Prepared By

Prof. Ashish Makwana

Civil Engg. Dept.

Prof. Ashish Makwana 1

PRESENTATION OUTLINE…

•Introduction
•Unit Conversion
•Methods to Compute Area
•Computation of Area from Field Notes
•Computation of Area
•Computation of Volume

Prof. Ashish Makwana 2

 INTRODUCTION
• One of the primary objects of land surveying is to
determine the area of the surveyed land and to
determine the quantities of earthwork.
• The computation of area is very essential to determine
the catchment area of river, dam and reservoir. Its also
important for planning and management of any
engineering project.
• For initial reports and estimates, low precision methods
can be used.
• When a high level of accuracy is required, a professional
engineer or a land surveyor should be employed.
• The area is expressed in ft2, m2, km2, acres, hectares……..
Prof. Ashish Makwana 3
 UNIT CONVERSION

 1 Square metres = 10.764 Square feet

 1 Square km = 106 Square metres

 1 Hectare = 10000 Square metres = 2.471 acres

 1 acres = 0.40467 hactare

 1 Square mile = 640 acres

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 METHODS TO COMPUTE AREA
• The method of computation of area depends on the shape of the boundary
of the surveyed area and accuracy required.
• If the plan is bounded by straight boundaries, it can be tackle by subdividing
the total area into simple geometrical shapes, like triangle, rectangle,
trapezoidal etc… and the area of the figure are computed from the
dimensions.
• If the boundaries are irregular, they are replaced by short straight
boundaries and the area is computed using approximate method. While if
the boundaries are very irregular, the area can be determined by using
planimeter.

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 COMPUTATION OF AREA FROM FIELD NOTES

• During the survey work the whole area is divided into

some specific geometrical shapes like, square,
rectangular, triangle etc… and then the total area can be
computed directly.
• The chain line is running approximately in the centre of
the area to be calculated. Then by using the cross-staff
or optical square, mark perpendicular offset on the
chain line.
• Offset on the chain line are measured with a chainage
and then the area is calculated by forming regular
geometrical shapes.

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 COMPUTATION OF AREA

The surveyed area may be calculated from plotted plan by following rules.

1) Mid ordinate rule

2) Average ordinate rule
3) Trapezoidal rule
4) Simpson’s one third rule

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1) MID ORDINATE RULE

• The method is used with the assumption that the boundaries between the
edge of the ordinates are straight lines.
• The base line is divided into a number of divisions and the ordinates are
measured at the mid points of each division.

O1 h1 O2 h2 O3 h3 O4 h4 O5

d l
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The area is calculated from following formula,
Area = ∆ = Common distance x Sum of mid ordinates
= (h1 x d) + (h2 x d) + …… + (hn x d)
= d (h1+ h2+….. +hn)

Where,
n = Number of divisions
d = common distance between ordinates
h1, h2, … hn = Mid ordinates

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2) AVERAGE ORDINATE RULE

 This rule also assume that the boundaries between the edges of the
ordinates are straight lines. The offsets are measured to each of the
points of the divisions of the base line.
 The area is given by following equation,
Area = ∆ = average ordinate x Length of the base

 O1  O2  .......On 
 L
 n 1 
L

n 1
 O

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3) TRAPEZOIDAL RULE

 This rule is based on the assumption that the figures are trapezoids. The
rule is more accurate than the previous two rules which are
approximate versions of the trapezoidal rule.

O1 O2 O3 O4 O5

d l

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• The area of the first trapezoid is given by

O1  O 2
Δ1  d
2 trapezoid is given by
• Similarly, the area of the second

O 2  O3
• So, the total area of 1  figure is given
Δthe d by
2
∆ = ∆1 + ∆2 + …. ∆n

O1  O2 O 2  O3 On-1  On
Δ d d  .......  d
2 2 2

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Total area = (O1 + 2O2 + 2O3 + 2O4 +… + 2On-1 + On) x (d/2)
= (O1 + On + 2(O2 + O3 + O4 +…+ On-1)) x (d/2)
= (Common distance/2) x [(1st ordinate + last ordinate) + 2(sum
of other ordinates)]

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4) SIMPSON’S ONE THIRD RULE

 This rule assumes that the short lengths of boundary between the
ordinates are parabolic arcs. So this rule is some times called the
parabolic rule.
 This method is more useful when the boundary line departs considerably
from straight line.

1 2
D
F E

O1 O2 O3

A B C

d d
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Here, O1, O2, O3 = Three consecutive ordinates
d = Common distance between the ordinates

Now, Area of AF2DC = Area of AFDC + Area of segment F2DEf

Area of trapezium

O O
 of
Area of segment = (2/3) x area 3
2d
1 parallelogram F13D
2
= (2/3) x E2 x 2d

2 O1  O3 
  O2   2d
3 2 

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• So, the area between the first two divisions,

O1  O3 2 O1  O3 
Δ1   2d   O2   2d
2 3 2 
d
 O1  4O2  O3 
3 between next two divisions,
• Similarly, the area

d
Δ 2  O3  4O4  O5 
Total area 3
d
 O1  4O2  2O3  4O4  ......  On 
3
d
 O1  On  4O2  O4  .....  2O3  O5  ....
3
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 = (Common distance/3) x [(1st ordinate + last ordinate) + 4(sum of even
ordinates) + 2(sum of odd ordinates)]

Limitation:
This rule is applicable only when the number of divisions must be even.

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The following offsets were taken from a chain line to an
irregular boundary line at an interval of 15m.
2.00, 2.40, 3.10, 2.60, 3.70, 4.20, 3.90,
compute the area between the chain line, the boundary line
and the end offsets by: (1) The mid ordinate rule
(2) The average ordinate rule (3) The trapezoidal rule
(4) Simpson’s rule

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The following perpendicular offsets were taken from a chain line to an
irregular boundary:
Chainage : 0 10 15 25 40 50 55
Offset : 10.1 12.5 14.5 13.6 12.2 9.8 11.9
calculate the area between the chain line, the boundary line and the end
offsets.

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 COMPUTATION OF VOLUME
• The volume of earth work is calculated by following two method after
calculation of cross sectional area,

1) The trapezoidal rule

2) The prismoidal rule

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1) Trapezoidal rule (Average end area rule) :

A1 A2 A3 A4 An-2 An-1 An

Volume, Vd = (d/2) x [A1+An+ 2(A2+A3+…..+An-1)]

= (Common distance/2) x [(1st section area + last section
area) + 2(sum of area of other section)]

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2) Prismoidal formula

Volume, V = (d/3) x [A1+An+ 4(A2+A4+…..+An-1) +

2 (A3+A5+…..+An-2)]

Limitation:
The prismoidal formula is applicable when there are odd number
of sections. If the number of sections are even, the section is
treated separately and area is calculated according to the
trapezoidal rule.

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THANK YOU

Prof. Ashish Makwana 23