Curvature Correction for Section Based Volumes in Civil 3D

Station S2
eS23
e1
S2
A3S 2
p2 e2
S2

A2
S2

Material M1
A1
S2
Material M2
c′ l′ l

R′
R

p1
A1 S1

A2S 1
CL

e1
S1
e2
S1

A3S 1
e3
S1

Station S1

Fig. 1

The basic average end area method calculates volumes as follows:

1
V  l ( A S1  A S 2 ) ()
2
where,

A S 1  the area of a cross sectional material at station S1,

A S 2  the area of the same material at station S2,
l  the station difference, or length along the centerline.

1
A curvature correction needs to be applied to this volume when computing earthworks
along a circular curve, since the distance between corresponding areas at the two stations
will be significantly different, depending on the offset of the area from the centerline. For
example, in the above figure, the area A2 subscribes a shorter distance, l′, instead of the
full distance, l, along the centerline. The correct volume in this case would be:
1
V  l ( A2S 1  A2S 2 ) ()
2

Civil 3D uses the Hickerson method (based on the book “Route Location and Design” by
the same author), applies a correction factor based on the eccentricity (the signed distance
of the area-centroid from the centerline) of the individual material areas.

The Hickerson Method

This method applies a curvature correction factor to the volume in eq. (i). Assuming a
mass A sweeps a curved path from station S1 to station S2, the corrected average end-
area volume is computed as follows:

1
V  l ( A S1  A S 2 )  C e ()
2

where, l is the length of the parallel path along the centerline, and A S 1 , A S 2 are the
measured areas of the mass A at station S1 and S2, respectively. A positive value for Ce
is used if the area is located on the outside of the curve and negative if it is inside the
curve

If A S 1 and its eccentricity, e S 1 are constant throughout, the volume generated by the
area is given by

V1  A S 1l1 (iv)

where l1 is the distance traversed by the centroid of the area along the arc with radius

R   ( R  e S1 ) (v)

By geometric proportion,

R  ( R  e S 1 ) l1
  (vi)
R R l

Thus we have,
 R  e S1 
V1  A S 1  l (vii)
 R 

2
Looking at the corresponding mass at the other end of the path, if area A S 2 , with
S2
eccentricity e , were constant throughout, the volume generated by the mass can be
similarly computed as follows:

 R  eS2 
V2  A S 2  l (viii)
 R 

By the average end-area method, the true volume, V is the average of V1 and V2 :

V 
1
2
(V1  V2 ) 
l
2R
   
A S 1 R  e s1  A S 2 R  e s 2  (ix)

Equating eqs. (vii) and (xiii) and solving for Ce , we have:

Ce  
l
2R

A S 1e S 1  A S 2 e S 2  (x)

Note that the eccentricities e Si are negative if the area A Si is on the inside of the
centerline curve and positive otherwise.

The basic method is extended in Civil 3D by allowing for multiple areas of the same
material type to be present at any station. In this case, eq. (x) becomes

l  
Ce     AiS 1eiS 1   AiS 2 eiS 2  (xi)
2R  i i 

3
Example

The following example illustrates volumes computed using the Hickerson Method. The
end-area configuration at two stations S1=3+00.00 and S2=3+50.00 is the same and is as
shown in the following figure:

Station 3+00.00 and 3+50.00

Material UPPER

Material LOWER

CL
A1 A3

e1
e3

e2

A2

A1S 1  A1S 2  A1  2500 e1S 1  e1S 2  e1  -200

A2S 1  A2S 2  A2  2500 e2S1  e2S 2  e2  -100
A3S1  A3S 2  A3  5000 e3S1  e3S 2  e3  166.67

In addition, the plan information is as follows (see Fig.1):

l
R  318.913545, l  50.00,    0.156782
R

Hickerson Method

Again, computing the corrected volume for material LOWER, and using eqs. (iii) and (x)
we have:

l   l
Ce     AiS 1eiS 1   AiS 2 eiS 2    A2 e2  A2 e2  
2R  i i  2 R
= 50 / (2 * 318.913545 ) * (2500 * (-100) + 2500 * (-100)) = -39195.575716

And the corrected volume is

4
 1 l
V  l ( A S 1  A S 2 )  C e   A2  A2   C e = 125000 - 39195.575716 = 85804.42
2 2
Hickerson
­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­
                     Area Type       Area   Inc.Vol.   Cum.Vol.    MassHaul
­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­
Station   3+00.000
                         LOWER    2500.00
                         UPPER    7500.00
                           CUT    2500.00
                        USABLE    2500.00
                          FILL    7500.00
Station   3+50.000
                         LOWER    2500.00   85804.42   85804.42
                         UPPER    7500.00  427260.77  427260.77
                           CUT    2500.00   85804.42   85804.42
                        USABLE    2500.00   85804.42   85804.42