CHAPTER 12

Volume Calculations
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Surpac Vision will allow you to calculate the volume of files in a number of different ways. The most common method of volume calculation
is using DTM surfaces. It is also possible to calculate volumes based on string files, and using 3D models.

Exercise 1 – DTM Surface to Surface Volumes

This section will cover calculating volumes between two DTM surfaces. This will be done using a number of different files to allow you to
check your result.

What you will learn

In this exercise you will cover the following topics:

o Calculating DTM surface to surface volumes

 DTM Surface to Surface Volumes

In this exercise you will calculate three volumes, using three DTM files.
The first volume will be between the topography (TOPO1.DTM) and the first quarry file, which you will assume is the end of month survey
file for last month.
The second volume will be between the topography file and the third quarry file, which you will assume is the end of month survey for the
current month. Using the two results you get, you can then calculate the volume excavated for the current month.
The final volume you will calculate will be between the first quarry file, and the third quarry file, which will also give us a volume for the
current month, and a check on our previous volume calculations.
 Topography to Quarry1 Volume
To be able to calculate a volume using the QUARRY1 file, you must have a DTM of that file.
1. Make sure that there are no files currently open in graphics by clicking on the Reset Graphics icon on the toolbar .

2. Recall the file QUARRY1.STR into graphics.

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3. Select Surfaces > Create DTM from Layer

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4. Click on the Apply button to create the DTM.

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5. Select File > Save > String / DTM file, and save the file using the default name.
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Now that you have a DTM of the first quarry file, and a DTM of the topography file (created in the previous chapter) you can
calculate the volume between the two DTM surfaces.

When Surpac calculates the volume between two DTM surfaces, you can use a boundary string to give the two files a common
reporting area. In the case of this exercise, the boundary string is boundary string of the quarry string file, which is string number 3.
Before you continue you should check this string to make sure of its direction, and to make sure it is closed.

6. Select Display > Hide DTM

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7. Click on the Apply button without making any changes.

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String number 3 is the outermost string, and in these images it is the red string, but may be a different colour on your screen due to you
having a different set of string styles set.
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8. Select Inquire > Segment Properties

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9. Click on the outermost string, string number 3.

Surpac will place the segment information into the message window.

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You should see in the message window that the status is clockwise, which means the string is closed. Now that you know this, you can
start the volume calculation.
10. Select Volumes > Net volume between DTMs

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11. At the top of the form select to use 2 DTM files for the volume.

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12. Enter the TOPO1 file as the first DTM, and the QUARRY1 file as the second DTM.
 The order that these file are entered in will make a difference to the final volume that is reported. The general rule is to make the
highest surface the first DTM and the lower file, the second DTM.

Entering the files in this order will result in the final volume having a positive (+ve) volume, and reversing the order will give a
negative (-ve) volume. The absolute value of the volume will be the same regardless of the order of the DTM surfaces.

13. Leave the Number of quality parameters as the default value of 0. This will be covered at a later stage.

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14. Check the box to use a boundary string, and enter the file name of QUARRY1, and enter the string number of the boundary string,
which you found out earlier was string number 3.

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15. Once the form has been filled out, click on the Apply button.
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Surpac will create a report on NOT file format. You can give this report any name you wish. By default, the report name will match
that of the second DTM file name.

16. Remove the tick to save the boundary string file. In this case this is not required.
17. Click on the Apply button to continue.
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Surpac will give you the opportunity to save each DTM that has been used to calculate the volume. This action will save the DTM, but
it will be clipped to the boundary string that you have used. In this example it would save the DTM of each file, but only inside of
string number 3.

18. In this example it is not required to save the modified DTM. Click on the Apply button to continue.
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As you have used two DTM surface, you are given the option to save the modified DTM surface twice. Once for the first surface you
entered, TOPO1.DTM, and then a second time for QUARRY1.DTM.

19. Click on the Apply button without making any changes.

Surpac will generate the report, in this case QUARRY1.NOT, and open with your default text editor.
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The report gives a summary of the two DTM surfaces used to calculate the volumes, and at the bottom of the report gives the volume
in units cubed, in this case metres cubed.

20. Make a not of the volume, 8683634.4 m3, which we will use at a later time.
21. Close the text editor.

You have now calculated the volume for quarry at the end of last month.
 
 Topography to Quarry2 Volume
The next step is to calculate the volume between the topography and the quarry at the end of the current month.
This is the same exercise with a few minor changes to a few forms.
1. Select Volumes > Net volumes between DTMs

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2. Enter the name of QUARRY3 for the second DTM and also for the boundary string, and then click on the Apply button.
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3. Remove the check box to save the boundary string file, and then click on the Apply button.

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4. Click on the Apply button to continue without making any changes to the form.

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5. Click on the Apply button to continue without making any changes to the form.
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Surpac will generate the report for the second volume calculation.

6. Make a note of the volume for the second calculation, 8787039.0 m3.

You have now calculated the volume for the quarry for the current month. Both of the volumes you have calculated are total mine volumes,
and as a result we now subtract one from the other.
Subtracting the volume for last month, from the volume for this month you are given a volume for the excavation carried out this current
month.
8787039.0
-8683643.4
103395.6 m3
This value can now be checked by calculating the volume between the DTM surface for the quarry at the end of last month, and the DTM
surface for the quarry at the end of the current month.
 
 Quarry1 to Quarry2 Volume
The next step is to calculate the volume between the two quarry DTM surfaces to calculate the volume for this month.
1. Select Volumes > Net volume between DTMs

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2. Enter QUARRY1 as the first DTM, and QUARRY3 and the second DTM, and then click on the Apply button.

3. Give the report a new name of CURRENT_MONTH1, and remove the tick to save the boundary string. Then click on the Apply
button to continue.
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4. Click on the Apply button to continue without making any changes to the form.

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 5. Click on the Apply button to continue without making any changes to the form.

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Surpac will then generate the volume report.
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You should note the final volume matches what you manually calculated, confirming the result for the current month of mining.
This is just one way to check your volume calculation results. Another way to check your results would be use a totally different method of
calculating a volume.
 
 End Area Volume Calculation
Another alternative to calculating a volume is to use the end area method. This method will allow you to create sectional outlines between two
DTM surfaces, and then calculate an area, and then a volume based on these outlines.
To be able to use the end area calculation, Surpac must make cross sections through your DTM files. To create the cross sections, you must
define a section line, with coordinates for the start and finish of the line. This is the first step.
1. Make sure that there are no files currently open in graphics by clicking on the Reset Graphics icon on the toolbar .

2. Recall the file QUARRY1.DTM into graphics.

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3. Click on the Render button icon on the toolbar.

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Now you will work out a start point and a finish point fro your section line. The cross section will be cut at right angles to the section
line, and as a general rule your section line should go along the longest axis of your file.

To show the section line you will create a string using to sets of coordinates.

4. Select Create > Points > By coordinates

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5. Enter the coordinates as shown in the following image, and then click on the Apply button.
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The first point will be created at the southern end of the quarry.
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6. Enter the coordinates for the second point, as shown in the previous image, and then click on the Apply button.
7. Once the two points have been created, click on the Cancel button to stop creating points.
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This is now showing the line that the sections will created along. This can be saved permanently if required, is not needed for this
exercise.

8. Select Volumes > End area method

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9. Enter the QUARRY1 file as the first surface, and then enter a string range of 1 to 100.
10. Enter the QUARRY3 file as the second surface and then enter a string range of 1 to 100.
11. Enter the QUARRY3 file as containing the boundary string, and enter the string range of 3, and then click on the Apply button.

The end area function will create a note file report that you need to give a name to.
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12. Enter a new location name for the report, and then click on the Apply button.

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13. Enter the coordinates that were used do create the section line on the screen in graphics, and then click on the Apply button.
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The range of section defines where the sections will start, where the sections will end, and how often a section will be created. As the
section line that you are using is oblique, the start and end values are based on a chainage along the section line.

In this case you will just need to change the step value, to tell Surpac to create a section every 5 metres. The closer together the
sections, the more accurate the result will be, but this must be done with some common sense. You don’t want to have Surpac creating
thousands and thousands of sections, when you could get a good result with around a hundred sections.

14. Change the step value for the sections to 5 metres.

All of the cross sections that are created will be placed into a single string file. You need to give this file a name.

15. Enter a name for the section of ENDAREA1, and then click on the Apply button.

Surpac will now generate the report file, and will also create the string file of the cross sections.
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The report contains information about each of the sections that is created. As the sections are summarised, the cumulative volume is recorded.
This results in the last section having the total volume between the two DTM surfaces.
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This final figure of 103506.8 m3 matches very well with the DTM volume that you have calculated in the earlier exercises, 103395.6 m3. The
difference is 111.2 m3, or 0.01% of the DTM volume. The volume between the DTM functions and the End Area function will never be
exactly the same, but should always be very close.
Another useful tool that can be used is to split the volume report based on bench elevations. This can be done using the section file that was
generated by the end area function.
 
 Volumes by Elevation (Bench)
Using the string file created in the end area function in the previous exercise you can generate a volume split into elevations.
1. Make sure that there are no files currently open in graphics by clicking on the Reset Graphics icon on the toolbar .
2. Recall the file ENDAREA1.STR into graphics.
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The sections have been created and stored with coordinates of the points in sectional coordinates. This will not affect the result of
splitting the volumes into different elevations.

3. Click on the Display 2D Grid icon on the toolbar .

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You should see that the elevation range for the quarry is from around 60m RL to 180m RL. For the area that you are interested in, a
range of 60 to 120 would be fine.

4. Select Volumes > By elevation from sections

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5. Enter the name of the section file that contains the cross sections.
6. Enter the elevation range starting at 60, finishing at 120, and reporting the volume every 5 metres.

Surpac will generate a report in note file format, and open it with your default text editor. The name of the report will match that of the string
section file, but with the NOT extension.
The report gives a volume for each elevation range, and at the bottom of the report gives the total volume, which is another way to check your
volume calculation from your DTM files.

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 Calculating Tonnages using DTM Files
It is also possible to calculate a tonnage for two DTM surfaces, rather than just a volume. To do this you will use the Net volumes between
DTMs, but you will use the quality parameters option.
1. Make sure that there are no files currently open in graphics by clicking on the Reset Graphics icon on the toolbar .

To use the quality parameters when calculating a volume between two DTM files, you must have the parameter you wish to use in a
file. In the case of this example, you will say that the parameter is a specific gravity.
2. Recall the file SG1.STR into graphics.

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This file represents the positions of drill hole collars. Each point has information located in the first description field (D1).

3. Select Inquire > Point properties, and then click on any point.

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 This tells you that the information is in the first description field and the string number of all of the points is number 1.

For the Net volumes function to be able to use this data, it must be stored as a DTM file.

4. Select Surfaces > Create DTM from Layer

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5. Click on the Apply button to create the DTM.

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You must now save the file.

6. Select File > Save > String / DTM file

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Now the tonnage can be calculated fro the excavation that has been done in the quarry for this month.

7. Select Volumes > Net volume between DTMs

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8. Check the radio button next to the number of quality parameters to use 1 parameter.
9. Fill the form out using the QUARRY1 and QUARRY2 file as you have done in the previous exercises, and then click on the Apply
button.
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10. Enter a name for the quality parameter. By default this is Specific Gravity.
11. Enter that name of the file that contains the specific gravity information, SG1, and which field the data is stored in.
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12. Select the radial search option to calculate the specific gravity for the entire volume area.

Now you must tell Surpac how to look for points containing specific gravity values to calculate the overall average.

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13. Enter the same file name and field as you did on the left hand side of the form.
14. Enter a search radius of 100m, and that there must be 3 sample points found inside this radius to give an average for the specific
gravity.
15. Once the form has been filled out, click on the Apply button to continue.
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16. Enter a name for the report, and remove the tick next to save the boundary string, and then click on the Apply button.

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 17. Click on the Apply button without making any changes.

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18. Click on the Apply button without making any changes.

 
Surpac will then open the report with your default text editor.
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Note the report has a value for the tonnage, based on the mean of the specific gravity values, as well as the volume.