Drawing pipes in profile include to much

[asloat]

So I am tryign to learn how to do profiles in Civil3D and I have created a profile from the surface utilizing a miscelanious alignment. I have also taken one 12"RCP and made it part of a network along with the catch basin and manhole at its start and end. When I click "draw parts in profile" it places both structures and the pipe, but in reality only a portion of the pipe crosses the alignment. I'd like to only display portions of pipes that cross the alignment at a fixed width form that alignment, say 2' to each side of it.

Anyone know a quick guide to doing this or perhaps a nice walk through?

Thanks in advance!

[Jay_B]

I prefer to draw 1 single part of a Pipe Network in profile view and then move to the newly created "Pipe Network" tab of "Profile View Properties" dialogue. Then toggle on / off any part of any Pipe Network in the dwg and also apply any style overrides if desired. Not aware of any "fixed width" option but crossing pipes can be displayed if that's what you mean here?

[wfberry]

You are just wanting to show a short portion of the pipe.  Probably the only way would be to cover it with a mask which is not very easy.  Your other choice is to show the section portion (an ellipse) where it crosses the alignment.

Bill

[JRedell]

Do you know of a way to have it show the section portion rather than the whole pipe?

[Jay_B]

Sure, to show the crossing (or perpendicular to alignment) end view of pipe, make a copy of the pipe style and turn off everything except the crossing display in the profile view direction on display tab like this and apply the new style to the crossing pipe.

[JRedell]

Many thanks, I haven't needed to use that yet but figured there was a way to do it!

[asloat]

Changing the style to display the crossing location helps, but it is not ideal, let me explain what I have and what I am trying to do.

I have a new electrical duct bank running down a road and the profile needs to show the pipes that occupy the designed location of the duct bank. I have created an alignment at the center of the duct bank, this is the source of the stationing for the profile. I have then created a profile with ground elevation above this line. Next I need to show in this same profile where any other utility crosses the alignment.

The problem is this duct bank is say 3.0' wide and the profile needs to show where a crossing pipe begins to cross the duct bank and where it stops crossing the duct bank. If the crossing pipe is perpendicular to the duct bank, then showing the portion using the method above works fine. However many times a pipe might cross at a much tighter angle and 10-30' of it might actually be within this 3' wide section of duct bank. Using the style method above the profile only displays the exact point the lines cross and ignores the fact that it is actually within the 3' width for 10s of feet.

We have done this sort of work in the past with Carlson and it allows you to assign a width to an alignment and draws the pipe as long as it needs to be as it crosses in the profile. We recently got a very large job which will require many changes as design decisions are being made so we decided to look to Civil3D as a way to automate the changes directly to the profiles as we make them. If however it appears that Civil3D doesn't support this like Carlson does, it pretty much ruins any automation bonus the software would bring.

The only other solution I have found so far is if I draw the pipe so it is only a portion within the 3' width in model view and keep the profile style to show all of the pipe. This works fine, but if that alignment moves it then forces you to redo all crossing pipes to account for it.

[Jay_B]

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asloat wrote:

The only other solution I have found so far is if I draw the pipe so it is only a portion within the 3' width in model view and keep the profile style to show all of the pipe. This works fine, but if that alignment moves it then forces you to redo all crossing pipes to account for it.

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Could you post some screen captures of what you wish to accomplish?

I think I'm following what you're after but I'm not aware of a method in Civil 3d to show segments of the pipe other than as you've indicated where a null structure could be added at the start / stop of the skewed crossing pipes to be shown as desired. If the alignment is constantly changing then yes the skewed pipe locations would need to be tweaked.

[asloat]

I think I have it worked out in a way that is useable and still maintains most of the benefits of doing this in Civil3D.

First I draw a regular line from one end of the pipe to the other and edit the start and end vertex to match the inverts.

Then I draw a pipe line using that line as the base object and using a nul structure like you mentioned.

Then I pick the pipes line and slide each end so it starts at the edge of the duct bank and ends at the other edge; I use a 'near' snap on the original line so that it maintains the correct slope at that portion of the segment.

In profile view, after I add that pipe, I change the style to show me the outer walls and end of pipe as well as the crossing location. This gives me a pipe of the correct length for the swatch and alsot he ellipse marking the exact crossing location.

If I need to make any changes I then simply need to slide the pipe ends to match the new intersection points while holding 'near' on that still present line underneath.

[Jay_B]

Unable to view attached jpg's here but glad you figured it out.

[troma]

I was thinking of a solution involving offset alignments and three profile views on top of each other, but you'd still have to join the start and end manually in profile view. What you've done is probably better.