Construction Engineering

CVE4360
Faculty of Engineering
Civil Department
Earthwork
Oct 10th, 2017
Sardasht Sardar
Fall 2017
Earthwork
Stage 1 Preconstruction Stage 2: Procurement

Conceptual Planning
Stage3: Construction

Design

Stage 4: Project Close-out

Earth Work
 Soils that contain large amounts of clay or organic materials or
soils that are contaminated are not suitable for fill.
The ideal situation is that the amount of usable cut equals the
amount of fill.

Soil Volume Changes

The soil will be in one of three conditions:
Loose: after cut. Least unit mass and maximum volume.
Compacted: after the soil is dumped and utilized as fill.
Highest unit mass and least volume.
In situ : In between unit mass and volume.
 Volume
Bank: VB
Bank cubic yards (BCY)
Density B Lb /BCY

Loose: Vl
Loose cubic yards (LCY)
Density L Lb/LCY

Compacted: Vc
Compacted cubic yards (CCY)
Density C LB/CCY
Swell:
A soil increase in volume when it is excavated.
Bank density
Swell (%) = ( Loose density
- 1) x 100

Loose density
Load factor = Bank density

Bank Volume = Loose volume x Load factor

Shrinkage:
A soil decreases in volume when it is
compacted
Shrinkage (%) = (1 -
Bank density ) x 100
Compacted density
Shrinkage factor = 1 - Shrinkage
Compacted volume
= Bank volume x Shrinkage factor
 Approximate
Material Characteristics

Exact values will vary with grain size, moisture content, compaction, etc.
Test to determine exact values for specific soils.
Typical Soil Volume
Conversion Factors
Angle Of Repose
 Estimating Earth work
for Trenches and Foundation

2-0 >60cm
or more Angle of Repose
 Approximate Angle of Repose
For Sloping Sides of Excavation

Solid Rock, Slate or Cemented Sand and Gravel

Original
Ground Line
(90 Deg.)
Calculating Earthwork Quantities
1. End Area Method
2. Contour Line/ Grid Method
 Double End-Area Method

More Suitable for linear structures such as highways and

utility trenches.
The method consists of cutting a series of parallel cross-
sections through the transverse direction of a given cut
and/or fill area.
A minimum of two section cuts must be made on a project.
The number of the cross sections needed depends on how
rough the topography is.
The existing and the proposed topography are drawn to scale
at each cross section. Section cuts could be cut, fill or
transition.
 A reference vertical line is chosen along the cross sections. The
distance of each inflection point from that reference line is written on
that point. Distances to the left of the reference line are considered
negative.
A scale that represents the elevations is drawn to the right of the cross
sections.
The area of the cross section is then computed using the traverse area
method. Assuming that the values along the X axis are the distances
from the reference line, and that the values along the Y axis are the
elevations, the area can be computed as follows:
Used in sites where length is much greater than width
A = 1/2 { Xi (Yi+1 Yi-1)}
 CALCULATING EARTHWORK
QUANTITIES

1. End Area Method

a. Take cross-sections at regular intervals, typically, 100
intervals.
b. Calculate the cross-section end areas
c. The volume of earthwork between sections is obtained by
taking the average of the end areas at each station in
square feet multiplied by the distance between sections in
feet and dividing by 27 to obtain the volume in cubic
yards. Assume the factor of loose soil is 1.13 .
 Example 9
Project Site Showing 100 Stations
A B C D E F

84
80

82

86

88

300'
A B C D E F
100' 100' 100' 100' 100'
500'
 80
78.5
Sec. A- A 78

76
82

Sec. B- B 80.3 80
Project Cross Sections

78
84

Sec. C- C 82.3 82

80
86

Sec. D- D 84.2 84

88

Sec. E- E 86.2 86

90

Sec. F- F 88.2 88
 Cross-Section @ A- A
80
107 x 1.0
Area = = 53.5 79.5
2
79

78.5
78

77
193 x 1.8
76.7 Area = = 173.7
2

76
Section A- A
 Cross-Section @ B- B
82
90 x 1.5 81.8
Area = = 67.5
2
81

80.3
80

79
210 x 1.8
76.7 Area = = 189.0
2

78
Section B- B
Table 1. Cumulative Earthwork Quantities
2. Contour Line/ Grid Method
Used for parking lots and site leveling
Grid size from 10x10 to 50x50
the greater the terrain variance the smaller the grid

Step l
Determine by visual study of the site drawing if the net total
will be an import (more fill required than cut) an export (less fill
required than cut) or a blend (cut and fill about equal)
Step 2
Determine the pattern of calculation points or grid size.
Step 3
Determine elevations at each calculation location, the corners of
each grid.
Step 4
Calculate the cubic yards of cut or fill required in each grid cell.
Step 5
Add the individual Grid Cell quantities together to arrive at the
total cut, total fill volume and the import or volume export yardage
required for the job.
A B C D E F G
300
88 89 90 91 92 93 94

87.6 88.5 89.3 90.3 91.5 95.0

A B C D E F
87.6 88.6 89.4 90.4 91.6 93.2 94.3

G H J K L M
87.4 88.2 89.5 90.6 91.6 92.7 93.5

N O P Q R S
87.2 87.7 89.0 90.4 91.3 92.0 93.1

Prof Awad S. Hanna

Notes:
1. Bring the entire site to elevation 90.
2. All grids are 50x 50 = 2500 sq. ft.
3. Present contours
 Purpose
Grade the entire site to grade 90
90'

Quick and Dirty

Need Need

150'
Fill Cut

Assume one grid

300'
Existing 90.50
Proposed 90.00 90' 91'

Cut 0.50
90.5'

Total volume=150 x 300 x 0.50 = 833CY

27
If we choose the grid size to be 50x50
Average elevation 88.5
87.6
= 87.6+88.5+87.6+88.6
4
= 88.08
change = 90-88.08 87.6 88.6

= 1.92
Cut or fill = ((50*50)
*1.92)/27
= 177.77 CY
and so on.
 Example 3
Find the amount A A

of excavated
soil. How many
trucks do we
need to dump the
soil? If you
know each truck A A

capacity is 12
3
Section A-A

100cm

20cm

50cm
20cm
 Column Details

Note: the column is square