CoasterCraft: Prototyping for Thrills

Abstract

Roller coaster accelerations are evaluated to limit harmful accelerations on the human body. Current industry evaluation methods are expensive, cumbersome, and do not make use of scaled physical models. Michigan TPEG wants to produce their own small-scale roller coaster models and evaluate their designs for passenger safety. The CoasterCraft process enables Michigan TPEG to conduct low-cost and adaptable safety evaluation through production of small-scale roller coaster prototypes and acceleration analysis of the small-scale model, ensuring maximum passenger accelerations are not exceeded. A case study of Cedar Point's Magnum XL-200 was conducted to verify the process.