Create cross sections for rail assemblies

00:00

In this video, we will create cross sections and use those sections to evaluate material quantities.

00:10

We'll also create plan and profile sheets and add labels to our rail alignments.

00:16

To create cross sections in Civil 3D, we have to create sample lines first.

00:20

So, we'll pick the alignment that we want those lines based on, and in our case it's the center line alignment.

00:26

We can determine the data sources included in the sections.

00:31

We can either create individual pattern lines or create several lines based on a station range.

00:37

That's what we'll do in this case.

00:39

We can determine the beginning and end stations and the size and spacing of our lines.

00:45

Once we select OK, we'll see the pattern lines appear.

00:50

Now we can create sections by selecting the Section View in the Home Ribbon.

00:55

And we will create multiple views, and this will be based on the lines that we just created.

01:01

In the view styles, we can set up the appearance of the cross sections.

01:05

Things like vertical exaggeration, we'll keep that at one.

01:09

And the grid layout, we don't want to clip our grid in either direction.

01:14

We'll also minimize the spacing above and below the sections, and we can control the labels and grid patterns.

01:21

We want to control the display of most of the section elements.

01:27

We can also edit this information later if we need to.

01:30

We can determine the layout and choose from the out-of-the-box settings, or we can include our own custom settings if we have them.

01:38

So, we'll choose 500 scale, and we'll stay with many of the default settings.

01:43

We can edit the display styles for our corridor and our existing ground.

01:48

We’ll make the existing topo green, and we will shut off the band display.

01:55

We don't need that in section view.

01:57

We can pick the location in plan view where we want our sections to be drawn.

02:03

As we inspect the sections, we're looking for any issues that need attention.

02:08

So, the sections are dynamic.

02:09

If we revise our corridor, the sections will update automatically.

02:14

When we select any section and then right-click on the section, we can edit the display styles.

02:21

So here, we'll adjust the minor ticks and our grid lines, and we'll go to the display and turn those lines on.

02:29

And now it looks like we're set.

02:31

If we need to adjust the spacing, we can pick the border, then right-click and edit the group plot style.

02:38

And in this area, we can adjust the spacing of our sections and the print area.

02:43

Once our sections are set up and ready, we can create the section sheets.

02:48

So, under the output tab, we can pick Create Section Sheets.

02:52

We’ll use the alignment, the pattern lines, and the sections that we just made as our basis.

02:58

When we select OK, it will ask us to save the drawing.

03:01

So, we'll pick OK to continue.

03:04

Now we will see the Sheet Set Manager dialog come up.

03:08

Here, we can name our sections, and we can give them a description and pick a template.

03:14

We will use civil metric.

03:17

This gives us control to populate the data for our border sheets and for our sheet information.

03:23

Once we pick OK, we will see the sections that we just made in the sheet list,

03:29

and we can inspect those sheets and the sections to make sure everything displays correctly.

03:35

We can also double-click on the sheet information to update and populate the fields.

03:42

If we ever need to adjust the scale of our sections, we can pick the viewport window,

03:48

then choose the updated scale from the arrow down and reposition the view window.

03:55

Now let's get into the volume calculations.

03:58

We need to create two surfaces; one based on the top of our finished grade and the other based on the bottom of our section.

04:06

So, let's pick our corridor and select corridor surfaces.

04:11

In this window, we need to pick a new surface.

04:14

We’ll call that top finished.

04:16

In the overhang correction column, we will pick top links for this surface.

04:23

Then, we will add all our different elements from our corridor.

04:27

Now we'll set the ballast and the wall as brake lines.

04:32

Now, we need to set the boundary.

04:33

So, under the boundary tab, we will right-click on our surface and select Corridor extents as outer boundary.

04:40

This will eliminate any unnecessary triangulation around the edges.

04:45

We'll do the same thing for the lower surface.

04:47

Here, we'll pick bottom links, we'll add the codes that we need.

04:53

Then, we'll add the boundary to the surface, and we'll build the surfaces.

04:58

Now in plan view, we can inspect the results based on our contours.

05:03

But to really evaluate this, we need to see these in section view.

05:07

So, to add these surfaces, we will select any section and then pick sample more sources.

05:14

And here we can add the surfaces we just created and define the view styles.

05:19

So, the finished surface will be finished grade.

05:22

Let’s create a new style for the lower surface so that it stands out.

05:26

So, we'll copy the current style, rename this Bottom Topo, and we'll make this one red.

05:33

Then we hit Apply and we can inspect the results.

05:36

So, we can select the new surface, and we can see how they look.

05:39

In this section, it looks okay.

05:41

But if there are any sections that are incorrect, we can redefine those codes and regenerate those surfaces.

05:47

Now, we'll compute the volumes.

05:49

So, let's pick a section and select Compute Materials.

05:53

So, we can define the criteria.

05:55

Let's pick Cut and Fill.

05:58

For this existing ground, we'll choose our existing surface, and for the datum, we'll pick the lower surface.

06:05

When we select OK, we should see our cut and fill shapes in section view.

06:11

If we want to add the materials like ballast or subgrade, we can pick the section and go back to compute materials.

06:18

We can either add these materials to our list or choose Import another criteria to create a new list.

06:25

So, we'll just add these new materials here.

06:27

And here, we want to define these as structures, and we'll pick the shape.

06:31

And in this case, we'll pick ballast as the style, and we'll define the data type from the corridor shape.

06:39

And so, we'll pick our ballast.

06:42

And we can do this for any of the other materials that we need to quantify.

06:47

And then the section view, we can see the shading for these different materials.

06:53

Once the areas have been defined, we can pick the section again and choose Generate Volume Report.

06:59

For this, we can keep the default cut and fill style and generate the report.

07:04

And this will provide details of each section with a cumulative value.

07:08

We can copy this information or save it in another format, if we need to.

07:12

We can run the same report, but this time, we'll change the style to select materials.

07:18

This will give us a breakdown of each element by section.

07:23

We can also create a material volume table.

07:26

Another way that we can create earthwork volumes is under the Analysis tab, under the Volumes dashboard.

07:32

Here, we'll select a new surface.

07:35

We can identify the base surface, in this case, our existing ground, and the comparison surface, or the bottom of our corridor.

07:42

Once we select OK, it will provide a summary in this window.

07:47

Last thing, for volumes, we want to display the areas by station.

07:52

So, we'll pick a section, and we'll choose View Group properties.

07:56

If we pick the change volume tables, we can set a table of quantities that will display the section view.

08:05

We'll create a new style. We'll call that Calculate Cut Fill.

08:09

We'll set that text size and the display styles.

08:14

Let's turn off the fill and set the color for the text and for the borderlines, and we'll pick our materials.

08:23

For now, we'll just use the cut and fill materials.

08:26

Then, we can set the position of our table and then say OK.

08:30

The material table will display in your section.

08:34

Now, if we need to see the other materials, we could use the other criteria material list and show the other structure elements.

08:42

One final note on sections, the pattern lines are dynamic.

08:46

So, if we change the length or the angle using the grips, the sections will automatically update with them.

08:55

Now let's set up the plan sheets.

08:58

We'll go to the Output tab and pick Create View Frames.

09:01

Let's make these based on our eastbound track, and we can choose from different scales.

09:07

We'll stay with 500 scale for now, and we will stay with the default orientation.

09:12

We can set the layer and style for the view frames and the match lines in this dialog.

09:18

So, let's add a profile band in this step for the rail cant.

09:25

Here, we can set up our display in the compose label dialog.

09:29

Now, let's set the applied cant with the left and right label.

09:37

And once that's good, we can create the view frames.

09:40

In model space, we can get a feel for the layout.

09:44

If needed, we can adjust match line labels, and we can do that using the grips.

09:50

Now, let's pick Create Sheets.

09:53

Here, we can control the setup in the layout, and we'll make these sheets part of the CAD file.

10:00

We'll give that a name and we can set where the content is stored.

10:04

This will be in our ACC project directory.

10:08

In the profile display option, we can control the label styles, and in the data bands, we can set the elevation based on our surface profile.

10:22

All the other items will stay with the default settings.

10:25

We'll pick OK, and then we'll need to save the drawing.

10:30

Then, we can pick where we want the profiles to display, and the sheets will start to generate.

10:35

We’ll see the sheet set manager come up again, and we'll set those key items that we want similar to our previous step,

10:41

and we can view the results both in model space and in paper space with the sheets.

10:51

If any of the profiles did not display the way that we need, we can select the profile to modify the labels or the layout.

10:59

Here, we'll add the labels for the slope and for the Crest and Sag Curves.

11:04

Finally, let's add some labels and some linework to the plan sheets.

11:08

So, under the Annotate tab, we'll go to Add Labels.

11:12

Now, there are a lot of annotation styles that we can choose from, but here we just want to add elements to our alignment.

11:19

So, we'll pick alignment as our feature and select multiple segments as our label type.

11:25

With this setup, we can determine our tangents with the bearing and distance, our curves that will include the delta and spirals.

11:34

For any of these segments, we can revise the styles.

11:38

So, we'll pick that for the spirals, and we will shorten the label to LS.

11:45

We don't need any of the spiral PI stations here.

11:48

And so, we can remove that element.

11:52

And once the labels are placed, we can slide them along the alignment or reposition them using the grips.

11:59

We need to create labels for the eastbound track, but we want to change the layout for the spiral just slightly.

12:05

So, let's create a new style based on our previous style.

12:09

We'll move the attachment points, and we'll set that offset to work with the eastbound line.

12:18

And again, we can make revisions as needed and clean up any sort of conflicts.

12:25

Now, let's pick the corridor and choose feature lines from corridor.

12:30

In the command line, we will pick All.

12:32

Here, we can choose from the features that are displayed within our corridor, and we can choose how we want those to display.

12:39

We can also set the style and the layer.

12:43

And if we turn our corridor off, we can see those lines show up in our plan view.

12:48

This helps us to add some essential elements based on our design model to the plan sheets.

12:55

These controls and tools allow us to create a complete design package.