objects, carried as loads by various lorries, but it can also be creatively applied to other purposes, such as modelling a detailed low beam headlight contour of a vehicle:
When this option is used, the swept area can be generated by turning on the Load Envelope in AutoTURN’s Properties. See the animation shown below:
This example shows how AutoTURN’s vehicle swept path objects can be used for thinking outside the box for various purposes. Either using the Sight Line or the Loads feature, AutoTURN brings valuable input for the landscape design plan, contributing to the creation of livable, high-quality new residential housing units.
See below an example of the proposed landscaping design together with the headlight analysis of the turning vehicle:
If you like to know more about AutoTURN or if you want to download our free trial version, please visit our AutoTURN product page. You can also contact us if you are looking for feedback whether AutoTURN can assist you in your own Sight line and Headlight analysis projects.