Project Summary
12d Model was integral to the success of the Casuarina Beach project, allowing
Cardno MBK (CMBK) to meet extremely tight deadlines by reducing the huge variety
of calculations required on a project of this magnitude. One of the last
‘absolute beachfront’ sites earmarked for development on the Northern NSW Coast,
Casuarina Beach will ultimately be home to more than 5000 people.
The Challenge
The development is the project of Consolidated Properties Pty Ltd, a
Brisbane-based firm primarily involved in commercial developments. The supply of
all engineering and environmental services was contracted to Cardno. The joint
project is being developed by CMBK’s Gold Coast office and its Environmental
Unit.
The Gold Coast office was charged with completing the designs,
obtaining all Tweed Council and Authority approvals, and supervision of the
construction for the infrastructure of over 400 lots and tourist resort sites,
to be ready for release by mid-2001.
To achieve these deadlines, CMBK had
to rely on creativity and innovation, along with the integration of advanced
technology with responsive management. CMBK had successfully used 12d Model for
earthworks and civil design on the Seabreeze Estate subdivision at Pottsville.
The company was then confident in selecting 12d Model for the Casuarina Beach
development.
The Solution
As Civil Designer at CMBK, Robbie Marshall stated: “Software packages such as
12d greatly assist in meeting deadlines. The diversity and speed of 12d
significantly reduced the huge variety of calculations required on a project of
the magnitude of Casuarina.”
For the duration of the project, CMBK’s
Gold Coast office was primarily involved in the engineering design of roadworks,
drainage and trunk water mains; the design of over 4km of 200mm diameter sewer
rising main; design and reporting on stormwater drainage systems for the overall
development, adopting infiltration basins to complement piped and open channel
drainage mechanisms; design of a sewerage reticulation system incorporating a
regional pump station to benefit Casuarina Beach and adjacent developments.
The 12d Model modules catered for specific tasks involved in these
functions, including such capabilities as the alignment module which uses
cross-section templates and string design methods to produce roads, canals and
other linear earthwork models. Cut and fill volumes are automatically produced
for the design.
When adjustments are made to the alignment strings or
templates, the 12d Model recalc option automatically removes invalid information
and replaces it with the updated geometry and volumes.
According to
Robbie Marshall, this is particularly useful when designing roads, swales,
storage ponds or any situation where a number of trials are needed to determine
the best position for final alignment. The drainage module supports the display
of drainage networks, typically those required for new land subdivisions and
development projects such as Casuarina Beach. The drainage string itself
consists of manholes, joined by straight or curved pipes. Invert levels and pipe
grades can be set or modified graphically or by typed input. Manhole and pipe
sizes are also user definable.
Robbie explained that earthwork volumes
for trenches can be calculated along the selected design line. “The bulk
earthworks modelling for Casuarina was carried out using 12d,” he said. “It was
an immense task over the 38-hectare site but was significantly simplified using
the software.”
Use of the Volumetrics and TIN Analysis capabilities
allows calculation of earthworks volumes within a user defined polygon using
either end area or exact calculations. Reports of cut and fill areas and volumes
are given on a section-by-section basis using the end area method or on a depth
basis using prismodial volumes. Depth volumes can be colour coded for validation
and plots.
The Result
The integration of these features has allowed CMBK to meet
its selection criteria. Robbie explained that CMBK wanted to “increase
productivity without reducing quality in the design and documentation of urban
developments and civil infrastructure projects”.
Highlighting specific
features which CMBK found particularly valuable, he cited the increase in speed
of road designs due to the fact that preliminary designs could be simply
recalculated with the use of template files; time saved using the kerb function;
and the string-based design software which allows accurate finish profiles to be
obtained.
He added that the software has good interaction with other
packages and was easy to learn and to use, even for the non-computer literate.
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