Corridor Target Surface

[bwavering333]

I am currently working on depressing a roadway, and therefore using retaining walls to match the existing grade.  For some spook reason I can get civil 3d to show both of the retaining walls on each side, but when I change the surface target for the retaining walls to either <none> or my existing surface, it either completly eliminates my retaining walls, or it only leaves me with just a partial as you can see from the two photos (No Surfaces Targeted, and Existing Surface Targeted).

What I am trying to do is to get the top of the outer retaining wall to match flush with the existing surface, if not atleast daylight up to the existing surface. If you look at the attachment Retaining Wall Targets, I have drawn in a red line to represent the existing surface, and arrows downward to show that the top of the retaining wall need to be at or below the existing surface. I have also attached a x-section that shows the retaining walls and I have drawn in the existing ground as I want it to look like if I were using the drive command.

Thanks for all the help!

[bwavering333]

Last Attachment

[sboon]

It's hard to be sure from the pictures, but have you cut a hole in your existing surface?  If your wall subassembly is targeting a surface then that surface has to exist at that testing point, where the wall sub is inserted into the corridor.

Steve
Please use the Accept as Solution or Kudo buttons when appropriate

[bwavering333]

The only issue with targeting my surface (when I dont have the hole) is that when I make the retaining walls target my existing surface, they make the specific insert marker from my cross section target that surface, then make it however tall I defined it over my surface.  My issue is that I want the top of the retaining wall to be at my surface, not go above the surface like it shows in the attachments I have added below, where I have the retaining wall target my existing surface.  If I make the target surface for my retaining wall to <none> then the retaining wall just doest show.  If you look at the previous attachment of my X-Section I drew in lines to show the existing ground and where the retaining walls should be. 

[jeff_rivers]

When I've done walls I've used a two-step process with two separate corridors.  The first corridor is just used to set the width of the roadway (and sidewalk if present) in order to get the toe of the wall, and then it seeks EG at the desired wall batter, to develop an EG profile at the proposed top of the wall. 

I make a profile view of the EG profile at the top of the wall, then develop the proposed top-of-wall profile.  Since most of our walls are some sort of block wall, I make the proposed profile following the actual tops of the top course of the blocks. 

Then I build the actual roadway corridor and set all the road / sidewalk widths to the correct targets, and set the prop wall to target the prop wall profile generated earlier.  I can then adjust that prop wall profile as needed, and the daylight above the top of the wall adjusts accordingly.    Are you using a proposed profile to control the top of your wall, or is it just seeking EG? 

[bwavering333]

Okay I kind of understand what you are talking about.  I will give it a shot with just a simple corridor to play around with it first.  As for my profile I have an EG profile for my roadway that Civil 3D made based on surface and alignment, then I created my proposed roadway profile and that is what I am using for my assemblies.  I only have one assembly that I use for the entire roadway (median, lanes, C&G, sidewalk, retaining walls, etc.). 

[bwavering333]

The issue with the retaining walls is that reguardless of whether it is a separate assembly or in the same one as the roadway, whenever I go into corridor properties and the parameter tab to set all targets there are only two options for my target surface.  Either <none> in which case it will not display or ignore that link (the retaining wall) and it wont show in the drive command, or I can select my EG Surface in which case my defined height of my retaining wall begins at the EG Surface and not at the specific insertion point of the previous subassembly right before the retaining wall, therefore making its height much bigger than I defined it.

I have created a profile for the top of the wall, but there is nothing that will let me define the "top" of the wall to correspond with that profile or vice versa.  The created profile will only correspond to the common marker between the retaining wall and the previous subassembly

[jeff_rivers]

Ah- Are you using an out-of-the-box retaining wall assembly? My method may be working for me because I build the retaining wall from individual generic links (usualy LinkWidthAndSlope). I have not used the out-of-the-box retaining wall assemblies.

Last time I looked at them they were only for simple vertical walls. None of them had the ability to model the footing, the base material below the footing, the batter, and the gravel backfill behind the wall.

[bwavering333]

Okay I did try that and it works.  I am new to using links and designing corridors in general but how do I define the render material or make the retaining wall a solid material rather than just a wireframe of the links so that it looks like a retaining wall?

[sboon]

You need to set the point and link codes for your generic subs.  Look at the help file for the wall subassembly you were using earlier.  Down near the bottom will be the coding diagram.  If your generic links use the same codes then the corridor should look generally the same.

Steve
Please use the Accept as Solution or Kudo buttons when appropriate