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Volume Calculation


chap_engineer

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Hi,

I am trying to calculate the volume of a stockpile of material which has been drawin using co-ordinates in AutoCad 2009. The points have X,Y and Z values (Easterns, Northerns and Levels) I am trying to find the total volume but cannot make it work. I keep getting "No solids or regions selected". I am using Tools; Enquiries; Volume. How would I make solids or regions and is this necessary?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Many thanks.

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Hi,

I am trying to calculate the volume of a stockpile of material which has been drawin using co-ordinates in AutoCad 2009. The points have X,Y and Z values (Easterns, Northerns and Levels) I am trying to find the total volume but cannot make it work. I keep getting "No solids or regions selected". I am using Tools; Enquiries; Volume. How would I make solids or regions and is this necessary?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Many thanks.

 

 

sir welcome to the cadtutor forum....

 

im not really sure.. i think, for you to be able to determine if the object is solid or not...

 

select the object then Ctrl+1 to see the object's properties

in the upper part of the pallet so can weather if the object is 3d solid etc.....

 

hope it may help you sir....

 

and dont worry to your question, im sure some of the best cad users can answer it

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I would use Land Development Desktop for this, creating a surface out of the points from the stockpile and then drawing a polyline representing the general shape of the stockpile and creating a surface out of that, making sure the polyline is connected to the outermost nodes of the pile. Does that make sense? Do you have access to LDD? Have you ever done a volume comparison between 2 surfaces?

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Yes, the best thing would be to use a civil product like Land Desktop, Civil 3d (the replacement product for Land Desktop), or another non-Autodesk software.

 

You can use regular AutoCAD and create solids to get a volume, but if you have a large stock pile then it may be a little harder for your computer to digest. You would need to go to the 3d forums for assistance with doing it this way. I believe you would want to create contour lines, then loft them together into a solid which you could then get a volume on.

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I would agree with RichterGMC on this. We recently had to do volume calcs for dirt stockpiles and we found that this was the easiest way for us to do it. We used Civil 3D's Land Desktop Companion to do it.

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Might be a silly question, but is Civil 3D an additional application seperate from AutoCAD? Or is it a package within it?

Thanks

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No such thing as a silly question, that's why we have forums :)

 

Civil 3D is a program such as AutoCAD Map 3D, Land Desktop, AutoCAD itself, etc.

 

You do not need, as far as I am aware, AutoCAD installed on your system to run Civil 3D, I believe it is its own entity. Please correct me if I'm wrong

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  • 1 year later...
I would use Land Development Desktop for this, creating a surface out of the points from the stockpile and then drawing a polyline representing the general shape of the stockpile and creating a surface out of that, making sure the polyline is connected to the outermost nodes of the pile. Does that make sense? Do you have access to LDD? Have you ever done a volume comparison between 2 surfaces?

 

 

hello,

 

I wanted to know what type of surface you are talking about? do i have to make a spiral surface? or for example 2 (almost) horizontal surfaces? the surveyor has got the points around the stockpile almost in bottom and top of the stockpile (the height is around 6-8 ft) while he had turned around the stockpile.

 

thank you

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I agree, that Land Desktop would be advantageous in this situation.

 

I've personally just completed volume calculations for +/-50 Floodplain Encroachment surfaces, for a project submittal today, using AutoCAD Civil 3D Land Desktop Companion 2009 (longest name ever!).

 

If I may be of assistance, please let me know.

 

I wanted to know what type of surface you are talking about?

 

 

 

The surface primarily used by Land Desktop is a DTM (Digital Triangular Mesh).

 

Edit: I've also seen some CAD Monkeys define DTM as a Digital Terrain Model, but my earlier definition is more accurate to the way the surface is built. Otherwise, this is semantics.

 

Edit: Another term Land Desktop uses is a TIN (Triangular Irregular Surface).

 

There are subsequent surface types, such as Difference Grid, Section (or Average End), and Composite surfaces, but these types indicate the method used to calculate volumes, and not an actual different type of surface (i.e. From Maya - NURBS, Polygon, etc.).

 

Hope this helps!

Edited by BlackBox
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I agree, that Land Desktop would be advantageous in this situation.

 

I've personally just completed volume calculations for +/-50 Floodplain Encroachment surfaces, for a project submittal today, using AutoCAD Civil 3D Land Desktop Companion 2009 (longest name ever!).

 

If I may be of assistance, please let me know.

 

 

 

 

 

The surface primarily used by Land Desktop is a DTM (Digital Triangular Mesh).

 

Edit: I've also seen some CAD Monkeys define DTM as a Digital Terrain Model, but my earlier definition is more accurate to the way the surface is built. Otherwise, this is semantics.

 

There are subsequent surface types, such as Difference Grid, Section (or Average End), and Composite surfaces, but these types indicate the method used to calculate volumes, and not an actual different type of surface (i.e. From Maya - NURBS, Polygon, etc.).

 

Hope this helps!

 

 

 

unfortunately i do not have access to my cad file now i will try it tomorrow and if you do not mind I will come back again...

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I can not find DTM or (Digital Triangular Mesh) in Land Development.

I had worked with AutoCad itself but I am a beginner in Land Development and Civil 3D.

do you think it will be possible for you to lead me toward it?

i really need to learn how to get this kind of volumes out of some points.

thank you

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No worries.

 

Before you can get volumes from anything, you have to build your DTM/TIN (whatever you want to call it) from the points. Provided the points have an elevation (that is an x,y,z) then we can get started. *IF* not, then stop now, and go get points with elevations.

 

:: NOTE ::

For the purposes of this 'tutorial' if you will, it is assumed you know how to manipulate the CUI if a referenced menu is not visible in your workspace.

 

First you need to associate your drawing with a project, which is where all of the database information is stored for Land Desktop. If you're not prompted to assign your drawing to a project when you open it, simply go to the Projects menu, and select Reassociate Drawing.

Once you have a project, we're going to open the Terrain Model Explorer (TME), by going to the Terrain menu > Terrain Model Explorer. Within the TME, in the upper left, select Manager, and select Create Surface (This can also be done by right clicking the Terrain folder). You should not have a surface named "Surface1".

 

Expand Surface1 by clicking the plus sign "+" to the left. At the Point Files node, right click and select Add Points from AutoCAD Objects > Points. Now follow the on-screen prompts.

 

If you have an outer boundary, add it similarly, at the Boundaries node. Given your description, I am skipping the other nodes.

 

Now right click Surface1 and select Build..., you should get a dialog window with options, for expediency, select OK. Your surface should now be built.

 

For more information, please go the the Help menu > Land Desktop Tutorials.

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Following on from Renderman you now have a surface the simplest way to calculate a volume is to compare two surfaces ie look at "help volumes".

 

To create the second compare surface just go through the steps of adding a surface but only pick the boundary points.

 

A couple of points of interest working out a volume of stockpile when it has a bunker underneath just create a surface that is the bunker plus surrounding natural levels, if using the same location always then you can export out that surface into another job saving some time.

 

If you want a quick answer just create 5 x,y,z points outside your boundary area dont get to technical here all at the approx z for the base create a surface then compare to your stockpile. Unless your stockpile is built on a known pre surveyed area you will always get some errors in the volume.

 

Often stockpiles are built in one location but with different shapes so did they remove all prior material ? effects volume answer

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