Road Surfaces

One of the key elements of a road model is the road surfaces. These surfaces together form the whole road model, from the centerline and out to either side all the way to the cut or fill edges.

The road surfaces are added, formed, and edited from the dialog Road Surfaces.

Surface Types

Road surfaces are divided into different surface types with different properties and areas of use (you can find a more detailed description for each surface type here):

• Median - (Surface group +/-0.xx)

• Carriageway - (Surface group +/-1.xx)

• Shoulder - (Surface group +/-2.xx)

• Extra - (Surface group +/-3.xx)

• Ditch - (Surface group +/-4.xx)

• Rock cut - (Surface group +/-5.xx)

• Soil cut - (Surface group +/-6.xx)

• Fill - (Surface group +/-7.xx)

Each surface type group has 19 sub-surfaces on both the left- and right-hand sides.

The Dialog

The Road Surfaces dialog consists of

• Surface list (left pane)

• Surface description (right pane)

• Buttons

Surface list (left pane)

Show: The surface list can be filtered in three different ways:

• All used surfaces

• All unused surfaces

• All surfaces

All used surfaces is the default setting, showing only surfaces in use on the project.

Surface list: Surface descriptions are organized in different levels.

1. The highest level folder has the name of the road model being worked on.

2. The second-highest level is divided into Left and Right, containing surfaces on the left and right sides of the reference alignment.

3. The third level is divided into Surface Types. Within each Surface Type, there are up to 19 surfaces available for description.

Each surface in the road model has an internal surface number with a precluding sign character identifying surfaces on the left side of the road (negative) and surfaces on the right side of the road (positive). The first cipher in the surface number represents the surface type, while the trailing ciphers (after the punctuation mark) represent the surface number within the type. This number is shown in the surface list as e.g. -1.01 or 6.11.

Tip: Each road surface should have a unique name. This way the surfaces will be easily recognized in other dialogs, e.g., Pavement, and Detailed Pavement.

Adding surfaces

To add surfaces to a yet not existing surface type group use one of these methods:

1. Right-click on;

   • Left or Right to add a surface type (this will automatically add surface -/+x.01)

   • A surface type to add a surface

2. Change the drop-down list from All active layers to All layers or All unused layers and start describing the surface

3. Right-click a surface and click Copy to the opposite side. This adds a surface with the same surface number on the opposite side if it is not already there.

Note: Each surface type can have a maximum of 19 sub-surfaces on both the left- and right-hand sides. Also note the description after the surface number and name. This shows the feature type (read from the conversion file) that this surface will represent in the Quadri model.

To remove a surface right-click the surface and choose to delete it.

The details of the surface selected will be displayed in the right pane.

Surface Description (right pane)

Defining and modifying the surface description is carried out in this table. Each surface is defined with station, width, and slope, and can also include a method, line, and free surface when using Alignments as Surface Edges.

The details defined in a particular row of the table apply to this station in the reference alignment.

• To define or modify the surface details, select the surface from the left pane and continue.

• A blank cell is the same as a 0.000 value.

Chainage

• In this column, define the break points (sections) in the surface description, i.e. the points at which any of the surface properties (width, slope, method, surface edge object, free surface) changes.

• The break points must be defined in order of ascending profile numbers.

• Between two break points, linear values for width and gradient will be interpolated.

• A surface, which has the same width and gradient along a section, will be described by entering a start and end profile with the same values for width and slope.

• When not using a value for the station a Break is applied.

Width

• The width of the surface is defined in meters with millimeter precision, 0,000m.

• Linear interpolation is carried out between two break points with different widths.

• The width can also be unknown by just writing some text in the cell.

  • On cut and fill surfaces that are supposed to connect to tasks in calculation basis, widths will be set to To terrain. To Terrain indicates that a given surface is extended to it intersects with the terrain surface (in rock cuttings – to the intersection with rocks surface).

  • On all other surfaces, it will be set to Calculate and the surface will extend to the boundary from line.

Slope

• The slope is defined as a ratio using a prefix.

• A negative prefix indicates a downward gradient in relation to the horizontal plane looking FROM the reference alignment.

  • The cross-fall, in other words, a 3 % downward gradient in relation to the horizontal plane, is given as -0.03.

• Linear interpolation is performed between two break points with different gradients.

• The gradient of the surface can also inherit the slope from the surface within by writing Inherit.

Method

Used together with the New Line button.

• Used together with Line and Free Surface and specifies a method of using the alignment in Line.

• Each method is indicated with the respective symbol.

• Some methods will overrule the width and slope.

• Sections with objects used for defining a surface edge will have their start and endpoint marked with a gray background.

• For further details on methods, see Alignments as Surface Edges.

Line

Used together with the New Line button. Objects (alignments) can be assigned to the road model as surface edges using the button New Line.

• When an object is used in the surface description, its object identity will be shown in this column.

• Used together with Method and Free Surface.

• Sections with objects used for defining a surface edge will have their start and endpoint marked with a gray background.

• For further details on selecting a line, see Alignments as Surface Edges.

Free Surfaces

Used together with the New Line button.

• Used together with Line and Method.

• Specifies the free surface to vary to connect to the line based on the given method.

• For further details on the free surface, see Alignments as Surface Edges.

Buttons

Insert - Use this button to insert a row in the right pane of the dialog box. Select a row, above which a new row is to be inserted and click the button.

Delete - Deletes the selected row from the right pane of the dialog box.

Undo - Cancel the previous action.

Advanced/Normal - This button is available only when a ditch surface is selected. Using this button, active ditch surface can be changed from Normal to Advanced and vice versa. For further details, refer to Ditch Design.

New Line/Edit Line - Objects (alignments) in the active database (Digital Terrain Model) can be assigned to the road model as surface edges using this button.

• If a section with a surface edge (defined earlier) is selected from the list of the dialog Road Surfaces, the button will change to Edit Line.

• To edit the details (start and/or end chainages, method, and to select a new object as a surface edge).

• For further details, refer to the topic Alignments as Surface Edges.

Macro - Predefined descriptions for parking bays, bus bays, acceleration lanes, and retardation lanes, etc., can be inserted using this button.

• A macro can be user-defined or selected from a predefined list.

• For further details, refer to the topic Macro.

Apply - Use this button to add the changes. The resulting model will be discarded as the new changes are implemented. If the Cross-Section Viewer is active, then the changes will be shown here.

Next topic: Surface Types