Earthworks (engineering)

Earthworks are engineering works created through the processing of parts of the earth's surface involving quantities of soil or unformed rock.

Caterpillar D10 bulldozer at work

Shoring structures

An incomplete list of possible temporary or permanent geotechnical shoring structures that may be designed and utilised as part of earthworks:

• Mechanically stabilized earth
• Earth anchor
• Cliff stabilization
• Grout curtain
• Retaining wall
• Slurry wall
• Soil nailing
• Tieback (geotechnical)
• Trench shoring
• Caisson
• Dam
• Gabion
• Ground freezing

Gallery

•  

  Mechanically stabilized earth

•  

  Grout curtain

•  

  Retaining wall types

•  

  Soil nailing

•  

  Tieback

•  

  Trench shoring

•  

  Caisson

•  

  Dam

•  

  Gabions

•  

  Ground freezing

Excavation

Main article: Digging

 

Earth moving equipment (circa 1922)

 

Flattened and leveled construction site. Road roller in the background.

Excavation may be classified by type of material:^[1]: 13.1

• Topsoil excavation
• Earth excavation
• Rock excavation
• Muck excavation – this usually contains excess water and unsuitable soil
• Unclassified excavation – this is any combination of material types

Excavation may be classified by the purpose:^{[1]: 13.1, 13.2}

• Stripping
• Roadway excavation
• Drainage or structure excavation
• Bridge excavation
• Channel excavation
• Footing excavation
• Borrow excavation
• Dredge excavation
• Underground excavation

Civil engineering use

Typical earthworks include road construction, railway beds, causeways, dams, levees, canals, and berms. Other common earthworks are land grading to reconfigure the topography of a site, or to stabilize slopes.

 

Geofoam is a new lightweight earthworks technique used to build a bridge overpass on weak soil near Montreal.

Military use

 

Earthworks ditch and rampart in Germany - age prehistorical prior to 300 BC

In military engineering, earthworks are, more specifically, types of fortifications constructed from soil. Although soil is not very strong, it is cheap enough that huge quantities can be used, generating formidable structures. Examples of older earthwork fortifications include moats, sod walls, motte-and-bailey castles, and hill forts. Modern examples include trenches and berms.

Equipment

Heavy construction equipment is usually used due to the amounts of material to be moved — up to millions of cubic metres. Earthwork construction was revolutionized by the development of the (Fresno) scraper and other earth-moving machines such as the loader, the dump truck, the grader, the bulldozer, the backhoe, and the dragline excavator.

Mass haul planning

 

Excavation of over 76 million cubic metres (23 million cubic metres of which was additional to the planned amount due to landslides) for the Culebra Cut, Panama canal construction photo taken circa 1907

Engineers need to concern themselves with issues of geotechnical engineering (such as soil density and strength) and with quantity estimation to ensure that soil volumes in the cuts match those of the fills, while minimizing the distance of movement. In the past, these calculations were done by hand using a slide rule and with methods such as Simpson's rule. Earthworks cost is a function of hauled amount x hauled distance. The goal of mass haul planning is to determine these amounts and the goal of mass haul optimization is to minimize either or both.^[2]

Now they can be performed with a computer and specialized software, including optimisation on haul cost and not haul distance (as haul cost is not proportional to haul distance).

See also

• Contour trenching – Conservation technique in agriculture
• Cut and fill – Earthmoving technique to minimize labor
• Earth movers – Vehicles designed for executing construction tasksPages displaying short descriptions of redirect targets, construction/engineering vehicles used for earthworks civil engineering
• Earth structure – Building or other structure made largely from soil
• Gabion – Cage full of rock
• Keyline design – Landscaping to optimize water usage
• Land restoration – Reinstatement of damaged landscape
• Grading (earthworks) – In civil engineering, creating a profile
• Spoil tip – Pile built of accumulated spoil
• Subgrade – Material underneath a road or track
• Terrace (earthworks) – Terrain formed by tiered platforms

Calculation software

 

Earthworks cut and fill map and estimation summary produced by Kubla Cubed

The table below provides a list of software used in the engineering and construction industries to plan, execute and cost these earthworks.

Earthwork software is generally a subset of CAD software, in which case it often an add-on to a more general CAD package such as AutoCAD.^[3] In that case, earthwork software is principally used to calculate cut and fill volumes which are then used for producing material and time estimates. Most products offer additional functionality such as the ability to takeoff terrain elevation from plans (using contour lines and spot heights); produce shaded cut and fill maps; produce cross sections and visualize terrain in 3D.^[4] The means by which volumes are calculated in software can differ quite considerably leading to potentially different results with the same input data. Many software products use methods based on triangulated irregular networks (TINS) and triangular prism volume algorithms, however other calculation methods are in use based on rationalizing elevations into high density grids or cross-sections.^[5][6][7]

A few programs are specialised in earthworks transport optimization and planning the construction works.

Title	Developer	Stand Alone\Add On	Operating System	Calculation Method	Imports	Exports
12D	12D Solutions	Stand Alone	Windows	TIN Prisms	Points (xyz file, dxf, dwg) : Contour Lines\Break Lines (.dxf, .dwg)	??
Cut+Fill	R Goddard	Stand Alone	Windows & Linux with WINE	TIN & Microgrid	Points (csv) Also allows plotting points by moving mouse over bmp	csv table of results & bmp of cut/fill area
n4ce	Applications in CADD	Stand Alone	Windows	Tin Prisms, Grid or Section	Points\Contour Lines\Break Lines\Triangles\Alignments (.dxf, .dwg, xyz file, LandXML, MX Genio, Total Station Raw, GNSS)	Sections, Reports, 3D model, CAD, CSV
AEC CutFill	AEC Logic	Add on for AutoCAD	Windows	Cross Section	Cross Sections (AutoCAD XData)	Cross Section (.dxf)
Civil 3D	Autodesk	Stand Alone	Windows	TIN Prisms	Points\Contour Lines\Break Lines (.dxf, .dwg)	Surface (.dxf, .dwg)
Earthwork 4D	AGTEK	Stand Alone	Windows	High-Density Cross Sections through TIN Surfaces	Points (pnez text file, .dxf, .dwg, .dgn, .xml) : Contour Lines\Break Lines (pnez text file, .dxf, .dwg, .dgn, .xml, .kmz, .kml, .pdf) : Route Alignment Data (station-offset text file, .dxf, .dwg, .dgn, .xml, .pdf) : Surface TINs (pnez text file, .dxf, .dwg, .dgn, .xml, .tn3, .ttm)	Points (pnez text file, .dxf, .dwg, .xml) : Contour Lines\Break Lines (pnez text file, .dxf, .dwg, .xml, .ln3) : Route Alignment Data (station-offset text file, .cgo, .xml) : Surface TINs (pnez text file, .dxf, .dwg, .xml, .tn3, .ttm) : Reports (.csv, .xls, .kmz, .emf, .wrl .pdf)
Carlson Takeoff	Carlson Software	Stand Alone or AutoCAD Add on	Windows	TIN Prisms or Grid	Points (xyz file, dxf, dwg) : Contour Lines\Break Lines (.dxf, .dwg, .pdf)	Reports (.pdf, excel)
Business Centre HCE	Trimble	Stand Alone	Windows	TIN Prisms	Points (xyz file, dxf, dwg) : Contour Lines\Break Lines (.dxf, .dwg)	??
InSite SiteWork	InSite Software	Stand Alone	Windows	TIN Prisms	Points (dxf, dwg): Contour Lines\Break Lines (.dxf, .dwg, pdf)	BIM Surface (dwg, dxf), Trimble, Leica, TopCon, LandXML, Reports (pdf, Excel)
Earthworks OnScreen	Tally Systems	Integrates with MS Excel	Windows	??	Points,Contour Lines\Break Lines (.pdf)	??
ESurvey Earthwork	ESurveying Softech	Stand Alone	Windows	Grid	Points (xyz file, dxf, dwg)	Reports (Excel)
Fast Terrain	Diolkos3D	Stand Alone	Windows	??	Points\Contour Lines\Break Lines (.dxf, .dwg)	??
HCSS Plans	HCSS	Stand Alone	Windows	Not Applicable	Quantity imports from Excel file	Bid item exports to Excel or Word
Pizer Earth	Pizer Incorporated	Stand Alone	Windows	Cross Section	Manual Input	Cross Section (.dxf)
EarthWorkPro	Planswift	Plug-in for Planswift	Windows	Grid	Manual Input	Report (.csv, Excel, XML, HTML)
HEADS Site	Techsoft Engineering Services	Stand Alone	Windows	TIN Prism	Points (xyz file)	Surfaces (.dxf, .dwg)
MAGNET Office	Topcon	Stand Alone	Windows	?	.dwg, .dxf	ascii, .csv, .dwg, .dxf
MAGNET Project	Topcon	Stand Alone	Windows	Mass haul optimization, schedule and location based planning, project management	.dwg, .pdf, .xlsm, .xml, .dr5, .mxl, wms map	MS project, .xml, .xlsm,
Masster^[8]	Egis	?	?	Mass haul optimization
Nonio C \ DomusTerra	Interstudio	Stand Alone	Windows & macOS	??	Points\Contour Lines\Break Lines (.dxf, .dwg, xyz file, QD3D)	Surfaces (Domus.Cad, GDL, QuickDraw 3D, Quesa MetaFile).
NRG Surveys	NRG Survey Systems	Stand Alone	Windows	??	??	??
Mudshark	Brightbox Software	Stand Alone	Windows	Solid Modelling from TIN,TIN Prism	Points (xyz file, dxf, dwg, various image formats) : Contour Lines (.dxf, .dwg, .pdf, various image formats)	Cross Sections (.pdf), Results (xml, Microsoft Excel), 3D .dwg/.dxf with results tags, image files of project.
Model Maker Systems	Model Maker	Stand Alone	Windows	Grid & Cross Sections	??	??
KeyTERRA-FIRMA	KTF Software	Add on for AutoCAD & BricsCAD	Windows	TIN Prism	Points (xyz file, dxf, dwg) : Contour Lines\Break Lines (.dxf, .dwg)	Cross sections and cut & fill depths as contours or solid colors (.dwg, .dxf); txt report files; Surfaces (.dwg, .dxf, LandXML); Water volume depth graphs
Kubla Cubed	Kubla	Stand Alone	Windows	TIN Prism	Points (xyz file, .dwg, .dxf, .xls, .xlsx), Contour Lines\Break Lines (.dwg, .dxf), Surfaces (.dwg, .dxf, LandXML)	Surfaces (.dwg, .dxf, LandXML), Designs (.dwg, .dxf, LandXML) : Report (.doc, .pdf, .xlsx)
Earthworks	Trakware	Stand Alone	Windows	TIN Prism	Points (.dwg), Contour Lines\Break Lines ( .dwg)	??
LSS	DTM Software	Stand Alone	Windows	TIN Prism	Points\Contour Lines\Break Lines (.dxf, .dwg, xyz file, LandXML, MX Genio)	Surfaces (.dxf, LandXML, xyz file)
LisCAD	LisTech	Stand Alone	Windows	TIN Prism	Points\Contour Lines\Break Lines (.dxf, .dwg)	Cut & Fill Areas (.dwg, .dgn, LandXML)
QuickDIRT	Constructive Computing	Stand Alone	Windows	Grid	Points\Contour Lines\Break Lines (.dxf)	Surface (xyz file)
SiteWorks/OS	Vertigraph	Stand Alone	Windows	Grid	Points (xyz file, dxf, dwg), Contour Lines\Break Lines (.dxf, .dwg)	Reports, Surface, Cross Sections (HTML .pdf, Word, Excel)
SCC Pro Software	SCC Survey	Stand Alone	Windows	TIN Prism or Grid	support AutoCAD, Microstation, MX MOSS and LandXML	support AutoCAD, Microstation, MX MOSS and LandXML
Cut & Fill	Synergy Information Systems	A component of Sage Timberline Office	Windows	??	??	??
Terrain Tools	Softtree	Stand Alone	Windows	??	Points\Contour Lines (LandXML, xyz File, Arc Grid)	Surface (LandXML, .dxf, .dwg)
WinEx Master\WinEx GRADE	Roctek International	Stand Alone	Windows	Super High Density Grid	Points\Contours (.pdf, .dxf, .dwg, Land .xml) Most Image Files, Field Point data	Customer Reports and Excel .Docx, Land.xml, .dxf, .txt, .rtf, .txt
TraceAir	TraceAir Technologies Inc	Web-based SaaS	web-browser	Super High Density Grid	Points\Contours (.pdf, .dxf, .dwg, Land .xml) Most Image Files, Field Point data	Maps in .tiff, .pdf and reports in .xls
Causeway Estimating	Causeway	Stand Alone	Windows	??	Points\Contour Lines(xyz file, .dwg, MX Genio, .pdf)	Surfaces (.dwg, MX Genio)
Propeller Platform	Propeller	Stand Alone	web-browser	TIN	Points\Contour Lines\Break Lines (.dxf, .ttm)	Textured OBJ, DEM, GEOTIFF, DXF (3 resolutions), Custom Contours, Ortho GeoTiff, Ortho JPEG, Standard-Density Point Cloud, Compressed LAS
Viewpoint Earthwork Software	Viewpoint Construction Software	Stand Alone	Windows & Mac OS	Grid	??	??
DatuBIM	Datumate	Web-based SaaS	web-browser	TIN	Images (JPG), Designs/Surfaces (DXF), Points (CSV)	Reports (PDF), Cross sections, volumes, elevations, areas, points, distances, angles (PDF, DXF), 3D Models (LAS, OBJ), DSM (TIFF), Orthophoto (TIFF), Contours (DXF, SHP), Images (JPG)

References

1. Frederick S. Merritt, M. Kent Loftin, Jonathan T. Ricketts, Standard Handbook for Civil Engineers, Fourth Edition, McGraw-Hill Book Company, 1995.
2. . www.topconplanning.com. Archived from the original on 2 April 2015. Retrieved 7 June 2015.
3. "Taking the Measure of Methods for Estimating Earthwork Volumes - Forester Network". Forester Network. Retrieved 2016-02-09.
4. . www.vertigraph.com. Archived from the original on 2015-12-15. Retrieved 2016-02-09.
5. "How to Estimate Cut and Fill Volumes for Earthworks Projects | Grid Method, Cross Section Method, Earthworks Software". www.kublasoftware.com. Retrieved 2016-02-09.
6. . vertigraph.com. Archived from the original on 2016-01-31. Retrieved 2016-02-10.
7. Cheng, Jian-chuan; Jiang, Long-jian (2013-11-06). "Accuracy Comparison of Roadway Earthwork Computation between 3D and 2D Methods". Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences. Intelligent and Integrated Sustainable Multimodal Transportation Systems Proceedings from the 13th COTA International Conference of Transportation Professionals (CICTP2013). 96: 1277–1285. doi:10.1016/j.sbspro.2013.08.145.
8. Sétra (March 2007). Sétra (ed.). Guide technique, Conception et réalisation des terrassements, Fascicule 1 : études et exécution des travaux (in French). Bagneux. pp. 49–50. ISBN 9782110946430.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)

External links

•   Media related to Earthworks (engineering) at Wikimedia Commons