Survey Project Report 2025

Date	15th & 16 th March 2025
Faculty Coordinator	Ms Smitha J S Mr. Chaitanya Khaire
Department	Civil Engineering

Site Selection
The site for surveying project was selected considering the following criteria:

• The land should be undulated.
• There should be significant difference in gradient.
• Vast area should be available for surveying without obstructions

Objectives
The survey camp was conducted with the following objectives:

• To familiarise the students with the some of the surveying works conducted on site like contouring, profiling, cross-sectioning etc.
• To instil the knowledge of taking observations with various surveying instruments like dumpy level, digital theodolite etc.
• To train the student to process the field observations and obtain useful data.

Observations

The students obtained necessary data pertaining to required survey works. In the field, staff readings were entered in the standard level book format. Later, calculations were made to find out the following

• Reduced levels pertaining to radial contouring project. The staff intercept is used to calculate the horizontal and vertical distances along the radial lines.
• Reduced levels pertaining to block contouring project which is used to prepare the topographic map of the area.
• Reduced levels pertaining to road project which is used to plot the longitudinal profile and cross section of road.

Outcomes
On successful completion of the survey camp, the students were able to:

• Gain knowledge regarding projects like contouring, profiling, cross-sectioning etc.
• Use various surveying instruments as per the requirement of the project
• Practice calculation of reduced levels from field readings
• Prepare the necessary drawings like Longitudinal sections and Cross section (highway project), topographic maps using block contour and radial contouring.

Detailed Report

As per the syllabus of Mumbai University for Second year Civil Engineering Degree Course, a Surveying Project work is to be carried out. The students are required to conduct the following projects and prepare detailed drawing sheets.

1. Radial contouring
2. Block contouring
3. Longitudinal profiling and cross-sectioning of Roadwork

For the academic year 2024-25, the survey project for students of Semester IV was conducted on 15st March and 16th March 2025 at Monteria Resort, Khalapur. Initiation and discussions on preparing the four required drawing sheets was carried out on and 9th April 2025 at the classroom, PHCET.

1. RADIAL CONTOURING

The radial contouring is a contouring method by which intermediate points are taken on the radial lines whose reduced levels are used to draw the contour maps. Tacheometric method of contouring is adopted here, which is suitable where linear measurements are difficult. The radial lines are those lines which radiate from a fixed point with some uniform angle. The contour lines are imaginary lines on the ground joining the points of equal elevation. For the given site, radial lines were connected with an angular spacing of 45°, starting from 0º to 360°.The levelling staff is held at various points on the radial lines and the staff readings are noted. The horizontal distance, vertical distance and reduced levels of these points can be determined with the help of staff intercepts using formula for tacheometric survey. After determining a suitable contour interval, points having same RL are located on the radial lines. Smooth curves of various contour lines were drawn connecting points of equal elevation and the contour map was prepared.

2. BLOCK CONTOURING

In block contour the given area is divided into a number of blocks of equal dimensions and the grid intersection points are marked on the ground. For the given site, the area was divided into blocks of size 5m x 5m by using cross staff, chain and ranging rods. A dumpy level and a level staff are used to note down the staff readings of these points on a level book page. The reduced level of the various intermediate points was deduced from the staff readings taken at the site. For an appropriate contour interval, points of required reduced level are identified by method of interpolation and a contour map is drawn joining the points of same RL in the given area. The contour map helps to identify the nature of topography of the land area surveyed.

3. LONGITUDINAL PROFILING AND CROSS-SECTIONING OF ROAD

The objective of this project is to fix the alignment of a road and to obtain the reduced level of existing ground. The center-line of the proposed road is marked on the ground and levelling is done at intervals of 10m each, longitudinally and for 2m on either side of the center-line. Bearings are noted whenever there is a change in direction. The cross-section of the highway at these regular intervals was found by cross sectioning. The drawings of the longitudinal section and cross-section are prepared with formation width and side slopes. This cross-sectioning is useful for calculating the earthwork involved in cutting and filling at different sections of the highway at various intervals.