Computing Excavation and Filling Volumes

You can get an estimation of the excavation and filling volumes during the vertical alignment creation. The information is available at earlier stages upstream in the design, therefore, you can minimize excavation and filling costs in your civil project.

Filling volumes are always computed based on a primary terrain representing the natural terrain surface. Excavation volumes are computed for each layer. You can preselect several layers in the Alignment definition dialog box, or the Vertical Alignment creation. You can make a layer list in the Terrain to transfer section of the Vertical Alignment creation dialog box. Exact surface, cloud of points, polyhedral shapes and, surfacic or volumic geometries, are supported and can be selected.

Before you begin:
  • Open civil data containing a terrain.
  • Create horizontal and vertical alignments.
  • Terrain/Layers must be set at the level of the alignment before the excavation and filling volume computation.
  • Create an elevation profile in the vertical alignment.
  • Select a terrain (or a layer) under the alignment.
See Also
Creating a Vertical Alignment
Creating a Road Surface
  1. Double-click a vertical alignment in the tree.
    You switch into the Alignment Sketcher app.
  2. From the Alignment section of the action bar, click Excavation and Filling .
  3. In the Excavation and Filling dialog box, click to create an excavation and filling feature.
    Tips:
    • You can create as many excavation and filling features as you need. When several features exist, you can switch from one to another by selecting the feature in the list at the top of the window. The corresponding volume values in the window and the visualization in the 3D area are displayed when the feature is already computed.
    • You can delete a feature by clicking .
    • In case of multiple excavation and filling features, the Compute All button appears. If this command is selected, all the features are selected and computed at a time.

    The excavation and filling features are aggregated under the Alignment set with this symbol in the tree.

  4. Click Compute.

    An icon reflects the status of the computed excavation and filling feature:

    • : The excavation and filling feature is not computed.
    • : The excavation and filling feature is computed and up-to-date.
    • : The excavation and filling feature is not up-to-date and needs to be recomputed.
    • : The excavation and filling feature computation has failed.

    The layers of the excavation and filling volumes are colored in the 3D area.

    The excavation and filling features can be edited in the context of the vertical alignment sketch design. It is updated when the vertical alignment is modified. Then the result is not up-to-date and you need to click Compute again.

  5. Change the inputs of the different parameters in the dialog box.
    • Under the Definition section:
      • Start point and End point: lets you select a Start point and a End point to compute only a portion of excavation and filling volumes.
        Note: If the selected points are not on the vertical alignment wire, they are automatically projected on it. Excavation and filling volumes are computed only between the selected points. To delete a computed portion, click to erase the Start point and End point.
      • Computation step: defines the discretization step for excavation and filling computation. This option is available if the Display excavation and filling option is selected.
      • Display excavation and filling: lets you display the excavation and filling
    • Under the Ground section:
      • Width: lets you define the width of the section lane.
      • Excavation angle: lets you define the section angle for excavation.
      • Filling angle: lets you define the section angle for filling.
    • Under the Tunnel section:
      • Radius: lets you define the radius value for tunnel sections.
        Note: It is recommended to give a semantic type, Bridge, Dam, Ground (for natural terrain level) or Tunnel, to the alignment points you create to adapt to the terrain topography and differentiate these points for each construction type.
      • Vertical offset: lets you define a positive or negative offset to shift the excavation volume.
    • Under the Performance section:
      • %: indicates the percentage and the amount of excavation volume
      • %: indicates the percentage and the amount of filling volume
    Note:

    The section used to compute the volume is a trapezoid (example of the Fill angle):

    The excavation and filling volumes are estimated based on this section all along the vertical alignment. It generates output for excavation and filling volumes as knowledge parameters that are visible through a command and can be used for further optimization.

    When several layers are selected at level of the alignment, the child layer features are aggregated under the excavation and filling features. Each layer feature provides a cut angle and an output cut volume.

  6. Click Compute.

    A progress bar is displayed at the bottom of the dialog box during computation. At the end of the computation, the excavation and filling volume data are visible in the same dialog box. The Filling volume in blue represents the total fill volume and, the Cutting volume in red, the total cut volume, both equal to the sum of all layer volumes.

    Tip: Click More to display the layer caption in a pop-up window. You can visualize the results and the color legend of the excavation and filling volumes applied to the layers in the 2D representation. A cut angle is defined for each layer and you can modify it directly in this window. For more information, see the following note about the computed trapezoid volume.
  7. Optional: Create excavation and filling features between alignment points having a specific semantic type.

    In the example below, you create an excavation and filling feature between the Bridge and ground semantic points. During the excavation and filling computation, the area between the Bridge and Ground alignment points is empty:



    During the excavation and filling computation, the area between the Tunnel and Ground alignment points is based on a circular tunnel section: