Calculate Stockpile Volume

Function

This command is a customized and simplified method for calculating volumes in a situation in which the entire volume to be calculated is above the perimeter elevation, such as in the case of a stockpile of material. The complimentary command, Calculate Pond/Pit Volume, is for the opposite situation, in which the entire volume to be calculated is below the elevation of the perimeter.

The program internally computes base and final grid surfaces from drawing geometry. The base surface is calculated from a 3D polyline representing the perimeter of the area being analyzed. If that 3D polyline is drawn on the PERIMETER layer, the command will automatically detect and use it. If no 3D polyline is found on that layer, you have an opportunity to manually select another 3D polyline to use. The 3D polyline perimeter can be drawn with the Draw 3D Polyline Perimeter command before using this routine.

The 3D polyline perimeter is also used as the inclusion perimeter for the volume calculation.

Additional 3D polylines can also be specified to more precisely define the base surface. These must be on the BASE_BREAKLINE layer to be used for this purpose. These can be generated by the Draw 3DPoly Base Breakline routine.

The final surface is calculated from all of the other selected drawing entities such as points, line, inserts, and polylines, along with the perimeter polyline, but not including the BASE_BREAKLINE polylines.

You have the option of setting the resolution of the grids.

The Make 3D Grid File and Two Surface Volumes commands, used in combination, are an alternative to this command, and in any situation in which there are cut and fill volumes between the surfaces, that combination must in fact be used to generate accurate results.

Prompts

Material density lbs/ft^3 (Enter for none): enter a material density in lbs per cubic foot, or press Enter for none

Ignore Zero Elevations [<Yes>/No]?

Select stockpile entities and perimeter.
Select objects: pick the objects that define the stockpile and the 3D polyline perimeter

Select stockpile perimeter polyline:

Make Grid File dialog Set the resolution and then click OK.

Sample volume report

Volume report
Lower left grid corner: 15965.45,12657.05
Upper right grid corner: 16269.40,12906.29
X grid resolution: 50, Y grid resolution: 50
X grid cell size: 6.08, Y grid cell size: 4.98
Stockpile volume: 1191674.87825 cubic ft, 44136.107 cubic yards

Stockpile defined by points and a 3D polyline perimeter
Window these objects to obtain the volume report

Pulldown Menu Location: Grading
Keyboard Command: stockvol
Prerequisite: Data representing the stockpile surface and a 3D polyline representing the perimeter of the stockpile.
File Names: \lsp\stockvol.lsp, \lsp\volcalc.arx