Calculating Earthwork

FIRST OF ALL YOU MUST HAVE THE FOLLOWING:

NOTE: I attempted to update the seed run for XM and exceeded the character limitation for Proposed Finish Grade Elements. If using curbs and walls in your design, please use the input file for now. Bentley is in the process of extending the character limitation. When that is done, I will remove this red note.

• An Earthwork Input File or a Project Manager Earthwork Run (.x30 criteria (designs) only). I personally find the input file easier to use and especially easier to de-bug.
• A MicroStation design file containing the existing ground and proposed cross section elements.

For more details about the requirements for successfully running earthwork, see the "Rules" link above.

If using the seed Earthwork Input File, the following must be checked/modified:

All "seed" input files can be found on the server at locations as shown below:
The seed input file for running earthwork is named V8_EARTHWORK.INP, it works with both English and Metric cross section files.

The tolerance setting and the name of the cross section file must be adjusted correctly. A fragment is shown below:

The Baseline, Job number and Station range must be adjusted correctly. A fragment is shown below:

To calculate the earthwork volumes:

Select APPLICATIONS > ROAD > CROSS SECTIONS > Process Cross Sections or from the Road Tools icon as shown below:

• Set the dialog to To Log File, type in a name for your earthwork report, toggle Pause On Each Section to ON and press Apply.

• After checking your first cross section for earthwork accuracy, toggle Pause On Each Section to OFF and press Continue as shown below:

• The earthwork report (*.log file) can be reviewed using any ASCII text editor, such as UltraEdit or Notepad.

If using the seed Earthwork Run, the following steps must be taken:

I have created a seed earthwork run that is in sync with the .x30 criteria. The actual file is located on the server under X:\XM_Resource\X_30\Standards\Seed_runs\projdbs\user\. The name of the file is FLH.004

Follow the steps below to use the seed earthwork run:

• Open your cross section file and invoke Project Manager. Assure that Working Alignment Influence Runs is toggled ON, as shown below:

• Click on the Earthwork button as shown below:

• Select Run > Copy > Project from the pulldowns, as shown below:

• Using the Browse capabilities of the Directories portion of the dialog, double click your way to the folder X:\XM_Resource\X_30\Standards\Seed_runs\, as shown below. Select FLH.prj and press OK.

• Select [user] and press OK, as shown below:

• Select earthwk and press OK, as shown below:

• Type in a Run Name that fits your project and an optional Description. Press OK, as shown below:

• Select your earthwork run and press OK, as shown below. Be patient, as it may take 30 seconds or so to copy the run from the server:

• The Project Manager Earthwork dialog will appear, as shown below. Notice the name of the run is shown in the blue title bar:

• Click on the XS DGN File category on the left side of the dialog and click on the Select button to select your cross section file.
• Adjust the Tolerance to one of settings shown below.
  
  • Metric projects should have a Tolerance setting of 0.001
  • US Customary projects should have a Tolerance setting of 0.03
  
  

• Selecting the XS DGN File and setting the Tolerance setting are the only mandatory adjustments that need to be made to this run.

• Other categories (such as Centroid Adj) can be adjusted to suit your project as desired.

• When all adjustments are complete, save the run by using the pulldowns File > Save Settings, as shown below:

• To process the earthwork run, select Run from the pulldowns File > Run, as shown below:

• The Earthwork dialog will appear as shown below. Set the dialog to To Log File, type in a name for your earthwork report, toggle Pause On Each Section to ON and press Apply.

• After checking your first cross section, toggle Pause On Each Section to OFF and press Continue as shown below:

• The earthwork report can be reviewed using any ASCII text editor.