Landscape Architect working on a complex 'Study' project - a residential site on a steep slope.
Details:- +/- 4Metres [12ft] Front to Back. House and Garage almost touching [connected by a small corridor] and on different levels [+/-0.5 Metre]. Two driveways one to Garage Forecourt on Side of House and the other up the other side of House going around to visitor parking at the back. There are many retaining walls and 'flat' garden areas stepping back up the slope. [see JPEG image Segal House]
Project is existing and built but I am studying it to apply what I have learnt after going through Mastering Civil 3D - I am of the Old School pen and paper / Parker and McGuire Simplified Site Engineering/Able E Munson Construction Design for Landscape Architects School. To keep it simple my aim is to create a Proposed Finished Surface to enable
Cut and Fill Analysis and Design of all the surfaces/spot elevations proposed contours etc in the 'traditional' way. I am not after the structural design of the Retaining Walls just their effect on Cut and Fill - how high they should be etc.
Project looked very interesting and exciting to take a stab at - you guessed it I have run into a wall [both literally and metaphorically] HAVING PROBLEMS SURFACE MODELLING THE RETAINING WALLS - to all intents and purposes VERTICAL CUT AND FILL no? I have created a simple Grading Criteria for this [thanks you guys and galls out there in the wide blue yonder] namely: Target:- Surface Slope:- 0.01:1 [RTW]
Trialed it on single feature lines - had it turn corners and work in Cut and Fill. Got excited tried applying it to Target surfaces other than Existing - it did! - So jumped right in feet first. And here we are back at the drawing board.
I have created a simplified drawing of three interlocking slabs/pads [called SHAPES 1-3 in attached dwg] at three different levels on three different SITES. I have created 3 separate Grading Groups for each SITE and used the same RTW criteria on each site. NB The perimeter of each Slab is a single connected Feature Line - not sure if this might be the source of some of the problems [I understand the need to keep Feature lines that touch in separate Sites - just trying to get the RTW critieria to work for the moment]
In the model attached I have applied the RTW criteria as follows:-
Source: SHAPE1/applied it from A-B/Target: Existing Surface - result: WORKED
Source: SHAPE2/applied it from B-C/Target: Existing Surface - result: WORKED
Source: SHAPE2/applied it from B-D/Target: SHAPE 1 - result: FAILED
Source: SHAPE1/applied it from D-A/ Target: SHAPE 3 - result: FAILED and Surface SHAPE 1 looks like it has 'collapsed' either into SHAPE 3 or to the Existng Slope. Note SHAPE 2's surface is still horizontal.
There are a helluva lot of questions here aside from the immediate one of why doesn't the criteria work B-D and D-A
1] I don't know that even if I succeeded in applying the criteria I would be able to merge the individual surfaces into a composite given that feature lines DO! touch.
2] Is my workflow for this problem - namely:how to tackle multiple adjacent slabs at different levels - completely out to lunch?
3] Can complex surfaces such as these be merged and made to act as one so that you can compare Cut and Fill just by adjusting sections of the Proposed surface [ie Top Parking 'bit'] against Existing surface or do you, as in the Old Days, have treat each area separately X Fill/Cut for Top Parking +/- Y Fill/Cut for House slab = A [too much /too little] - now lets try the Garage Forecourt [I am being necessarily simplistic here].
In short is my ultimate aim- to have it all working as one - too optimistic for Civil3D to create on such a site?
Any thoughts gratefully received - currently stumped and running out of ideas!
Chris Donovan
