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“We developed the Roads module to design any kind of
road imaginable, from urban and rural roads to
freeways, airports, railways and even dams. With the
steady increase in South Africa’s infrastructure
development, the Civil Designer module has been put to
the full test and there is constant development in
order to keep abreast of current industry trends. We
are also gearing up for some exciting infrastructure
plans for the 2010 Soccer World Cup,” says Vincent.
The soon to be released 6.4 Roads version has about 50
enhancements and there is an increase in functionality
that will benefit both road designers and
transportation engineers. Among the many enhancements,
the most noticeable are:
- A revised design criteria that will warn the user when
transition curves are needed on a Horizontal
alignment. The program will also suggest transition
curve lengths.
- The new release will allow the user to have a choice
to model Vertical curves as parabolas or circular
curves.
- A Translate Road feature has been added to the
Translate Cross section function. This will allow the
user to accurately translate his design cross sections
to a DTM surface without having to manually alter the
DTM model at template changes afterwards.
- The module has special surveyed features such as
fence lines that can be extracted from the DTM onto
cross sections by specifying a filter. These features
can then automatically be indicated onto cross section
drawings with the use of user defined CAD symbols.
- A Pipe database function has been added to 6.4. This
will allow the user to specify any additional
services, or culverts that cross the road. The program
will then indicate wherever these pipes are crossing
toe road alignment, together with pipes from the
Sewer, Storm and Water Modules, on Long Section plots
and in the Vertical Alignment Editor.
Another powerful feature that has received special
attention in the Survey & Terrain module is the newly
developed Strings application for Platform design.
“The Strings tool has been enhanced to facilitate
easier design. It works in a similar way to a 3D polyline in that it consists of a sequence of 3D
points called vertices. It also differs from polylines
in that multiple strings have an effect on each other
in a hierarchical manner and it is this hierarchical
structure that defines the String’s dynamic nature.”
According to Vincent, a String is not a CAD entity,
nor is it a sequence of DTM points. It is a separate
object stored in a separate file but it can be created
from CAD entities or a series of DTM points. In
addition, a String can either form a closed figure or
an open route.
The hierarchical nature of Strings is quite unique. A
newly created or isolated String is known as a
platform or master string. Once this string has been
created, you can attach a second string called the
child string which in turn can have its own children.
The relationship of the platform string to the child
string is usually described as the platform being a
parent to the child.
In practice, a change to one string means that all its
children will automatically be updated with the
change. In this way, when the corner of a terrace is
changed, all subsequent bank points will automatically
be moved and recalculated. Similarly, if the elevation
of a single vertex is changed, all the vertices in the
child strings that are connected to the modified
vertex will be updated. A project may contain up to 64
platform strings and each will have their own set of
children. |
Vincent Bester, CEO of Knowledge Base
“We enjoy the Strings functionality because it can be
used to design complicated terraces. Strings are ideal
for designing parking areas, curved dam walls, berms
and channels with complicated benching. The
hierarchical nature of Strings means that a designer
can change his design by simply moving a corner of the
terrace, grading a string or surface, or moving the
entire terrace without having to re-generate all the
affected strings. The affected strings and toe points
will then automatically be re-calculated,” explains
Bester.
Although the newly created Strings tool has increased
in functionality, it remains user friendly and quick
to use. The user can create Strings using any of the
following methods:
- By indicating the position of the vertices graphically;
- By converting a CAD polyline into a string;
- By converting a connected series of DTM points to a string;
- By creating a child string and specifying a specific
relationship between an existing string (parent
string) and the new child string.
Once created, Strings can be modified from both the
plan and long section views as follows:
- Vertices and complete string can be edited, deleted or moved;
- Strings can be graded to a specified grade, or tapered;
- Vertical and horizontal curves can be introduced to a string;
- A surface formed by a closed string can be graded to a specified grade.
“We have created the Strings tool to be both dynamic
and versatile in its operation. Once the String has
been created according to the users requirements, a
triangulated DTM surface can be created from a series
of strings by simply running the String to DTM
function. All the regular DTM functionality can now be
used in Civil Designer to calculate quantities, create
a contour plan and generate a 3D view.”
Click to enlarge
“We are excited about the new developments in Civil
Designer because the program is intended as a resource
to Consultants when completing demanding
infrastructure projects within tight deadlines. The
next few months will be dedicated to testing the
system fully, but we are pleased with the progress to
date,” says Vincent in closing. |
