2.2 Create an Excavation Plan

How to Create an Excavation

In this tutorial you will learn how to create a detailed excavation plan.

Summary

• The excavation tool creates an editable volume, the "excavation boundary", to manipulate through operations such as cuts, fills, and ramps
• Access the excavation tool from Excavation, on the toolbar
• The Excavation menu is comprised of two tabs:

1. Add Operations - make cuts, fills, and ramps
2. Excavation Plan - view and edit operations per milestone, edit excavation boundary and settings, and view and export the excavation breakdown

Excavation Operations

Cut and Fill:

• Go to Excavation
• Under Add operations, select Cut to remove material, or Fill to add material
• Add anywhere on the map (and the boundary will appear)
• Alternatively, under Excavation Plan, click Create Excavation Boundary
• Click points with polyline tool to create a polygon (3 points min.)
• Click Done

• Cut/Fill Menu -

• Define the cut depth (or fill height) by inputting an elevation, or by adjusting top or bottom sketch elevations
• Simply minus the depth or add the height from zero for a flat map Eg. -3 [m]
• Use a sea-level elevation for a topographic map Eg. 42 [m]
• Find and use the local sea-level elevation by clicking Select From Map
• Check Slope Walls to angle all the walls of the cut/fill
• Slope inwards or outwards from the sketch
• Define the slope ratio (Apply to all or set ratio for each slope)
• Selective slope walls

Ramps:

• Go to Excavation
• Under Add operations, select Positive Ramp or Negative Ramp
• Note: Ramps are only available after making a cut or fill
• Position the ramp along the wall of a cut or fill
• Click Done
• Ramp Menu -
• Define width, height, and percent grade (slope)
• Define calculation type
• Left unexcavated - ramp volume will be subtracted from the total bulk excavation volume
• Backfilled - ramp volume will be added as a fill volume
• Define stable soil angle (side-wall slope)
• Enter x-y slope ratio or '0' if a lateral slope is not required

Excavation Plan

• Go to Excavation, and then Excavation Plan
• See the excavation operations listed and separated by milestone
• On the operation card, click on the three dots to see options, such as:
• Edit Details - reopen the cut/fill edit menu to adjust the operation
• Duplicate - make a copy of the operation, which can be dragged to move
• Create fill from cut - to use the shape of a cut to create a fill
• Move operation
• Delete Operation

Editing Excavation Settings:

• Under Excavation Plan, Click Edit Excavation Settings
• Here you can edit the sketch of the boundary, and change the color of the boundary or excavation operations
• Existing Grade - Calculated sea level of initial excavation surface
• Boundary Surface - Select default texture or color for the area surrounding the excavation operations
• Excavation Color - Select default texture or color for the excavation operations areas
• Edit Polyline - Use polyline tool to edit excavation boundary sketch

Earthwork Takeoff:

• Under Excavation Plan, click Earthwork takeoff
• Here you can view and export a breakdown of the excavation operations performed to date
• Overview tab -
• Swell Factor - percentage adjustment representing the increase in volume
• Project total cut - calculated compact and loose volumes of cuts
• Project total fill - calculated compact and loose volumes of fills
• Milestone Breakdown - summary of milestones and volume of materials used
• Export breakdown as a .csv file
• Detailed Breakdown tab -
• Tabular breakdown of each element, occurring milestone and volume used
• Export breakdown as a .csv file