Trimble Business Center

First let me say that Takeoff is not my speciality.  Is it possible to run a takeoff that shows the quantities of separate materials for fill for an embankment or berm?  I've attached an example below where we would be building a berm made from multiple materials that has an irregular bottom and sides.  It is possible to build a FD model and OG model, but you cannot apply a simple region with a material because the material depths are not consistent.  A site improvement can have multiple materials, but again, the thickness of each material is not uniform.  Is there a way to use the takeoff module to compute this?  Or would you just make separate surfaces for each layer and run surface-surface earthworks reports?  Would the answer change if the berm was a single material and not layered?  Thanks.

Corbitt

Yes.  You would define your Materials and then your Site Improvement is your MSI Library.

Material 1,2 and 3

Site Improvement Embankment (Material Thickness = x inches, Material 2.......).

Then using you Finish Grades and linework, define the area for embankment (enclosed area - single closed line or several lines creating a closed area).  Then apply the Site Improvement via Identify Site Regions - Design in Takeoff Tab.  Now your report should calculate all your materials.

Whoa, now I'm really lost.  How do I apply a material thickness if it is not uniform?  In this instance the thickness changes; the volume would be the difference between the top layer and the bottom layer.  I don't know how to set that up in the takeoff module, if it's even possible.  

Corbitt

See if this link from Alan helps explain the MSI. Also maybe search Takeoff to begin to learn the basics; there is lots of content.  Your local SITECH probably has someone who can provide some training.  Takeoff is a licensed feature and not part of Core/Viewer.  Good luck!

https://community.trimble.com/message/14029-re-takeoff-report?commentID=14029#comment-14029 

I would do this as multiple Surfaces - this looks like an Earth Dam or Berm and you can easily build that with the Create Sideslope Command and then use the lines created by that command to build the surfaces. To compute the volumes I would put a simple alignment (HAL with a fixed height VAL is the best approach) across the site and then se the Corridor Model to add the Surfaces as Surface Instructions. You can then rn Corridor Earthwork Report to get out all of your material Quantities.

I recorded and posted a video for someone else in the last 2 weeks on this specific subject - there issue was a large containment area for an Oil / Gass storage facility that had a complex 3D Subgrade Model and Sideslope did an Awesome Job of that - this would be the same.

Takeoff Module really only has Finished Grade, Subgrades (created from Site Improvements) and Existing Ground +/- Overexcavation. As you say in this case your materials have varying thickness and dont work with a Vertical Sided Site Improvement, so you have to shift approach to create those "complex subgrades" using Sideslope or corridor models. Sideslope is neat because you can create many instructions (like a corridor model) that each create linework for any number of material layers that you can then combine into surface models. The Corridor Model allows you to output all the volumes you want (end section areas method)

Here is a link to the post I made a couple of weeks back

Click Here

Alan