Advanced Road Design For Autocad
Advanced Road Design For Autocad
for AutoCAD
creating Roads and land re-grading inside AutoCAD , as well as pipe design including
stormwater drainage and sewer.
Heres how Advanced Road Design can benefit you:
You never leave the AutoCAD environment using Advanced Road Design.
Design aids include road, drainage, sewer and grading design.
We welcome you to try it out! See below for some quick start tutorials that will showcase
the fundamentals of Advanced Road Design for delivering a total design solution for all
your surface, road and pipe design needs.
Table of Contents
Surfaces
Alignments
Road Design Basics
Grading
Drainage
Sewer
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Head Office: 1/29 Business Park Drive, Notting Hill, Vic
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Command.
Surfaces
You can create Surfaces (also known as DTMs and TINs) from multiple inputs such as 3D faces,
polylines, AutoCAD points, point files and more. Surface display is easily managed, directly in the
drawing, with user control over contours, triangles and shading display.
Lets have a look at creating a surface from 3D faces.
Creating a Surface
Lets do a quick review of the current drawing:
On the right you can see that there are triangles (3D
faces) in the drawing these represent the surveyors
design. The first step is to convert these into a TIN
Surface. The 3D faces are located on the layer SURF.
Also included are layers for other objects as follows:
Alignments ALIGN
Grading GRADING
Drainage PIPES-DRAINAGE
Sewer PIPES-SEWER
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Contour Labels
Slope Arrows
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Height Shading
Surface Statistics
Step 23: Click on the Statistics tab
Step 24: Click on the
Update button and review
the outputs. The Print button will generate a
text file output
That concludes this quick tour of surfaces.
Step 25: Tick on the cross at the top of the form to
close the Create Surface form
Alignments
In Advanced Road Design, alignments are created from polylines. The alignment creation/editing form
includes full IP editing tools to add and edit curves (with or without spirals). Labelling occurs as the design
changes you get to control the layer, text size, orientation and spacings for labelling. You can
immediately create AutoCAD tables of the alignment from the same form from which you create or edit the
alignment.
In ARD, every alignment can be given vertical geometry (turned into a String object). The software also
understands how to manage particular strings in a road network these are Roads, Kerb Returns, Cul-desacs and Knuckles. These are special strings you can make from the alignments.
Lets start by creating an alignment.
Step 1: From the Ribbon, click on Alignments
Create Alignment.
At the prompt, click on the red polyline (on layer ALIGN) on the left side of the
surface. The alignment runs north-south.
Upon selection of the polyline, the Create/Edit Alignment form will display. From here
we can name the alignment, control the display and generate output tables.
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Geometry Edits
Step 2: In the Geometry tab, fill out the following:
a. Name: Delawn
b. Object Type: Road
Leave Delete Existing Object ticked on to replace
the polyline with an alignment.
The Edit Tools allows you to immediately edit the
geometry of the alignment move IPs around, add
IPs, delete IPs, and change curve radii using the
editing tools.
Lets change the first curve radius.
Step 3: From the Edit Tools frame, click on
Edit Curve and click on the first curve
on the alignment.
The Edit Tools panel will now change to display the
details of the alignment IP selected and to allow
editing of the IP details:
Step 4: Click on Curve Radius - change the radius
to 250 and click Apply
The alignment will immediately update in the drawing
the new alignment geometry will be drawn and the
labelling will update to suit. The original alignment
geometry will display in a different colour, and will be
removed upon exit from the alignment form.
Step 5: If desired, click on
Move an IP from the
Edit Tools
a. Click to select the first IP at chainage
zero
b. Click to select a new IP position note
that the curve updates to maintain
tangency
Let review the annotation of the alignment
Alignment Annotation
Step 6: Click on the Annotation tab
The Annotation tab allows you to fully control the alignment
labelling. Different geometry along the alignment can be controlled
by assigning Annotation Styles these set out the text positions,
orientation, layer, number of decimal places and more. You can
make your own annotation styles using the Annotation Style Editor.
Lets keep it simple by changing the Major Chainage interval:
Step 7: Click on the Major
Chainage Spacing value and
change it to 50
Step 8: Click on the Refresh
button the labelling updates in
the drawing
On the left is the labelling at
20m spacings 50m spacings
shown on the right.
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You can save the annotation configuration as an Alignment Annotation Set and apply it to any alignment.
Alignment Tables
Alignment Tables can be readily created and customised by you.
Alignment Tables are created as AutoCAD tables in the drawing
and get updated whenever you click on the
Create Table
button.
Step 10: Click on the Alignment Table tab
Step 11: From the Report Format pick list, select
Ch+East+North+Rad+CSV
Below the pick list is the table configuration you can edit this as
desired to add more columns to report in the table and to
customise the data and heading output.
You can add more Report Formats to establish your preferred
tabular display.
Step 12: Click on the
Create Table button and pick a
location to the right of the surface. An AutoCAD table
will be created in the drawing and will contain all of the
alignment details.
This is an AutoCAD table you can customise the colours,
layers, text size and text style by changing the AutoCAD Table
Style.
Curve Tables
Some designs require curve tables to be created. Curve tables
describe each curve on an alignment.
Step 13: Click on the Curve Table tab
Step 14: From the Report Format pick list, select Method 1
The Table Layout list allows you to select different parameters of
the curve to display. A number of standard arc setout methods
are included and can be included in a curve table.
You can create one table for all the curves, or separate curve
tables at each curve along the alignment.
Step 15: Click on the
Create Table button AutoCAD tables
will be inserted at the start of each curve, as well as a
block describing the method 1 curve setout parameters.
Move the tables where you want them clicking on the
update the tables where you have relocated them.
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Roads
So far weve worked on building the horizontal geometry for creation of roads and
intersections. The next step is to take the 2D plan layout geometry (the
alignments) and turn them into Strings, with road cross sections assigned.
A String is an object that contains vertical geometry and (optionally) cross
section geometry. It uses an alignment for horizontal geometry control. Cross
sections are calculated at user defined intervals and at geometry points along
the alignment cross sections are joined together to form surface
models.
A Road is a particular type of String as well as having its own vertical geometry and cross sections
assigned at each sampled section, when one Road String meets another, or two Road Strings cross each
other, they will share levels (elevations) where they intersect. In all cases of intersecting Roads, there is a
Main Road and a Side Road. The Main Road does not get adjusted through the intersection zone;
however the Side Road String vertical grading will adjust to adopt the design of the Main Road cross
section, normally between the left and right edges of the Main Road. The cross section Code that is used
to define the edge of Main Roads is controllable by you the default is to look for the LEB and REB codes
on the Main Road cross sections.
Create/Edit Section.
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The Template Editor form will now display. The Template Editor consists of:
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Road Creation
Step 8: From the Ribbon, click on Roads
Create/Edit Road.
Step 9: At the prompt, pick the Delawn alignment in the drawing. The
Add Roads form displays:
Step 10: Set the Template to Metric Road 6m SM and click on
Create/Update.
In the drawing, the road linework will immediately display, representing
the extrusion of the cross sections along the String vertical grading and
the alignment horizontal geometry.
Note: The colours of the linework can controlled from the ribbon command Roads
>
The Vertical Grading Editor Window will also display. The Vertical
Grading Editor provides a comprehensive set of tools for designing the
string vertical grading. Create/delete IPs, set IP levels/grades and assign
vertical curves from the Vertical Grading Editor interface.
As well as managing the string vertical grading, the Vertical Grading
Editor also allows the user to open cross section windows to review the
cross sections as well as allowing cross sections to be edited.
The Design Data form allows you to fully customise your cross sections
along your string, and can be accessed from the Vertical Grading Editor
or directly from the Ribbon.
Vertical Grading
A view of the initial design and layout is shown below:
Move the Vertical Grading Editor (VGE) window where you want in the drawing and resize the window to
suite. Note that the software has applied an automatic best fit design, creating multiple IPs inclusive of
vertical curves. You are encouraged to edit the vertical design.
As the design changes, the linework in the drawing will update.
Step 11: In the Vertical Grading Editor, click on the
Delete IP button up the top, near the left.
Step 12: Click in the display window of the Vertical Grading Editor at around chainage 150 the vertical
IP is removed and the design updated.
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and
) will create
The
Raise Lower All IPs icon allows you to set a cut/fill volume outcome once you click OK the
software raises and lowers the string to achieve the required volume result.
Note: Use the middle scroll button to zoom and pan in the Vertical Grading Editor display window. Roll the middle
mouse to zoom and hold it down to pan.
There are many more IP editing tools hover over each item to read what it does.
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The left side panel lists all the aspects of the cross section that can be edited anything with a + next to it
can be expanded to show the inputs/edits assigned.
Step 22: Expand Templates and click on the template entry the details show on the right. The Metric
6m SM Template is applied for the full length of the alignment.
You could completely change your cross sections by picking a different Template and clicking to apply the
changes.
The
Add Entry button is used to add more controls this allows you to change Templates along the
Road string.
The Variations section allows you to edit your cross sections on a code-by-code basis. With the
Variations controls you apply the following edits, and more:
- Delete a Code over a chainage range
- Insert a new Code over a chainage range
- Vary the width and/or slope of a Code over a chainage range
- Set the offset of a Code to match a selected alignment
- Set the offset and level of a Code to match a selected String
The Batters section allows you to override the batter conditions anywhere along the Road string.
Step 23: Close the Design Data Form window by clicking on the X at the top right of the form.
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Surface Creation
As well as creating a surface for the current String, you can create an Automatic Road Network Surface
model this type of surface model automatically includes the Road, Kerb Return, Cul-de-sac and Knuckle
Strings in one trimmed surface model. To set this type of surface up:
Step 1: From the Ribbon, click on Roads
is automatically created.
Quick Volumes
At any time during the design of any String, you can extract a quick volume summary of your string
design.
Step 1: From the VGE, click on the button
Compute Volume Summary Report. A text file will
display with summary volumes for the String.
Step 2: Close the VGE window for Delawn by clicking on the OK button.
Long Sections
Step 1: From the Ribbon, click on Roads
Long Section. Click on the Delawn alignment in the
drawing.
Step 2: In the Select Sections to Plot form, click on Selected Sampled Sections.
A preview long section displays in a new Layout and a form displays for you to edit and manage the
display of your long section. From here you can set up the layers, scales and assign a title block. You
can also fully customise the data displayed on the long section and in the rows at the bottom.
Saving styles provides a quick means of recalling long section output displays, ready for immediate
plotting output.
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Cross Sections
Step 5: From the Ribbon, click on Roads
Cross Sections. Click on the
Delawn alignment in the drawing.
Step 6: In the Select Sections to Plot form,
click on Selected Sampled Sections.
Step 7: Click on Load Style, select the style
QS A1 Title and click OK. The cross
section presentation will immediately
update.
Step 8: Click on Plot to Layout to create new
AutoCAD Layouts in the drawing the
cross sections will span multiple
sheets (layouts) as required.
Setout
Step 9: From the Ribbon, click on
Roads
Multi Object
Setout.
Step 10: Click OK at the next form to
accept the name for the
setout.
Step 11: Click on
Load Style. Pick
CL Code - P (no circle) dwg
+ PENZD table.setOutStyle
and click OK. This will
establish some Settings
output controls
Step 12: From the Object and Code
Select tab, tick the
Off
buttons for the Kerbs and
Cul-de-sacs so we just set
out the Road centrelines.
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You can pre-set which sampled cross sections are used in the creation of setout points. By default, the
Roads will setout every sampled section its often preferred to limit this to the same sampling as the
cross sections.
Step 13: In the Objects to Set Out list, click on Delawn, then
click on the
Edit button.
Step 14: In the Setout Spacing along Chainage, use the pick
list to set the spacings to Section Plots. This sets the
setout spacings to match the cross section plot
sampling.
You can also set a starting point number for each Road.
Step 15: Click OK.
Step 16: Redo the above three Steps to set the setout spacings
to Section Plots for the following Roads:
a. Marin
b. Stawell
c. Sydney
From the Setout form, click on the Create Setout button.
At the prompts, click on screen to set locations for
the tables.
Point number text will be displayed in the drawing
and AutoCAD tables of the setout will be displayed
in the drawing.
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Stawell Street and Sydney Street both contain IPs at the start of each String, with the IPs describing the
cross section of the intersecting main Road. Stawell Street also has IPs midway along that describe the
cross section of Sydney Street where it crosses Stawell Street.
Move Sydney Road up
and down by editing the
IP closest to the vertical
red line located around
chainage 80 the vertical
grading of Stawell Street
will immediately update to
match the new cross
section of Sydney Street.
Automatic vertical curves
have been created either
side of the intersection
you edit these when you
create or resample the
road cross sections (they are not editable in the VGE window).
Intersection connectivity is automatic.
The surface will rebuild as the vertical grading of any string is edited its now time to create kerb returns.
Step 22: Close all open VGE windows.
Kerb Returns
Kerb Return Strings are a special type of String as well as supporting a vertical grading design and
cross sections, kerb return strings understand that they should connect to two Road strings, specifically to
particular Codes on the road strings. By default, these Codes are LEB and REB (representing left edge of
road and right edge of road).
Step 1: From the Ribbon, click on Roads
Kerb Return and click on the northern side of the
intersection between Delawn Street and
Sydney Street.
Step 2: From the Single Arc tab, type 12 for
the Radius
Step 3: Click on the button Create/Update
Alignment
In the drawing, a new kerb alignment is created
as well as a Kerb String the intersection is
automatically remodelled to include the removal
of overlapping Codes from the Main and Side
Roads and the surface rebuilt.
The cross section for the kerb return string is
automatically constructed from the matching
Codes on the Main and Side Road cross sections
when these codes are dissimilar, users can
specify a Template for the kerb return cross
sections.
Step 4: If desired, change the Radius to 15 and
click on Create/Update Alignment.
The kerb return updates both the
horizontal alignment as well as the
String vertical grading.
Step 5: Click on Display Vertical Grading, click OK on a message if it displays.
Step 6: Click Close to close the Kerb Definition form.
The Vertical Grading of the Kerb Return will display. The incoming IPs and outgoing IPs from the kerb
return are matched to the Road cross section Code levels.
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Cul-de-sacs
Cul-de-sac Strings are a special type of String as well as supporting a vertical grading design and cross
sections, cul-de-sac strings understand that they should connect to the start or end of a Road string,
specifically to particular Codes on the road strings.
Step 1: From the Ribbon, click on
Roads
Cul-de-sac and
press [Enter] at the
command prompt this will
initiate the process for
creating a new Cul-de-sac
Step 2: Fill in the following:
- Cul-de-sac Name: MarinCDS
- Incoming Road: Marin
- Match to Code: EB
- Start Chainage: 190
- Radius 1: 15
- Radius 2: 10
- Radius 3: 15
Step 3: Click on the Create/Update
Alignment button.
The alignment creates in the drawing.
Now to establish the vertical grading controls and
the modelling controls.
Step 4: Click on the Vertical Grading Controls
button to display the vertical grading
design controls.
Step 5: For the Cul-de-sac Template pick Auto
Step 6: Click on the button Display Vertical
Control the VGE for the MarinCDS
String will display
Step 7: Click on Close to close the cul-de-sac
form.
The cul-de-sac VGE shows the incoming and
outgoing Road levels along the edge of the Road
you get to design the internal IPs and levels.
Note: The Transfer Levels options allow you to set
automatic IPs to be included in the cul-de-sac vertical
grading, with the elevations being calculated using the
road crossfalls.
The Surface
automatically
rebuilds to include
the cul-de-sac
design.
Note: Use the Cul-desac command to edit
the cul-de-sac
horizontal and vertical
geometry.
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Volume Reports
You can generate volume reports for each String, as well as a summary volume report across the entire
road network (this includes trimming of the roads and inclusion of the kerb returns, cul-de-sacs and
knuckles)
Step 1: From the Ribbon, click on Roads
Volumes and select Delawn in the drawing.
Step 2: From the Volume Calculations form, set the following:
a. Road Selection: Single Road
b. Road: Delawn
c. Tick ON the Trim Intersections option
d. Tick ON Subgrade by Material Totals
e. Tick ON Section by Section Report for Bulk Earthworks
f. Tick Off other options
Step 3: Click on Create Report. A text file is created with the volume
outputs, calculated section-by-section. A summary is provided at
the bottom
You can generate a total volume output report by changing the inputs in the
Volume Calculations form
Step 4: From the Ribbon, click on Roads
Volumes and select
Delawn in the drawing.
Step 5: From the Volume Calculations form, set the following:
a. Road Selection: All Roads
b. Tick ON the Trim Intersections option
Step 6: Click on Create Report.
Grading
Road design is great for designing linear objects where a typical cross section satisfies most constraints.
There are times however where this is not suitable, for unusual shapes such as buildings, detention
basins, ovals and the like.
One powerful tool to quickly design these types of elements is to create a Grading String. Grading strings
provide the following benefits:
Grading Strings are created directly from polylines, and their horizontal, vertical and cross
sectional geometry is updated automatically when the polyline is edited (grip edited or otherwise)
Grading Strings contain cross sections that automatically trim internal bends. External bends can
apply either a chamfer, radial or mitred join.
Grading Strings can be edited vertically via a grid view editing window - IP's created or edited in
the grid view automatically update the Vertical Grading Editor, and vice versa
Grading String surfaces can be set to infill internal areas
A Template is applied around the Grading String to define typical offsets to features and to set the initial
batter conditions.
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Building Pad
A polyline exits in the drawing, north-west of the Perth and Delawn alignments. This closed polyline,
without any elevation, represents the extent of the building pad needed for the proposed building. This
polyline has been drawn in a clockwise direction, so we need to apply a simple 1:2 batter on the left side
and create a flat infill on the interior area.
Step 1: From the ribbon, click Roads
Create
Grading, and then select the polyline.
You can also find it on the Surfaces ribbon tab.
Step 2: Fill in the form:
Name: Building Pad
Template: Batter 1:2 left [Grading]
Target Surface: NS
Initial Elevation: 451.0
Step 3: Select the Create/Update button the batters are formed and contours appear. A surface has
been created called GR-Building Pad.
The form now has two (2) extra tabs (Vertical Grading and Breaklines) and an extra button Open
VGE.
As the Infill Interior Area was left ticked, it has created the infill area. To see this, open the edit
the surface.
Step 4: Click on the Surface Manager
next to Mesh.
, change to the Outputs tab, and then add a tick under Draw,
On the Vertical Grading tab, you will find a grid view of the vertical design information. Details can be
entered directly into this grid view or buttons are provided to add, adjust or delete IPs as well.
The Breaklines tab provides you with the power to force triangulation across the grading string. This
functionality will not be explored in this manual.
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The grading created along this polyline can be seen and edited in the same VGE used for Road Design.
So vertical IPs can be added, changed or deleted in exactly the same no new functions to learn.
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Detention Basin
A similar approach can be applied to a detention basin.
There is another polyline on the eastern side of Delawn St, which has been drawn in an anti-clockwise
direction. So it doesnt matter which way the polyline is drawn, a grading object can still be applied. We
will create a new template on the fly when creating the grading.
As can be seen from the image on the left, the major contour line running through the middle of the basin
is 445, so lets use this as the starting level. The steps are the similar to the Building Pad:
Step 1: From the ribbon, click Roads
Create Grading, and then select the polyline.
Step 2: Fill in the form:
Name: Detention Basin
Target Surface: NS
Initial Elevation: 445.0
Step 3: For the Template, click on the Pencil button to open the Template Editor, again this is same editor
used to create templates for roads. To create a new template, click Template Options, then
select Create New Template in the Local Library, pick OK and name it Basin and pick OK.
Step 4: Enter the values as shown on the right side only.
Leg 1: Distance = 4.0, Vertical = 2.0, Plot = Y, Code = RTB1
Leg 2: Distance = 3.0, Grade = 3.0, Plot = Y, Code = RTB2
Then create a Right Side batter condition of Slope Batters, 1:2 for Cut and Fill.
It should like this when complete; image has Show in Fill condition set.
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Step 6: Change to the Vertical Grading tab on the Grading form and click
will add the polyline vertices into the Grid view above.
on
Use Edit Grading to open the Grading form. Edit Grading can be found by
clicking on the Create Grading drop down. You will also find a Delete Grading
option there as well.
Now that these grading surfaces have been created, doesnt mean they are isolated design objects that
cant be used anywhere else. They can be easily worked into other surfaces. This can be achieved by 3
different methods:
1) On the Grading Form, there is a tick box that adds the grading surface into the roads TotalModel.
The best method where it doesnt overlap or conflict with any road objects or batter extents.
2) A MegaTIN can be created. A MegaTIN, allows any grading surface to be
stacked on top of another larger surface, enabling this MegaTIN to be used as
the target surface for further design work (roads or other gradings)
3) The Grading Strings generated can be used in the construction of a user
defined model when created via Model Builder.
The MegaTIN and Model Builder functions are available on the Surfaces and Road ribbon tabs.
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Pipes - Drainage
Quickly create, edit and plot pipe networks using ARD.
ARD Pipes supports the creation and layout of stormwater
drainage pipes (Rational Method), sewer pipes, service
obstruction and general pipe networks.
Plotting and report outputs are made directly into the drawing,
so revision control is made simple.
Like Roads, the pipes module supports the display of multiple
branches along any network in separate design windows (pipe
Vertical Grading Editor windows) from which you can readily
edit pipe sizes, invert/obvert levels, insert and delete pits.
Lets have a look a creating a quick drainage network from
some polylines in the drawing.
Step 1: In the drawing command line, type LAYON and press [Enter].
All layers will turn on there are layers in the
drawing representing pipe and pit locations.
ARD can create pipes and pits directly from
polylines, converting each polyline vertex into a
pit.
Note the following layers in the drawing:
- PIPES-DRAINAGE
This layer contains the polylines that represent
the desired locations for pipes and pits.
Pipe Settings
There a number of pipe settings that control the list of pits, pipes, design controls of cover and slope,
minimum and maximum flow velocities, freeboard, rainfall locations, design storm ARIs and more. Lets
have a look at some of the critical items for drainage design:
Step 2: From the Ribbon, click on Pipes
Active Network
Step 3: From the General Tab then click on the Defaults Tab, set the Design Surface to be
TotalModel. Top of pit levels are initially set to match the design surface
Step 4: Click on the Pipe Tables tab and review the list of Pipes pipes are set by Pipe Class and Pipe
Type. The pipe type list allows the user to type in pipe IDs, set pipe sizes and other geometric
and hydraulic controls.
Step 5: Click on the Drainage Tab then click on the
Drainage Settings tab. Items to confirm/edit
include:
a. Location: Melbourne
b. Minor Frequency: 10yr ARI
c. HGL Metho: Pipe Partial Water Level
d. Pipe Flow Time Velocity: Flow/Part Area
of Pipe
e. Automatic Bypass to next Pit: Tick ON
Step 6: Click on the IFD TablesTab. Here is where you
can create new IFD tables to use.
Step 7: Click on the Pit Tables tab. Here you can set
up Pit Classes and Pit Types for each Pit Type
you establish the performance of the pit (eg: for
on-grade pits, you specify gutter flow vs inflow)
Step 8: Click on the Services Tab here you create
service obstruction types and set the pipe size/shape and the clearances required around the
pipe
Step 9: Click OK to save and exit the settings.
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Unless you tell it not to, when you make the pipes
and pits into a network and assign/edit catchments,
ARD will automatically resize the pipes and change
the invert levels to achieve the required design
hydraulic grade line (HGL).
Lets have a quick look at one of the editing tools.
Step 14: From the Ribbon, click on Pipes
Edit Pit Properties.
Step 15: At the prompt, click on Pit number
3 (located at the head of the court
bowl)
Step 16: In the Pit Properties form, not the
icons on the left allowing control of:
a. Pit location in plan
b. Top of pit level
c. Surcharge level
d. Pipe constraints
e. Bottom of pit level
If desired, set the pit location based on the
court bowl. The process is:
Step 17: Next to Road Name at the top
right, click on the
Pick icon.
Pick the cul-de-sac alignment in
the drawing, then pick for the
chainage
Step 18: In the Pit Location frame, click on
From Road. Pick LTK as the Code and type in 0.5 as the Offset from Code.
Step 19: Click OK to exit the form the pit location (and optionally levels) is adjusted).
Now the plan location of the pit is set to be a fixed offset from the cul-de-sac design.
Other useful edits to review include
Move Pit,
Insert Pit.
Assigning Catchments
Skip this step if you are doing a general pipe design, or you know your pipe sizes and levels.
Stormwater catchments can be created from polylines in the drawing or can be assigned areas directly.
You set the parameters of the catchment.
Step 1: From the Ribbon, click on Pipes
Catchment Area.
Step 2: At the prompt, click on the leftmost upstream pit (pit number 1)
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Creating a Network
Currently you have a collection of connected pipes and pits. You now need to make them into a Network
by specifying a single downstream (outlet) pit and assigning the outlet water level. Once this is done,
ARD will route the flows through the network and determine the HGL outputs and assign pipe sizes and
levels to deal with the Minor Frequency storm.
Step 1: From the Ribbon, click on Pipes
Create/Update Network.
Step 2: At the prompt, select the most eastern (rightmost) pit (pit 8) as the downstream outlet pit
Step 3: In the Create Drainage Network form, type in Drainage 1 for the network name and then click
OK.
Step 4: For the Downstream Water Level select Top of Pipe and click OK.
The drainage network is now formed the pits will be circled and directional flow arrows will be presented
on each pipe, with the directions pointing toward the outlet.
The pipes and pits have now been designed based on the catchments and can be reviewed in the pipe
Vertical Grading Editor (VGE) windows.
Branch Sequencing
Its important to tell ARD how you want to plot the pipe runs (in what order) to do this you apply Branch
Sequencing. After you have sequenced the network you can also renumber the pits based on the branch
numbers/names.
Step 5: From the Ribbon, click on Pipes
Branch Sequence.
Step 6: At the prompt, select a pipe on the network and click OK to confirm the selection.
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insert pits,
There are more pipe and pit editing tools hover over each item to read what it does.
Reports
In the software you can develop your own reports to generate
tables you pick the property to report in each column, as well as
set the heading and column widths. An AutoCAD table is created
in the drawing there is a command line entry to force all tables
to update after you make a change to the network.
Step 3: From the Ribbon, click on Pipes
General. Click
on one of the pipes you created and then click OK to
confirm the selection.
Step 4: From the Report Format pick box, select Pit Schedule
Pit Families. The report settings list will update
each line is setting a column to display in the table
output.
Step 5: Click on the AutoCAD Table button and select a
location in the drawing. An AutoCAD table will be
created.
Step 6: Repeat the above two steps to make the following
reports:
a. Report Format: Drainage HGL Report
b. Report Format: Drainage Pipe Report
c. Report Format: Drainage Pit Report
Note: When you elect to plot a report that
contains data that is dependent on the storm
frequency (ARI), you will be prompted to select
the storm frequency/ies to output. A table will be
created for each frequency.
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Trench Volumes
Step 7: From the Ribbon, click on Pipes
Volumes. Click on one of the
pipes you created and then click OK to confirm the selection.
Step 8: Accept the default Subgrade Depth (this accounts for pipes that run
under the road you only backfill to the underside of the Road
pavement) and click OK.
A text report is created, listing the volume of material removed and backfilled.
At the bottom of the report is a summary of the volumes as well as a summary
of the pipes used.
Note: You can change the backfill conditions for the pipes by using the
Backfill Lengths command.
Set Pipe
Plan Drafting
Step 9: From the Ribbon, click on Pipes
Label Network. Click on one of the pipes you created
and then click OK to confirm the selection.
Step 10: Accept the defaults in the Select Plot Items in Plan form and click OK.
Text is added at each pit and along each pipe.
Data Share
You can share your network (including catchments and bypass) geometry to Watercom Drains or PC
Drains directly. With Watercom Drains there is also the capacity to receive the results from the Drains
analysis and plot the pipe, pit and HGL changes using ARD Pipes.
Service Obstructions
Crossing services are a significant design consideration in any pipe network. In ARD, you create service
pipe networks directly from polylines these will show up on your drainage,
sewer and other service obstruction networks when viewed in the Pipe
Vertical Grading Editor the pipes are colour discriminated to highlight
clashes and insufficient pipe clearances
Step 1: From the Ribbon, click on Pipes
Service Pipes/Pits with
Levels.
Step 2: In the Create Service with Levels form, set the following:
a. Service Type: Gas 225
b. Name: Gas-225
c. Depth from Surface (mm): 1000
Step 3: Click OK. At the command prompt, select the polyline on layer Pipe-Service (the polyline
crosses the last pipe in the network).
Step 4: In the Edit Pipe Run form, you can set the levels of
each polyline segment to establish pipe levels along
the service network.
Step 5: Accept the defaults and click OK.
A service obstruction network will be created. This can be
viewed and edited in the Pipe Vertical Grading Editor.
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Pipes - Sewer
Sewer pipe design processes parallel those of drainage the process for creating
pipes and pits, editing pipes and pits, creating networks, editing in the Pipe Vertical
Grading Editor and plotting are the same.
Where sewer differs from drainage is in regards to lot control (house connections) for
sewer, the levels of the sewer mains is driven by the lowest connection levels from
adjoining properties.
Step 1: ARD can create pipes and pits directly from polylines, converting each
polyline vertex into a pit.
Note the following layers in the drawing:
- PIPES-SEWER polyline representing the desired location for pipes and pits
- LOTS-SEWER closed polylines for each property
This layer contains the polylines that represent the desired locations for pipes and pits.
Pipe Settings
There are specific settings for Sewer design these relate to pit drop controls, pipe slop controls and
house connection controls.
Step 2: From the Ribbon, click on Pipes
Active Network
Step 3: Click on the Sewer Tab then click on the House
Connections Tab. You can make new House
Connections and set the slope, cover and drop
behaviour of the house connection this is used to
establish the initial house connection levels and set the
sewer pipe levels.
Step 4: Click on the Design Tables tab. The Direction Change
Pit Drops sets the pit drops to be assigned based on
the direction change through a pit. The Junction Pit
Drops tab sets the pit drops to apply at junctions, based
on the worst angle change for incoming pipes.
Step 5: Click OK to save and exit the settings.
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As discussed in the Drainage Pipes exercises, a range of editing tools are included to enable you to
control the position, types, sizes and levels of pipes and pits. Some key editing tools include
Edit Pit
Properties,
Move Pit,
Edit Pipe Properties and
Insert Pit.
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Step 21: Find Lot 10 in the drawing it is located at the northern end of the network, on the horizontally
branching pipe
Step 22: From the Ribbon, click on Pipes
House Connection
Step 23: In the Create House Connections form, set the following:
a. Pipe Class: P-PVC
b. Pipe Type: 90
c. House Connection Type: DN 100
Step 24: Click Select House Polyline at DOWNSTREAM End. In the
drawing, pick the polyline that runs around the western edge of lot
10 and hits the sewer line (pipe -16-). Click on the polyline nearer
to the sewer line.
Step 25: Next, give the house connection a name and
(optionally) at lot nubmer and lot area. Set the
following:
a. Name: HC-10
b. Lot Number: 10
c. Lot Area: 500
Step 26:
Click OK to create the house connection.
A house connection network is created you can edit this in
the Pipe VGE as desired (or to review the assigned levels)
Step 27: Repeat the above steps to create a House
Connection network for Lot 9, and more as
desired.
Creating a Network
Step 12: From the Ribbon, click on Pipes
Create/Update Network.
Step 13: At the prompt, select the most north eastern (rightmost) pit (pit 21) as the downstream outlet pit
Step 14: In the Create Drainage Network form, type in Sewer 1 for the network name, set the Sewer
Type to Default and then click OK.
The sewer network is now formed
Branch Sequencing
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Step 17: In the Pipe Network Branch Sequencing form, click on Auto Sequence Branches and click OK
Step 18: From the Ribbon, click on Pipes
Network Labelling Settings.
Step 19: From the Network Labelling Settings form, set the following:
a. Network Labelling Style: MH Line Number/ Pit Number
b. Defaults for Pipe Labels and Pit Labels: type a hyphen (-) in the Middle cell
Step 20: Click OK to apply the adjusted pipe and pit labels based on the branch sequencing. Pits will be
numbered MH Branch#-Pit#.
Note: You can make your own labelling style for the pits.
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Reports
In the software you can develop your own reports to generate tables you pick the property to report in
each column, as well as set the heading and column widths. An AutoCAD table is created in the drawing
there is a command line entry to force all tables to update after you make a change to the network.
Step 13: From the Ribbon, click on Pipes
General. Click on one of the pipes you created and then
click OK to confirm the selection.
Step 14: From the Report Format pick box, select Sewer Pit Schedule. Click on the AutoCAD Table
button and select a location in the drawing. An AutoCAD table will be created.
There is a specific report for the house connections.
Step 15: From the Ribbon, click on Pipes
Trench Volumes
Step 16: From the Ribbon, click on Pipes
Volumes. Click on one of the pipes you created and
then click OK to confirm the selection.
Step 17: Accept the default Subgrade Depth and click OK.
A text report is created, listing the volume of material removed and backfilled. At the bottom of the report
is a summary of the volumes as well as a summary of the pipes used.
Plan Drafting
As well as labelling the pipes and pits, as was done with the Drainage Network, you can also label the
house connections.
Step 18: From the Ribbon, click on Pipes
Label House Connections. Click on one of the pipes
you created and then click OK to confirm the selection.
HEC-RAS Support
You can generate sections in ARD and pass them to HEC-RAS. At the time of passing across the data
you can include ineffective areas, houses and skewed sections. HEC-RAS results can be imported back
into the drawing as 3D polylines (flooding extents) and a water surface can be created.
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