SCHOOL

OF ARCHITECTURE, BUILDING & DESIGN

BACHELOR OF QUANTITY SURVEYING (HONOURS)

SITE SURVEYING (QSB60103)

FIELDWORK 1

LEVELLING REPORT







NAME ID MARKS
FIRZANA HASMI 0324838
PENNY LEUNG LING YEE 0328245
SHUM WEN JUN 0325151
SOW WEI HENN 0324998
ONG CHIA HONG 0318458




TABLE OF CONTENT

OBJECTIVES (Pg. 3)

INTRODUCTION (Pg. 4)

THE PURPOSE OF LEVELLING (Pg. 4)

INSTRUMENTS USED FOR LEVELLING (Pg. 5)

DEFINITIONS & TERMS (Pg. 5-6)

PROCEDURE (Pg. 7)

LEVELLING METHODS (Pg. 7-8)

RAW DATA (Pg. 9)

ADJUSTED DATA (Pg. 10)

CONCLUSION (Pg. 12)

OBJECTIVES

To allow students to have a better understanding and insight on the topic of levelling.
To be able to know the skills & proper techniques in using the instruments.
To expose the students to real life skills & experience a glimpse of the working
environment.
To be able to apply the theories learnt during lectures and tutorials.
To be able to cooperate and work with one another as a team.

INTRODUCTION TO LEVELLING

Levelling is a branch of surveying, the object of which is to find the elevations of given points
with respect to a given or assumed datum, and to establish points at a given or assumed
datum. The first operation is required to enable the works to be designed while the second
operation is required in the setting out of all kinds of engineering works. Levelling deals with
measurements in a vertical plane.

THE PURPOSE OF LEVELLING

To design highways, railroads, canals, sewers, water supply system etc.
To lay out construction projects according to the planned elevation
To calculate volume of earthworks and other materials
To investigate drainage characteristics of an area

INSTRUMENTS USED FOR LEVELLING:

1. An Automatic leveller
2. A Levelling Rod
3. Tripod

DEFINITIONS & TERMS:

Level Surface A level surface is defined as a curved surface which at each point is
perpendicular to the direction of gravity at the point. The surface of a
still water is a truly level surface. Any surface parallel to the mean
spheroidal surface of the earth is, therefore, a level surface.
Horizontal Line It is a straight line tangential to the level line at a point. It is also
perpendicular to the plumb line.
Level Line A level line is a line lying in a level surface. It is, therefore, normal to the
plumb line at all points.
Vertical Line It is a line normal to the level line at a point. It is commonly considered
to be the line defined by a plumb line.
Elevation The elevation of a point on or near the surface of the earth is its vertical
distance above or below an arbitrarily assumed level surface or datum.
The difference in elevation between two points is the vertical distance
between the two-level surface in which the two points lie.
Bench Mark It is a relatively permanent point of reference whose elevation with
(B.M) respect to some assumed datum is known. It is used either as a starting
point for levelling or as a point upon which to close as a check.

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Temporary A bench-mark which is a temporary setup by the surveyor for his own
Bench Mark particular task
(T.B.M)

Reduced Level It is a vertical distance of a point above or below the datum. The
(R.L) elevation of a point is either plus or minus according to the point above
or below the datum.
The Line of It is the line that intersects with the cross hair of the optical centre of
Collimation (H.L) the object glass.

Back sight (BS) The instrument setup at the first point to receive the first reading

Foresight (FS) A transfer point of the levelling. A new point in which the previous point
from back sight and foresight are taken.

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PROCECURE:

All staff readings should be recorded in the field book. To eliminate errors resulting from any
line of sight (or collimation) back sights and foresights should be equal in distance. Length of
sight should be kept less than 100 metres. Always commence and finish a level run on a
known datum or benchmark and close the level traverse; this enables the level run to be
checked

LEVELLING METHODS:

1. Rise & Fall Method
2. Collimation Method

RISE & FALL METHOD

1. The millimetre reading may be
taken by estimation to an
accuracy of 0.005 metres or even
less.
2. Back sight, intermediate sight and
foresight readings are entered in
the appropriate columns on
different lines. However, as
shown in the table above back
sights and foresights are place on
the same line if you change the
level instrument.
3. The first reduced level is the
height of the datum, benchmark
or R.L.
4. If an intermediate sight or
foresight is smaller than the
immediately preceding staff
reading then the difference between the two readings is place in the rise column.
5. If an intermediate sight or foresight is larger than the immediately preceding staff
reading then the difference between the two readings is place in the fall column.
6. A rise is added to the preceding reduced level (RL) and a fall is subtracted from the
preceding.

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COLLIMATION METHOD

1. Booking is the same as the rise and

fall method for back-, intermediate-
and foresights. There is no rise or
fall columns, but instead a height of
collimation column.
2. The first back sight reading (staff on
datum, benchmark or RL) is added
to the first RL giving the height of
collimation.
3. The next staff reading is entered in
the appropriate column but on a
new line. The RL for the station is
found by subtracting the staff
reading from the height of
collimation
4. The height of collimation changes
only when the level is moved to a
new position. The new height of
collimation is found by adding the
back sight to the RL at the change
point.
5. There is no check on the accuracy
of intermediate RL's and errors
could go undetected.

The rise and fall method may take a bit longer to complete, but a check on entries in all
columns is carried out. The RL's are easier to calculate with the height of collimation method,
but errors of intermediate RL's can go undetected. For this reason, students should use the
rise and fall method for all levelling exercises.

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RAW DATA

COLLIMATION METHOD

BS IS FS COLLIMATION REDUCED DISTANCE C ADJ. REMARKS
LEVEL RL
1.330 101.330 100.000 B.M.
1.270 3.650 98.950 97.680 A (T.P)
1.382 1.262 99.070 97.688 B (T.P)
1.250 1.432 98.888 97.638 C (T.P)
1.402 1.330 98.960 97.558 D (T.P)
1.185 1.120 99.025 97.840 E (T.P)
1.495 97.530 F
1.358 1.391 98.992 97.634 G (T.P)
3.620 1.350 101.262 97.642 H (T.P)
1.262 100.000 I
1.291 99.971 J
12.797 12.826 99.971
(12.826) (100.000)
-0.029 -0.029

RISE & FALL METHOD

BS IS FS RISE FALL REDUCED DISTANCE CORRECTION ADJ. REMARKS
LEVEL RL
1.330 100.000 B.M.
1.270 3.650 2.320 97.680 A (T.P)
1.382 1.262 0.008 97.688 B (T.P)
1.250 1.432 0.050 97.638 C (T.P)
1.402 1.330 0.080 97.558 D (T.P)
1.185 1.120 0.282 97.840 E (T.P)
1.495 0.310 97.530 F
1.358 1.391 0.104 97.634 G (T.P)
3.620 1.350 0.008 97.642 H (T.P)
1.262 2.358 100.000 I
1.291 0.029 99.971 J
12.797 12.826 2.760 2.789 99.971
(12.826) (2.789) (100.000)
-0.029 -0.029 -0.029

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 ADJUSTED DATA

COLLIMATION METHOD

BS IS FS COLLIMATION REDUCED DISTANCE CORRECTION ADJ. REMARKS
LEVEL R.L.
1.330 100.000 0 100.000 B.M.
1.270 3.650 97.680 0.004 97.684 A (T.P)
1.382 1.262 0.008 97.688 0.008 97.696 B (T.P)
1.250 1.432 97.638 0.012 97.650 C (T.P)
1.402 1.330 97.558 0.016 97.574 D (T.P)
1.185 1.120 0.282 97.840 0.020 97.860 E (T.P)
1.495 97.530 0.020 97.550 F
1.358 1.391 0.104 97.634 0.024 97.658 G (T.P)
3.620 1.350 0.008 97.642 0.029 97.671 H (T.P)
1.262 2.358 100.000 0.029 100.029 I
1.291 99.971 0.029 100.000 J
12.797 12.826 2.760 99.971
(12.826) (2.789) (100.000)
-0.029 -0.029 -0.029


Acceptable misclosure: 12 $

K = the number of setups

12 8 = 34 . Error = -0.029.

Thus, the accuracy of the levelling is acceptable.

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 RISE & FALL METHOD


BS IS FS RISE FALL REDUCED DISTANCE CORRECTION ADJ. REMARKS
LEVEL R.L.
1.330 100.000 0 100.000 B.M.
1.270 3.650 2.320 97.680 0.004 97.684 A (T.P)
1.382 1.262 0.008 97.688 0.008 97.696 B (T.P)
1.250 1.432 0.050 97.638 0.012 97.650 C (T.P)
1.402 1.330 0.080 97.558 0.016 97.574 D (T.P)
1.185 1.120 0.282 97.840 0.020 97.860 E (T.P)
1.495 0.310 97.530 0.020 97.550 F
1.358 1.391 0.104 97.634 0.024 97.658 G (T.P)
3.620 1.350 0.008 97.642 0.029 97.671 H (T.P)
1.262 2.358 100.000 0.029 100.029 I
1.291 0.029 99.971 0.029 100.000 J
12.797 12.826 2.760 2.789 99.971
(12.826) (2.789) (100.000)
-0.029 -0.029 -0.029

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CONCLUSION

On the day of our field work, we proceeded to our location which was at the carpark of
Taylors University Lakeside Campus. We had a total of 10 points to measure, the given
reduced level was at 100.000m AOD at the lamp post labelled BM 101. Besides that, we also
had to calculate the R.L at 10 points located around the carpark.

Before obtaining our reading, we found it was difficult to get the bubble was in the middle of
the spirit level and at times we struggled a little. There were only two points to read once the
instrument was setup. Once the reading was taken, we used two methods to calculate which
is the Rise and Fall method and the Collimation method. We reached a misclosure of -0.029m
thus making it an acceptable error range. We then distributed the error to attain our
adjusted reduced level readings.

In conclusion, it was a great experience as a whole and as a group we gained a lot of new
knowledge through this fieldwork.

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