Importance of earthwork in construction

For various civil engineering projects like road work, irrigation canal project, tank survey, earth moving, etc, the calculation method used are different. Some of these methods were introduced before the invention of computers and are still being continued. This document discusses about the industry practices of various methods of volume calculation so that the users can finally choose the right one for their project.

Earthworks

Earthworks are engineering works created through the moving and/or processing of massive quantities of soil or unformed rock. Earthwork is done to reconfigure the topography of a site to achieve the design levels. Earthwork involves cutting and filling to achieve the required topography.

Cutting

Cutting is the process of excavating earth material from a work location to achieve the desired topography.

Filling

Filling is the process of moving the excavated material or additional earth material to a work location to achieve the desired topography.

Applications of Earthwork

Typically, earthwork is done in the following projects:

 Road works

 Railways

 Irrigation project such as canals and dams

 Other common earthwork applications are land grading to reconfigure the topography of a site, or to stabilize slopes.

Trapezoidal Rule (End Area)

In trapezoidal method, each segment of the section is divided into various trapezoids and triangles.

Trapezoidal Area A = 1/2 X a X (b1+b2)

Trapezoidal area

Triangle area A = a * b/2

Triangle Area