Grid Levelling (Contouring)
Sources:
https://boeingconsult.com/tafe/ss&so/survey1/level/test-gridvol.htm#sect2
http://ecoursesonline.iasri.res.in/mod/page/view.php?id=128293
Introduction:
The art of determining relative altitudes of points on the surface of the earth of
beneath the surface of earth is called LEVELLING.
A contour is defined as an imaginary line of constant elevation on the ground
surface. It can also be defined as the line of intersection of a level surface with the
ground surface. For example, the line of intersection of the water surface of a still
lake or pond with the surrounding ground represents a contour line.
To determine the positions of the contours on a plan the leveling methods are used
to find the relative positions of points on the surface of the ground with reference to
certain benchmarks at regular intervals. This technique of making observations and
plotting on a plan is called as grid leveling.
Contour Interval:
The vertical distance between any two consecutive contours is known as a contour
interval. For example, if the various consecutive contours are 100m, 98m, 96 m
etc., then the contour interval is 2m. This interval depends upon,
The nature of the ground
The scale of the map and
The purpose of survey
Contour intervals for flat country are generally small, eg. 0.25m, 0.5m, 0.75 m
etc. For a steep slope in hilly area is greater, eg. 5m, 10m, 15 m etc.
Again ,for a small-scale map, the interval may be of 1m,2m,3m etc. and for large
scale map,it may be of 0.25m,0.50m,0.75m etc.
It should be remembered that the contour interval for a particular map is constant.
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Contour lines show the vertical dimension (the third dimension) of the ground on
site plans. The vertical distance separating contour lines gives an indication of the
steepness of the slopes. A few simple rules for contour lines will be helpful in
interpreting the vertical dimension of a building site.
In general, gentle slopes are represented by widely spaced contour lines. Steep slopes
are represented by closely spaced contour lines.
Contouring:
The process of locating these contour lines on the surface of the earth is known as
contouring.
Grid Levelling
Grid levelling is used for site investigation, for drawing contour lines and for the
easy calculation of volumes.
The following figure shows a typical survey of a site using grid point levels. The
area of the site is divided into a number of squares 5×5 meters (triangles or rectangles
can also be used) and levels are taken at corner points. The grid levels enable us to
calculate the volume of material above or below a certain reduced level (RL) and to
draw contour lines. In the example one 12.9 m contour line is shown. The lowest
level of the site is RL = 10.000 m and the highest is RL = 15.831 m.
(distances are in mms and levels are in meters)
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Contour lines
Contour lines are an essential part of the assessment and this subject matter needs to
be clearly understood. Contour lines are lines drawn on a plan connecting points of
equal elevation.
The contour lines shown in Figure 7 spacing at 500 mm interval.
There are two methods to plot contour lines: a) by estimation b) by calculation
a) Estimation is the quickest method of plotting the contours. Estimate by visual
inspection the position of a contour between two adjacent spot levels.
Figure 7
b) Calculation is more accurate if the ground between the RL's is nearly straight.
Similar triangle rule ﻗﺎﻋﺪة ﺗﺸﺎﺑﮫ اﻟﻤﺜﻠﺜﺎتis then used to calculate the contour line.
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Method (a)
Contours lines are at 500 mm interval, that means there are two contour lines
between grid point 21 (RL 10.541) and grid point 16 (RL 11.687) the 11.000 and
11.500 respectively. The distance between the two RL's is 5 meters. By estimation
the 11.000 contour line would be approx. 0.4 × 5 m 2.000 m from RL 10.541 and
the 11.500 contour line would be close to RL 11.687
Method (b)
We use similar triangles to find the intersection of the contour lines on the level grid.
For example, the difference between RL 10.541 (grid point 21) and RL 11.687 (grid
point 16) is 1.146 meters. The difference between contour line 11.000 and RL 10.541
is 0.459.
This figure will be used to calculate the intersection of the 11.000 m contour line.
As the increment for contour lines is 0.500 m we add 0.500 + 0.459 = 0.959 to find
the 11.500 contour line intersection. 0.459 and 0.959 is now used to find the distance
d1 for the 11.000 and d2 for the 11.500 contour lines.
This principle of calculation is show below and should be used for all your exercises
and assessments that involves drawing contour lines.
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Using similar triangles:
Using the above equation, the actual calculation for the contour lines 11.00 m and
11.50m is:
Sometimes you know the
distance for a specific point on a
RL-Calculation
grid system and want to know
the reduced levels (RL's) that
belongs to it.
In this case use the formula to the
right to find the value that need
to be added to the reduced level
(RL).
Example: Determine the RL at the distance of 2.003 m from point 21 (RL 10.541).
The distance between grid point 21 and 16 ( RL 10.541 and 11.687) is 5 meter. Using
the above equation we can calculate the number that must be added to the RL of
10.541.
adding 0.459 to RL 10.541 equals to RL 11.000 m, which is also the
11.000 m contour line height.
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Solve Example
Required no (i) Required no (iv)
Required Cut/Fill
Point B.S. I.S F.S. HOC R. Level Level height
A1 3.6 9 5.4 6.5 -1.1
A2 3 9 6 6.5 -0.5
A3 1.7 9 7.3 6.5 0.8
B1 2.7 9 6.3 6.5 -0.2
B2 2 9 7 6.5 0.5
B3 1.5 9 7.5 6.5 1
C1 3 9 6 6.5 -0.5
C2 2 9 7 6.5 0.5
C3 0.5 9 8.5 6.5 2
D1 3.6 9 5.4 6.5 -1.1
D2 3 9 6 6.5 -0.5
D3 1.75 9 7.25 6.5 0.75
Required no (ii) Av. level= 6.6375
40m
Contour map using Surfer program
