About Mass Grading
Understanding the optimisation process where excavation and embankment of large quantities over large areas are performed.
The goal of mass grading is to get close to final gradient elevations and obtain an overall drain direction.
Mass Grading Objectives
- Terrain Smoothing. Final contours should be gradable by common earthwork machines.
- Balancing cut and fill. Calculating earthwork to a given volume.
Mass Grading Constraints
- Maximum slope. A maximum defined slope in any given direction.
- Minimum drainage slope. A minimum defined drainage slope consisting of drain lines or low points that allow an overall drain pattern.
Minimum drainage slope in Grading Optimization requires drain elements such as drain lines or low points. The minimum drainage slope constraint does not work if drain elements are not placed in the drawing.
A finished mass grading surface looks rather simple in most cases. But a project may require more complex constraint settings.
In the following mass grading exercises, you will grade a large site along a river bank. Use the GO-Riverbank_1.dwg Civil 3D sample drawing. Sample files are installed to C:\Program Files\Autodesk\Grading Optimization 2024\samples.