Design roadway profiles

00:00

In this session, we will demonstrate some of the profile tools that are available in Civil 3D.

00:08

We'll also show the dynamic nature of the profiles and some of the functions that will help to create and edit profiles with precision.

00:16

Now, Civil 3D allows users to create profiles in a number of ways,

00:20

and we'll briefly go over several of these tools and highlight their utility when it comes to road and highway design.

00:27

We'll begin by creating an existing ground profile.

00:30

Once we've established an alignment, we can select the surface that we want our ground profile to be based on.

00:37

Then, we can adjust several of the parameters for the profile view.

00:40

For now, we'll choose most of the default settings.

00:44

The profiles in Civil 3D are fully dynamic, meaning if we need to make any changes to the horizontal alignment,

00:50

the profile line and profile window update automatically.

00:54

This helps to save time and actually gives us more control.

00:58

Choosing the profile creation tool, we can begin our design profile.

01:03

One of the more common methods for creating a design profile is to lay it out by PVI, or by vertical intersections.

01:10

In the design window, we can choose the location of the vertical intersection and then add the vertical curvature.

01:17

We can define the vertical curves by length, by radius, or even by K Value,

01:22

and here we'll input the initial length of the curve.

01:25

We can easily make revisions to these curves later on in the design process if we need to.

01:31

Civil 3D offers several tools to edit profile geometry.

01:36

Here, we want to add the PVI to our profile, so we do so graphically by selecting the point in our profile window.

01:43

Next, we can add the vertical curve associated with this intersection.

01:47

Here, we actually want to match the existing ground as much as possible, so we'll use the Free Curve Best Fit command.

01:54

We have the option to use either COGO points or entities, or by selecting points in the window.

01:59

That’s what we'll do in this case, we'll choose a few points along the existing ground line, then accept those points.

02:05

Once we do that, Civil 3D creates a curve based on those points that we've selected.

02:11

Now let's go to profile layout parameters so that we can view the geometric details of our profile.

02:18

Here, we can actually edit the exact details of our curve by adjusting the station, the elevation, the K value, the length of our curve,

02:26

and several other parameters.

02:29

This information is available for any of the PVI's that we select, and any changes that we make in this window are updated immediately

02:35

in the profile window.

02:38

We can also edit curves graphically by using the grips associated with each curve.

02:43

So, once we adjust the beginning or the ending of a curve, the labels are updated automatically.

02:49

We can adjust the height or elevation of the profile using the same grip method.

02:55

Now, when we have fixed points on our profile that we want to maintain, we can edit those profile parameters as well.

03:01

In this case, we adjust the profile grade while maintaining the end elevation and station.

03:08

We can also adjust the curve location while maintaining the grade in or out of the curve.

03:14

When we adjust the direction grips, we can move the curve along that same projected profile grade.

03:21

We can do this for either side of the curve.

03:24

If we need to remove any curves or points from the profile, we have a few options.

03:28

We can select Delete Entity from the profile tools, then choose the curve we want to delete.

03:33

This will return the geometry to just the PVI.

03:37

If we want to remove a PVI between the two curves, we can simply choose Delete PVI.

03:42

You may also note that if we delete the PVI of a vertical curve, both the curve and the point will be removed.

03:49

Where we have any intersecting alignments, it is good to show the information in the profile view.

03:54

Here, our South alignment intersects with an access road,

03:57

and we'd like to show the station location and elevation of the intersecting alignments in both views.

04:03

To do this, we go to the profile view, then choose Add Crossings to Profile View.

04:09

We want to select the profile to add, then the profile view where we want to add the crossing label.

04:16

Now we can choose to label any of the profiles associated with the alignments.

04:20

In this case, we only want to pick the design profile.

04:24

Crossings are added, but I want to adjust the call out by moving the grips.

04:28

In this case, we actually have an extra station label that we don't really need, so I'll delete that one.

04:35

Then, we can do the same thing for the other profile window.

04:38

We choose the profile and then the destination view.

04:41

And in this case, we can label the existing ground and the design profile elevation.

04:47

Profile label is positioned at the exact station and elevation of a crossing.

04:53

Now these labels are fully dynamic.

04:55

When we make adjustments to the access profile, the labels are updated automatically in the other view.

05:02

We can revise that again, and we'll see the labels update when we make that change.

05:07

So, this gives us the ability to match those points exactly.

05:11

In a previous session, we created two offset alignments, and here, we're showing the profile for those two offset alignments.

05:17

And we want to match the profile of the northbound alignment to the southbound alignment.

05:22

In order to match the profiles exactly, we will use a superimposed profile.

05:28

To do this, we will select the profile, then Superimposed profile.

05:32

Similar to other functions, we choose the profile that we want and then select the profile window to display it.

05:38

We can make a few modifications to the display, such as the station range or the accuracy if we need to,

05:44

but we'll use the default settings when we add the profile.

05:47

This function automatically creates another profile for the southbound alignment,

05:53

and we can actually use that profile when we create our corridor.

05:57

If necessary, we can also trace that superimpose profile by laying it out and then adjusting it and display it,

06:06

as we would any of our other design profiles.