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About

About Paving Design

Paving Design In ASE Civil

Setup ~ After alignments are available and Base Map Control is established, the vertical design drawing becomes the next major area of focus for grading the site. By now, Design Markers have been placed throughout the site. Marker elevations have also been modified to reflect a preset, engineered drainage design already in-place.

 

Assignment ~ The designer will then select Design Markers individually on each alignment and assign one or more "Paving Features" to a selection of Markers. Each assigned "Feature" will have some effect on the output or data created by ASE Civil.

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Results ~ The logical placement of "Paving Features" along an alignment forces all related output & data references (e.g., finished profiles, corridor models, plan labels, etc.) to reflect all changes in:

  • Profile Tangent Grades

  • PVI Elevations, Stations

  • Curb Heights

  • Curb Ranges of Coverage

  • Depressions/Driveway Locations

  • Intersection Elevations & Curb Return Grades

  • Curb-Line Broken Regions

  • Vertical Curve Locations & Lengths

  • Lengths of Curb-Runs & Transitions

  • More.

Details ~ All subtleties of the structure of the profile design and all detailed, top-surface variations in the corridor design are controlled entirely by the location and type of Paving Features contained within Design Markers.

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Demo-3drm-HorzTrans.PNG
Paving Features Are Data Controls

Alignment-Based Definition ~ Paving Features of various types are placed in key locations along each component of an alignment. Their 'type' and location (station/offset & sometimes elevation) provide detailed profile & curb information that is fed to multiple dependent systems via alignment 'Paving Model' files.

 

Paving Model Data ~ The 'Paving Model' file contents support multi-line/multi-component finished profile generation. The output created in the form of auto-generated profiles & corridors, include all variations in the curb-lines shown directly above the profile flowline. The data generated by "Paving Features" is referenced whenever FG paving information is needed for design or production within any drawing connected to a common ASE Civil project.

Work-Flow Impact

Sharing an alignment's Paving Feature definitions yields:

Sample Usage

These images show examples of how Paving Features are established & managed in the vertical design drawing, then used for all subsequent grading data reference and production work.

Definition

Definition

Paving Features should be placed from a plan-view perspective. It's best to know what Feature(s) are require before defining Features.

Profile Elements

Profile Elements

In the profile shown a variety of ASE Paving Features have been defined within this single offset component of a design profile. The presence of the Paving Features on an alignment becomes apparent when the profile is generated. The Features control virtually every aspect of the finished profile as-seen here.

Corridors

Corridors

The vertical component of corridors, a live, design profile-driven framework, references the elevations of the Grade Breaks, Intersections and Vertical Curves. These Features are the "back-bone" of the corridor, providing its vertical displacement. Base Map Control handles horizontal control in conjunction with Marker placement. The [X,Y] of each feature is determined by the location(s) of the Markers used to define the Features.

Plan Labels

Plan Labels

Grade Breaks, Intersections and vertical curves sequentially-connect the elevated Markers to create  the framework for each component of the profile design. The presence of other Paving Features affect the detailed shape of the top surface of the corridor as well as the elevation data for plan labels that require tops-of-curbs values as shown in the image.

Finished Pads Data Reference

Finished Pads Data Reference

Pad elevations can be controlled sevaral ways using ASE. One effective method involves referencing curbs for FG data using 2 arbitrary points along the curb line (Curbs are normally sampled near the lot line). Paving Features play an important role in controling pad elevations. Since Features perfectly model the top surface of the finished corridor & finished profiles, they share the same data source.

Feature Types

Feature Types

All of the Paving Feature types available in ASE Civil are listed here.

Grade Break

Starts & ends each corridor component.

2 grade breaks on the same component of the same alignment enables:

  • Corridor modeling

  • Profile generation

  • Plan labeling

  • Data referencing

... and more for that component if the data is shared.

Defines elevations at given stations along an alignment.

Establishes PVI elevations for vertical curves.

[3D reference]

Intersection

Establishes curb return connection points (2) for each instance of an intersection of two separate alignments.

External curb return connectors (2) may be elevated explicitly or implicitly.

Interior curb return connectors (2) share a Design Marker elevation(only) with a terminal grade break defined on the intersecting alignment.

Component flowlines pass through Intersections in generated profiles.

[Mixed reference]

Curb & Gutter Transition

Toggles the curb height between the minimal & maximal values.

C&G Transitions require 2 Design Markers to designate the starting and ending stations of the transition region.

Transitions may exist anywhere along an "L1" or "R1" component, at any station range within the design limits.

[2D reference]

On-Grade Label

Used to designate a location along a component where a PVI label containing a custom description is desirable in the generated profile.

Usable at any location within the corridor's design limits

Displays the description from the vertical design drawing in the PVI label of the finished profile.

[2D reference]

Variable-Height Curb

Allows the curb height at any location along an offset component, to be overridden with a new height.

The variant height applies at the specified station of the Feature only.

Curb heights before and after a Variable-Height Curb Feature will transition from/to the elevation at the previous/next PVI location, where the previous, running curb height was applied.

Requires 1 Design Marker for definition.

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Sample Uses:

  • Driveways

  • Depressed curb sections

  • Median bullnose (depressed)

  • Raised curb sections

[2D reference]​

Curb Break

Terminates the curb vertically through a range of stations along a component.

Requires 2 Design Markers to designate the beginning and end of the depressed curb section.

[2D reference]

Vertical Curve

Specifies the location (station) and length (feet) of a parabolic, equal-tangent, vertical curve.

Must be defined coincident with a Grade Brea' Feature before sharing data to build/refresh the alignment's paving model.

Applies to individual components only.

[3D reference]

Requirements

Before attempting to define Paving Features, these elements of the project must already be in-place:

  1. Vertical Design Drawing

  2. Project Alignments (C3D or ASE)

  3. Base Map Control Data

  4. Design Markers

Requirements

Restrictions

To improve your chances of success when creating roadway design data, refer to these rules to ensure that new Features do not not violate any of ASE Civil's current limitations.

1 : Components require at least 2 Grade Breaks to generate paving data

If non-Grade Break Features are defined on a component containing less than two Grade Breaks, a crash will occur when the data is shared.

2 : Grade Breaks must start & end all components

  1. The first and last Paving Features must be Grade Breaks.

  2. Each component of an alignment is defined by the presence of multiple Grade Break Features. These Features must mark the start and end of each component of an alignment by referencing the smallest and largest station values of the defined Grade Break Features.

  3. No other Features may be defined before the first GB or after the last GB on a component.

  4. Grade Break Features may exist elsewhere along the component.

  5. Other 

3 : Grade Breaks must be elevated

  1. Grade Breaks must be defined using elevated Design Markers.

  2. Sequences of Grade Breaks on a component create profile data & the framework for corridor output

  3. Any Paving Features may be defined using elevated Design Markers.

  4. Elevations from non-Grade Break/non-Intersection Design Markers will be excluded from the paving data.

  5. Paving data elevations are based on Grade Breaks & Intersection elevations.

  6. Tops-of-Curb elevations are based on the profile grade appended with the 'Instant Curb-Height' at the sampled station.

4 : Intersections/Curb Returns must be elevated

  1. Intersections must be defined using elevated Design Markers.

  2. Interior Curb return points are connectors to intersecting alignments or existing topography.

  3. Curb heights may transition through one or both curb returns of an Intersection.

5 : Vertical Curves must include 1 Grade Break

  1. Vertical Curve Features are incomplete without a Grade Break definition using the same Design Marker.

  2. A Vertical Curve defined without a Grade Break will not crash the data sharing or the subsequent work-flows, but the curve geometry will not be included in the paving data. It may show in the alignment's Features display, but the curvature wil have no influence on the corridor model, the profiles , curb data for Pads nor plan labels.

6 : The PVI-Grade Break is exclusive within a Vertical Curves' span

  1. Excluding the PVI Grade Break, no other Grade Breaks may be defined within the horizontal limits of a vertical curve's span (e.g., the 'curve-length' from BVCS through EVCS).

  2. Grade Breaks inside or 'tangent-to' or 'coincident-with' a Vertical Curve's span will always cause data sharing and all downstream work-flows to fail.

  3. All other non-Grade Break Paving Features may be defined within, tangent to or overlapping a Vertical Curve's span/length.

7 : Adjacent Vertical Curve spans may be tangent but may never overlap

  1. When 2+ VCs exist on the same component; PVI2Sta >= PVI1Sta+(Len1/2)+(Len2/2).

  2. Interfering/overlapping Vertical Curve-spans will always cause data sharing and all downstream work-flows to fail.

  3. All other non-Grade Break Paving Features may be defined either fully-within within, partially-within or tangent to a Vertical Curve's span/length.

8 : Vertical Curve definitions must always exist as interior Features

  1. Vertical Curves may never use 'Terminal' Grade Breaks for their PVI location nor for their Feature definition.

  2. The aggregate span of all Vertical Curves on a component must be fully-contained within the limits of the 'Terminal' Grade Breaks a component.

  3. PVIS(min) >= GB(begin)Sta + Curve Length/2

  4. PVIS(max) <= GB(end)Sta - Curve Length/2

Restrictions
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