Lesson 10: Calculate Volumes By Five Methods

For this tutorial, we’ll be using a sample stockpile drawing and calculating its volume using five distinct techniques.
  1. Two Surface Volumes: Calculates volumes between two grid files
  2. Stockpile Volumes: Creates grid surfaces from perimeter polyline and surface entities and calculates volumes in one command
  3. Volumes By Layers: Creates grid surfaces from existing and design layers and calculates volumes in one command
  4. Volumes By Triangulation: Calculates volumes between two triangulation files
  5. Calculate Sections Volumes: Calculates volumes between two section files using volumes by average end areas
Each of these routines has it's own advantages. You can choose the routine that best suits your data or run multiple methods as a check of the volumes. The volume reports for each of these routines will vary slightly due to using different types of surface models that have different resolutions. These volume differences should be less than 2%. If there is a greater difference, try increasing the resolution of the surface models. For grids, make the grid cell size smaller and for sections, make the station interval smaller. If there is still a significant difference, then the cause should be investigated by checking the source data and the program procedures.

Common Steps

The following are common preparation steps for all five volume methods.

Step 1 - Open Drawing:

From the File menu, choose Open and select EXAMPLE1.dwg from the Carlson Work folder (ie. C:\Carlson2007\WORK\EXAMPLE1.dwg).


Step 2 - Draw Perimeter:

We begin by drawing a perimeter polyline using the outermost points of the stockpile. The perimeter polyline limits the volume calculation to the area within the polyline. In this example, the perimeter polyline consists of points 2000 - 2028 with description B-TOE. To pick these points, set your osnap to Node using the Aperature-Object Snap under the Settings pulldown menu and turn off all the other osnap methods. Then run Draw 3DPoly Perimeter, found in the Grading menu. The Draw 3DPoly Perimeter command is the same as 3D Polyline in the Draw menu, except that it will automatically put the polyline in a layer called PERIMETER and close the polyline. For the Polyline 3D Options dialog, choose the settings as shown.



Then pick all the perimeter points one at a time. At the command line, the program will prompt as follows:
[Continue/Extend/Follow/Options/<Pick point or point numbers>]: pick a B-TOE point
[Arc/Close/Distance/Follow/Undo/<Pick point or point numbers>]: pick the next point
...
[Arc/Close/Distance/Follow/Undo/<Pick point or point numbers>]: press Enter to end

After you draw your perimeter polyline, simply return your osnap to none.


Step 2 - Faster Draw Perimeter, Revisited:

There are other methods for drawing the perimeter polylines that are much faster than picking each point.

The Draw 3DPoly Perimeter command can draw by point numbers from the coordinate file. If you have the coordinate file for the points, then you can go directly to draw and use the point numbers. In this example, we have only the drawing and no coordinate file. Still we can easily create a coordinate file from the points in the drawing. First run Points>Set Coordinate File, and in the file selection dialog, choose the New tab and enter example1 for the file name. Next run Points > Coordinate File Utilities and pick Update CRD File From Drawing. Go with all the defaults for this function and when prompted to select objects, enter All. Now the coordinate file has all the points from the drawing. In this example, the perimeter points are sequencial. So at the Draw 3D Poly Perimeter command prompt for points, you can enter the point range of 2000-2028 and it's done.
[Continue/Extend/Follow/Options/<Pick point or point numbers>]: 2000-2028
[Arc/Close/Distance/Follow/Undo/<Pick point or point numbers>]: press Enter to end

Another even more automated way to draw the perimeter is to use Field-To-Finish from the Survey menu to draw the points and the perimeter at the same time. In Field-To-Finish, you can control how to draw the points based on the point description. And you can create linework by point description. For this case, the Field-To-Finish code for B-TOE could be set as a 3D Polyline.

Volume Method 1 - Two Surface Volumes

Step 1 - Make Base Grid Surface:

Before running Two Surface Volumes, we must create the two grid files by using the Make 3D Grid File, located under the Surface menu. The first grid file will be for the base of the stockpile. At the file selection Grid File To Create dialog, enter a name of BASE and click Save. Next, the program prompts at the command line for the grid location. Use the option to pick the grid position from the screen and create the rectangular area for the grid surface that completely encloses the stockpile.
Use position from another file or pick grid position [<Pick>/File]?  P for pick
Pick Lower Left grid corner: pick to the lower left of the stockpile
Pick Upper Right grid corner: pick to the upper right of the stockpile


Next, there is a dialog to set the the gridding parameters. The Low and High elevations are used to filter out elevations outside the range. By default the Low elevation  is set to 1 which filters out zero and negative elevations. For the Modeling Method, use the default Triangulation method for surface models. The other method are primarily for strata geologic models. For Triangulation mode, the Triangulation Only method triangulates all the data points. The Triangulation with Subdivision does the Triangulate step followed by subdividing the large triangles to make a smoother surface. The Intersection Only method interpolates the grid corners from the intersections of the grid lines with the surface linework which applies to making a grid from all contour polylines. The Auto Detect method looks at the source data and chooses Intersection if all the data is linework or uses Triangulation otherwise.

The grid resolution sets the size of the grid cells either by entering the actual size or by the number of cells. Generally, you should use a grid size that is small enough to pick up the changes in the surface. At the same time, the total number of cells should be less than a million depending on your computer memory. In this example, we have 50x50 cells which results in a cell size of 4.82 in X (Easting) and 3.92 in Y( (Northing), and this is enough resolution for the data.



Next, the program prompts at the command line to select the entities to use for the model. For the base surface, select only the 3D perimeter polyline.

Select points, lines, polylines and faces to grid from.
Select objects:  pick the 3D perimeter polyline
Select objects: 1 found
Select objects:  press Enter

Step 2 - Make Final Grid Surface:

Next, let's create the top of the stockpile surface by repeating Make 3D Grid File used in the last step. Choose Make 3D Grid File from the menu and enter a grid file name of PILE in the file selection dialog. At the prompt for grid position, use the File method and select base.grd as the reference grid position. This file method uses the grid position and resolution from the selected reference grid. For Two Surface Volumes, the two grids to compare should have matching grid positions and resolution.

Then there are a series of command line prompts for the elevation range and modeling method. Press Enter for each of these prompts to go with the defaults. Then for the selection of objects to process, enter All to use the stockpile pereimeter plus all the points.

Use position from another file or pick grid position [<Pick>/File]?  F for File
Grid File To Get Position From Choose base.grd
Range of Elevations to Process.
Low elevation <1.00>: press Enter
High elevation <20000.00>: press Enter
Choose modeling method [<Triangulation>/Inverse dist/Kriging/Polynomial/LeastSq]? press Enter
Triangulation mode [<Auto>/Triangulate/Subdivide/Intersect/Both]? press Enter
Select points, lines, polylines and faces to grid from.
Select objects: All
Select objects: press Enter

Step 3 - Check Surfaces:

This step is optional to verify that the surfaces are good by checking for bad elevation data points and that the surfaces follow the data points. There are several routines that can be used to check the surfaces, including Draw 3D Grid File, Surface Inspector and Contour From Grid File. For this example, we will use Draw 3D Grid File and Surface Inspector.

In the Surface menu, choose the Draw 3D Grid File command. At the Select Grid File dialog, choose FINAL.grd. In the options dialog, go with the settings shown here and pick OK.



With the grid drawn as 3D Faces, run the 3D Viewer Window command in the View menu. At the command line, it will prompt to select the objects to view. Enter All and press Enter.
Select all entities for the scene.
Select objects: All
Select objects: press Enter



In the 3D Viewer dialog, move the pointer near the center of the graphic and the cursor will change to a X/Y symbol which is the X/Y axis rotation mode. Click down the left mouse button and drag down to rotate the pile to a good viewing angle. Then move the pointer near the edge of the graphic and the cursor will change to a Z symbol which is the Z axis rotation mode. Click down the left mouse button and drag around to rotate the pile. You can also set the Vertical Scale to 2.0 and choose the Color By Elevation toggle for better viewing of the elevation difference.

The surface looks right in the 3D Viewer. Close the 3D Viewer by choosing the Exit Door button. We don't need the 3D Faces anymore. Let's delete them by running Erase By Layer in the Edit menu. Choose the Select Layers From Screen and pick any 3D Face. Then pick the OK button.



The Draw 3D Face check could also be run on the base.grd surface using the same procedure as above, but we're going to skip that in this tutorial to save space.

Now, let's check using Surface Inspector. First, use Zoom Window under View to zoom onto the bottom of the pile so that we can easily read the point elevation labels. Then run Surface Inspector from the Surface menu. In the dialog, set base.grd and final.grd as the two surfaces to inspect and then pick OK.



Now, move the pointer around the pile and the program reports the elevation of the two surfaces in real-time. Check that the grid elevations match the point elevations reasonable well. Remember that the base elevations are using only the B-TOE points. The elevations won't match exactly with grid surfaces because the grid model is at the resolution of the grid cells. When finished checking, press Enter. Then run (Zoom) Extents, under View, to return to the full view.


Step 4 - Two Surface Volumes:

Now that you have your base file and final grid files, to calculate volumes use the Two Surface Volumes command in the Grading menu, under the Volumes By Grid Surface flyout. When you run this command, the inclusion perimeter is once again the perimeter polyline. Then there is a prompt for an exclusion perimeter which is an area to exclude from the volume calculations. In this example, press Enter for no exclusion. Next the routine prompts for the Base and Final grid files. Choose base.grd and final.grd. The Volume Report Options menu is next which has output options such as cut/fill labels, cut/fill color map and cut/fill contours including drawing the daylight line. Click OK and a Volume Report is then produced.

Select the Inclusion perimeter polylines or ENTER for none.
Select objects: Select the perimeter polyline
Select objects: press Enter
Select the Exclusion perimeter polyline or ENTER for none.
Select objects: press Enter
Select Base Grid File Choose base.grd
Select Final Grid File Choose final.grd

Volume Report
Comparing GRiD file: C:/CARLSON2007/DATA/BASE.GRD
      and GRiD file: C:/CARLSON2007/DATA/FINAL.GRD
Grid corner locations: 8109.69,3986.49 to 8350.70,4182.31
Grid resolution X: 50, Y: 50 Grid cell size X: 4.82, Y: 3.92
Area in Cut : 201.6 S.F., 0.00 Acres
Area in Fill: 24,983.5 S.F., 0.57 Acres
Total inclusion area: 25,185.1 S.F., 0.58 Acres
Cut to Fill ratio: 0.00
Average Cut Depth: 0.18 Average Fill Depth: 3.52
Max Cut Depth: 0.67 Max Fill Depth: 9.00
Cut (C.Y.) / Area (acres): 2.33
Fill (C.Y.) / Area (acres): 5639.92
Cut volume: 36.3 C.F., 1.35 C.Y.
Fill volume: 88,042.5 C.F., 3,260.83 C.Y.

Volume Method 2 - Calculate Stockpile Volume

Step 1 - Calculate Stockpile Volume:

The Calculate Stockpile Volume routine is based on grid surfaces like Two Surface Volumes. The difference with this routine is that it builds the grid surfaces within the routine to save the steps of running Make 3D Grid file. The fewer steps makes this routine faster and easier but  it doesn't have options for checking surfaces. Instead the input data entities should be checked before running this routine. Also, Calculate Stockpile Volume only applies to volumes calculations when the volume is all fill.

Choose Calculate Stockpile Volume from the Grading menu. The routine starts with prompts at the command line.

Material density lbs/ft^3 (Enter for none): press Enter. This density option applies when you're measuring a stockpile of a material with a known density and you want to report the material tons for the stockpile.
Ignore zero elevations [<Yes>/No]? press Enter. Use the ignore zero option to filter out zero elevation entities.
Select stockpile entities and perimeter.
Select objects: All
Select objects: press Enter
The program looks for a closed 3D polyline on the PERIMETER layer to use as the inclusion perimeter and the base surface model. If this polyline is not found, then the program will prompt to select the perimeter polyline. All the selected entities including the perimeter are used to model the second surface of the stockpile top.

Specify the grid resolution as shown in the dialog. The same rules for grid resolution apply as described in the Two Surface Volumes step.


Volume Report
Lower left grid corner : 8124.32,3995.70
Upper right grid corner: 8342.98,4175.90
X grid resolution: 50, Y grid resolution: 50
X grid cell size : 4.37, Y grid cell size: 3.60
Stockpile volume : 88,071.8 C.F., 3,261.92  C.Y.

Volume Method 3 - Volumes By Layers

Step 1 - Volumes By Layers:

Like the two previous volume methods, Volumes By Layers is based on grid surfaces. Similar to Calculate Stockpile Volume, this routine builds the grid surfaces within the routine to save the steps of running Make 3D Grid file.  The difference between this routine and Calculate Stockpile Volume is that Volumes By Layers uses entities on the specified layers for existing and design to build the surfaces and it will calculate both cut and fill volumes.

Choose Volumes By Layers from the Volumes By Grid Surface flyout of the Grading menu. The routine starts with prompts to set the grid area to model. In the same way as the Make 3D Grid File step of Two Surface Volumes, pick two corner points that make a rectangle to enclose the stockpile area.

Pick Lower Left grid corner: pick to the lower left of the stockpile
Pick Upper Right grid corner: pick to the upper right of the stockpile
Next, there is a dialog to set the grid resolution. Again, the same rules for grid resolution apply as described in the Two Surface Volumes step.



In the next dialog, set the layer names for the entities to use for the Existing (Base) and the Final (Design) surfaces. For this example, pick the Select Layers From Screen button under Existing and then select the perimeter polyline. Then pick the Select Layers button under Final and select both the perimeter polyline and the points.



After specifying the layer names, click OK in the dialog. Then the program prompts to select the surface entities to model. For this example, type All and press Enter to process all the entities. The program will sort the entities for modeling of the existing and design surfaces by the layer names. Next, you specify the inclusion and exclusion perimeters. For the stockpile, pick the perimeter polyline for the inclusion and press Enter for none at the exclusion prompt. The same Volume Report Options dialog then offers the same output options as Two Surface Volumes. After this dialog, the report is displayed.

Select surface entities on corresponding layers.
Select objects: All
Select objects: press Enter
Select the Inclusion perimeter polylines or ENTER for none.
Select objects: Select the perimeter polyline
Select objects: press Enter
Select the Exclusion perimeter polyline or ENTER for none.
Select objects: press Enter
Volume Report Options dialog Pick OK

Volume Report
Comparing GRiD file: c:/Carlson2007/USER/grid1.grd
      and GRiD file: c:/Carlson2007/USER/grid2.grd
Grid corner locations: 8101.30,3989.34 to 8359.04,4185.40
Grid resolution X: 50, Y: 50 Grid cell size X: 5.15, Y: 3.92
Area in Cut : 191.4 S.F., 0.00 Acres
Area in Fill: 24,992.5 S.F., 0.57 Acres
Total inclusion area: 25,183.9 S.F., 0.58 Acres
Cut to Fill ratio: 0.00
Average Cut Depth: 0.18 Average Fill Depth: 3.52
Max Cut Depth: 0.65 Max Fill Depth: 9.03
Cut (C.Y.) / Area (acres): 2.24
Fill (C.Y.) / Area (acres): 5637.55
Cut volume: 35.0 C.F., 1.30 C.Y.
Fill volume: 88,001.4 C.F., 3,259.31 C.Y.

Volume Method 4 - Volumes By Triangulation

Step 1 - Triangulate & Contour for Base:

Before running Volumes By Triangulation, we need two triangulation surface files to compare. From the Surface menu, choose Triangulate & Contour which brings up the Triangulate & Contour dialog. Under the Contour tab, turn off Draw Contours. Actually, drawing the contours at this step can be a good visual check that the surface is right but we're going to skip it this time. Under the Triangulate tab, turn on Write Triangulation File, Use Inclusion Perimeter and Ignore Zero Elevations. Then pick the Browse button and set the file name as base.tin. When the dialog is set as shown, pick OK.



Next, the program prompts for the inclusion and exclusion perimeters. Choose the perimeter polyline for inclusion and nothing for exclusion. Then you select the entities to triangulate. For the base surface, pick only the perimeter polyline and then press Enter.

Select the Inclusion perimeter polylines or ENTER for none.
Select objects: pick the perimeter polyline
Select objects: press Enter
Select the Exclusion perimeter polylines or ENTER for none.
Select objects: press Enter
Select the points and breaklines to Triangulate.
Select objects: pick the perimeter polyline
Select objects: press Enter
Reading points... 29
Inserted 29 points.
Inserted 29 breakline segments
Writing Triangulation File: c:\Carlson2007\DATA\base.tin

Step 2 - Triangulate & Contour for Stockpile:

To create the second surface, repeat step 1 with a few changes. In the Triangulate & Contour tab, choose Browse, and set the file name to final.tin. Then pick OK.

For the inclusion and exclusion perimeters, again choose the perimeter polyline for inclusion and nothing for exclusion.. At the select objects prompt, enter All and press Enter to use all the points and the perimeter to make the stockpile surface.

Select the Inclusion perimeter polylines or ENTER for none.
Select objects: pick the perimeter polyline
Select objects: press Enter
Select the Exclusion perimeter polylines or ENTER for none.
Select objects: press Enter
Select the points and breaklines to Triangulate.
Select objects: All
Select objects: press Enter
Reading points... 80
Ignored 2 points with zero elevation.
Inserted 80 points.
Inserted 29 breakline segments
Writing Triangulation File: c:\Carlson2007\DATA\final.tin

Step 3 - Check Surfaces:

Similar to the Check Surfaces step under Two Surface Volumes, this is an optional step to check that the surfaces are correct. Again, there are several routines to check including drawing the surfaces, contouring and Surface Inspector. Let's use the draw check. Under Surface menu, choose Draw Triangular Mesh and choose final.tin. Go with the defaults for layer name and type of draw entities of 3D Faces.
Layer name <TMESH>: press Enter
Draw TIN as 3D Lines or 3DFaces [Lines/<3DFaces>]? press Enter

Next, run the 3D Viewer Window command from the View menu. Just as in the Check Surfaces under Two Surface Volumes, type All and press Enter at the select objects prompt to view everything. Then in the viewer window, use the mouse click-and-drag methods to rotate the stockpile into view. Also, set the Vertical Scale to 2.0 and turn on Color By Elevations.



Close the 3D Viewer by choosing the Exit Door button. We don't need to keep the 3D Faces. Again, let's use Erase By Layer in the Edit menu to delete them. Choose the Select Layers From Screen and pick any 3D Face. Then pick the OK button.

Step 4 - Volumes By Triangulation:

Now that we have our two triangulation files, we can use Volumes By Triangulation which does TIN to TIN primodal volumes. Of all the volume methods, this one is the most accurate since all the source data points are used in the volume model. Volumes By Triangulation is well suited for this example. Still, the grid surface method of Two Surface Volumes can be better than triangulation for other data sets such as volumes between existing and design contour maps because making grids from contours can be more efficient than triangulating the contours.

Run Volumes By Triangulation from the Grading menu. For the Select Existing Surface Tmesh File dialog, choose BASE.tin. Next the program prompts at the command line whether to compare this tin with another tin or a flat elevation. Choose the default of TIN, and then select final.tin in the Select Final Surface Tmesh File dialog. At the prompts for the inclusion and exclusion perimeters, pick the perimeter polyline and press Enter for None for the exclusion. In the Volume Report Options, go with the defaults and pick OK. Then the volumes are calculated and the report is displayed.

Select final elevation or surface TIN [Elevation/<TIN>]? press Enter
Select Inclusion polylines.
Select objects: pick the perimeter polyline
Select objects: press Enter
Select Exclusion polylines.
Select objects: press Enter


Volumes by Triangulation (Prisms)
Original Surface: c:\Carlson2007\DATA\base.tin
Final Surface:    c:\Carlson2007\DATA\final.tin

Area in Cut : 188.6 S.F., 0.00 Acres
Area in Fill: 24,947.0 S.F., 0.57 Acres
Area exactly in daylight: 49.5 S.F., 0.00 Acres
Average Cut Depth: 0.24 feet
Average Fill Depth: 3.53 feet
Total inclusion area: 25,185.0 S.F., 0.58 Acres

Cut to Fill ratio: 0.00
Cut (C.Y.) / Area (acres): 2.93
Fill (C.Y.) / Area (acres): 5648.09
Cut volume: 45.8 C.F., 1.70 C.Y.
Fill volume: 88,169.8 C.F., 3,265.55 C.Y.

Volume Method 5 - Calculate Section Volumes

Step 1 - Draw Centerline/Baseline:

The first step for section volumes is to draw a polyline to use as the centerline for the section alignment. This centerline needs to be drawn so that the perpendicular section lines to the left and right of the centerline have a clear line to reach the perimeter without crossing and recrossing the perimeter.

Before drawing the polyline, run Aperature-Object Snap in the Settings menu, and turn on only the Node snap.

Choose 2D Polyline under the Draw menu. If the options dialog is shown, make sure that the elevation is set to zero and pick OK. Then at the command line, the program prompts to pick the polyline points. Use the Node snap to pick point 2020 near the left of the stockpile. Then use the Node snap to pick point 2007 near the right of the pile. Then press Enter to end.

[Continue/Extend/Follow/Options/<Pick point or point numbers>]: pick point 2020
[Arc/Close/Distance/Follow/Undo/<Pick point or point numbers>]: pick point 2007
[Arc/Close/Distance/Extend/Follow/Line/Undo/<Pick point or point numbers>]: press Enter

Go back to Aperature-Object Snap, and turn off the Node snap.


Step 2 - Define Section Alignment:

The next step is to define the station interval and left/right offsets for the sections. Choose Input-Edit Section Alignment from the Sections menu. In the Specify Section Alignment File dialog, choose the New tab and enter a file name of example1.mxs, and click Open. The program then prompts for the centerline. Pick the centerline polyline that we just drew. For the starting station of the centerline prompt, use the default of 0.
CL File/<Select polyline that represents centerline>: pick the centerline polyline
Enter Beginning Station of Alignment <0.00>: press Enter

Next there is a dialog to set the section parameters. Enter a station interval of 10. For volume calculations, go with a small station interval and make the computer work since it can calculate sections very quickly. You can have a small interval for calculations and still plot the sections at a bigger interval. For the left and right offsets, be sure to enter a distance that is enough to reach the perimeter. For this example, use offsets of 200. For the Station Options, turn on Stations At Interval and Stations At Centerline Points. When the dialog is set as shown, pick OK.



The program draws temporary lines in the drawing to show the positions of the sections. The next dialog shows a summary of the section alignment. Pick the Save button.


Step 3 - Create Section File for Base:

To create the section file for the stockpile base, run Sections From Surface Entities from the Sections menu. Select example1.mxs for the Section Alignment. For the Section File to Write, in the New tab area enter base.sct and click Open. Next, there is a Section From Surface Model options dialog. Let's use the defaults and pick OK.



Then, the program prompts for the surface entities to use for the sections. Pick only the perimeter polyline.

Select Lines, PLines, and/or 3DFaces that define the surface.
Select objects: pick the perimeter polyline
Select objects: press Enter

Step 4 - Triangulate & Contour:

The section creation routines can use a variety of data sources including drawing linework, surface files or points in section rows. For the base sections, we used the drawing linework, since we had the perimeter 3D polyline. For the stockpile sections, the stockpile points need to be processed because there isn't a section creation method from scattered points. The final.tin triangulation file from the Volumes By Triangulation step could be used to make the final sections. For practice, let's use another method of creating final surface linework to pull sections from.

From the Surface menu, run Triangulate & Contour. In the Triangulate tab, turn off the Write Triangulation File toggle. Then turn on Draw Triangulation Faces, Use Inclusion/Exclusion Perimeters and Ignore Zero Elevations. Then pick OK.



At the inclusion and exclusion perimeter prompts, choose the perimeter polyline for inclusion and nothing for exclusion. At the select objects to triangulate prompt, enter All and press Enter.
Select the Inclusion perimeter polylines or ENTER for none.
Select objects: pick the perimeter polyline
Select objects: press Enter
Select the Exclusion perimeter polylines or ENTER for none.
Select objects: press Enter
Select the points and breaklines to Triangulate.
Select objects: All
Select objects: press Enter

Step 5 - Create Section File for Stockpile:

To create the section file for the stockpile top, run Sections From Surface Entities from the Sections menu. Select example1.mxs for the Section Alignment. Click Open. For the Section File to Write, in New tab, enter final.sct and click Open. For the Section From Surface Model options dialog, use the defaults and pick OK.

For the surface entities to use for the sections, enter All to pick up the perimeter and the triangulation faces.

Select Lines, PLines, and/or 3DFaces that define the surface.
Select objects: All
Select objects: press Enter

Step 6 - Check Sections:

Similar to the Check Surfaces steps under Two Surface Volumes and Volumes By Triangulation, we have a couple surface files. Before running the volumes, this is an optional step to check that the surfaces are correct. There are several routines to check sections including Input-Edit Section File, Draw Section File and Section To 3D Polylines.

For this check, run Input-Edit Section File under the Sections menu. For the Section file to process dialog, choose final.sct. Next the Input-Edit Section File dialog is displayed. Pick the button labeled 2nd, and choose the base.sct. Then highlight station 1+00 from the Stations List and double click on it or pick the Edit button.



This brings up the Edit Station viewer for station 1+00. Use the Next and Prev buttons to look at other stations. After checking the stations, pick OK to exit Edit Station, and then pick Exit from the main dialog.


Step 7 - Calculate Section Volumes:

Now that we have our two section files, we can use Calculate Section Volumes, which does volumes by the average end area method which is a long standing industry standard method.

From the Sections menu, choose Calculate Section Volumes. For the Existing Ground Section File, choose base.sct. For the Final Ground Section File, choose final.sct. In the Calculate Section Volumes option dialog, use the defaults as shown.



Click OK. The volumes are calculated and reported, along with the cut and fill end areas at each station.

Calculate Section Volumes                                   5/7/2006 14:14

Ground Section> c:\Carlson2007\DATA\base.sct
Final Section> c:\Carlson2007\DATA\final.sct

Processing 0+00.000 to 2+00.387
Total Cut : 13.257 C.F., 0.491 C.Y.
Total Fill: 88440.707 C.F., 3275.582 C.Y.
Cut to Fill Ratio: 0.00

Station     Cut(sf)     Fill(sf)    Interval Cut(cy)     Fill(cy)
0+00.000    2.651       0.009     
                                    10.000   0.491       12.002    
0+10.000    0.000       64.800    
                                    10.000   0.000       38.397    
0+20.000    0.000       142.546   
...

This completes the Lesson 10 tutorial: Calculate Volumes By Five Methods.