SETTING OUT

CONSTRUCTION ENGINEERING
 Principles of Surveying
1. Location of a point by measurement from two points of reference
According to this principle, the relative position of a point to be surveyed should be
located by measurement from at least two points of reference, the positions of
which have already been fixed.
 Principles of Surveying
2. Whole to the Part
According to this principle, it is always desirable to carryout survey work from
whole to part. This means, when an area is to be surveyed, first a system of
control points is to be established covering the whole area with very high precision.
Then minor details are located by less precise methods. The idea of working this
way is to prevent the accumulation of errors and to control and localize minor
errors which, otherwise, would expand to greater magnitudes if the reverse
process is followed, thus making the work uncontrolled at the end.
 Setting Out
 It is simply the physical transfer of the building drawing plans onto
the ground.
 It is one application of surveying , rather the reverse of surveying.
 Most of the techniques and equipment used in surveying are also
used in setting out.
 Mistakes in setting out can be costly.
 Setting out is the responsibility of the contractor.
 Principles of Setting Out
 Vertical control techniques
o In order that design points on the works can be positioned at their correct
levels, vertical control points of known elevation relative to some specified
vertical datum are established.
 Control Points
 Principle of working from the whole to the
part using two different levels of control is
used.
 On some schemes the same control points
that were used in the production of the site
plan prior to design work are used. These
must be re-measured before setting out as
positions may have changed.
 Horizontal control points should be located
as near as possible to the site in open
positions for ease of working, but well
away from the construction area and traffic
routes to avoid them being disturbed.
 Control Points
 Construction and protection of control points is very important.
 Wooden pegs are often used for non-permanent stations.
 For permanent control points it is recommended that they be
constructed with concrete.
 Reference Grids

A control grid enables points to be set over a large area. Several different grids can be used
in setting out:-
 Survey Grid is drawn on the survey plan from the original traverse. Grid points, known
as Easting & Northing related either to some arbitrary origin or to the national grid.
 Site Grid is used by designer & related in some way to survey.
 Structural Grid is established around a particular building or structure which contains
much detail such as columns, which cannot be set out with sufficient accuracy from the
site grid.
 Secondary Grid is established inside the structure from the structural grid when it is no
longer possible to use the structural grid to establish internal features of the building – as
the vision becomes obscured.
Tools for Setting out
 Setting out using Total Station
• Total station is levelled and centred over a control point. Orient
it horizontally and vertically to the site coordinate system.
• For horizontal orientation, the coordinates of the control point
at which the instrument is set up are entered into the total
station then it automatically computes the bearing from the
total station to other points.
• For vertical orientation, the height of collimation of the total
station has to be determined. If the height of the control point
at which the total station is known, this is entered into the
instrument .
• Once the total station has been orientated it can be used for
setting out horizontal and vertical positions either using the
coordinates of the points to be set out directly or using bearing
and distance values calculated from these coordinates.
 Stages in setting out
 First Stage
• In practice, first stage setting out involves the use of many of the horizontal and vertical
control methods and positioning techniques.
• To locate the boundaries of the works on ground and define major elements.
 Second Stage
• Second stage setting out continues on from the first stage, beginning at the ground floor
slab, road sub-base level etc.
• Up to this point, all the control will be outside the main construction, e.g, the pegs
defining building corners, centre lines and so on will have been knocked out during the
earthmoving work and only the original control will be undisturbed.
Setting out
 Misc Points / Tips
o Get the overall site handed over to you by the client through competent authorities as per the
site plan.
o Check / Study the block plan and site layout plan carefully before starting setting out.
Specially check for the existing features and their consistency with the site plan and
proposed buildings.
o Walk over the site and check that there is no evidence of hidden features that might affect
the setting-out or construction of the works.
o Don’t trust the existing neighbouring boundary as they may not be legally / correctly installed.
Making them reference will result in faults in your plans.
o Install permanent bench marks and reference points.
o Clear / Strip the site, remove the trees & their roots, all vegetation and bushes before setting
out as per the contract agreement.
 Misc Points / Tips
• Check the dimensions of the rooms, walls and building area and compare the
proposed plans with the area available. Do not scale the drawings. Use the
dimensions and check that intermediate dimensions agree with overall dimensions.
• Calculate the centre lines of the walls if not already shown in drawings.
• Find out the diagonal of the rooms & the building using the centre lines. Note that
Rectangles have same diagonals.
• During excavation, the centre points marked during initial setting may get removed.
Therefore the centre lines are extended and the centre points are marked about
2m away from the outer edge of excavation.
• Centre lines should be shown clearly by stretched thread or rope.
 Misc Points / Tips
• If the plan is much too complicated and follows zigzag pattern, then the centre pegs are
kept at suitable positions according to site conditions.
• One of the classic mistakes is getting the floor plan out of square.
• Adjust the errors internally if exteriors areas are fixed.
• Offset the line around the obstacle.
• Check levels by ‘eyeing-in’ on known levels.
• It is good practice to only square one corner and set out subsequent walls by parallel
measurements. This will ensure that if a true rectangle is not set out (all measurements
are still accurate), the shape will be a parallelogram (rhombus) and will therefore be easy
to correct.
• Use spirit level frequently.
 Misc Points / Tips
• Report any discrepancies found in drawings and / or at site in writing and keep a
copy.
• Confirm any oral instructions in writing.
• Set up a system of recording and communicating information.
• Set up the CAD system to ease in making copies of drawings, getting minor details
/ blow-ups and working out details / angles / radius offsets etc.
• Apply manual / traditional checks for work executed using modern survey
equipments.
• Never conceal your errors or your doubts.
• Check pegs from offsets, do not assume they are correct or remain undisturbed.
Any Questions ????