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Pipe Alignment & Grade, Control Syst - Ed01docx

The document discusses the importance of proper pipe alignment and grade for sanitary sewer systems. It describes an improved method using stakes, hubs, boning rods, and batter boards spaced at 15 meter intervals to maintain the required line and grade during construction. This avoids issues with using surveying instruments alone, such as disturbances affecting readings. A sample grade sheet is provided to illustrate how design data, survey results, and calculations are used to maintain correct sewer alignment and grade during pipe laying.

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Mesfin Derbew
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209 views4 pages

Pipe Alignment & Grade, Control Syst - Ed01docx

The document discusses the importance of proper pipe alignment and grade for sanitary sewer systems. It describes an improved method using stakes, hubs, boning rods, and batter boards spaced at 15 meter intervals to maintain the required line and grade during construction. This avoids issues with using surveying instruments alone, such as disturbances affecting readings. A sample grade sheet is provided to illustrate how design data, survey results, and calculations are used to maintain correct sewer alignment and grade during pipe laying.

Uploaded by

Mesfin Derbew
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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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You are on page 1/ 4

PIPE ALIGNMENT AND GRADE

This is a Clause in the Technical Specification which is crucial to the smooth operation and long
life of the sanitary sewerage system. In earlier editions of FIDIC (The International Federation of
Engineers) Specifications that AAWSA used, the Clause read The pipe shall be laid to the
required line and grade using a horizontal and vertical control system using survey
instruments at intervals not exceeding 15 meters allowing direct reading on the pipe top
being laid and the trench bottom excavated. This was later improved to read The pipe shall be
laid to the required line and grade using a horizontal and vertical control system of stakes,
hubs, boning rods and batter boards at intervals not exceeding 15 metres. This
improvement by FIDIC was effected following thorough studies and researches to find out the
root causes of repeated sewage overflows in many European and Western cities and towns that
had the gravity sanitary sewerage systems.

It was believed that the earlier method of keeping the required line and grade in pipe laying
was faulty and caused the blockage of sewer lines and sewage overflow, due mainly to the
following possible reasons.

The surveying instrument (commonly leveling instrument) is prone to disturbance by the


movement of workers, trenching & rock-breaking machinery and equipment which
cause wrong readings that give incorrect slope and elevation values.
The above situation affects the horizontal alignment at the same time.
Inaccurate distance measurement and marking plus measuring slope distance instead of
horizontal distance are common practice
Errors in pipe dimension & shape due to damage, stacking, or even manufacturing give
wrong and invalid assumptions in calculating elevations.
These instrumental and other possible personal (carelessness, vision/sight problem) and
natural (temperature, humidity etc) errors are very likely to occur and prevent us from
keeping the required vertical and horizontal alignment during construction.

The improved new Clause is believed to avoid the above problems that are believed to have
been the causes of pipe alignment and grade problems that caused sedimentation, blockage
and sewage overflow. Why, then, was this useful Clause avoided and replaced by the old one
with problems in AAWSAs Contract Documents?

Shortage of practical knowledge to implement this Specification could be the one most likely
reason, and therefore, this note attempts to fill this gap by preparing the following guideline to
implementing the method during pipe laying operation.

[Type text] Page 1


LAYING OF SEWERS USING STAKES, BATTER BOARDS & BONING RODS

Steps to use stakes (pegs), batter boards & boning rods in conjunction with a Grade Sheet Data
format as a method or system to maintain correct sewer alignment and grade:-

1. Prepare the required Materials and Manpower:-


1.1 Materials required:-
Surveying instrument (a complete set)
Pegs (stakes):- 2 types, metal & wooden, firmly fixed to the ground side by side.
o The metal peg is a wedged-tip RHS to hold the wooden moralle stand on which
the batter-board slides up and down. Min. 3 at a time and can be moved from
time to time.
o The wooden pegs or stakes with Dome headed nails are pegs at 15m interval on
which stake elevations are fixed. They shall not be moved nor disturbed until
the respective sewer sections are installed.
Dome headed nails
Spirit level
Plum bob
Batter-boards-(150x600x30) mm wooden planks: 5 pcs min.
Boning Rods- (25x30xt) mm RHS: variable length 3-6 m: 2 pcs min., 1 as a standby
with a different length.
Hammer
Plan & Profile Drawings
N.B.-
o Wooden materials could be replaced by metals especially for prolonged use.
o Some dimensions (e.g. Batter Boards) can be changed as convenient.
1.2 Grade Sheet Format-(sample shown below.)

1.3 Manpower required:-


Surveyor=1
Carpenter=1
Helpers=2(3)

2. The PROCEDURES:-
2.1 Prepare a Grade Sheet Data format, similar to the sample shown below.
2.2 Register, on the Grade Sheet, available data/info such as the design data:- Sewer
Section Name, section length, slope and the Invert Elevation at MH +00.
2.3 Proceed with the surveying work and locate on the ground, centers of manholes of the
sewer section to be installed; Manholes A & B (B=A+70.00) on the Sample Grade Sheet.
2.4 Stake out along the centerline of the sewer section (preferably 15 m apart) starting
from MH A+0.00m of the downstream manhole; survey and register the Natural or
Original Ground Levels (NGL or OGL) of these points on the Grade Sheet Format; Refer
Sample Grade Sheet.

[Type text] Page 2


2.5 Stake out parallel to and (preferably) 2.5 m off-set from the centerline of the sewer line
at similar distance apart (i.e. 15m); survey and register stake elevations in the column
provided on the Grade Sheet Format; [N.B.-Carry out repeated rounds of surveying to
fix elevations of off-set pegs such that a peg has the same result of elevation for the
different readings carried out (that means closing the loop 0.0 at each and every peg)];
It is preferable to fix dome-headed nails at the center of every peg.
2.6 Register in the spaces provided on top of the Data Grade Sheet; the designed slope,
section length, name of MH section (as stated in procedure 2.2), and an assumed
Boning Rod Length (roughly calculated by deducting the invert Elevation from the stake
elevation and adding a Batter Board Height of 1-1.5m, believed to be convenient for a
person to stand and view the line of sight between the tops of the cross on the Boning
Rod and a minimum of three consecutive Batter Boards spaced at 15 m interval, all of
which have to be aligned to the same level.)
2.7 Register on the Data Grade Sheet; Chainages, NGL, Invert Elevations, Stake Elevations,
BBH (Batter Board Height), and Depth of Excavation, in their respective columns for the
respective chainages. Stake Elevations & NGL are survey results whereas the rest are
calculated, except the section length, slope, sewer section name, chainage and Invert
Elevation at the Manhole which are design data.

The information/data in the Grade Sheet are obtained from Design Data, Survey Results and
calculations, as explained below (pls. refer to the Sample).

Design Data:- Sewer Section:-A-B, Sewer Length=70m, Slope=2% and Invert Elevation at
A+0,00=1930 masl
Survey Results:- chainage (length) at predefined interval=15m, NGL, and Stake Elevation.
Calculated Results:-
Invert Elevation at every chainage is obtained by adding elevation
difference to initial Invert Elevation. Where elevation difference is a
product of slope and chainage.
Batter Board Height= Invert Elevation + Boning Rod Length - Stake Elev.
Excavation Depth= NGL- Invert Elev
Boning Rod Length=[stake elevation - invert Elevation + Batter Board
Height (0.751.5m), believed to be convenient for a person to stand
and view the line of sight between the tops of the cross on the Boning
Rod and a minimum of three consecutive Batter Boards spaced at 15 m
interval, all of which have to be aligned to the same level.]

A sample of a Grade Sheet Data is shown below to illustrate the above explanation. Assumed
is a sewer section between two manholes A & B having a distance of 70 m, a slope of 2% and
an invert elevation of 1930 masl at manhole A.

[Type text] Page 3


SWS CONSULTANCY
GRADE SHEET DATA-Sample
Boning Rod
Sewer Length (m)
Sewer Section:-A-B Slope (%)= 2% Length
=70
(m)= 3.70
1 2 3 4
Batter
chainage NGL Stake Elev. Excavation
Invert Elev. (masl) Board Remarks
(m) (masl) (masl) Depth(m)
Height (m)
5 6 7 8 9 10 11
A+0,00 1932.50 1930.00 1932.70 1.00 2.50
15 1932.40 1930.30 1932.69 1.31 2.10
30 1932.90 1930.60 1933.05 1.25 2.30
45 1933.30 1930.90 1933.43 1.17 2.40
60 1934.00 1931.20 1934.10 0.80 2.80
70 1934.06 1931.40 1934.20 0.90 2.66
(B+0,00)

Once, the surveying work is completed and the Grade Sheet filled out, the next thing is to fix the batter-
boards. A minimum of three consecutive batter-boards are fixed by measuring the Batter Board Heights
shown on the Grade Sheet from the top of the dome-shaped nails on the stakes, at the respective
chainages. Great care shall be exercised in using the plumb bob and the spirit level as verticality and
horizontality are highly crucial. The line formed between the tops of these Batter Boards is parallel to
the sewer line and thus, there is no room for any error of any sort to maintain the required elevation
and slope of the sewer line. The distance between the two parallel lines is the Boning Rod length. The
RHS Boning Rod has a few cm long L to be inserted to the pipe and a sliding cross to be fixed at a
distance equal to the Boning Rod length shown on the Grade Sheet. To check/control the trench bottom
depth 10 cm (or the bedding thickness) is added to this length making 3.80m in our Sample. To confirm
the correctness of the levels of the trench bottom, the pipe bedding and the pipe invert; the top levels
of the three batter-boards and that of the cross on the Boning Rod have to come in the same line of site.
A plumb bob and a string stretched along the pipe center line are used to check and control the
horizontal alignment of the pipe to be installed or that of the installed pipe.

[Type text] Page 4

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