Ramp-Bench Polyline Generator

This command takes a series of polylines and creates open pit designs with benches and ramps. The pits can be both accessed or not accessed. There can be single, double and triple benches. The wall slopes and bench face angles can be fixed or variable. The design can be single or multiple bench configurations. There are multiple tabs to define this dialog, and each option is defined below.

Ramp Layer Name / Color: Sets the ramp polyline color and layer.
Bench Crest / Toe Color: Sets the bench polyline colors. The layer of these polylines is set to the actual elevations, such as 100, 110, 120, etc.
Intermediate Bench: If the Double or Triple Bench is selected, this is the color for the intermediate crest and toe polylines.
Ramp Width: This sets the width of the ramp.
Ramp Grade: This sets the slope of the ramp in percent.
Bench Height: This is the design height of each bench from crest to crest, or toe to toe. It applies to single, double or triple bench, as labeled below.
Interm. Bench Offset: If using the Double or Triple Bench options, this is the intermediate bench width.
Benching option: These toggles set the number of benches per lift, Single, Double or Triple. These are described in the images below.

Double Bench Design:

Triple Bench Design:

Select starting bench Toe or Crest: Pick this button to select the starting polyline in the drawing. The line can either be the top of the pit (crest) and go down, or the bottom of the pit (toe) and go up and out.
Point#1: Pick the first point on the ramp.
Point#2: Pick the second point to determine the direction from the first point. See image below.
Layer: Layer of the perimeter polyline, automatically populated.

Slope Definitions: The pit wall and bench face can have three different settings.
- None: No slope is applied.
- Constant: The same slope is used around the entire pit perimeter
- Constant Values: Set the Wall Slope and the Face Angle here.
- Slope Filter: allows for varied slope around the pit perimeter.
- Variable Values: Polylines must be drawn, perpendicular to the perimeter pit polyline. The two layers are set here, the default is WALL_SLOPE and FACE_ANGLE. The global width of the polyline is then multiplied by the Scale Factor, set here. For example, the polyline is drawn at a width of 0.45. Multiplied by the scale factor of 100 will design the slope at 45 degrees. The color is not critical, it just identifies if there are matching pairs of slope definitions. They could be the same color if preferred.

Here are two images on how to use the colors. The slopes are labeled inside on how it will set them. In-between similar colored lines, the slope is the same. Otherwise, it transitions from one to the next.

Bench Profiles to Generate: This option creates the pit polylines as either 2D or 3D polylines.
Number of Bneches: Controls how many benches to design.

Here is a final pit example with slope filters to set different wall slopes on different sides of the pit. The flatter slopes on the south end spread the pit out more.

The next image shows the difference on the same polyline of Single bench vs. Double Benching. The double is on the left.

Prompts

Dialog box with 3 tabs.

Pulldown Menu Location: Surface Mining > Surface
Keyboard Command: ramp_ben
Prerequisite: Perimeter polyline