DATA & DIGITAL | TECHNICAL
DEVELOPMENT OF WORKFLOW The development of the successful solution relied on the co-operation and collaboration of several parties. Liaison with Autodesk was important in providing the training and guidance on the functionality of Dynamo. The platform is open source, which means that the code is open for everyone to see. Dynamo is built on a community that contributes to making it better (Autodesk, 2020). Civil 3D and Dynamo were chosen for the
automation needed for the data-intensive settlement analysis because they integrate with existing digitised information, such as: the tunnel alignment information; ground surface information from LiDAR surveys; and, building outlines in CAD format. Using available information with little or no
modification is important to ensure that no errors are within the workflow or automation due to pre- processing. Other advantages of Dynamo include: ● It allows the use of visual programming to construct logic routines, which makes it easier for users without an extensive programming experience to use and generate automatic workflows.
● CAD geometry can be created parametrically and pushed into Civil 3D drawings, and this offers time savings when compared to manual creation of geometry in a drafting package.
● It allows interfaces with multiple software (AutoCAD, Excel, MathCAD, and third party tools) and can be integrated with python and C# programming to allow advanced users to develop more powerful bespoke tools.
The workflow for the settlement and impact analysis was developed by pulling-in information mainly from Civil 3D drawings with some additional settlement parameters from Excel as shown in Figure 4. The main inputs to the settlement analysis included the tunnel alignment, ground surface topography and
the settlement trough parameters for each tunnel or shaft in Excel Format as shown in Figure 4. The different inputs were combined in Dynamo. A screenshot of the Dynamo graph is shown in Figure 5. This visual programming interface creates connections that define the flow of data and information. The main node ‘calculate settlement’ in the middle of the graph links to the C# scripts that carry out the numerical calculations to determine the settlements.
COMPUTATION OF SETTLEMENTS To enable settlements from multiple tunnels or structures to be combined, calculations were carried out on a grid. Settlement values at the same points on the grid could then be easily added together. Empirical formulae by Attewell and Woodman (1982) were used to calculate the tunnel settlement distribution whilst the formulae by New and Bowers (1994) were used for shaft settlements. It was important to include input validation in the tool so that inappropriate or missing inputs were immediately highlighted to the user. A unit testing software program was implemented to detect errors/bugs and deficiencies at early stages of functional implementation and also to ensure that these would not be introduced during version updates.
KALVEBOD PROJECT RESULTS A bespoke solution was developed for undertaking settlement and building damage assessment calculations for the Kalvebod Brygge Skybrudstunnel project, considering the influence of the tunnel’s three shafts and any auxiliary (temporary) structures associated with their construction on the ground movements in 3D space. The settlements for each excavation type were
calculated simultaneously and combined to obtain the cumulative ground movement, which was then used in the impact assessment for the buildings.
Ground surface
File inputs
Calculate settlement
Queries
General inputs
Query depth
Above, figure 5: Dynamo graph for settlement analysis December 2023 | 29
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