Earthwork Quantities

There are two primary ways to get Earthwork Volumes between two surfaces. One method involves the creation of a third surface the other just gives you the values of Cut and Fill.

The first image shows the "Create Surface" dialog box. Here we can either create a "Tin Volume Surface" or a "Grid Volume Surface". Either will prompt us for a "Base Surface" and "Comparison Surface". Once created we select the properties of the "Volume Surface". On the "Statistics" tab we can see the Cut and Fill Values (unadjusted)(see image below).



The other method I posted about on Dec 15, 2004. This is a repeat of what I said...

When it comes to doing earthwork volume calculations Autodesk Civil 3D 2005 (now 2006 of course) makes the entire process very streamlined.

The process boils down to initiating the "ReportSurfaceVolume" command, from one of the various methods, then telling the software I wish to do a new calculation. Lastly, I select the two surfaces that I wish to compare. The Panarama window instantly provides the results. These results include the "Cut", "Fill", and "Net".

The software uses the composite method for the calculations. Civil 3D Help explains this method as "...using the points from both surfaces, as well as any location where the triangle edges between the two surfaces cross. The new composite surface elevations are calculated based on the difference between the elevations of the two surfaces."