Standard

Procedures for Field Engineers

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Contents
Introduction ................................................................................................................................................. 3
Beach Job Creation ...................................................................................................................................... 3
Creating the Road Job in Terramodel ...................................................................................................... 3
Creating the Template in Terramodel ..................................................................................................... 5
Creating the Road Job in Business Center HCE ..................................................................................... 8
Creating the Template in Hypack .......................................................................................................... 15

Beach Operations ...................................................................................................................................... 17

Setting up the Base Station ................................................................................................................... 18
Setting up the Dozers ............................................................................................................................ 18
Lasers ..................................................................................................................................................... 18
Dozer Mounted GPS .............................................................................................................................. 18
Crew Change .......................................................................................................................................... 21
Discharge Position and Flow Regime ..................................................................................................... 21
Dike Position and Length ....................................................................................................................... 22
Plastic Pipe ............................................................................................................................................. 22
Surveys ................................................................................................................................................... 22
Setting/Pulling/Recovering Stakes ......................................................................................................... 23
Beach QC Notes ..................................................................................................................................... 23
Payroll .................................................................................................................................................... 24
Surveying ............................................................................................................................................... 24
TGO for Import/Export ...................................................................................................................... 24
Business Center for Import/Export .................................................................................................... 24
Setting Stakes/Grade ......................................................................................................................... 26
Pulling Stakes ..................................................................................................................................... 27
Recovering Stakes .............................................................................................................................. 27
Conditionals ....................................................................................................................................... 27
Single Beam Editor ................................................................................................................................. 30
Calculating Volumes in Terramodel ....................................................................................................... 30
Calculating Volumes in Business Center ................................................................................................ 33

Introduction
The following is a guide for new field engineers to learn the steps required to complete their
daily tasks. It is also a good place to help facilitate documentation for records and help with
management of change and standardizing the operations. Finally, it is a tool for anyone to learn more
about the position as a whole.

Beach Job Creation

Beach project information is obtained from the project owner (USACE or town/city/county) or
an entity such as an engineering firm acting on their behalf. This should include:

Construction baseline coordinates and elevation

Any other coordinates of interest or slope info (such as berm and/or dune)

Creating the Road Job in Terramodel

The road job is the file that will be downloaded to the survey tool (Trimble TSC device) that the
field engineer will use to map the beach by station. It bounds the project horizontally in space by the
construction baseline given in the USACE information. This will be done as follows:

Obtain the baseline coordinates from the USACE specs similar to below:

Open up the Terramodel program and create a new project, making sure all the coordinate
systems and datums are correct for the project location
Select draw > pline > line and enter the coordinates from the USACE specs starting with northing
then easting for the baseline
Select roads > alignments > HAL manager and assign the baseline as the HAL reference. This
allows Terramodel to apply beach shapes across the beach automatically when created later
because this line is now being managed by the program
Create a new cross-section layer using the LSET button
Select roads > xlines. Input lengths that will cover the current project specs and then set type to
interval and make the interval 100
Select roads > road design > road job manager and select baseline as the horizontal reference.
Select road job stationing box. Your beach should look something like below:

Creating the Template in Terramodel

The template bounds the project vertically. Basically, the specs are drawn in as shapes to create
the dune and berm features. This will be done as follows:

Select draw > pline > line. Then in the main screen right click and select offHAL. Enter the points
for the feature based on the distance it needs to be from the baseline. These will be found in a
section similar to below:

Select roads > alignments > HAL manager and assign this feature in as a HAL reference also. Do
this for all features required. In this particular example, there is a berm and a dune feature. It
should look similar to below:

Select window > profile view or sometimes a new project will not load all the views
automatically and you may need to select view > new view > profile
Select draw > pline > line and enter the elevation info for the particular feature (ex: 0,5.5 as the
first point and 14500, 5.5 for the second point). If the beach has more than one feature
elevation, repeat this process as needed. In this example, another vertical line should be
entered for the 9.5 elevation also
Select roads > alignments > VAL Manager and assign the just created elevation line. The VAL
manager is the exact same manager for vertical lines as HAL is for horizontal. This will allow your
shapes to detect vertical aspects of the project as well
Now that you have entered both HALs and VALs, individual roadways can be delineated within
your road job. Select roads > road design > road job manager and select roadways. Make each
feature a roadway for your upcoming shapes. For this example, it should look similar to below:

Select window > plan view to return back to the plan view window
Select roads > shapes > shape class manager. Name the feature accordingly. In this example, we
can create a category called beach where we can store underneath this all our beach shapes.
This will separate them from the standard road shapes Terramodel comes with like for building
roads with curbs and sidewalks etc.
Select roads > shapes > shape manager and select the feature and new. This is where the shape
will need to be told how to behave. For instance, if the shape will be on the right of the baseline
then select right. Select cut/fill so the survey tool can display elevation changes accordingly.
Give it a name, color etc. and hit ok
In the next screen in the edit data box, enter info according to the entry modes right below (ex.
300,0 if the feature needs to be a maximum of 300 feet long and flat elevation like a berm) and
then enter slope info (ex. 450, -30 if the slope needs to be 450 feet and go to -30 elevation)
Select roads > road design > template manager > new and insert the shape accordingly
Repeat this process again starting with the shape class manager as needed to create the proper
amount of shapes to meet the needs of the project. In this example, you should see something
similar to below:

When the template is finished, select the master sheet layer which will contain all project info
and export as a Roading 3D (dc) file into the Trimble TSC device. Select file > export > Trimble
Roading 3D (dc)

Creating the Road Job in Business Center HCE

The above process is even easier in Business Center. To create a road job:

Open business center and create a project. Make sure the default is US Survey Feet

Go to project settings and make sure you enter the corresponding info for your current project.
(in this case its Longboat Key in Florida)

To get started, simply drag and drop your AutoCAD file into the main window in Business
Center. If you do not have CAD files, just PDF plans or the like, you can enter the points for the
plans using the polyline function

With Business Centers CAD functions, its very easy to create the alignments for the road job.
One distinction to make between the programs is that road jobs fall under the name corridors in
Business Center. Begin by making sure the imported CAD lines have vertical dimensions, often
they will only have x and y dimensions:

Now, lets go to the corridor tab > create alignment and create lines we can reference like we
did in Terramodel for our shapes:

You can then verify that each line of interest, say your top of berm, landward edge and seaward
edge have alignments for create the corridor surface properly:

With your alignments created, go to corridor tab > create corridor. The important thing here is
to reference your top of berm and landward edge lines within your corridor creation so that
they are available when you are taken to the create template step:

Once you create the corridor, you are immediately brought to the template menu. This will
create the shapes that were used in Terramodel to build the cross sections:

It is helpful to also open up the profile view window while youre creating the template to see
how it looks and make any changes if necessary. This is done by selecting profile window > right
click on tab > move to new vertical group:

To connect reference line to reference line, simply select connect for instruction type and then
the corresponding line numbers you referenced (note instructions are just like the shape
attributes from Terramodel). The next one will be from top of berm to the seaward edge (this is
typically an offset/slope instruction following the slope % from the plans):

Creating the Template in Hypack

At this point, youve just completed the steps to set up the handheld to be able to take surveys
on the beach and tell you cut/fill info. Now, youll want to create a template in Hypack. This will allow
you to process conditionals in Hypack. Conditionals are more efficient in Hypack because the Hydro data
is collected in Hypack from the survey boat and merged with conditional data in Hypack to produce the
ADs for submittal. To create a template in Hypack:

Open Hypack program and select file > new project. Then select preparation > geodetic
parameters. Enter the correct parameters for your project location. If using the example, it
should look similar to below:

Next, select preparation > editors > line editor and enter the baseline coordinates again from
the USACE specs. Create cross section lines again also by selecting offsets. If following this
example, it should look similar to below:

Now, select the template tab next to the point tab and for each station, input the distances and
depths obtained from the Terramodel roadway report. It should look similar to below:

Save this in the line editor as a planned line file lnw for use with your cross sections

Beach Operations

This section contains the normal daily tasks required during beach operations.

Setting up the Base Station

Setting up the Dozers

Always be on the look-out for leaks creaks and odd smells coming from the tractor. Sometimes
the operator may not be able to see or hear something that you can. If you see something out of the
ordinary, bring it someones attention immediately. Either the dump foreman or the project manager
should be notified, and the appropriate action will be taken.

Lasers

When setting up the laser guided grading tractor you must first set up the tripod. Have your
operator come over and push up a small pad of sand so that the laser can be elevated if needed. To set
the tripod up unfold the legs and push one leg into the sand with the heel of your boot. Spread the
other two legs out and adjust as necessary, then push these two legs into the sand with the heel of your
boot. Adjust your laser so that the level bubble is within the circle. This can be done by twisting the
three different knobs located on the laser clockwise or counter-clockwise. Once it is nice and level turn
the laser on. Grab your rover and head over to the tractor. Show the operator, with your rover, where
grade is and have him drop the blade down to grade. Once the operator is on grade take your laser
receiver and mount loosely onto the vertical pole mounted on either side of the dozer blade. Hook up
the cable (Exclude this step when using battery operated receivers) thats mounted inside the tractor to
the receiver and it should automatically power on. With the dozer blade still on grade move your
receiver up or down until you get the green flashing light (this means grade) tighten down the receiver
in this position, you may need to use an adjustable wrench. Then take your extra-large hose clamps and
secure one to the bottom of the receiver and one to the top of the receiver around the vertical pole.
This will ensure that the receiver does not slip down any while your operator is grading.

Dozer Mounted GPS

Grading with the mounted GPS system will be installed by a third party such as Site Tech or
equivalent. To install the files needed for the dozer to operate the gps system:

Open up the Business Center HCE program and start a new project if not already done which
should be in the us survey feet format as below:

Next, state your geodetic parameters in the project settings area. Go to project settings >
coordinate system > change and enter your project specific info.

You can now drag and drop a data collector (.dc) file into the main area and it will populate the
graphics for your inspection.

For this particular application you will now want to export your (.dc) file as a Machine Job Site
Design file by selecting Export with the blue arrow in the taskbar up top then on the right-hand
side menu select the Construction tab and then highlight the Machine Job Site Design exporter.
Select your surface (which is the baseline info) and your objects (which is the template info);
remember this is job specific. You can also hit options > select all if you want all the objects
exported. Finally, name your files to be exported and the destination to be saved.

NOTE, be advised under the settings header in the right-hand menu, you must know the correct
version of the software that the dozer controller has and enter it accordingly. Hit export and you
will be given 3 files using this method; a .cal file a .svd file and a .svl file as below:

Finally, obtain a usb flash drive and copy these files to it. Before you copy them, make sure you
have a file named Machine Control Data and within it have a folder called All and then place
the files within the All folder. This will allow for upload into the dozer controller.

Crew Change

The day starts off by catching the morning crew change at 0530 hrs. This way, both crews are
present and the field engineer can catch up on what happened overnight and how the day going
forward can be planned. Things that need to be considered for planning:

Discharge position and flow regime

Dike position and length
Plastic pipe swap
Surveys
Setting grade/pulling stakes/recovering stakes

Discharge Position and Flow Regime

The positioning of the discharge is dependent on a few things but mainly its based on the width
of the project template. Typically the discharge lines are kept 100 apart which keeps the dozers only
pushing material 50 to either side. Its also based on meeting the grade criteria. Obviously once enough
material is placed to reach the elevation that the project is calling for, the discharge can be moved past
that completed portion down the beach.

The flow from the discharge is also important to note. The main goal is to deposit solid material
on the beach by having it drop out of the water once it gets to the beach. Therefore, the spreaders as

theyre called, plume the flow and let it fall out vertically. We also may want the flow to reach farther
down the beach depending on the situation, so spreaders can be modified by angle and shape etc. to
accomplish what the particular project needs.

Dike Position and Length

Dikes are earthworks that again help distribute material just like the spreaders. The material
that is falling out of the water can be bull-dozed into mounds in certain places to direct where the flow
goes when the water is out of the spreader and headed down the beach. The goal is to have the flow
directed down the beach and not into the pathway of the other discharges. When dikes are not used,
lines that are above will flow downward and deposit material that should have been placed on the line
above, causing a cascading effect that will cause the near shore line to always get bogged down with
extra material.

Dike length is mainly controlled by whether the beach below is meeting grade (elevation) or not.
If it is, the dike must be run down the beach until it reaches a point where it is meeting the waves or a
point where the beach still needs material. The length is also controlled by the characteristics of the
material in the flow. If the material is coarse heavy sand it will fall out faster than a fine sand thereby
requiring a shorter dike than the fine sand.

Plastic Pipe

The beach crew uses two types of pipe, steel and plastic. The steel pipe is smaller and has no
connection which makes it easy to manipulate. Having said that, there are a couple things which dictate
its use. There are no connections so leaks develop which need to be plugged by shims or burlap,
basically anything to force the pipe scopes (the ends scope inward to fit inside each other) to seat more
tightly. There are also rules depending on the project which dictate how much beach can be closed at
one time, usually 1000 to 1500 feet. To make things safer, the beach can be reopened when the flanged
plastic pipe is in place due to its better integrity. If the allowed distance is only 1000 then only one 500
piece of plastic can be installed. Sometimes, there isnt a requirement for closure and then the plastic is
just based on how much steel pipe is in inventory. Obviously, it would be unrealistic to tote 10,000 of
steel pipe around. To note, the more pieces of plastic that are put in simultaneously, the more efficient
the operation will be due to not having to prep materials another time nor having to reattach the
landing pipe and y valve assemblies another time. However, this may not be feasible due to dredge
down time (which should be taken advantage of whenever possible) or again the amount of closure that
is acceptable.

Surveys

There are multiple types of surveys:

BD before dredging
AD after dredging
CND conditional
Hydro surveys taken by boat/vessel
Borrow surveys taken of the area that will be dredged

Before the project begins, everything is captured and becomes the baseline. These are the BD
surveys before any impact is made. Once the template is completed, all the surveys that are submitted
to the USACE are ADs.
Conditional surveys provide the information needed to help plan the dikes and discharges. They
provide a visual tool to compare how the current progress is approaching the project template
completion. Conditionals consist of surveys run by walking with a survey tool and hydro surveys taken
by boat. A person simply cant take a survey in water over 6 deep!
Surveys of the borrow must be taken as well to show that the dredge only went where it was
allowed to go and only took material down to a depth that was allowed.

Setting/Pulling/Recovering Stakes

To provide the physical tools to build the project template, stakes are placed on the beach and
then marked according to elevation of how to place the material. First they are set and given a target
elevation for material to be placed even with. Periodically, they must be pulled up due to the material
being placed on the beach or they will get buried! Once the template has been finished in a section, the
stakes can be removed.

Keeping track of all the stakes is mandatory because a stake cannot be left behind for someone
to get hurt. To keep track, a log is kept when stakes are first set and then recovered. This needs to be
updated accordingly.

Beach QC Notes

The beach QC notes capture information usually tracked by the USACE. This includes equipment
hours, amount of personnel on site and hours they worked. The other information captured goes hand
in hand with the Hydro report being done on the dredge. This includes the midnight station, the length
of the pipe being pumped through, and any other remarks significant to the operation to report for the
day. Some remarks could be that plastic was added etc. Usually the day starts by collecting the QC note
info:

Equipment and Personnel (hours that the machines operated and the hours the personnel
worked)
Safety Remarks (what were the deficiencies in safety or what incidents happened)
Midnight Station (what station was the discharge(s) on at 2400 hrs.)
Surveys
Pipe (all the line lengths and quantity)
Remarks (anything concerning operations as a whole that are variant)
Visitors (Anyone not normally on-site must be noted in the QC notes for the day)

When there are multiple FEs on a job, the day can be divided and conquered by splitting up the
tasks. One can get the QC notes done while the other grabs surveys for instance. When the notes are
done, email them to the FEs and QCs on the job.

Payroll
The payroll is updated by updating the payroll spreadsheet. This can be found in the project
folder under the payroll subfolder. The hourly workers are updated by number of hours and the salary
workers are just given a check mark. Items that need to be verified and/or added:

Per diems and travel days

Reason why someone worked over 12 hrs.

Once updated it is emailed to the group of field engineers on the project and updated again
accordingly throughout the work week. When it is final after Saturday it can be emailed to the office.

Surveying

Surveying is the main aspect of the field engineers duties. A base station is required for any
surveying operation and will be installed near the project and QCd by the nearest monument. To
communicate with the base station, uses the Trimble TSC2 handheld device partnered with a Trimble
5700 GPS unit which has a Zephyr antenna and radio antenna. This device is used in three ways; for
setting grade stakes, running conditional/AD/BD surveys, and spot checking the operators when
necessary.

TGO for Import/Export

TGO is the Trimble software that imports/exports to the handheld device. To download the road
file to the handheld device:

Plug in the handheld to the computer using a USB to printer style cable (the other end is a
pentagon shape)
Once the controller is recognized, open up the TGO program on the computer
Select export from the menu on the left-hand window then survey device active sync
controller
Select the current project road file and export

Business Center for Import/Export

Business Center incorporates all the functions TGO did for these operations. Simply connect
your controller and you will see it sync up and display on the right-hand menu. You will use several tabs
depending on the file type you want to import or export.

The construction tab will export the files for the GPS dozer as described previously. The corridor
tab will export the corridor rxl file for your controller to stakeout roads:

To export a csv to make an xyz for cross sections in hypack, use the custom tab:

To import conditionals, simply drag the job from the controller menu into the main screen:

Setting Stakes/Grade

With the road file now in your device, power up the handheld making sure the GPS unit is
plugged in to both antennas through the round 7-pin cables and then into the handheld using the
standard serial cable. To navigate through the handheld, turn on the handheld and select survey
controller from the windows list. Inside is the main functions of the survey tool; Files, Key In,
Configuration, Survey, Cogo, and Instrument. The main functions for field engineers are as follows:

Files this menu lets you create or open new jobs, review current job activity, and copy data
between jobs
Survey self explanatory
Cogo this menu allows you to perform some calculations like compare your unit to the
reference shot etc.

To begin creating a master file:

Select file new job then name your job. Call the job #Project Name# Master and all the
correct original information from the road job will be stored in here for the duration of the
project
Obtain a check shot against the nearest monument. This monument can be from the USACE,
Coast Guard, Parks Service, or a third party surveying company. Do this by going to Survey
(is a created version of RTK setting and is the preferred setting for this company currently)
start survey stakeout. Shoot a point called check in. Next, select Cogo compute
inverse. Enter the check shot and then enter the monument location. This will allow the user
to compare the difference between the two points. Look for large differences in the vertical
and horizontal distances. If there are no large differences, then the survey tool is QCd with
the right information to proceed

To begin setting stakes:

Select file > new job then name your job. Call the job #Project Name# Grade and all the
stake positions will be stored in here for the duration of the project
Next, select file > copy between jobs and copy the calibration and control to the grade job
from the master
Print yourself off a grade sheet which contains where the various project features meet the
station numbers. This would come from Terramodel by selecting roads > reports > roadway
Select survey > > start survey > stakeout. Position the survey tool on the location of the
feature location ex: the end of the berm location. Shoot the position and label the point
according to the stake number which will be written on the stake.

To set stakes:

Create a grade stake log in excel to keep track of the number, station, range, set date,
and recovery date
Create the stakes by etching a number onto it with a Dremmel tool, mark them with a
permanent marker also, and paint the tops orange
Drive a stake 4 feet down with the pounder tool (looks like a solid pogo stick). Write the
station and range info on the stake with a permanent marker. Stakes are then labeled at
the top by surveyors tape according to the feature they are referencing; blue for berm,
orange for slope, yellow for dune etc.
Next, grade (elevation) is marked by a combo of green and pink. Using the cut/fill info
on the survey tool, wrap the grade tape around the stake marking where the material
will reach the project requirements. This can be done several ways depending on the
situation. The tool can measure the cut/fill from the bottom of the tool, from the
connection of the pole, and from the top of the pole. Stand the tool next to the stake
and wrap the tape where they meet
Use the handheld and select files review current job to access the point info to record
your info in the grade stake log in excel

Pulling Stakes

As the material is deposited on the beach, stakes will have to get pulled up from their original
depth so that they may still be seen and ultimately recovered. As a rule of thumb, dont let a stake get
covered by material so that less than 3 feet is still showing. Once pulled up, grade tape may need to be
readjusted accordingly.

Recovering Stakes

Once the operators have moved the discharge ahead, the grade stakes can be removed
(recovered). Once recovered, they need to be logged with the date of recovery, painted blue, and
disposed.

Conditionals

For each conditional a job will be created accordingly. Shoot your points every 10 feet along the
station of interest in this job and then import them into TGO (NOTE, this can also be done in the
Business Center HCE program if available). Conditional station ranges will be dictated by whether or not

they are completed on one end of the beach and whether they start to have impact, ex: 160325 AM
CND will be shot from station 110+00 to 105+00 because 111+00 was just finished behind the discharge
and theres material just reaching station 105+00 ahead on the beach from the discharge. To display the
conditional data in PDF to email out:

Export the shots in TGO by highlighting the shots then selecting export - GIS File custom
HYPACK XYZ. This file format just means that is comes from TGO and into Hypack with the order
Easting, Northing, and Elevation is reversed which means instead of positive its negative since
Hypack deals with depths. If following this example it should appear like below:

Open Hypack program and select utilities > file work > merge xyz. Hit the green + button and
insert the export file from TGO thats located in the program files by selecting TGO > project
name > export > #survey file#
Select the use LNW file and use the template file from Terramodel thats been entered in as a
lnw file. Hit apply then save and exit. Hypack will have an edit file that will have been
generated now and it must be QCd. If following this example is should look like below:

Enter windows explorer and find the project folder Hypack folder Hypack project folder
edit. Delete all the files except the stations that the conditionals were on and the log file. Open
the log file and delete the same
Go back into Hypack and select the cross section button (fourth button from the right) and fill
out the columns according to the various lines you want to see on the graph (you may want to
compare different days conditionals or show hydro data etc.
Click in the template column and add the same lnw file as before
Click in any of the following columns and select the various logs. Use the pencil tool to name the
info accordingly and the delete button to delete any data that doesnt match the other columns
if needed. Finally use the sort tool to rearrange the order if needed. If following this example, it
should look like below:

Print the cross sections in PDF and email to FEs and QCs

Single Beam Editor

Calculating Volumes in Terramodel

As needed, the dredge may ask that the beach run volumes against their conditional surveys to
calculate the volume of material placed. This could be because of material being redeposited due to
several mechanisms. This is done as follows:

Select the layers of the data you wish to acquire in TGO (ex. layers of conditional
surveys). Go to EXPORT tab over on the left, GIS FILE, use the Terramodel file type. Be
sure to create 2 different files to do a volume calculation. If following this example, it
should be similar to below:

Open up your project in Terramodel, import ASCII points

Verify the data order is correct. P N E Z D (or however the correct coordinates
imported), Choose your conditional layer (and do this for both files)

Select DTM > Earthworks Report to calculate the volume. Make sure the oldest data
layer is selected first (usually the BD layer). Below the BD layer is green and the
conditional surveys are blue. The next below is displaying the volume report:

Calculating Volumes in Business Center

To run volumes in business center, select the surface tab at the top and then earthwork report.
This will bring up a simple version of the earthwork report (corridor earthwork is more advanced).

Lets go with the surface to surface option, this will allow a volume to be reported
between your PM and AM conditionals either showing the same day or comparing two
different days. Select your surfaces with the drop down menus.

In this case it was 2 conditional surfaces but 1 conditional surface vs the BD can also be
done. If you have not assigned your point info to a surface, select new from the choices,
name it accordingly, select a soil classification type and highlight the points you would
like to include.

Finally, select volume totals only and hit OK. A volume report will be generated like
below: