Civil Engineering & Infrastructure Design Software

Civil Engineers • City Planners • Civil Designers • Town Planners • Surveyors • Contractors • Environmental Consultants

Search:

    

Difference Contours



This tech tip explains how to use difference contours to show cut and fill

 
Calculating the Volumes

In our example, we have 2 dtm surfaces. Surface 1 is the ground surface (grey) and surface 2 (blue) is the proposed terrace.

 


 

Change to Terrain Mode
(Mode Menu › Terrain or via the Modes Toolbar 
 

Terrain Menu › DTM Grid Volumes › Ground/Design Difference

 


 

Select the correct surfaces and click OK to continue.

 


 

The Grid Details dialog appears, the user can accept the Grid interval or specify another interval. Once the new grid interval has been specified, click on the Preview button to view the new grid.

 


 

If the grid interval is too small, an error message will appear.

 


 

The next dialog that appears is the Double Surface Details dialog.

 


 

Ground hole distance

Enter the distance beyond which interpolations on the ground surface should be discarded.

Design hole distance

Enter the distance beyond which interpolations on the design surface should be discarded.


Click OK to continue

The site will be shaded during the calculation phase.

 


 

Once the calculations are complete, you can specify the amount of top soil striped and the compaction factor. Various factors can be used without re-running the calculation.
 


 

The results are shown in the output window (unless otherwise specified in the Output Manager) The Output Manager settings can be changed File Menu › Output Manager

 


 

Generating the Contours

Terrain Menu › DTM Contours

 


 

Specify the desired contour interval

Once the contours are generated, we will specify the colours for the different contours.

Settings Menu › Display Settings

 


 

Make sure Generated is selected, and the colours for Difference contour display are set to the desired colours.

Click OK to continue.

The project will now show the difference contours i.e. where there is cut and fill.

 

 

print print friendly version                             email email this page

 Last Updated: November 02, 2005
Knowledge Base: Professional Civil Engineering & CAD Design Software

Home | Site Map | Copyright Notice | Privacy Statement |