Road Internal Platform Discretization and Limitation

MiTS allows users to design for roads in the Road Module and automatically generate the platform for analysis. After the road design is complete in the Road Module, platforms are generated automatically when users click on the ‘Generate Platform’ button.

What is the Concern? #

Sometimes, you may find that the platforms generated for your road have a slight drop between the edges. This drop is unnoticeable if you don’t check it thoroughly in the cut section view or 3D view.

When you open the 3D view and hover around the road, you might find a little drop between the platforms like below.

And notice below that when we expand the cut section view, the drop is apparent only when we zoom in real close.

But in a very rare case, the drop between the platform edge is significant enough that you notice the drop even without zooming the cut section. For the case below, the drop was more than 0.1m when the platform level is observed along the two platforms edge by hovering the cursor.

The Reason Behind #

This is due to the meshing method used by the software in the earthwork module. The software will try to generate the platforms accordingly based on the vertical elevation and the road width entities that users input. It is a limitation on the meshing method part as the platform has to be discretized and there are elevation differences due to different elements.

The Difference between Earthwork Cut Section and Road Cross Section #

Road Module Cross Section and Earthwork Module Cut Section are generated differently. From the images below, we can see that even though it is from the same section or chainage, the platform level isn’t exactly the same.

This is due to the road module cross section generated based on the road width input from the user and by road basis. Whereas the cut section from the earthwork module depends fully on how the platform is generated for the road, which is subjected to the above limitation.

For better understanding and explanation on the road module cross section, you may refer to this website article where how to ensure slope is included in the cross section is also discussed. Understand also the comparison between road cross section and earthwork cut section from the discussion here.