ROAD CALCBy Engr: Muhammad Imran MSc Transportation Engg:

UET Taxila engineermik@yahoo.com (+92-334-9037883)

Road Calc Concepts:Road Calc is a computer software package with roadway design, earthwork computation and drafting capabilities. It is an interactive tool providing speed, accuracy and economy of roadway design.The methods employed by Road Calc for roadway design are derived from conventional design. However, full advantage is taken of the speed, accuracy and iterative capacity of the computer.

The following figure illustrates the key steps you might take as you work on a sub-projectin Road Calc. Depending on your sub-project, you might skip some steps. For instance, ifyou don’t use typical sections to generate the design cross-sections, you would skip thestep in Design Input that includes creating typical sections.

Road Calc Design Model:The figure above is intended to illustrate the concept that Road Calc is based upon. That is, when laying out the design geometries, working in Road Calc is very much like working on paper. The Alignments, Profiles (or vertical Alignments), and Cross Sections are all two-dimensional. While there may be other three dimensional information in the plan drawing, you need only be concerned with the horizontal component of the Alignment. The vertical component will be dealt with in the Profile drawing. This concept allows you to deal with design in a familiar fashion, and let the computer do the work of combining the components to achieve the desired design.

Menu Layout:The menu layout still is set up so that you work through the menus and commands in a left to right, top to bottom fashion to complete a project. This provides guidance in what information needs to be entered next to complete a project. The commands in the menus have changed in name and some in function. The reason for this is to provide you easier access to the commands and dialog boxes used most often. What used to be a dialog box that was three or four dialog boxes deep, now exists on the menu or is one or two dialog boxes away. This menu system is used in other Eagle Point modules so the look and feel of the software is tremendously tight. A few of the name and functionality changes are described next.

STEPS FOR THE EXECUTION OF ROAD CALC PROJECT

1) From the start screen of EGPT, click on New Project and then on “Road Calc Sub Project” as shown below. Click next.

2) Give name to description, click next, and then on finish. Now click on ok. The Road Calc Menu bar will appears.

Alignment Concepts:Alignments represent the two-dimensional horizontal geometry of a given baseline. The Road Calc centerline alignment that is defined within a sub-project is the geometry that Road Calc bases its cross-sections on. Any one sub-project has just one centerline to base this stationing on. You can however add up to 99 additional alignments that control offset geometry from that centerline. For example, you can add eastbound and westbound road centerlines as additional alignments while another alignment (i.e. median) controls the stationing.If the project is to:´ Super elevate the roadway automatically´ Account for horizontal curves during volume calculations´ Impose right-of-way restrictions on the design´ Use station equations´ Generate cross-sections from a Surface Modeling surface model´ Translate cross-section data from an ASCII file carrying Northing-Easting co-ordinates alignment data must be entered. Otherwise skip the Alignments pull-down menu and go to the Cross-Section menu.Alignments can be created numerically or graphically in the plan view graphic. Horizontal PI and curve data can be entered by Nodes, coordinates or by angles and distances into the alignment data dialog boxes. Or you may use CAD tools to draw lines or arcs for the alignment directly into the plan graphic. Superelevation and spiral data can be entered in the alignment data dialog boxes as well.Alignments can also be modified either numerically or graphically. Through IntelligentIndexing, Road Calc ensures that a numeric change automatically updates the graphic representation.Conversely, if a graphic change is made in CAD, a single command updates the numeric data. Even if that step is forgotten, Road Calc knows that the graphic representation does not match the numeric data and wants you to choose which information is correct and update the other.Road Calc represents alignments as 2-D objects consisting of lines, arcs and spirals with no elevation. Tangent lines are lines; circular curves are arcs; and spirals are approximated by several small arc segments. These elements carry attribute data that identifies the sub-project to which they belong and which alignment number they are. There are also attributes that indicate which direction the stationing runs and how long any spirals are.

3) From AutoCAD click the tab Polyline.

4) Draw the polyline as your desired Alignment.

5) In Auto CAD command line write CONVERTPOLY & press enter.

6) In command line Auto CAD will ask for converting this polyline to heavy or light, write H & press enter.

7) Command line will demand for selection of object, just click on the Alignment drawn by polyline and press enter.

8) The command line will show, 1 polyline converted.

9) From Road Calc menu bar click on Alignment & then click on Convert objects to Alignment.

10) The command line will ask for Selection of object, just click on the polyline drawn.

11) The command line will ask for picking the point near the beginning of alignment.

12) On clicking the beginning point following window will appear.

13) Click on apply. The polyline will automatically change its color to RED, which means that your Alignment is converted to element.

14) Now click on cross-Section < extract Cross-Section…

15) The following window will be appeared

16) Click ok. Nd in below window check the Orig_Surface. Write the desired values in Corridor Edge. And click ok.

17) The X-Sections stations are Marked in AutoCAD.

18) In Road Calc menu-bar Click on Profile < Extract from Surface Mlodel

19) The below window will appear. Select the profile name (i.e Centre line ) and also surface model name and then click ok.

20) The AutoCAD will ask for Selection of Object.

21) After selection of centre line in AutoCAD, the Natural Ground Level appeared. Zoom it.

22) Now from AutoCAD Toolbar Click on polyline and draw the Required FL (Formation level) as shown

23) From Road Calc Menu bar click on profile < Convert object to Profile as shown

24) The AutoCAD Command line will ask for Selection of object. So select the FL and enter.

25) This widow will appears. Click on

26) Again the command line ask for select object, then select object then press enter, click Next below window will appear, click on Finish

27) The FL is converted to Poly line and its cloure becomes RED. Now In Road Calc menu bar click on Profile < Original Ground Profile

28) This window will appear. Click on close. The Original Ground Surface colour will be Green and that of FL will be RED as shown…

29) In Road Calc, click on Typical Section < Construct Typical Section..

30) The eagle point will show error just click ok, below window will appear

30) Click on new and give name to design surface i.e ( AWC). Click apply < cancel< ok. Again eagle point ask for giving name to typical section so click on NEW and give name ( e.g abc ) close it the below window will appear

31) Now click on Precision input

32) This window will appear.

33) Now we should enter all the values in this window.

34) Write absxy < press enter, X=0, press enter, Y=0, press enter, PT Code = o press enter. Then write XS, press enter < dx=8, press enter, % Slope= -2 press enter, pt code=0 press enter. Then press escape, and again click on precision input and write absxy < press enter, X=0, press enter, Y= -5, press enter, PT Code = o press enter. Then write XS, press enter < dx=8, press enter, % Slope= -2 press enter, pt code=0 press enter, write XY enter < dx=8, press enter, dx = 5, press enter, PT code = 0, press enter.

35) This window will appear.

36) First press escape and then Click on Mirror so that the right side is coppied to left side as shown.

37) Click on Define Typical section

38) This window will appear, now click on Define, the AutoCAD Command line will ask for Pick points in AWC boundry

39) After clicking in boundary the required boundary will hatched as shown below.

40) In Road Calc Menu bar click on Process < Manage Condition tables

41) This window will appear. Click on new condition table and give name to condition table. Click OK < close.

42) In Road Calc Click on Process < Edit Design Locations…

43) Below window appears. Click new both “Typical Section Location” & Condition Table Locations” and put Zero in station values in both cases. And click close.

43) Click on Process < Run Design…

44) This will appear, click Run < close.

45) In Road Calc Menu < click Output < Cross-Section Sheets….

46) This window will appear, click New Cross-Section Sheets

47) This will appear, just click OK.

48) The required Sheets will be drawn as shown below.

49) Edit any section it will show all the details ie Fill Area, Cut Area, and also Valumes.

50) Click Output < plan and Profile Sheets…

51) Click New and just Click OK.

52) Now click on Process < Volumes….

53) This table will appear which shows all the details.

THE END