The curve (original) plotted to global coordinates is shown below.
As the method you suggested, the curve lengths are calculated using integrals and solve blocks.
This method gives a more reliable slope value at the kink points (am I wrong ?).
Cable Coordinate Calcuation (Horizontal plane)
Here another curve is defined (not according to global axis but moving along the plan_coord curve, starting from 0 until length2). The perpendicular offsets to this curve is calculated as shown below.
Minimum bend radius
Towards Next segment
The area below calculates the different curves used to follow the above defined plots (something we discussed in my earlier posts :-))
Guess values:
The cable curve and the used parabola/straight curves are plotted below.
The final cable curve is plotted below
Global offsetting the cable coordinates based on the second curve values and a global offset value
This value is used if there is a common offset value to the whole curve (this way I dont have to adjust the plot range in the above plots).
I used a smaller interval for the initial and final 6.3m because those are also curves and I wanted better accuracy in that region. for the remaining part of the curve I increased the sampling interval but the file still takes a lot of time to run :(
This solve block executes for a solid 15 mins (and is the most trouble some) but the results are well within autocad tolerances and I am able to plot the curves using the plan_cable coordinates.