Longitudinal and cross section

Longitudinal Sections
 Long sections show the profile of ground along a
(proposed) road, path, railway, canal, pipeline etc.
 In long sections, height of points along a road is
associated to the chainage of the points.
 Long sections are used in both (preliminary) design
phase as well as construction phase.
Longitudinal section- Example
Staff reading spacing - Long Sections
 For long sections using a level equipment, in general we
need a staff reading:
1. Every 20 m.
2. Points at which the gradient of the ground changes.
3. Edges of natural features such as ditches and ponds.
4. Sections that cross roads.
Cross Sections
 Works of narrow width such as sewers, pipelines
usually require one line of levels along the centre line of
the proposed trench.
 Wider works such as roads, railways would require
the changes of the ground surface level over the
proposed width (say 15 m either side of the centre
line).
 Cross sections are obtained at constant intervals or
where required at right angle to the direction of a
road (in lateral direction).
Examples
Cross sections - Example
Field methods to obtain long and cross sections
 In a real job using a level equipment we need to set
out the centre line first.
 Pegs need to be placed where cross sections are
required.
 Cross sections are also set out (sometimes) with white
arrows or ranging rods.
Long and cross sections using level equipment
Scale of Sections
 The long sections are usually plotted to a distorted
horizontal and vertical scale for clarity (usually 5 to 20
times different).
 A horizontal scale of 1/500 and a vertical scale of 1/100
are common.
 The vertical scale in cross sections could be the same
as horizontal scale (referred to as a natural scale) or up
to 10 times larger.
Choice of scale
 A Horizontal scale of 1:400 and vertical scale of 1:20 is found
suitable in this example long section (hand drawn on A4 paper).
Choice of scale
 A Horizontal scale of 1:100 and vertical scale of 1:10 is found
suitable in this example cross section (hand drawn on A4 paper).
Other field /practical considerations
When using a level equipment for the purpose of re-producing long and cross
sections:
 Start the work from a bench mark if possible.
 Make use of any nearby bench marks within the length being levelled to
check the validity of the bench mark used.
 Try to keep backsight and foresight distances equal to minimise the effect of
collimation error.
 Make all changes on firm ground, preferably on identifiable features on which
check levels can be taken if required.
 Take the final foresight on a bench mark or, better, close back on the starting
point by a series of ‘flying levels’ that is a series of equal foresights and
backsights, each about 30 to 50 m long in normal levelling jobs.
 Do not work with the staff extended in high wind.
 Exercise great care whensetting up the level.
Long and Cross Sections using Total Stations
 Total stations may alternatively be used to obtain
necessary data for re-producing long and cross sections.
 For this purpose two known points are required to set up
and orient a Total Station.
 Necessary measurements need to be taken and
recorded with suitable feature codes.
 A software such as Civil 3D is usually employed to extract
and plot long and cross sections.
The Use of Levels vs. Total Stations for Cross Sections
 When using a level equipment, we need to do direct
measurements to be able to produce a cross section.
 When using Total Stations, cross sections are extracted
using interpolation and measurements do not need to be
on a lateral line for a given cross section.
Use of Long and Cross Sections
Long and Cross Sections can be used:
 To compute volume of earthwork (cut and fill).
 To optimise the road design by minimising the earthwork.
Use of Long and Cross Sections
Long and Cross Sections are typically used:
 In preliminary design phase
 In actual design phase
 In construction phase
Depth of cuts and fills at centre line
The following readings were taken along the centre line of a length of pipeline:
 Reduce levels with the rise and fall method and perform all the checks on
computations.
 If the finished pipeline level is to have the elevation of 102 m at chainage point
500 m with a constant gradient of 1:200 increasing in the direction of chainage
then calculate the depth of cuts and fills at centre line as required to achieve this.
BS IS FS RISE FALL RL Form RL CUT FILL DIST
3.00 100.00 0
2.80 1.50 100
1.80 1.70 200
1.40 300
1.20 400
1.10 102.00 500
1.60 600
2.50 2.00 700
1.20 1.80 800
0.80 2.20 900
0.90 1000
Depth of cuts and fills at centre line
Reduce levels with the rise and fall method and perform
all the checks on computations.
BS IS FS RISE FALL RL Form RL CUT FILL DIST
3.00 100.00 0
2.80 1.50 1.50 101.50 100
1.80 1.70 1.10 102.60 200
1.40 0.40 103.00 300
1.20 0.20 103.20 400
1.10 0.10 103.30 102.00 500
1.60 0.50 102.80 600
2.50 2.00 0.40 102.40 700
1.20 1.80 0.70 103.10 800
0.80 2.20 1.00 102.10 900
0.90 0.10 102.00 1000

12.10 10.10 4.00 2.00 102-100=2.00

Depth of cuts and fills at centre line

BS IS FS RISE FALL RL Form RL CUT FILL DIST

3.00 100.00 99.50 0
2.80 1.50 1.50 101.50 100.00 100
1.80 1.70 1.10 102.60 100.50 200
1.40 0.40 103.00 101.00 300
1.20 0.20 103.20 101.50 400
1.10 0.10 103.30 102.00 500
1.60 0.50 102.80 102.50 600
2.50 2.00 0.40 102.40 103.00 700
1.20 1.80 0.70 103.10 103.50 800
0.80 2.20 1.00 102.10 104.00 900
0.90 0.10 102.00 104.50 1000

12.10 10.10 4.00 2.00 102-100=2.00

Depth of cuts and fills at centre line

BS IS FS RISE FALL RL Form RL CUT FILL DIST

3.00 100.00 99.50 0.50 0
2.80 1.50 1.50 101.50 100.00 1.50 100
1.80 1.70 1.10 102.60 100.50 2.10 200
1.40 0.40 103.00 101.00 2.00 300
1.20 0.20 103.20 101.50 1.70 400
1.10 0.10 103.30 102.00 1.30 500
1.60 0.50 102.80 102.50 0.30 600
2.50 2.00 0.40 102.40 103.00 0.60 700
1.20 1.80 0.70 103.10 103.50 0.40 800
0.80 2.20 1.00 102.10 104.00 1.90 900
0.90 0.10 102.00 104.50 2.50 1000

12.10 10.10 4.00 2.00 102-100=2.00

 Depth of cuts and fills at centre line

105
104
Elevation (RL) in m

103
102
101 Existing ground surface
100 Finished pipeline level
99
0 100 200 300 400 500 600 700 800 900 1000 1100
Chainage (m)
 Thank You
Adapted from Lecture Slide prepared by
Dr Mohammad Fardipour
Subject: Topographical Engineering