NATIONAL UNIVERSITY

COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING
CIVIL ENGINEERING DEPARTMENT

ENGINEERING SURVEYS FIELD WORK

PLATE NO. 17
Spiral curve (Chord & Deflection)

Submitted by: ARBELA, MIKE DANIEVE B.

BARCELLANO, RONNEL
DELA CUESTA, MARA MAE M.
DE TORRES, ABEGAILLE
GUILAS, RAIHANAH
LEAL, MIKKO FRANZ

Submitted to: ENGR. JOSELITO BATAC

Date of submission: March 23, 2018
I – OBJECTIVE
1. To lay out a spiral curve by using chord and deflection.
2. To gain familiarity with the theory, design and layout of horizontal curves for most
types of transportation routes, such as railroads, highways, and pipelines etc.

II – TOOLS / EQUIPMENTS / INSTRUMENTS

Marking Pins

Nylon String

Fiberglass Tape Measure

Marking Chalk

Theodolite

III – PROCEDURE
1. Establish a point along the ground mark it as point BC (Beginning of the
curve).
2. Using Fiber glass tape from BC lay out the distance of the Long Tangent (LT)
and mark it as the Point of Intersection or PI.
3. Set up your theodolite at point BC.

*Setting up the theodolite

4. Set up the tripod and make sure the height of the tripod to be eye-level. The
centered hole of the mounting plate must be over the marking pin.
5. Drive the tripod legs into the ground using the brackets on the sides of the legs.
Mount the theodolite by placing it atop the tripod, and screw it in place with the
mounting knob.
6. Level the theodolite by adjusting the tripod legs and using the bulls-eye level,
make slight tuning with the leveling knobs to get it just right.
7. Adjust the small sight (the vertical plummet) found on the theodolite. The
vertical plummet will allow you to ensure that the instrument remains over the
marking pin. Adjust the plummet using the knobs on the bottom.
 8. Aim the crosshairs in the main scope of the point to be marked. Use the looking
knobs on the side of the theodolite to keep it aimed on the point.

*Laying out all station

9. Starting from point BC align the cross hair of the scope of the theodolite at the
LT and set the angle at zero degree (0°).
10. With the use of the theodolite, get the deflection of the 6-meter station of the
curve. Align the fiberglass tape in the vertical line of the scope and layout the
chord distance. A point established at 6 meters of the curve.
11. Get the deflection of the 12-meter station of the curve. Align the fiberglass
tape in the vertical line of the scope and layout the chord distance. A point
established at 12 meters of the curve.
12. Get the deflection of the 18-meter station of the curve. Align the fiberglass
tape in the vertical line of the scope and layout the chord distance. A point
established at 18 meters of the curve.
13. Get the deflection of the 24-meter station of the curve. Align the fiberglass
tape in the vertical line of the scope and layout the chord distance. A point
established at 24 meters of the curve.
14. Get the deflection of the 30-meter station of the curve. Align the fiberglass
tape in the vertical line of the scope and layout the chord distance. Name the
point established at 30 meters of the curve as the end of Curve (EC).
15. Connect point PI and point EC for the Short Tangent (ST) of the curve.

IV – DRAWING / SKETCH / PHOTO

V. RESULTS / OBSERVATIONS

After doing the reverse curve for chord and deflection, the surveyors are now ready
to proceed with the spiral curve for chord and deflection. It was a bit difficult to do since the
length is a bit long and the angles computed must be accurate to find the location of the
points and to be able to make the correct spiral curve. The surveyors were able to complete
the finish fieldwork even though the surveyors have a wrong computation and did the wrong
layout for the first try.

VI. DATA
R = 150 m
Ls = 30 m
Ɵs = 5°43’46.48”
LT = 20.0034 m
ST = 10.0167 m

CURVE X Y Ø
(station every 6 m)
0m 0m 0m 0°0’0.00”
6m 5.9999904 m 0.008 m 0°4’35.02”
12 m 11.9996928 m 0.064 m 0°18’20.08”
18 m 17.9976672 m 0.216 m 0°41’15.18”
24 m 23.9901696 m 0.512 m 1°13’20.32”
30 m 29.9700000 m 1.000 m 1°54’35.49”
VII – FORMULA
𝐿5
 𝑋=𝐿−
40𝑅2 𝐿𝑆 2
𝐿3
 𝑌=
6𝑅𝐿𝑆
𝑌
 𝑆𝑇 =
𝑠𝑖𝑛𝜃𝑠
 𝐿𝑇 = 𝑋 − 𝑌𝑐𝑜𝑡𝜃𝑠
𝐿2 180
 θs = ×
2𝑅𝐿𝑆 𝜋
1 𝐿2 180
 Ø= ( × )
3 2𝑅𝐿𝑆 𝜋

 C = √𝑥 2 + 𝑦 2

VIII – COMPUTATIONS

𝑳𝑺 𝟏𝟖𝟎° 𝟑𝟎 𝒎 𝟏𝟖𝟎°
𝛉𝐒 = × = × = 𝟓°𝟒𝟑’𝟒𝟔. 𝟒𝟖”
𝟐𝑹 𝝅 𝟐(𝟏𝟓𝟎 𝒎) 𝝅
𝑳𝑺 𝟑 𝑳𝑺 𝟐 𝑳𝑺 𝟏𝟖𝟎°
𝑳𝑻 = 𝑳𝑺 − − 𝐜𝐨𝐭 ( × )
𝟒𝟎𝑹𝟐 𝟔𝑹 𝟐𝑹 𝝅
(𝟑𝟎 𝒎)𝟑 (𝟑𝟎𝟎 𝒎)𝟐 𝟑𝟎 𝒎 𝟏𝟖𝟎°
𝑳𝑻 = 𝟑𝟎 𝒎 − 𝟐
− 𝐜𝐨𝐭 ( × ) = 𝟐𝟎. 𝟎𝟎𝟑𝟒 𝐦
𝟒𝟎(𝟏𝟓𝟎 𝒎) 𝟔(𝟏𝟓𝟎 𝒎) 𝟐(𝟏𝟓𝟎 𝒎) 𝝅
𝑳𝑺 𝟐 (𝟑𝟎 𝒎)𝟐
𝟔𝑹 𝟔(𝟏𝟓𝟎 𝒎)
𝑺𝑻 = 𝑳𝑺 𝟏𝟖𝟎°
= 𝟑𝟎 𝒎 𝟏𝟖𝟎°
= 𝟏𝟎. 𝟎𝟏𝟔𝟕 𝐦
𝒔𝒊𝒏 ( × ) 𝒔𝒊𝒏 ( × )
𝟐𝑹 𝝅 𝟐(𝟏𝟓𝟎 𝒎) 𝝅

STATION X Y Ø C

0m 0m 0m 0°0’0.00” 0

Ø
𝑋 1 62
63 = (
65 𝑌= 3 2(150)(30)
6m =6− 6(150)(30)
180
√5.9999042 + 0.0082
40(150)2 (30)2
= 𝟎. 𝟎𝟎𝟖 𝐦 × ) =6
= 𝟓. 𝟗𝟗𝟗𝟗𝟗𝟎𝟒 𝐦 𝜋
= 𝟎°𝟒’𝟑𝟓. 𝟎𝟐”
Ø
𝑋 1 122
123 = (
125 𝑌= 3 2(150)(30)
12 m =1− 6(150)(30)
180
√11.99969282 + 0.0642
40(150)2 (30)2
= 𝟎. 𝟎𝟔𝟒 𝐦 × ) = 11.99986347
= 𝟏𝟏. 𝟗𝟗𝟗𝟔𝟗𝟐𝟖 𝐦 𝜋
= 𝟎°𝟏𝟖’𝟐𝟎. 𝟎𝟖”
 Ø
𝑋 3 1 18
18 = (
185 𝑌= 3 2(150)(30)
18 m =1− 6(150)(30) 180 √17.99766722 + 0.2162
40(150)2 (30)2
= 𝟎. 𝟐𝟏𝟔 𝐦 × ) =17.99896332
= 𝟏𝟕. 𝟗𝟗𝟕𝟔𝟔𝟕𝟐 𝐦 𝜋
= 𝟎°𝟒𝟏’𝟏𝟓. 𝟏𝟖”
Ø
𝑋 1 242
243 = (
245 𝑌= 3 2(150)(30)
24 m =2− 6(150)(30)
180
√23.99016962 + 0.5122
40(150)2 (30)2
= 𝟎. 𝟓𝟏𝟐 𝐦 × ) =23.99563255
= 𝟐𝟑. 𝟗𝟗𝟎𝟏𝟔𝟗𝟔 𝐦 𝜋
= 𝟏°𝟏𝟑’𝟐𝟎. 𝟑𝟐”
Ø
𝑋 1 302
303 = (
305 𝑌= 3 2(150)(30)
30 m =3− 6(150)(30)
180
√29.972 + 12
40(150)2 (30)2
= 𝟏. 𝟎𝟎𝟎 𝐦 × ) =29.98667871
= 𝟐𝟗. 𝟗𝟕𝟎𝟎𝟎𝟎𝟎 𝐦 𝜋
= 𝟏°𝟓𝟒’𝟑𝟓. 𝟒𝟗”

IX – CONCLUSION

On the spiral curve for chord and deflection, the surveyors concluded that if the
working area is not that wide, the surveyors will encounter problems with regards to laying
out and putting points where the surveyors will clearly see it on the theodolite instrument.
Aside from that, having a long fieldwork will make it a tough time for the surveyors to take a
photo of the whole curve for documentation. The surveyors also concluded that wrong
measurements come with a wrong process of laying out the said fieldwork.