AutoCAD Civil 3D 2008

Pump It Up All the Way to the Last Sheet!

Dave Young
S4-2
Course Summary:
Pressure pipes such as water and force mains are simple to design. But when it comes to putting them on
paper, the process can be quite tedious. Moreover, most users dont need the level of precision and control
that Civil 3D provides for storm and sewer pipes. This session provides an alternative method for creating
down-and-dirty force main or water line construction documents. Attendees will also see how the power of
the upgraded Plan and Production Tools can generate plan and profile sheets for the entire job in just a few
minutes. This session is for any Civil 3D 2008 user who needs to quickly produce a pretty picture of what lies
just under the surface.

Instructor:

Dave got started in the civil world holding the dumb end of the chain, but was soon running survey crews.
From there, he switched over to a CAD Manager position and then to IT Manager, but always remained with a
civil or engineering company until recently. His computer science degree and IT background have helped him
along the way with customizing and implementing unique solutions for more than 12 years. Although his
family still doesnt know how to explain what he does, Daves role at Repro Products is to help companies with
their Autodesk training and implementation needs.

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Pressure Pipes Why they can be considered just a pretty picture

Gravity is often good thing. It keeps our feet firmly planted on the ground and makes apples fall from
trees. Gravity lines, such as storm and sanitary sewer, follow Sir Isaac Newtons Universal Law of
Gravitation, which simply states that stuff flows downhill. From this, one can infer that stuff does not
flow uphill on its own and that it does not flow if there is no down. Because of this, gravity lines must
be designed with minimum grades to ensure flow, as well as maximum grades to ensure that it does
not flow too fast. Additionally, the powers that be have instituted maximum lengths for gravity lines
that must be followed. Civil 3D provides wonderful tools for designing gravity flow systems that will
check for all of these things, as well as minimum and maximum depths of ground cover. Most of the
time, gravity is a friend of a civil engineer and project owner. Gravity lines are relatively cheap to
build. Getting stuff to flow uphill is another matter. In this case, gravity is not the friend of the civil
engineer, as it requires the use of mechanical pumps to overcome gravity.
The design of pump stations and the hydraulic calculations for a pressure system are far beyond the
scope of this course and are not necessary for the placement of the pressure pipes. In fact, the
vertical displacement (head) of the system often cannot be calculated until after the line has been
laid out and the pipe profile created to determine the minimum and maximum elevation along the
pressure pipe. These numbers are then entered into the hydraulic calculations to arrive at the final
pump and pipe sizes.
Because there is a mechanical force driving a pressure system, pipe grade is immaterial in most cases,
because stuff can now flow uphill. Additionally, straight segments of pipe are not required, as the
pumps will push the stuff through any grade change in the pipe system. Nor are structures required
for grade or direction changes in the system. This allows a pressure pipe system to more closely
follow the existing surface along the project.
In the case of Pressure Pipes, Civil 3D offers little assistance as of yet. However, all is not lost. With a
little creative use of the Alignment and Profile objects, a pressure pipe system can be very rapidly
designed. Sprinkle in a few structures to serve as Air and Vacuum Release (A&V) valves and you will
find that Civil 3D makes drawing pressure pipes childs play.
Before getting started with the concept of using alignment and profiles to draw a pressure pipe
system and using the Plan Production Tools to generate the corresponding sheets, take a look at the
outline of the steps listed below. Each will be expanded on in this handout.
Pump it up
1. Create an Alignment representing the horizontal layout of the pressure pipe
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2. Create a Profile representing the vertical layout of the pressure pipe

a. Draw the profile at ground level using Tangents with Curves, selecting the PVIs.
b. Set the beginning and ending elevations
c. Adjust the profile tangents and curves to match existing grade.
d. Check for minimum curve radii
e. Lower the line to its proper elevation
3. Place structures representing A&V valves
a. Locate high points of the profile
i. Use high point labels on the Profile
ii. Use high point labels on the Alignment (new for 2009)
b. Place structures in plan view at the high points
c. Draw (and label) structures in profile view
All the way to the last sheet!
1. Use Plan Production Tools to lay out sheets
a. Create View Frames
b. Create Sheets
2. Annotate Sheets
3. Create sheet index drawing
Since this class is intended for the intermediate to advanced Civil 3D user, only the concept of
drawing pressure pipes using alignments and profiles will be explained, rather than the actual button
clicks needed to produce a set of construction documents.

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Using Road tools to design a Pressure Pipe (its not as crazy as it sounds)
At first glance, it may seem a little strange to design a pressure pipe using the same tools used to
design roads (especially since there is a whole set of tools just for pipes), but why does it sound
strange? A road has horizontal curves to take you where you need to go and it follows the existing
contours as closely as possible to reduce the amount of cut and fill needed. Isnt a pressure pipe
essentially the same thing?
Alignments are used for the horizontal placement of the pipe
When designing a pressure pipe system, horizontal placement of the pipe often follows pretty simple
guidelines, such as 5 feet off the edge of pavement or 10 feet inside the right-of-way. This greatly
simplifies the horizontal drafting, because you will already have this information from either design
documentation or existing topo surveys. At this point, you can simply offset the appropriate polyline
to create your first approximation of the pressure pipes horizontal layout. A few edits to the
proposed layout will be necessary, such as joining lines at road
intersections or zigzagging around obstacles, but the concept is
simple. Once completed, an alignment can be created in just a few
seconds by using the Create Alignment from Polyline command.
Alternatively, one could also use the offset line as a guide and
Create Alignment by Layout and use the Tangent-Tangent with
Curves option. A 230 curve radius will allow for a 5 deflection for every 20 segment of pipe, but
you might want to use a 500 radius curve just to be safe.
Creating an alignment by layout does offer greater flexibility when making changes to the horizontal
layout of the system, especially if the Tangent-Tangent with Curves method is used, but takes more
time to create initially. The method of alignment creation really depends on what information is
available to you at design time.
Create an Existing Ground
As with the alignments, Civil 3D users should already be familiar
with the profile creation process, so we wont spend a lot of time on
it. When creating the profile, go ahead and create a profile view at
the same time. Although multiple profile view will be created, only a
single view is needed for the design phase. Labels are not
necessary, but a data band showing station and profile elevation
comes in handy.

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Draw the obstacles in your way, so that you can go around them
Weve already gone around as many obstacles as possible when designing the horizontal layout of
our system, but there are some things you just cant go around, such as:
Water lines
Other Utilities (phone, power, CATV)
Sanitary Sewer
Roads
Storm Drains
Streams and Rivers
All of these you can simply go over or under (sanitary sewer always goes under water lines). It may
require a directional bore to go under a road or stream, but you can still go under it. In order to design
our line to clear the vertical obstacles, we need to locate them on our profile. Roads, streams and
rivers should be pretty easy, as they should stand out on the existing surface profile. Just keep in mind
that roads probably have a foot or more of subgrade you need to contend with and that your local
environmental protection division might require more vertical clearance when crossing a water hazard.
Sanitary sewer and storm drains can be drawn in using conventional pipes in Civil 3D (using both
horizontal and vertical data) and will then show up on your profile in the correct location. Other
utilities are the hard part. Water lines will most definitely be below the frost line, but its anyones
guess as to how deep the cable TV line is.
Once all the obstacles are located on the profile, we can now determine how deep the pipe needs to be.
Parameters to consider when creating a Profile to represent the Pipe
As stated earlier, pressure pipes are very similar to roads. If youre having problems with this concept,
think of pressure pipes as roads for liquid stuff. Lets consider the design parameters for a pressure
pipe and how these relate to a profile.
The first parameter well look at is depth. A simple concept, right? Because it is a pressure pipe,
grade really doesnt matter much. A pressure pipe is usually placed in the ground with at least 4 of
cover (or below the frost line). Maximum depth is determined by how much you want to spend to dig
the ditch. A depth of 6 is pretty easy to reach and only takes a few more scoops with the backhoe. 8
is the limit of most backhoes and small track hoes and anything deeper than that takes time to dig.

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So, for all practical purposes, lets say that our depth range is 4-6 deep, with occasional short runs
of 8 deep. Remember, the deeper the ditch, the more expensive it gets to dig it out.
The other parameter to think of is vertical curvature. Whats that? Pipes dont bend, so how can a
line have a vertical curve? Most bell joints on PVC pipe allow for a 5 deflection, which looks like a
curve from a distance. A little math indicates that this will result in a curve with roughly a 230 radius.
When laying out the vertical curves, you might want to use a 250 minimum or maybe even 500
radius curve just to be safe. This will be set in the Curve and Spiral Settings on the Alignment Layout
Tools toolbar and used when creating the layout.
Drawing a Pressure Pipe profile
Now for the fun part: creating the profile of the existing pressure pipe.
From the Profiles pulldown menu, select Create Profile by Layout.
Civil 3D will ask you to select the Profile View in which to create the
profile. Select the Profile View you created earlier and complete the
Create Profile dialog box. Name the profile, then select the profile style and profile label set. At this
time, there is no need to have any labels, so select none. This keeps our drawing simple until we
actually need the labels.

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Click OK to bring up the Alignment Layout Tools and then select Curve Settings

This is where you will set vertical curve parameters.

Make sure that the curve type is set to Circular and
set both the crest and sag curve radius to the
desired value. In this case, both are set to a 250
radius curve, which is slightly above the calculated
allowable radius using a 5 deflection for every 20
length of pipe.
Press OK to continue.

Once you have the vertical curve parameters set, the next step is to start actually drawing the profile.
To begin this operation, simply select the Draw Tangents With Curves command from the Profile
Layout Tools toolbar.

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You will begin drawing the profile (which represents the pressure pipe being designed) at
Station 0+00 on the profile view and the elevation will be near the existing ground elevation. There is
no need to have an exact elevation just yet. This is Civil 3D, after all. In fact, when laying out the
profile, you will draw it at or just slightly below existing ground elevation. Believe it or not, this is not
in contradiction with our design criteria of 4 of cover. Well just draw the pressure pipe at ground
level (because its much easier that way), then simply lower it to the proper depth when were done.

When placing the alignment, make sure you stay at or below the existing grade line at all times. If
you do not stay below it, then your pipe will have less than the required amount of cover. Drawing
exactly on top of the existing ground (reproducing it) is not what we are trying to accomplish. We
want to just skim the low points in the immediate vicinity. In the example shown here, the profile is
drawn through the three local low points, but it still follows the general slope of the existing ground.
It helps to have a view of the profile that shows several hundred feet at a time. This will allow you to
look ahead to determine where the next low or high spot will be.
Since you are drawing the profile using the
Tangents with Curves method, you are
essentially picking the points of vertical
intersection (PVIs) along this profile. After the
initial laying out of the profile, curve radii can
quickly be adjusted, which eliminates the need
for many PVIs along the pipe.
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Set the beginning and end elevations

In order for our pressure pipe system to work, it needs to be connected to something on both ends
(or at least the beginning), namely the pumping system. In the case of a water line, this may be a
pump house or well head and a force main would most likely begin at a valve pit. In either case, the
pump discharge pipe or flange will have a set elevation that we need to match. The same concept
applied to the discharge end of the pressure system, whether it is another pipe, storage tank,
treatment plant inlet or sanitary sewer manhole.

To set these beginning and ending elvations, use the Profile Grid View, found near the right end of
the Profile Layout Tools toolbar, which will bring up the Profile Grid.

Double click in the PVI Elevation cell for the first item (the beginning of the line) and enter the
correct elevation. Do the same thing for the last item (the end of the line).
Match existing grade
When you are finished with the initial layout of the profile along the entire length of the line, its time
to go back and match it up with the existing ground. Grip editing is the easiest. You can grab the PVI
points to change the grade or elevation along the tangents and use the curve endpoint or midpoint
grip to change the curve radius to match the top of a hill or bottom of a small valley. Just make sure
that you do not make the radius less than what you started with. If you find that you need a small
radius bend, simply remove the curve sub-entity. During construction, the contractor would need to
use a fitting at the point where you removed the vertical curve.
During this ground matching process, you may find it necessary to delete a PVI or add a new one. If
you add one, make sure you also add in a vertical curve at that new PVI as well.
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Check the profile for minimum radius on the vertical curves

While still in the Profile Grid, scroll over to the right-hand side and check out the values in the Curve
Radius column, making sure none of these are below the minimum vertical curve radius. Alternately,
you could use the new criteria based design tools, along with design checks, to automatically flag
those locations which have a too-small radius.
Put the pipe in its place: 4 under
Next, we will lower the pipe to its proper elevation. To do this, use
the Raise/Lower PVIs button found in the middle of the Profile
Layout Tools toolbar.
The Raise/Lower PVI Elevation dialog box allows you to
set the amount of elevation chance and whether to apply it
to the entire line (as we will do) or apply it to only a certain
range of the profile. Enter an Elevation change amount of
-4, make sure that the All option is selected and then click
the OK button. The entire profile we just designed will be
lowered to its proper depth of 4 under the surface.
Were getting close to being done with the design part of
this process. The beginning and ending elevations of the
profile have already been set correctly, as the line will be
tied to a pump system on one end and a structure, pipe or
some sort of discharge/distribution system on the other end.
Also, A&V Valves will need to be located at the high points
along our line and the entire line checked for correct design
criteria.
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Locate the High Points for placing A&V Valves

Most governing agencies require the
use of Air & Vacuum Release Valves
(A&V valves). To do this the hard way,
you would look at the entire profile
and locate the points where the pipe
grade changes from a positive to a
negative slope. With Civil 3D, a simple
and easy to create label style takes all
the guess work out of this process.
To place these labels, we simply use
the Add/Edit Profile Labels, found under the pull-down menu for Profiles Add Profile View
Labels. Do not mistakenly try to use the Add Profile View Labels, because it just wont work. After
selecting the profile we want to label, the following dialog box is displayed.

To locate the high points along our line, we want to select Crest Curves for the curve type, then
select the High Points label style we created. Clicking on the Add>> button adds the crest curve high
point labels to the set, then clicking OK puts the labels on the profile.
A new feature in Civil 3D 2009 is the ability to place a profile high point label on the alignment as well,
which will help you in the placement of A&V valve structures in plan view if so desired.

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Place A&V Valve structures in Plan View

Now that we know where these high points are in
profile, its time to place a structure in plan view to
represent an A&V valve. While doing so, we might also
find that some of our high points come out in the
middle of a road or some other undesirable location, in
which case we would need to modify the profile to
account for this.
Use of the new Profile Geometry Points labels in Civil
3D 2009 makes locating the high points in plan view
quite simple. Once the high point has been located,
place an A&V valve structure at the appropriate point.
Using the insertion point of the high point label is the
fastest way, but you could also place the structure by
station/offset method (0 offset).
Draw the A&V Structures in the Profile View
After placing all the structures in plan view, we can draw and label
them in profile view as well. From the Pipes pull-down menu,
select the Draw Parts in Profile View. Civil 3D will then prompt
for a part on the network to draw and which profile view to draw
the parts in. The new A&V valve structures will appear in the
profile view in
the correct
location, already
labeled.
At this time, the profile shows a single line
representation of the pressure pipe. If you wish to
show both the top and bottom of the pipe, just use
the Copy Profile command, then lower the copy
the corresponding diameter of the pressure pipe.

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Putting it all on paper (Using the Plan Production Tools)

After the design phase of our model has been completed, we need to produce a set of construction
documents. Doing this without the assistance of Civil 3D is a time-consuming process, which could
take a day or more to complete (depending on the length of the line). By using the Plan Production
Tools within Civil 3D, we can reduce this time to about five minutes or even less depending on the
layout of the system.
Create the View Frames
Plan Production Tools make use of View Frames to match up
the Plan view and Profile view with predetermined viewports
on your plan and profile sheet template drawing.
Overlapping View Frames are created along the length of the
alignment and multiple profile views are created to show the
corresponding segment of the profile.
To create the View Frames, select the Plan Production
Tools from the General pulldown menu, then select the
Create View Frames option. This will bring up the
Create View Frames wizard, which will walk you through the process.

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Select Alignment
The only thing to do on this page of the Wizard is to select which alignment you wish to use and
which part. Most likely, you will be using the Automatic setting, which will generate view frames
along the entire length of the alignment.

Sheets
On this page of the wizard, you will
choose the sheet type you want to
generate, as well as the corresponding
template file to use.

Match Lines
On this page, you will set where the
match lines will be set. Although it
depends on your drafting standards,
setting the snap station value to 100 is a
good safe bet.
If you want to show an overlap between
pages, then check the box (and set the
value) for allowing additional distance for
repositioning.

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Profile Views
Now you select which
Profile View style to
use, as well as the
data band style.

Thats all there is to

creating the View
Frames. This is the
time to review (and
adjust) the view
frames if necessary.
Create the sheets
Once the view frames have been created and
satisfactorily adjusted, its time to create the sheets.
Without Civil 3D, this involves creating a new sheet
with a viewport for the plan section and one for the
profile section. Before any of the Plan Production
tools are used, the template file must be set up
correctly. The template file should contain both of the
viewport mentioned, as well as a border. Additional
items that could be in the template include notes,
symbol legend or any other items that may be
common to all sheets.
To create the sheets, just select Create Sheets from
the General Plan Production Tools pulldown
menu.

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View Frame Group

and Layouts
Here you will select the
newly created View
Frame Group and where
you want the new sheet
layouts created (one
layout for each new
drawing, all layouts in
one new drawing or all
layouts in the current
drawing). You can also
specify whether or not
you want to place a
North arrow on each of
the sheets being
created.

Sheet Sets
Choose whether to create
a new sheet set or add the
new sheets to an existing
sheet set.

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Profile Views
The profile view and
band styles are set at
the time of view
frame creation, but
you can change some
of the other settings,
as well as selecting
how the plan and
profile views are
aligned.

Annotate the sheets

When it comes to annotating the sheets, its back to the basics. You can use the relatively new
multileaders to call out the pipe size and material, annotative blocks for erosion control symbols and
annotative mtext object for notes, but its still a manual process.

Wrap-Up
Civil 3D, while providing precise rule-based pipe design, has no tools intended for pressure pipe layout
or design. However, the creative application of tools intended for road design will result in a set of
construction documents with a minimal amount of effort. While it is true that the method discussed in
this course does not offer the same level of precision as that offered by using Civil 3D pipes and null
structures, it is also true that that level of precision is not needed on a pressure pipe system. Pressure
pipe design criteria are much more relaxed, often consisting of little more than a minimum depth.
If you are still uncertain of this alternative method, then you should also consider the source of your
topo data for this type of project. Sometimes this data consists of little more than an aerial survey, in
which case the vertical precision is plus-or-minus 10. Even if a ground survey is run, the survey
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wont pick up every little variation in elevation along the proposed route. In fact, the proposed route
probably will not be determined until after the survey is completed. After taking all this into
consideration, the conclusion can be drawn that a pressure pipe system really is little more than a
pretty picture.
Why not take advantage of the roadway tools provided in Civil 3D to draw this picture as quickly and
painlessly as possible.

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