Earthwork/Cut-fill calculation - Part II

Now that 2009 version is out, you'll notice that snapshots I share with you on my blog from Civil3D look different (actually, cooler!) since 2009 Civil 3D has a new interface. If you haven't downloaded 2009 version already, visit our Student Community site and grab it. As I had posted already, besides the new look, it's got plethora of new features and enhancements, especially one related to my discussion topic today - Mass Haul Diagram (which I'll cover later).

So, as you noticed in my last earthwork post, we were putting together the pieces of the puzzle to get to the stage where we could "sample" the corridor.So, in theory, what we are trying to achieve is sample (query/collect information) the corridor by creating "sample line" objects which cut through corridor and the "datum" surface we extracted. And next step following it would be to run quantity take off criteria to compute the actual cut and fill quantities per station.

Back to my original thought of establishing sample lines, simply go to Sections > Create Sample Lines, and then notice that by default, three objects that will be sampled include: Ground Surface, Corridor, and Surface extracted from the corridor.

Next, you choose which option to use to create the sample lines, and in most cases, you'd start out with "By Range of Stations" options.

Two important fields to pay attention to in the next dialog box: Left and Right Swath widths. And what that means is how far on left and right of alignment do you want to sample the data? (It can always be changed later, so least stressful option is to go with defaults). And that's IT! Once you have the sample lines, generating volume calculations is a piece of cake, by Sections > Compute Materials.

After picking an alignment and sample line group (yes, you could have more than one sample line group), in the compute material box, select "Earthwork" criteria. This would make your task a lot easier, since all you have to do is map the names that represent Ground and Datum surfaces.

Finally, select the report generation command, Sections Generate Volume Report, and voila - you just computed earthwork quantities for your highway project! (picture below)