Site Modeler - modify vertical alignment

John, can you elaborate on which slopes you want to modify?

The short answer is yes, you can modify the profile.  The best method depends on how you defined the profile to begin with.  If you defined a profile in cogo and used cogo chain and profile in comp section then just edit the profile and update the comp section.

If you defined profile from a draped site element (my preferred method) then use the edit profile tools are probably best. (Modeler > Object > Edit Profile)

Hi Robert:

I want to modify the slope along the centerline for part of the road (not the slope from the centerline to the edge of pavement).  I created a profle from a draped site element, then used the vertical component tools to create the proposed vertical alignment.  After the proposed profile was created, I used Composite Section to contour the road.  Now I want to revise the slopes in part of the profile, but don't see a way to do it.   Ideally, I want to get the original profile lines and curves back to adjust them, then re-create the proposed profile.

 Also, why can't I find any information in Help on the composite section tool?  I created edge of road elements and successfully contoured the road, but I want to add additional contouring to elements beyond that, but can't make it work.

John

I wonder if the error you are receiving is due to the road slope not being able to find a daylighting target on your base object. This can happen if the base object (usually the existing ground) does not cover the area where the road is looking for a daylight solution. A quick check is to turn off the slope options for your road object and see if the tool processes. If your comp section is set up to create a slope element that targets an object that can be a culprit as well.

Neil - The road contours as expected to the edge of the road and the boundaries of the road object are well within the base object.   I'm not creating a slope element.

John

Michael - Thanks for the offer.  I filed a support ticket (8000464671) and sent in the dgn and gsf.

John

Michael - so far we haven't been able to resolve my issues, so I'll take you up on your offer. See the attached zip file.

John

John

Your centerline has a kink in it at the point of compund curvature between the two arcs.  While this is probably a bad idea as far as a geometric layout (you probably want the two curves to be tangent to each other) this is perfectly fine as far as modeler is concerned.

The problem is that when you offset the alignment for the edges this kink manifest itself as gaps on the outside and overlaps on the inside.  If you drop the complex strings for the edges and zoom in close then you can see these gaps and overlaps.  If you run the comp section with the dropped lines then the error message is more helpful as well.

The problem is with the overlaps in particular.  Comp section works best (and your model will be best) whith clean graphics with no gaps nor overlaps.  When dropped, the overlaps create a situation where comp section does not know how to order the edges.  While in a complex the edge of pavement works by a strick cross-slope, but when the next cross slope to next complex tries to work the overlap (kink) causes a discontinuity.

To fix the problem:

1. Drop the center line, rectify the kink between the two curves and re-offset the edges.
2. Or, drop the edges and intersect the edges to remove the gaps and overlaps.

Hope this helps.   

John

Your centerline has a kink in it at the point of compund curvature between the two arcs.  While this is probably a bad idea as far as a geometric layout (you probably want the two curves to be tangent to each other) this is perfectly fine as far as modeler is concerned.

The problem is that when you offset the alignment for the edges this kink manifest itself as gaps on the outside and overlaps on the inside.  If you drop the complex strings for the edges and zoom in close then you can see these gaps and overlaps.  If you run the comp section with the dropped lines then the error message is more helpful as well.

The problem is with the overlaps in particular.  Comp section works best (and your model will be best) whith clean graphics with no gaps nor overlaps.  When dropped, the overlaps create a situation where comp section does not know how to order the edges.  While in a complex the edge of pavement works by a strick cross-slope, but when the next cross slope to next complex tries to work the overlap (kink) causes a discontinuity.

To fix the problem:

1. Drop the center line, rectify the kink between the two curves and re-offset the edges.
2. Or, drop the edges and intersect the edges to remove the gaps and overlaps.

Hope this helps.   

To expand on Roberts post

 

Use Data cleanup utility to aide in findin duplicates and overlapps. Also once the chain is corrected, be sure to increase the objects max trianle length, the project preference triangle length is set to 12' in the preferences (I would suggest 100-200')

 

Mike Barkasi

Bentley Civil

Professional Services

Robert - thanks much.  Redrawing the centerline (carefully) and intersecting the edge elements worked.

John

Just an FYI, if you had created an alignment in COGO, the Alignment editor can detect kinks and repair them for you. Another benefit from using COGO.

I've been caught by this same issue by the way. Good call guys.

Mike - what is the advantage of increasing the max. triangle length?  I've always thought that decreasing this gave better results, but maybe I'm looking at it wrong.

 John

For objects with closed boundary elements this is not normally an issue. However on linear objects that that are curved with opposing arcs (such as your road) the short triangle length can appear internal to the object. (see the image below)

Simply increase the triangle length to a workable value.

 

Mike Barkasi

Bentley Civil

Professional Services