GSV 317: ENGINEERING SURVEYING

STAGES IN ENGINEERING SURVEY

Construction or Engineering surveying is the orderly process of obtaining data for various
phases of construction activity. It includes the following surveys: reconnaissance, preliminary,
final location, and construction layout. The reconnaissance and preliminary surveys are used to
determine the best location. The remaining surveys are conducted after a location has been
established.
The purpose of construction surveys is to control construction activities. The number and
extent of surveys conducted is governed by the time available, the standard of construction
desired, and the availability of personnel and materials.. The quality and efficiency of
construction is directly proportional to the number and extent of surveys and other preplanning
activities.

RECONNAISSANCE
General. The reconnaissance party must consider special factors as determined by the objective
of the survey and the methods, techniques, and equipment that will be employed.
Reconnaissance Requirements. A proper survey reconnaissance includes the following factors:
The proper gathering of all existing survey data in reference to the target area.
The proper testing and determination of the usability and visibility of existing stations.
The selection of sites for the main and supplemental stations.
The determination of monumental requirements
The collection of terrain and climatic information.
Arrangements for access to private or government property.
The availability of billeting, mess, medical, maintenance, and other required support.

Global Positioning System. Inter-receiver visibility is not required for GPS surveying. Stations
can be set according to network design principles rather than traversing around buildings or
mountains. The only requirement for receiving GPS signals is a clear view of the sky. Choose a
station with no obstructions above an incline of 15° to 20°. Draw a station-obstruction diagram
to assist in the planning of GPS sessions. Verify the station accessibility, draw maps with
directions to the stations, and mark each station clearly.

When the need to locate the position of a point that cannot be occupied arises, as
in a special survey, triangulation is necessary. This technique makes special demands on the
reconnaissance party. The mathematical computations place stringent requirements on the size
and shape of the geometric figures that are used to determine coordinates. For this reason, the
location of the stations will normally be dictated to the field-reconnaissance party, based on
the results of the office reconnaissance. The reconnaissance party must ensure that the
observation stations, which form the baseline, are inter-visible. A thorough knowledge of
triangulation criteria is absolutely necessary.
Traverse. The demands for a traverse reconnaissance are less stringent than for triangulation.
Ensure that both the rear and forward stations are visible from each proposed station.
Wherever possible, distances between stations should be uniform.

The office reconnaissance phase, which includes the gathering of existing data and a study of
applicable maps, should be completed before the start of the field reconnaissance phase. The
first step is to gather all existing data on the area to be surveyed. Depending on the area, there
may be a number of sources that maintain some type of reliable survey data. The existing data
will usually consist of trig lists, station-description cards, and aerial photographs or maps.

PRELIMINARY SURVEY

The preliminary survey is a detailed study of a location tentatively selected on the basis of
reconnaissance, survey information, and recommendations. It consists of running a traverse
along a proposed route, recording topography, and plotting results. For roads, it may be
necessary to conduct several preliminary surveys if the reconnaissance party has investigated
more than one suitable route. Establish, station, and profile the route centerline with horizontal
and vertical control points set. Take cross-section readings to allow rough calculations of the
earthwork involved. (Sometimes cross sections may be taken during the reconnaissance survey
if the conditions warrant.) If the best available route has not been chosen, select it at this time.
Alignments for highways are designed after careful study of existing maps, air photos and
preliminary survey data of the area. From alternative routes, the one that best meets the
overall objectives while minimizing costs and environmental impacts is selected. Before
construction can begin, the surveyor must transfer that alignment to the ground.

FINAL LOCATION SURVEY

When time permits, conduct a final location survey. Establish permanent bench marks for
vertical control and well-marked points for horizontal control. These points arc called hubs
because of the short, square stake used. On most surveys, the hub is driven flush with the
ground, and a tack in its top marks the exact point for angular and linear measurements.

CONSTRUCTION LAYOUT SURVEY

The construction layout survey is the final preconstruction operation. It provides alignments,
grades, and locations that guide construction operations. The survey includes determining exact
placement of the centerline; laying out curves; setting all remaining stakes, grades, and
shoulders; staking out necessary structures; laying out culvert sites; and performing other work
required to begin construction. Continue this survey until construction is completed.
CONSTRUCTION STAKES
Construction stakes include centerline, slope, offset, shoulder, grade, reference, ditch, culvert,
and intermediate slakes and for temporary bench marks.
The primary functions of construction stakes are to indicate facility alignment control
elevations, guide equipment operators, and eliminate unnecessary work. They also determine
the width of clearing required by indicating the limits of the cut and fill at right angles to the
centerline of a road. They are marked and placed to conform to the planned line and grade of
the proposed facility. colored marking crayons are sometimes used to mark the stakes. Use a
uniform system so the information on the stakes can be properly interpreted by the
construction crew.

Construction stakes indicate:--

1.The stationing or location of any part of the facility in relation to its starting point. If the stake
is located at a critical point such as a point of curvature (PC), point of intersection (PI), or point
of tangency (PT) of a curve, this is noted on the stake.
2.The height of cut or fill from the existing ground surface to the top of the sub-grade for
centerline stakes or to the shoulder grade for shoulder or slope stakes.
3.The horizontal distance from the centerline to the stake location. The side-slope ratio used on
slope stakes

CENTERLINE OR ALIGNMENT STAKES

The centerline or alignment (hub) stakes, are placed on the centerline of a road or airfield and
indicate its alignment, location, and direction. They are the first stakes placed and must be
located accurately. These stakes are used as reference points in locating the remaining stakes.
Centerline stakes are placed at 100-foot (or30-meter) intervals. On rough ground or sharp
horizontal and vertical curves, place the stakes closer together. On horizontal curves, also stake
the PC, PI, and PT. On vertical curves, also stake the point of vertical curvature (PVC), the point
of vertical intersection (PVI), the point of vertical tangency (PVT), and the low point (LP) or high
point (HP) of the curve.

Place centerline stakes with the broad sides perpendicular to the centerline. The side of the
stake that faces the starting point is the front. Mark the front of the stake with a for centerline
and, if applicable, PC, PI, or PT. Also mark on the front the distance from zero or the starting
point in 100-foot stations and the fractional part of a station, if used. For example, 6 + 5422
marked on a stake indicates it is 654.22 feet from the origin of the facility and is known as the
station of this point. Stations are used in locating sections of construction and in preparing
reports.

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Place the amount of cut or fill required at the station on the reverse side of the stake. A cut is
marked C; a fill, F. A centerline stake, placed at station 78 + 00 and requiring a fill of 6.0 feet to
bring this station up to the final grade line, would be placed and shown as indicated in the
figure above. The amount of cut or fill indicates the difference between the final grade line and
the ground line where the stake is emplaced.

To prevent misinterpretation of the amount of cut or fill, mark decimal parts of a foot, as shown
above . The decimal part is written smaller, raised, and underlined. Facing the direction of
increasing stations, the centerline forms the dividing line between the right and left sides of the
area to be graded. When facing either side of the centerline, it is customary to refer to the
areas as the right or left side.

SLOPE STAKES
Slope stakes, shown below define the limits of grading work. When used in read work, they can
be used as guides in determining the width of clearing necessary. The area to be cleared usually
extends 6 feet beyond the slope stakes. Set slope stakes on lines perpendicular to the
centerline (one on each side), at points where the cut and fill slopes intersect the natural
ground surface. Stakes at points of zero cut or fill are placed sloping outward from the
centerline.
Sloping the stakes outward allows the equipment to work to the stake without removing it. The
slope indicates the direction of the centerline of the road and enables the equipment operators
to read the stakes more easily. Place slope stakes at 100-foot intervals on tangents and at 50-
foot intervals on horizontal or vertical curves. Whenever a sharp break in the original ground
profile occurs, it should be staked.
The front of a slope stake is the side facing the centerline. On this side of the stake, mark the
difference in elevation between the natural ground elevation at this point and the finished
grade at the edge of the shoulders. Under this figure, place another figure that indicates the
horizontal distance from the centerline of the road to the slope stake. Place the station number
on the other side of this stake. Below the station number, indicate the appropriate slope ratio.
The figure below shows the proper markings for a slope stake in a typical situation.

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Equipment used on a cut or fill section may destroy or remove many of the grade (centerline, shoulder, or slope)
stakes. To prevent loss of man-hours and repetition of survey work, caution construction crews to protect grade
stakes whenever possible. Place offset stakes beyond construction limits to avoid resurveying portions of the road to
relocate these stakes.
The figure below shows offset stakes used to relocate the original stakes.
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Place offset stakes on a line at right angles to the centerline of the facility. From these, the slope stakes can easily be
located. After relocating a slope stake, relocate the centerline stake by measuring toward the centerline of the road
the horizontal distance indicated on the slope stake and placing the new centerline stake there.
An offset stake contains all the information given on the original slope stake plus the difference in elevation and
horizontal distance from the original slope stake to the offset stake. Mark the offset distance on the front of the stake
and circle it to indicate it is an offset reference. If the offset stake is at a different elevation from the slope stake, the
cut or fill value must be increased or decreased by the difference in elevation. An offset stake placed a horizontal
distance of 10 feet from and 1 foot above the right slope stake would be placed and marked as shown and grade
supervisor concerning the meaning of the markings is most important regardless of the type of marking used.

REFERENCE STAKES
Many hubs marking the location of highways and airfields are uprooted or covered during construction. They must be
replaced, often more than once, before construction is completed. As an aid in relocating a point which may become
hidden by vegetation, or as a means of replacing points which may have been destroyed, measurements are made to
nearby permanent or semi-permanent objects. This process is known as referencing or witnessing a point. On many
surveys, permanent objects may not be available as witnesses. In such cases, additional stakes may be driven.
These stakes usually are approximately 2 inches by 2 inches by 18 inches.

There are no markings on a reference stake. A point can be referenced by a known distance and a known angle or by
two known distances.
To be of most value in replacing a missing station or point, the reference stakes or witnesses will be less than 100
feet from the point and, if possible, the arcs should inter sect at approximately right angles. Place them outside the
construction limits, and indicate their location by blazing trees or additional stakes. Normally, the location of the
reference stakes can be obtained from the surveyor's notebook.

CULVERT STAKES
Culvert stakes are located on a line parallel to and offset a few feet from the centerline. The information required on
the culvert stakes includes the distance from the stake to the centerline, the vertical distance to the invert, and the
station number. Once the survey crew has finished staking out the culvert, the construction supervisor can place the
pipe accurately by using batter boards.

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Setting out Buildings

The first task in setting out a building is to locate it properly from the correct boundary corners by making
measurement from the boundary lines. Stakes maybe initially set at the exact building corners as visual check on the
positioning of the structure but such points maybe lost when excavation begins on the footings. A set of batter or
profile boards and reference stakes is therefore erected near each corner, but out of the way of construction.
An alternative method to the above procedure is using radial methods, with total stations. This can substantially
reduce the amount of instrument set ups and stake out time required. In the radial method, coordinates of all building
corners are computed in the same coordinate system as the boundary corners. Then the total station instrument is
set on any convenient control point and oriented in azimuth by sighting another inter-visible control point. Angles and
distances, computed from coordinates are then laid off to mark each building corner. Measuring distances between
adjacent points and also the diagonal checks the layout.
For symmetrical layouts such as the one below, it can be beneficial to mount the instrument on a common baseline,
in the layout from two set ups on one line, set out all other points in the layout.

Culled from Wolf and Ghilani(2011)

In the example, above, this can be achieved by setting up the instrument on A, and orientation to O, and pre-
calculated distances and bearings swung to A,B, C, D, E, F and G. The second set up can be done on O and
oriented to N, M, L, K, J and H.
 HORIZONTAL CURVES

When a highway changes horizontal direction, making the point where it changes direction a point of
intersection between two straight lines is not feasible. The change in direction would be too abrupt for the
safety of modem, high-speed vehicles. It is therefore necessary to interpose a curve between the straight
lines. The straight lines of a road are called tangents because the lines are tangent to the curves used to
change direction.
In practically all modem highways, the curves are circular curves; that is, curves that form circular arcs. The smaller
the radius of a circular curve, the sharper the curve. For modern, high-speed highways, the curves must be flat,
rather than sharp. That means they must be large-radius curves.
Horizontal curves are computed after the route has been selected, the field surveys have been done, and the survey
base line and necessary topographic features have been plotted. In urban work, the curves of streets are designed as
an integral part of the preliminary and final layouts, which are usually done on a topographic map. In highway work,
the road itself is the end result and the purpose of the design. But in urban work, the streets and their curves are of
secondary importance; the best use of the building sites is of primary importance. The principal consideration in the
design of a curve is the selection of the length of the radius or the degree of curvature This selection is based on
such considerations as the design speed of the highway and the sight distance as limited by headlights or
obstructions. Some typical radii you may encounter are 12,000 feet or longer on an interstate highway, 1,000 feet on
a major thoroughfare in a city, 500 feet on an industrial access road, and 150 feet on a minor residential street..

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In the design of roads or railways, straight sections of road or track are connected by
curves of constant or varying radius as shown below:

The purpose of these curves is to deflect a vehicle travelling along one of the straights safely and comfortably through
a deflection angle θ to enable it to continue its journey along the other straight. The two main types shown above are:
Circular curves, curves of constant radius. Transition curves, curves of varying radius.

A road or railway will usually comprise of a series of straights, circular curves and transition curves, collectively
known as the horizontal alignment.

GEOMETRY OF CIRCULAR CURVES

There are 3 basic types of circular curves: simple curves; compound curves and reverse
curves (all of which are also known as radius or degree curves)

Simple Circular Curves

A simple circular curve consists of one are of constant radius R, these are the most
commonly used type of curves

Compound Circular Curves

These consist of two or more consecutive simple circular curves of different radii without an intervening straight

section.
Reverse Circular Curves
These consist of two consecutive curves of the same or different radii with any intervening straight section and with
their centres of curvature falling on opposite sides of their common tangent point (TC).

CURVE ELEMENTS
Steepness of the curve can be defined in terms of radius as shown below.
Setting Out Horizontal Curves on Site

The importance of a centerline on site is that it provides a reference line from which other feature such as channels,
verges, tops and bottoms of embankments etc can be located from. Thus it is important that: The centerline is set out
and marked (pegged) with a high degree of accuracy The pegs are protected and marked in such a way that site
traffic can clearly see them and avoid accidentally hitting them. If a peg is disturbed it can easily be relocated with the
same high degree of accuracy as before. There are a number of different methods by which a centerline can be set
out, all of which can be summarised in two categories: Traditional methods – which involve working along the
centerline itself using the straights, intersection points and tangent points for reference. The equipment used for
these methods include, tapes and theodolites or total stations.
Coordinate methods – which use control networks as reference. These networks take the form of control points
located on site some distance away from the centerline. For this method, theodolites, totals stations or GPS receivers
can be used.

Setting out Circular Curves by Traditional Methods:

There are 3 methods by which pegs on the centerline of circular curves can be set out:
1.Tangential angle method
2.Offsets from the tangent lengths
3.Offsets from the long chord
When traditional methods are being used it is first necessary to locate the intersection and tangent points of a curve.
This procedure is carried out as follows:

Locate the two straights AC and BD and define them with at least two pegs on the ground for each straight. Use nails
in the tops of the pegs to define them precisely. Set up a theodolite over the nail in a peg on one of the straights (say
AC) and sight the nail in another peg on AC so that the theodolite is pointing in the direction of intersection point I
Drive two additional pegs x and y on AC such that straight BD will intersect the line xy. Again use nails in x and y for
precision Join the nails in the tops of pegs x and y using a string line. Move the theodolite and set it up over a peg on
BD, then sight the other peg on BD so that the telescope is again pointing at I. Fix the position of I by driving a peg
where the line of sight from the theodolite on BD intersects the string line xy. Move the theodolite to I and measure
the angle AIB. Calculate the deflection angle θ, from θ = 180o – angle AIB.

Calculate the tangent lengths IT and IU using [R tan (θ/2)]. Fix points T and U by measuring back along the straights
from I. Check the setting out angle ITU which should equal to (θ/2). Locating I, T and U with two Instruments In some
cases it may not be possible to locate a theodolite on point I due to inaccessibility of some kind. In this case the
location of I and the tangent points can be carried out using two theodolites. The procedure in this case is as follows:
Choose two points A and B somewhere on the straights such that it is possible to sight A
to B and B to A and also to measure AB. Measure AB Measure the angles α and β, calculate λ from λ = 180 – (α + β)
and obtain θ from θ = (α + β). Use the sine rule to calculate IA and IB Calculate the tangent lengths IT and IU using
[R tan (θ/2)]. Using AT = IA – IT and BU = IB – IU set out T from A and U from B. If possible check that ITU is equal
to (θ/2)

Setting Out Using Tangential Angles

This is the most accurate method of the traditional methods for setting out curves. It can be done using a theodolite
and tape, two theodolites or a total station and pole reflector. The formula used to determine the tangential angles is
derived as follows:

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Using a Theodolite and tape
In this method a theodolite is set up at the tangent point and used to turn the tangential angles to define the directions
to each centre line peg. The exact positions of these pegs are fixed by measuring with a tape from peg to peg in
sequence. The exact calculation and setting out procedures are as follows:

Setting out Procedure:

Using the methods described previously, the tangent points are fixed and the theodolite is set up at one of them.

The intersection point I is sighted and the horizontal circle is set to read zero. The theodolite is rotated so that the
tangential angle α1 for the first chord TK is set on the horizontal circle.

The first chord TK is then set out by lining in the tape with the theodolite along this direction and marking off the
length of the chord from the tangent point. The chord lengths derived in the calculations are in the horizontal plane
and therefore any slope on the ground must be accounted for. Once the first position is located it is marked with a
peg and nail to define the exact location of K.

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Example:
It is required to connect two intersecting straights whose deflection angle is 13°16’00” by a circular curve of radius
600m. The through chainage of the intersection point is 2745.72m and pegs are required on the centreline of the
curve at exact multiples of 25m of through chainage.
Tabulate the data necessary to set out the curve by the tangential angles method using a theodolite and tape.

θ = 13°16’00”

R= 600m

IT= R tan θ/2

IT = 600 * (tan 6°38'00") = 69.78m

chainage of T(BC) = I-IT = 2745.72m - 69.78m = 2675.94m

Taking 13°16’00” to decimal degrees = 13.26667

L = R θ/57.3 = 600 * 13.26667/57.3 = 138.93m

Chainage of U(EC) = T(BC) + L = 2814.87m

chainage needed at 25m(chord length) interval. exact intervals will need multiples of 25m which ranges between
2700m -800m

On both sides, we run an angle to the deductibles of the beginning of the multiples on both ends i.e.

FRom BC to 2700 = 2700 - 2675.94m for first multiple = 24.06m

and from EC to the 2800m(position) = 2814.87- 2800 = 14.87m

This will represent initial and closing chainages as we set out the curve. All other chainages (intervals) will be to the
25m specification.

For angular orientations along the curve(deflections),

we apply the formula, below

See final setting out data in frame below

Tangential Angles Method using a Total Station and Pole Mounted Reflector

In this method a total station is set up at the tangent point and used to turn the tangential angles as for the theodolite
and tape method. However instead of measuring the chord lengths from peg to peg using the tape, the distance
measurement component of the Total Station is used to measure the length to each peg directly from the tangent
point.
Example:
Using the same information from the previous example Tabulate the necessary data to set out the curve using a total
station and reflector.

The tangential angles, sub-chords lengths and chord lengths are calculated exactly as for the previous example. The
Long chords are obtained as follows:
SETTING OUT USING OFFSETS FROM THE LONG CHORD

It is sometimes more convenient to set out from the inside. Many of the points on the tangent may, for example, be
inaccessible whereas points on the long chord may be accessible. In this case, it is convenient to establish the mid-
mid
point of the long chord and refer the distances
stances along the chord to this point rather than the tangent
tangen point.