LEVELLING

Levelling

• Branch of surveying which deals with the measurement in

vertical plane.

• Science of finding level difference between points.

• Establishing points at a given elevation.

Uses of levelling

• Level difference

• Reduced level/ Elevation of points

• Ground profile

• Preparation of contour maps

• Establishing levels
Basic Terms used in Levelling

1. Level surface:

• A curved surface parallel to mean spheroidal shape of

earth.

• E.g.: surface of still water

• At level surface, every points will have same elevation.

• At any point on level surface, plumb line will be

perpendicular to the surface.

• It is a curved surface on which, each point is perpendicular

to the direction of gravity at that point.

2. Level line:

• Curved line lying on level surface.

• It is also normal to plumb line at all points.

Horizontal surface:

• A plane surface tangential to level surface at a given point.

• Each points will have different elevation on horizontal

surface.

• Plumb line will be perpendicular to horizontal surface only at

one point (point on level surface).

4. Horizontal line:

• A line lying on horizontal surface and tangential to level

surface.

5. Plumb line/ Vertical line:

• An imaginary line joining the point considered with the

centre of the earth.

• It is the line normal to level line at a point.

6. Datum:

• A level surface taken as reference with respect to which

elevation of other points are calculated.

• Most commonly adopted datum: Mean Sea Level (MSL)

7. Mean Sea Level (MSL):

 • Average height of sea level observed for all stages of tides

are for a period of 19 years.

• MSL at Mumbai is the most commonly adopted MSL in India.

• Earlier, MSL at Karachi was adopted.

8. Reduced level/ Elevation/ Spot level/ Altitude:

• Height of a point above or below datum

9. Bench mark:

• It is a fixed point of known elevation with respect to which

elevation of other points are found out.

• Usually adopted elevation of benchmark – 100.000 m

Bench mark
Types of Bench mark:

1. Great Trigonometrical Survey (GTS) Benchmark:

• Established by Survey of India with highest precision at

various location throughout India w.r.t. MSL at Mumbai.

• It is a concrete pedestal

with a brass plate on which

the elevation is noted.

• Established at an interval of

100 km all over India.

2. Permanent Benchmark:

• It is established by survey

department of state at

various permanent

locations within the state

such as plinth level of govt. buildings, platform level of

railway station etc.

• Established w.r.t. GTS benchmark at an interval of 10 km.

3. Temporary Benchmark:
 • It is established at the end of a day’s work at some nearly

permanent object or points, so that levelling may be

continued from that point on the next day.

4. Arbitrary Benchmark:

• It is used for simple engineering works and for levelling in

small areas.

• Elevation of any permanent point may be chosen and its

elevation arbitrarily assumed.

• These elevation does not refer to any fixed data.

Methods of Levelling

1. Barometric levelling:

• Level difference is calculated based on difference in

atmospheric pressure at the two points.

• Barometer is used.

• Relatively inaccurate

• Used only for reconnaissance survey/ exploratory survey.

2. Hypsometric levelling:

• Level difference is calculated based on difference in boiling

point at the two points.

 • Thermometer is used

Methods 1 and 2 can be called as Approximate method.

3. Direct levelling/ Spirit levelling:

• A horizontal line of sight is established with respect to

which level difference between points is found out.

• E.g.: using dumpy level

• Benchmark is established in spirit levelling.

4. Indirect levelling/ Trigonometric levelling:

• The level difference between points is found out indirectly

by measuring vertical angles and horizontal distances.

The principle of levelling is, to obtain horizontal line of sight.

Levelling Instruments

1. Levelling staff:

• Used to determine the amount by

which a point is above or below the

horizontal line of sight.

• It is a straight rectangular rod having

graduations, foot of the staff

representing zero reading.

 • Least count is 0.005 m (5 mm)

Types of levelling staffs:

a. Self-reading staff

b. Target staff

a. Self reading staff

• Reading is taken by instrument man through telescope.

• Gives quick reading

• It is of three types:

i. Solid staff

• Made of well seasoned wood or metal.

• Length: Usually 2 m or 3 m (10 ft)

• Graduations are marked in English units/ metric units

ii. Folding staff

• Made of well seasoned timber

• It is made up of two pieces each 2 m long having

a hinge at the middle.

• Length: 4 m (2 m + 2 m)
iii. Telescopic staff

• Commonly used solid staff and is telescopic in nature

• Usually 3 pieces/ slides are there, one outside and 2 outside.

• Length: 4 m or 5 m

• Length of Metric telescopic staff = 4 m (L. C. = 0.005 m)

 b. Target staff

• Reading is taken by staff man.

• Length: 13 ft (consists of 2 pieces with lower piece of length

7 ft and upper piece of length 6 ft)

• Least count = 0.001 ft

• Has a moving circular target divided into 4 quadrants.

• Opposite quadrants are painted red and white.

• Used when distance is more than 100 m.

• It also consists of a vernier scale for accurate

measurements.

• More accurate than telescopic and other self reading staff.

Note:

• For accurate purpose, Invar levelling

staff can be used.

• Sopwith staff is a type of self reading

staff (precisely Telescopic staff)

2. Level:

• An instrument giving horizontal line of sight and magnifying

the readings observed.
Types of Level

• Dumpy Level

• Wye level/ Y Level

• Cook’s Reversible Level

• Cushing’s Level

• Tilting Level

• Auto Level/ Self aligning level

• Digital Level / Electronic Level

1. Dumpy level

• Designed by Gravatt

• Simple, compact and stable

• Commonly used

• Telescope is rigidly fixed to support.

• Not reversible

• Permanent adjustment last

for long duration

• Requires few permanent

adjustments

• More preferred when many

readings are to be taken from a single setting of instrument.

2. Wye level/ Y level

• Telescope is supported on a Y – shaped support.

• Reversible

• Not rigid

• Consists of many loose and

open parts.

• Permanent adjustments are easy but does not lasts for long

duration.

3. Cooke’s Reversible level

• Rigid

• Reversible (Can be removed from its socket and reversed).

• Combines good features of dumpy level and Y level.

4. Cushing’s level

• Rigid

• Reversible

• Eyepiece and objective can be interchanged to reverse the

telescope.
5. Tilting level

• Used for quick levelling

• Used for accurate works

• Consists of a tilt screw

which can be used for fine adjustments of telescope , so

accurate levelling can be done.

• Only type of level in which vertical axis need not be

perpendicular to LOS.

6. Auto level/ Self aligning level

• It is a high speed instrument

• Consists of an internal compensator

• If the instrument is approximately levelled, the internal

compensator mechanism automatically makes the line of

sight horizontal.

• It must be levelled approximately 15’

to 30’ to allow compensator to work.

• Most commonly used nowadays

• Requires only 50% of time for levelling

compared to other instruments.

7. Digital level/ Electronic level

• Expensive

• A barcoded levelling staff is used

• Instrument takes the reading and displays it.

• It can be saved if needed.

Dumpy Level

1. Levelling Head

• It consists of 2 parallel plates called tribrach and trivet with

three foot screws in between.

• Adjust horizontality of LOS

2. Level tube

• Used as a reference for making line of sight horizontal

• Axis of bubble tube is the imaginary line tangential to

longitudinal curve of the tube at its middle.

3. Telescope

• It consist of two compound lenses – an objective and an

eyepiece with a diaphragm carrying cross hair mounted

in between, near the eyepiece.

Eyepiece

• It is a lens near the eye which is used by observer’s eye to

view the distant object.

• It contains magnifying glass which magnifies the observing

image and also the cross hairs of diaphragm.

• Plano-convex lenses - Ramsden eye-piece (Huygens – not

commonly used)
Objective

• It is a lens towards the object.

• It provides a real inverted image in front of the eye piece.

• Double convex lens

Focusing screw

• It is used to adjust the focus.

• The magnification of lens is managed by the focusing

screw.

Diaphragm

• Placed in front of the eye piece.

• It is the plane where the image of object falls when

focused.

• It holds horizontal and vertical cross hairs.

• Horizontal hair is used to read staff.

• Vertical hair helps to check the verticality of levelling staff.

Axis of bubble tube

• An imaginary line tangential to the longitudinal curve of

bubble tube at its centre.

 • It is horizontal when bubble tube is centered.

Axis of telescope

• Line joining the optical centre of object glass and centre of

eye piece.

Line of sight/ Line of collimation

• Line joining the intersection of cross-hairs and object glass

and its continuation.

Note: Line of sight is up to the staff and Line of collimation is

beyond staff.
The process of focusing telescope involves:

1. Focusing of eyepiece:

• The cross hairs are brought into the plane of distinct vision.

• Eye piece focusing depends on the power of eye of observer.

2. Focusing of objective: Bringing image of the object to the

plane of cross hair (staff reading)

The process of focusing the objective and eyepiece is together

called Elimination of parallax

Based on the method of focusing, telescopes are of 2 types:

1. Externally Focusing Telescope:

• Focusing is done by relative movement between an outer

tube and an inner tube, by using focusing screw.

• Brilliant images are formed.

2. Internally focusing telescope:

• Focusing is done by movement of an additional concave

lens located in between diaphragm and objective.

• Brilliancy of image is reduced.

Note:

As number of lens increases, brilliancy of image decreases.

Defects in Telescope

• Aberration: It is a defect of lens causing blurred and

coloured images.

1. Spherical aberration

• In a single convex lens having spherical surface, rays

passing through edges of the lens converge slightly

nearer the lens than those through the centre due to

spherical aberration.

• Caused by curvature of lens

• Leads in the formation of blurred

images.

3. Chromatic aberration – It occurs

due to dispersion of light by which

white light gets divided into its

component colours forming

coloured image. It is caused by the

material of lens.
Other defects includes:

• Coma

• Astigmatism etc.

Properties of a Telescope

• Achromatism: Absence of chromatic aberration

• Aplanatism: Absence of spherical aberration

• Compound lens: The combination of two lens

• The combination to avoid chromatic aberration is called

Achromatic combination.

• The combination to avoid spherical aberration is called

Aplanatic combination.

• Definition - Capability of telescope to produce sharp image

• Resolving Power – Power of a telescope to distinguish

objects separated by small angular distances.

Magnification – Process of enlarging the apparent size, not

physical size. It is proportional to the aperture, i.e., amount of light

entering the telescope.

𝑓𝑜𝑐𝑎𝑙 𝑙𝑒𝑛𝑔𝑡ℎ 𝑜𝑓 𝑜𝑏𝑗𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑣𝑒 𝑙𝑒𝑛𝑠

𝑀𝑎𝑔𝑛𝑖𝑓𝑖𝑐𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 =
𝑓𝑜𝑐𝑎𝑙 𝑙𝑒𝑛𝑔𝑡ℎ 𝑜𝑓 𝑒𝑦𝑒𝑝𝑖𝑒𝑐𝑒
 𝑎𝑛𝑔𝑙𝑒 𝑠𝑢𝑏𝑡𝑒𝑛𝑑𝑒𝑑 𝑎𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑒𝑦𝑒 𝑏𝑦 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑖𝑚𝑎𝑔𝑒
𝑀𝑎𝑔𝑛𝑖𝑓𝑖𝑐𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 =
𝑎𝑛𝑔𝑙𝑒 𝑠𝑢𝑏𝑡𝑒𝑛𝑑𝑒𝑑 𝑏𝑦 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑜𝑏𝑗𝑒𝑐𝑡

Brightness – Illumination or brilliancy of image

1 1
𝐵𝑟𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡𝑛𝑒𝑠𝑠 ∝ ( ) 𝐵𝑟𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡𝑛𝑒𝑠𝑠 ∝ ( )
𝑀𝑎𝑔𝑛𝑖𝑓𝑖𝑐𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛2 𝑛𝑜. 𝑜𝑓 𝑙𝑒𝑛𝑠𝑒𝑠

Size of field/ Field of view

• Circular area visible through a telescope.

• If zoomed, area is less, i.e., magnification increases when

area is less

1
• Size of field 𝛼
𝑚𝑎𝑔𝑛𝑖𝑓𝑖𝑐𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛

Temporary Adjustments in levelling

1. Setting up

2. Levelling up with the help of foot screws.

3. Elimination of Parallax – focusing eyepiece, focusing

objective

Note:

1. No centering is done because the instrument can be placed

any where between the points from where both those points

are visible.
 2. Parallax is a defect which is the movement of image in the

diaphragm due to relative movement of eye. It is a personal

error.

Permanent Adjustments

1. Adjustment of level tube:

Axis of level tube should be perpendicular to vertical axis of

instrument.

2. Adjustment of cross hair:

Horizontal cross hair should be perpendicular to vertical axis

of instrument.

3. Adjustments of line sight:

Line of sight of telescope should be parallel to axis of bubble

tube.

Terms used in Booking

Back sight (BS):

• Sights taken on a point of known elevation (benchmark).

• Also called plus sight.

• First entry in field book.

• First reading in a levelling work.

• First reading taken after setting up of instrument at a point.

Fore sight (FS):

• Last entry in field book

• Last reading in a levelling work.

 • Last reading taken from an instrument station before
shifting or at the end of survey.

• It is also called minus sight.

Intermediate sight (IS):

• Readings taken in between back sight and fore sight.

• Also called minus sight.

Change point/ turning point:

• Station points at which both back sight and fore sight are

taken.

• It indicates the shifting of instrument.

Height of instrument/ height of collimation:

• It is the reduced level or elevation of line of collimation with

respect to an assumed datum.

Station:

• It is the point where levelling staff is held

Methods of Booking

1. Height of collimation / Height of instrument method:

• Used for profile levelling, contouring and actual site work.

• Requires less calculations.

• Mistakes made in intermediate sight remains undetected.

• Faster and less tedious.

• ∑BS - ∑FS = Last RL - First RL

2. Rise and fall method:

• Used for differential levelling, fly levelling and check

levelling.

• Requires more calculations.

• Mistakes in intermediate sight can be easily detected

(Provides check for IS).

• More tedious and time consuming.

• ΣBS - ΣFS = Last RL- First RL= ΣRise – Σfall

Height of collimation or instrument Rise and fall method

method

HI = BMA + BS Previous reading – Present reading

= +ve (Rise)
RL of B = HI – IS
Previous reading – Present reading
RL of C = HI – FS
= -ve (Fall)

Check: ∑ 𝐁𝐒 - ∑ 𝐅𝐒 = Last RL – First RL RL of current point = RL at previous

point +/- Rise/ Fall

Check: ∑ 𝐁𝐒 - ∑ 𝐅𝐒 = ∑ 𝐑𝐢𝐬𝐞 - ∑ 𝐅𝐚𝐥𝐥 =

Last RL – First RL

Methods of spirit Levelling

1. Simple levelling

• Adopted when both stations are visible from single setup

of instrument.
 • Level is setup midway between the points.

• No change point.

2. Differential levelling/ Compound levelling/ Continuous

levelling

• To determine difference in elevation between two points

regardless of their location.

• This method is used when:

a. Level difference between two stations is very high.

b. Two stations are located far away.

c. Two stations are not intervisible due to any

intermediate obstruction. (E.g.: Building)

• Change points are taken.

• No intermediate sight is taken.

Two types of differential levelling are:

1. Fly levelling:

• It is used to establish a temporary benchmark at site

with respect to an existing benchmark roughly with

minimum change points.

• It is conducted when existing benchmark is very far

away from work station.

• It is also generally used for reconnaissance of the

area.

2. Check levelling:

• To check the accuracy of levelling work, level

difference between first and last station may be

found out using minimum number of change points.

3. Profile levelling/ Longitudinal levelling

• To determine elevation of points along a proposed centre

line to obtain actual ground surface profile.

• Mainly used in the case of sewer lines, canals, highway,

railway etc.
4. Cross sectioning:

• Levels are taken at points along sections in transverse

direction to calculate volume of earthwork.

5. Reciprocal levelling:

• It is used when it is not possible to keep the instrument

exactly midway between two points.

Correction for Curvature

• Due to curvature of

earth, staff

readings will be

more. As a result,

error will be +ve

and correction

will be –ve.
 d2
Curvature correction, Cc = -
2R

Cc = - 0.0785d2

Where Cc is in meters, d is the distance between instrument

and staff in km, R is radius of earth in km

Correction for Refraction

• As distance between instrument and staff increases, staff

reading decreases due to refraction.

• Error will be –ve and correction +ve

• In levelling, the error due to refraction is a compensating

error.

𝟏
• Correction for refraction is assumed as 𝐭𝐡 of curvature
𝟕

correction (only magnitude)

𝟏
Refraction correction, Cr = × Cc = + 0.0112 d2
𝟕

Combined Correction

• Combined correction = Cc + Cr

= - 0.0785 d2 + 0.0112 d2 = -

0.0673 d2

Combined correction = - 0.0673 d2

Note:

Due to curvature and combined effect,

• Objects will appear lower or smaller than they are.

• Staff reading increases.

Due to refraction effect,

• Objects will appear higher than they are.

• Staff reading decreases.

• Distance to visible horizon can be obtained by h = 0.0673

d2

where h is height of eye of observer above datum & d is distance

to visible horizon

Reciprocal Levelling

• It is adopted when:

a. Accurate level difference between two points is to be

found out.

b. It is not possible to keep the instrument exactly midway

between two staff stations ( levelling across river)

 • In this method, errors are eliminated by taking average of

two set of level differences observed from two stations near

the two staffs.

(𝐡𝐚 −𝐡𝐛)+(𝐡𝐚′ −𝐡𝐛′ )

True difference elevation, H =
𝟐

Reciprocal levelling eliminates following errors:

i. Error due to curvature

ii. Error due to refraction (partially eliminated)

iii. Error due to inclined line of sight

iv. Error due to permanent adjustments

Sensitivity/ Sensitiveness of Bubble tube

• Designated by radius of level tube.

• It is the angular value of one division marked on the tube.

• It is the amount by which horizontal axis has to be tilted to

cause the bubble to move from one graduation to another.

• Linear value of 1 division of bubble tube = 2 mm

• Radius of curvature of a bubble tube = 100 m

• Sensitiveness is measured by α, which is the angle

subtended by 1 division of bubble tube at its centre.

If α is low, the bubble tube will be highly sensitive.

If α is high, the sensitivity of bubble tube will be low.

∆𝑆 ∆𝑆
α= radian α= x 206265 sec
D nD

ΔS = change in staff reading

when bubble tilted to move 1

division

D = distance between

instrument and staff

n = no. of divisions moved by

the bubble
Sensitiveness can be increased by:

• Decreasing viscosity of liquid.

• Decreasing roughness of inner surface of glass/ increasing

smoothness.

• Increasing radius of bubble tube.

• Increasing internal radius of bubble tube.

• Increasing the diameter of tube.

• Increasing the length of bubble.

As temperature increases, volume increases and sensitivity

decreases.

Permissible closing error

Rough Levelling ± 100√K or ± 96√K

Ordinary Levelling ± 24√K

Accurate Levelling ± 12√K

Precise Levelling ± 6√K or ± 4√K

International Geodetic Survey ± 1√K

K – total distance in km
Human error in levelling

Staff not vertical

• If staff is held vertical, staff reading will be minimum.

• Staff reading increases when tilted in any direction.

• If staff is not held vertical, the RL calculated will be less than

the actual value.

Human error also include error in reading, error in levelling, error

in observation, improper temporary adjustment etc.

Instrumental error

• Permanent adjustment error

• Error in bubble tube, telescope etc.

• Sluggish bubble

• Movement of object slide etc…

Natural error

• Atmospheric refraction

• Wind vibration

• Settlement of tripod (Due to gravity)

• Effect of curvature of earth

 • As temperature increases, sensitivity decreases

Note: While levelling on a steep slope, it is preferred to setup the

instrument successively along Zig-zag line.