If you are continuing on from the previous tutorial, switch off the contour display before you start.This exercise will teach you how to complete the following road design tasks:
Define a road template.
Select a road with which to work.
Input the horizontal alignment of a road.
Extract cross-sections from the terrain model.
Input the vertical alignment.
Calculate the road levels.
Calculate the cross-section areas.
Calculate the volumes.
Create a cross-section plot.
Create a long section plot.
Create a site plan.
If you are continuing on from the previous tutorial, switch off the contour display before you start.
If you haven't done so yet, read the Before You Start section before proceeding.
If you get lost or stuck while you are doing this tutorial, do one of the following:
Press [Esc] to cancel all functions.
Use File ► Open Project to re-open the same project and click No when prompted to save changes.
Repeat the tutorial from the beginning, or from the last point where you saved the project.
If you have not come here directly after completing Tutorial 6 - DTM Basics or Tutorial 7 - Terrace Design, you need to reload the project that you created and saved in that tutorial.
Select File ► Open from the menu and open the Tutor drawing that you worked on previously.
This is not necessarily the first step in designing a road but it is shown first here so you can use the template in your road design.
Switch to the Road Mode by selecting Applications ► Road from the menu, or by clicking the Road icon 
in the Applications toolbar.
Select Tools ► Template Editor in the Road menu.
The Template Editor displays.
Click Carriageway under the Setup and the Carriageway Setup displays.
Select the Single Carriageway radio button and set the road width.
The values in the Cut/Fill Testing options dictate where the ground is tested to see if the design is in Cut or Fill.
The offsets are measured from the last compulsory point. If the Allow to Float option is checked then Civil Designer will automatically test at the position with the greatest depth difference found between the last compulsory and the Natural Ground Line.
Make the above changes and click OK.
The carriageway settings (crossfalls and widths) are superseded by the values specified in the Edge Levels Spreadsheet, where you will be entering superelevation and road widening.
Kerbs are added at the end of the carriageways, directly before the Compulsory details.
Click Kerb to display the Kerb Settings.
Click ... on each side to select the kerbs to be used for testing this template.
The Kerb Selector displays.
Press Load Group and browse for the Vanstone Kerbs folder inside the Examples folder.
Select the BarrierKerbs file and click Open.
The selected kerbs display in the Kerb Selector.
Select the "BK1" kerb and click Apply. Repeat this for the Right Kerb and the selected kerbs are entered into the Kerb Settings window.
Click OK to continue.
The kerbs are added to the edges of the carriageways, as shown below.
You are now going to add a 2m sidewalk to each side of the template, as a compulsory addition.
Select the Left Compulsory radio button to activate the buttons along the top.
Click Add Edge.
You are prompted to:
Input the Left Compulsory Horizontal and Vertical component, and then click Enter.
Press [Esc].
You could re-enter the same data for the right compulsory additions, but it is much easier to copy the data. Right-click in the test area and select the Mirror Assembly option.
The sidewalk is copied to the right.
Click Data to check the Left and Right Compulsory entries in the Data Setup.
Click OK to close the Data Setup and return to the Template Editor.
This compulsory portion was added to the left and right road edges. Using this sequence means the sidewalk does not contain pavement layers.
In the next step you will replace these two sidewalks with both features containing pavement layers. First remove both compulsory portions by clicking Delete Edge.
You are prompted to:
Indicate left compulsory edge or component to delete ([ESC] to cancel)
Select the sidewalk in the left test area and it is highlighted.
Click on it and it is deleted.
Press [Esc] to end the function.
Select the Right Compulsory tab and repeat the steps as above.
Once that is done, select the Left Compulsory tab again.
Components are items such as side drains, sidewalks, retaining walls or catchwater berms that are added on to the active assembly.
They are created and modified in the Component Editor.
Click on the Library tab below the Components window and the current loaded components display. Scroll down until you see the sidewalks features in the Components list:
As an alternative to utilising the Add Edge option, you could use the drag and drop option from the Components Library. Click and hold on the 2 metre sidewalk features, and then drag it into the left test area.
You are prompted to:
An arrow displays indicating the position where the component will be added at the end of the active assembly.
Click in the test area near the kerb and the sidewalk component is added.
Select the Right Compulsory section and you will use another method to add the feature to the right hand side.
Click on the 2 metre sidewalk features and then right-click and select the Add To Template option. The sidewalk component is added to the end of the active assembly.
Components differ from edges in that they can have a thickness assigned to them, as well as layerworks. This enables you to calculate quantities of those components.
Now click the Template tab so you can see the components that are included in the template.
You are going to add two conditions to each side.
The first condition will be added using the Add Condition option, and the second will be added using the Data table.
Click Add Condition.
This condition specifies a cut slope of 1:3 if the depth of cut is up to 1m with the toe point a minimum of 5m from the centre of the road, in effect resulting in a variable slope as long as that slope is flatter than 1:3.
Update the condition as shown above and click Enter.
Select the Right Cut section and then click Add Condition.
Update the condition to the same as applied on the Left Cut.
You will now add another condition using the Data option.
This specifies that the cut slope must be 1:1.5 if the depth of cut is between 1.0 and 999m.
The final condition must always end with a Maximum Height of 999.
So, to summarise, there are two cut conditions that will be applied for different depths of cut.
The first case is for a cut depth between 0.0 and 1.0 m. Here the cut slope will be variable from the last compulsory point to the edge of the road reserve, at 5m from the centreline.
Should the cut slope exceed 1:3, the toe point will be extended beyond the road reserve at the 1:3 slope.
In the second case, where the cut depth is between 1.0 and 999.0 m, a cut slope of 1:1.5 will be used.
You can have up to 200 cut or fill incremental conditions. These conditions must be in order of increasing height range. The final condition must always end off with a Max Height value of 999.0.
You will not be adding any edges to both conditions.
Alternatively, you could update the Fill conditions in the Data spreadsheet.
You could also copy the details in the LFill page and paste them into the RFill.
The first case is for a fill depth between 0.0 and 2.0 m. Here the fill slope will be variable from the last compulsory point to the edge of the road reserve, at 5m from the centreline.
Should the fill slope exceed 1:2, the toe point will be extended beyond the road reserve at the 1:2 slope.
In the second case, where the fill depth is between 1.0 and 999.0 m, a fill slope of 1:2 will be used.
Click Data once again so you can setup the Pavement specifications.
Layers will be added to the template and will extend from the PLC code entered in the Left PLC column to the PLC code entered in the Right PLC column. The thickness of the layer and description can be entered into the appropriate columns.
Civil Designer provides the user with a Pavement Designer, which can be used to manage libraries of pavement designs (*.pav files). You will use the standard TRH4 pavement designs, which are distributed with the program.
Select the Pavement Designer option from the popup menu.
RLayers is not covered here as this is for a Dual Carriageway only.
Before you continue, you can test the template to see how the conditions are applied.
Indicate ground line points ([ESC] to Finish)
The view window is updated to show how the conditions are applied. You can use the standard keys or the mouse wheel to zoom in or out.
Repeat to experiment with various ground lines.
Finally, click Save As and save the template as URBAN.TEM.
The template you have just created must be added to the road design file.
Select Tools ► Template Paths to display the Road Template Paths list.
Select any cell in the first row of the spreadsheet and click ... to view the file browser to select the new template file. Type a template name into the Name column.
In this manner, up to 200 templates can be added to a design file.
Click OK to save your changes.
This template will be referred to by this name in all the other functions that use road templates.
Before you start with a road design, you need to select the particular road with which to work.
Civil Designer allows up to 2500 roads to be associated with any terrain file. If you do not select a particular road before using the Road functions, Civil Designer defaults to using road 1 if no other roads have been selected previously, or to the last used road (be that road 1 or otherwise).
Select File ► Select Road File.
Click on the General tab and change the default road name, as shown above.
It is handy to retain the road number as part of the road name as this number is stored as part of the file name, and this makes it easier to associate on-disk files with particular roads.
You have the option to generate the road as Cross-sections or Strings. For this tutorial you will use cross-sections. Click ... and browse for the Road Template that you just created.
Enter a template name, for example Urban.
All the settings from this template populate the relevant Crossfalls, Widths and Kerbs fields in the Edge Level Spreadsheet. Check that the Terrain Extraction Surface is the Surface 1.
Click Super Development to display the Super Development options.
Select the WITHOUT Adverse Crown Removal radio button as this is for roads under 100kph. The WITH Adverse Crown Removal radio button is for roads over 100kph.
Click OK.
Select the Subtract kerbs checkbox to have the kerbs volume subtracted from the generated design cross-section. If the option is not selected, the kerb volumes are included in the calculations.
Select the Layers page and rename the first two layers in the road as below.
During this tutorial you will be storing ground cross-section data to layer 1 which we have named Ground, and road cross-section data to layer 2 (now named Final Road).
Click OK to return to the Road Selection and then click OK again to close the window.
This is one of the first steps in Road design, and is used to calculate the coordinates of the chainage points along the horizontal alignmen,t which is defined in terms of known “horizontal points of intersection (or PI’s) and circular curve radii.
The horizontal alignment can be inserted in one of three methods:
By entering the data manually into a spreadsheet.
By ASCII data import.
Graphically.
For this tutorial you will import the ASCII Data.
Before you go any further, make sure the Interactive Road Expert is turned off. Select File ► Option Settings and make sure the Use Interactive Road Expert is not selected. This feature automates the roads design which you will not utilise in this tutorial.
Click OK to save these settings.
Now make sure the design criteria is turned off, as you will not be utilising TRH17 or the G2 manual. Select Alignment ► Design Criteria and uncheck the Use Design Criteria option.
Click OK.
Theoretically you will not be utilising any of the above as this will be an urban or arterial street with a design speed less than 100kph.
Click OK to save these settings.
The very first step is to define the horizontal alignment by entering the data manually into a spreadsheet, by ASCII data import, or graphically. In this exercise, you will input the alignment data using the Spreadsheet window.
Select Alignment ► Horizontal ► Edit Alignment.
Click No in the message box that asks if you want spreadsheet output.
Enter the chainage intervals shown above, and then click OK. The start and end chainages should have been filled in automatically.
You are asked if you want to delete the existing road.
Click Yes to proceed. The calculated stake line coordinates plus the beginning and end points of each curve are displayed in the Output bar.
Scroll to view the coordinates for each chainage interval plus the beginning and end points of each curve.
You could also use the toolbar.
If you want the end chainages in the Vertical Alignment and Edge levels spreadsheet to be updated if the horizontal alignment should change at a later stage, then add a ‘*’ in front of the end PI name. E.g. “*END” instead of “END”.
The next step in your road design is to extract the cross-sections from the Terrain model at each chainage along the centre line of the road.
Select Alignment ► Horizontal ► Cross Sections ► Extract.
Once again the start and stop chainages will be entered automatically. Enter the details as shown above and click OK. Civil Designer extracts and saves the ground line cross-sections into Layer 1 (named Ground) of the road design.
To view the cross-section offsets and elevations, scroll the Output window.
During the cross-section extraction you would have seen a new window open and a red line flash down the centre line very quickly. At this stage you can view the ground line at each chainage using the Cross-Section Editor.
Select Section ► Graphical Edit.
Cross Section edit: Indicate chainage or ESC to edit start chainage
Press [PgDn] and [PgUp] to step forwards and backwards through the alignment cross-sections.
You can define vertical alignment or VPI's graphically, by ASCII Data importing (importing a CSV file), or by entering the chainage and levels into the Vertical Alignment spreadsheet. In this case you will use the latter method to input the data, and the graphical facilities to view the vertical alignment and make small changes, if required.
In order to enter your vertical alignment, ground cross-sections need to have been extracted. This is to give you a ground profile to display in relationship with the vertical profile you are about to implement.
In the spreadsheet, your curve lengths and radii can be entered as ZERO’s to obtain kinks in your vertical alignment.
Select Alignment ► Vertical ► Edit Alignment.
The Vertical Alignment window can be resized by dragging the edges.
|
Chainage
|
Level |
Length |
|
0.000 |
1560.420 |
0.000 |
|
236.000 |
1559.193 |
100.000 |
|
498.000 |
1555.074 |
100.000 |
|
666.173 |
1562.321 |
0.000 |
Alternatively, right-click in the spreadsheet and select Read CSV File if you have the CSV file to import. The CSV file is placed in the Tutor folder and called Single Carriageway Tutorial_VC.csv file, which resides in the following folder: C:\Users\Public\Public Documents\Knowledge Base Software\Examples\Tutor
Move around the vertical long section plot using the panning keys exactly as in the Design Centre window.
Click on the Vertical Exaggeration icon 
and change the scale to 10. Then click OK.
The exaggerated vertical scale allows you to see what is happening more clearly.
Now click on the Ground Lines icon 
on the toolbar at the top of the graphical view to display the Ground Line Details. You can show up to 100 profile lines.
Set the ground line detail as shown above with:
Line 2 displaying the NGL at a 5.5m offset to the left of the road centre line (the left road reserve at -5.5m).
Line 3 displaying the NGL at an offset of 5.5m to the right of the road centre line (the right road reserve).
Use the mouse wheel to zoom in around the cursor position. Move around the vertical long section plot using the panning keys exactly as in the drawing window.
The red line shows the vertical alignment while the other lines show the ground line at the centre line (dark green), the ground line at the road reserve 5.5m to the left of the centreline (blue), and the ground line at the road reserve 5.5m to the right of the centre line (purple).
The Information Bar at the bottom of the road window displays curve information dynamically while you move the cursor over the vertical curves.
The dark line represents our horizontal alignment and the donuts along this line represent our horizontal curves.
To change a VPI, simply click on the Edit icon 
and then the VPI to change.
The following options display.
Type in suitable values.
Note how the spreadsheet is continuously updated.
You can review the vertical alignment data at any time by selecting Alignment ► Vertical ► Review Alignment. You can opt to send the vertical alignment information to the Output Window, printer or file by selecting the relevant Output Manager options.
Now generate the levels along the centre line by selecting Alignment ► Vertical ► Generate Levels.
Generate vertical levels.
Click OK.
Now that you have defined a road template, you must calculate the road edge levels along the vertical alignment using the template defined at the beginning of this tutorial.
You will also add superelevation and road width controls here.
There are two methods of defining the superelevation details.
The first is to enter the superelevation directly into the Edge Level Spreadsheet window using the Alignment ► Edge Levels ► Edit Super option, which is suitable for urban streets.
The second bases the control data on the horizontal alignment using the Alignment ► Edge Levels ► Slave Super option, and is more suited to rural roads. When using this routine, you need to have activated the Design Criteria so that the superelevation rates and development lengths can be looked up depending on the design speed.
This example is an urban street so you will use the former option.
Select Alignment ► Edge Levels ► Edit Super.
Select the second option as shown above, and then click OK.
You can always change the development method at a later stage by selecting Alignment ► Edge levels ► Development Methods.
First the crossfall data.
The Edge Control sets the road widths regardless of what you had set up in your Template Editor. In other words, this overrides whatever widths were specified in the template.
You can either type in the kerbs to be used, or you can right-click, select Kerb Selector, and then select a kerb from the Kerb Selector options.
Select all six cells in the Kerbs Left spreadsheet, right-click and select Copy. Now change to the Kerbs Right tab, select the same six cells, right-click and select Paste.
These Edge Control settings specify that the road:
Has a 2% camber.
Has a carriageway widths of 3.1m
Uses template "Urban".
Uses a "BK1" kerb on both sides, from the start to the end of the road.
Calculate the road edge levels by selecting Alignment ► Edge Levels ► Generate Levels.
The Edge Level Range Details display.
The depth below the vertical alignment is specified as 0.0 as we are working on the final road surface.
The destination surface is Final Road (layer 2), as you have already stored the ground line data in Ground (layer 1).
Select the Subtract kerbs checkbox to exclude the kerbs from our quantities at a later stage.
Click OK to generate the edge levels.
You can view the results in the Output window.
Once the ground and final road levels are defined, you can apply the template and calculate the cross-sectional areas.
Select Area/Volume ► Apply Template.
Select the Generate cross sections for template layerworks checknox. This causes the program to generate a cross-section layer underneath each layerwork, as specified in the template. These layers can then be used to calculate volumes.
Select the Initial Destination Layer to be "Layer 3" so that the generated layerworks are stored in layers 3 through 5.
Also select the All Layerworks radio button so all the layers that are created contain cross-section points up to the toe points.
Click OK to return to the Chainage Range, and then click OK to proceed.
Then the additional layerwork ordinates.
View the final cross-sections in the Cross-Section Editor by selecting Section ► Graphical Edit. Use the [Page Up] and [Page Down] keys to scroll up and down the cross-sections.
Also note that three new layers have been created with the same names as the template layerworks.
At this stage you have completed the initial design of your road, and it is time to set up the display settings so that the plan view of the road suits your requirements.
The Display Settings are activated, and open on the Roads page.
Click OK to update the display.
You can see that your road plan plotted on the ground model.
At this point you can calculate cut and fill volumes for our road.
Select Area/Volume ► Masshaul Volume.
Note the topsoil depth, compaction or bulking factor and the batter layer values.
You can also output the quantities to an ASCII file by selecting the Spreadsheet output checkbox.
Note that these quantities are the volumes between the natural ground and the finished road surface.
To calculate the quantities between the natural ground and the bottom of the sub-base layer, select Area/Volume ► Masshaul Volume again. This time, specify the Batter Layer to be "G5 Natural gravel".
You can calculate the cut and fill volumes for each pavement layer, as specified in the road template.
Select Area/Volume ► Layerwork Volumes.
Specify the base and batter layers as shown above, and then click OK to calculate the cut and fill volume for each layer.
This is followed by a summary.
This function generates a cross-section drawing with cross-sections extracted along the chainage intervals.
The cross-section can show the number of lanes, their widths and cross fall, as well as the presence or absence of medians, shoulders, curbs, sidewalks, side drains and other roadway components or features.
Select Plot ► Generate to start the Plot Expert and browse for the Cross Section.sht sheet from the Examples\SheetFiles sub-directory:
Specify a sheet size of A0 and make sure the Create Layouts and dynamically update plots when the data changes radio button is selected.
Click Next to continue.
Specify the plotting details in the Cross-Section Setup as follows.
You can plot cross-sections consisting of up to 20 lines drawn from the various layers in the road file.
For the purposes of this tutorial you are only interested in the Ground and Final Road layers.
Click Finish and a drawing similar to the following should be generated. You may be asked to enter a text field as shown on the command line.
This is set up as part of your sheetfile.
Click Enter; or press [Esc] to ignore the option.
The drawing is generated into its own CAD window so you can now pan around, magnify, demagnify and use the drawing functions to add any embellishments you wish. A zoomed in view looks like this:
Typically you would generate the long section from the cross-section data.
Once again, select Plot ► Generate.
This time use the Single Carriageway Longsection.sht sheet from the Examples\SheetFiles sub-directory:
Once again, select a sheet size of A0 and make sure the Create Layouts and dynamically update plots when the data changes radio button is selected.
Click Next to continue. The Road Long Section Setup options display.
You can also specify what data (Chainage, Offset or Elevation) should be extracted from each cross-section.
In your case you are plotting:
The ground line from the Ground layer (line 1 above).
The left and right edges of the road from Final Road (lines 2 and 4 respectively).
The centerline from Final Road (line 3).
In each case you are extracting the elevation from the cross-section.
|
|
You may display the list of available PLC’s by selecting PLC from the list in the Type column.
Once the Type column has been set to PLC, click on the Offset field and then select the required PLC from the list. |
This allows you to cope with roads that have had carriageway widening applied, without having to worry about the exact measurement of the offset at any particular chainage.
Click Next and the long section data displays.
Click Finish and a drawing similar to the following is generated.
Once again, you can zoom into the layout.
As the last step in this tutorial, you will create a site plan that includes the road and terrace detail.
You therefore need to set up the display to show exactly what we want to see in the site plan.
Click on the Display Settings icon 
or select Settings ► Display Settings to open the Display Settings.
Select the Roads option to display the correct settings pages.
Select the Display road plan checkbox, and ensure that Yes displays in the Vis. column next to Road 1. If it isn't displaying, right-click on the cell to toggle its value.
You also need to set up the display itself. Click on the Plan Layout section and configure the following settings:
Before clicking Close to update the display, switch to the Terrain section and make sure that the Draft Text option is not checked.
Also select to display contours in order to make your site plan more visually exciting.
Click Close to update the display.
Now select Plot ► Generate and specify Plan.sht as the sheet file, and an A0 sheet size.
Click Next to display the Plan Setup.
As you have already defined the plan position in Tutorial 6, simply set the sheet size to A0 and the scale to 1:000 as shown below.
Click Next to display the Plan Lists options. At this stage you are not going to display any list on your plan so leave all the options unchecked.
Click Finish to generate a layout with the plan.
If you have generated a new plot close the drawing window and then saved the project by selecting File ► Save Project.
This project is used in all the following tutorials, so it is important that you retain the current information for the next tutorial.
You have now completed Tutorial 8.
You can either:
Experiment on your own.
Exit the program using File ► Exit.
Go on to one of the other tutorials (Tutorial 9 - Sewer Design, Tutorial 10 - Storm Design, or Tutorial 11 - Water Design).
