Dr.
APJ Abdul Kalam, IIIT-Ongole Institute
RGUKT AP
SURVEYING
UNIT-Iii :Levelling
Lecture – 3.2 Levelling Procedure, Types of Levelling
Kenchugundu Srikanth
Assistant Professor, Department of Civil Engineering
International Institute of Information Technology, Ongole
Email: [email protected]
TEMPORARY ADJUSTMENT OF LEVEL
1. Selection of Suitable Position:
• The ground should be fairly level and firm
• it should be possible to take the greatest number of observations without any difficulty from the
selected point
2. Fixing Level with Tripod Stand:
• The tripod stand is placed at the required position with its legs well apart, and pressed firmly into
the ground
• The level is fixed on the top of the tripod stand according to the fixing arrangement provided for
that particular level
• the level is not to be set up at any station or point along the alignment
3. Approximate Levelling by Legs of Tripod Stand :
• The foot screws are brought to the centre of their run
• Two legs of the tripod stand are firmly fixed into the ground
• Then the third leg is moved to the left or right, in or out until the bubble is approximately at the
centre of its run
TEMPORARY ADJUSTMENT OF LEVEL
4. Perfect Levelling by Foot Screws:
The longitudinal bubble is on the top of the telescope is placed parallel to any pair of foot screws
(i.e. first position) and the bubble is brought to the centre by turning the foot screws equally either
both inwards or both outwards
The telescope is then turned through 90° (i.e. second position) and brought over the third foot screw,
and the bubble is brought to the centre by turning this foot screw clockwise or anticlockwise
The telescope is again brought to its original position (the first position) and the bubble is brought to
the centre. The process is repeated several times until the bubble remains in the central position in
the first as well as the second position
TEMPORARY ADJUSTMENT OF LEVEL
5. Focusing the Eyepiece:
A piece of white paper is held in front of the object glass and the eyepiece is moved in or out by
turning it clockwise or anticlockwise until the cross-hairs can be seen clearly
6. Focussing the Object Glass:
The telescope is directed towards the levelling staff. Looking through the eye-piece, the focussing
screw is turned clockwise or anticlockwise until the graduation of the staff is distinctly visible and
the parallax is eliminated. To eliminate the parallax, the eye is moved up and down to verify
whether the graduation of the staff remains fixed relative to the cross-hairs
7. Taking the Staff Readings:
the levelling of the instrument is verified by turning the telescope in any direction
When the bubbles (the longitudinal bubble and cross-bubbles) remain in the central position for
any direction of the telescope, the staff readings are taken
TEMPORARY ADJUSTMENT OF LEVEL
LEVELLING PROCEDURE
TERMS USED IN LEVELLING:
1.Station:
The point where the staff is held for taking observations from a levelling instrument
2. Line of Collimation:
Line joining the intersection of the cross-hairs to the optical center of the objective and its
continuation
3. Line of Sight:
the intersection of the cross hairs and the optical centre of the objective lens
4. Height of Instrument (HI):
The elevation or RL of the line of sight with respect to datum
LEVELLING PROCEDURE
5. Back Sight (BS):
It is the reading taken on the staff held at a known point of elevation( benchmark) or at a point
whose elevation has already been determined (change point)
This is the first staff reading taken in any set-up of the instrument after the levelling has been
perfectly done
Back sight is also known as Plus sight or positive sight
Height of Instrument = Known Elevation + Back Sight
6. Fore Sight (FS):
It is the reading taken on the staff either held at the last point whose elevation is required or held
at the turning point just before shifting the instrument
FS is sed to determine the elevation of the staff station
It is also known as minus sight or negative sight
Elevation or Reduced Level = Height of Instrument - Fore Sight
LEVELLING PROCEDURE
7. Intermediate Sight:
It is any other staff reading between the BS and FS in the same set-up of the instrument
8. Turning point or Change point:
For levelling over long distance, the instrument has to be set up a number of times
This point indicates the shifting of the instrument
At this point, an FS is taken from one setting and a BS from the next setting
LEVELLING PROCEDURE
TYPES OF LEVELLING OPERATIONS
1. Simple Levelling:
When the difference of level between two points is determined by setting the levelling
instrument midway between the points, the process is called simple levelling
TYPES OF LEVELLING OPERATIONS
2. Differential Levelling:
Differential levelling is adopted when
(i) the points are a great distance apart
(ii) the difference of elevation between the points is large, and
(iii) there are obstacles between the points
This method is also known as compound levelling or continuous levelling
In this method, the level is set up at several suitable positions and staff readings are taken at all
of these
TYPES OF LEVELLING OPERATIONS
3. Fly Levelling:
When differential levelling is done in order to connect a bench-mark to the starting point of the
alignment of any project, it is called fly levelling
Fly levelling is also done to connect the BM to any intermediate point of the alignment for
checking the accuracy of the work
In fly levelling, only the backsight and foresight readings are taken at every set up of the level
and no distances are measured along the direction of levelling
The level should be set up just midway between the BS and the FS and no intermediate sights
are taken
TYPES OF LEVELLING OPERATIONS
4. Longitudinal or Profile Levelling:
The operation of taking levels along the centre line of any alignment (road, railway, etc.) at
regular intervals is known as longitudinal levelling
In this method, the backsight, intermediate sight and foresight readings are taken at regular
intervals, at every set-up of the instrument. The chainages of the points are noted in the level
book
This method is undertaken in order to determine the undulations of the ground surface along the
profile line
TYPES OF LEVELLING OPERATIONS
5. Cross Sectional Levelling:
The operation of taking levels transverse to the direction of longitudinal levelling, is known as
cross-sectional levelling
The cross sections are taken at regular intervals (such as 20 m, 40 m, 50 m, etc.) along the
alignment
Cross-sectional levelling is done in order to know the nature of the ground across the centre line
of any alignment
TYPES OF LEVELLING OPERATIONS
6. Check Levelling:
The fly levelling done at the end of a day’s work to connect the finishing point with the starting
point on that particular day is known as check levelling
It is undertaken in order to check the accuracy of the day’s work
METHODS OF CALCULATION OF REDUCED LEVEL
• The following are the two systems of calculating reduced level:
1. The collimation method or height of instrument method (HI):
2. The rise-and-fall method
METHODS OF CALCULATION OF REDUCED LEVEL
1. The collimation method or height of instrument method (HI):
the height of the line of collimation is found out by adding the backsight reading to the RL of the
BM on which the BS is taken
Height of Instrument = Bench Mark + Back Sight
Then the RL of the intermediate points and the change point are obtained by subtracting the
respective staff readings from the height of the instrument (HI)
Elevation or Reduced Level = Height of Instrument - Fore Sight or Intermediate sight
The level is then shifted for the next setup and procedure is repeated
Arithmetic check is given by
Σ Back sight – Σ Fore Sight = Last RL – First RL
METHODS OF CALCULATION OF REDUCED LEVEL
Example 1: The following consecutive readings were taken with a dumpy level along a chain .The first
reading was at a point where the RL is 98.085. The instrument was shifted after the fourth and ninth
readings. 3.150, 2.245, 1.125, 0.860, 3.125, 2.760, 1.835, 1.470, 1.965, 1.225, 2.390, and 3.035 m.
Find the RL of all the points by The collimation method.
Step 1: Find Height of instrument from known Reduced level
Height of Instrument = Bench Mark + Back Sight
Step 2: Find Reduced levels at each station from the height of instrument
Elevation or Reduced Level = Height of Instrument - Fore Sight or Intermediate sight
Step 3: Do the arithmetic check to cross check the calculations and errors
Σ Back sight – Σ Fore Sight = Last RL – First RL
METHODS OF CALCULATION OF REDUCED LEVEL
Example 1: The following consecutive readings were taken with a dumpy level along a chain .The first
reading was at a point where the RL is 98.085. The instrument was shifted after the fourth and ninth
readings. 3.150, 2.245, 1.125, 0.860, 3.125, 2.760, 1.835, 1.470, 1.965, 1.225, 2.390, and 3.035 m.
Find the RL of all the points by The collimation method.
METHODS OF CALCULATION OF REDUCED LEVEL
Height of
Back Sight Intermediate Sight Fore Sight Reduced
Station Instrument Remarks
(BS) (IS) (FS) Level (RL)
(HI)
1 3.150 101.235 98.085 B.M
2 2.245 98.99
3 1.125 100.11
4 3.125 0.860 103.5 100.375 C.P
5 2.760 100.74
6 1.835 101.65
7 1.470 102.03
8 1.225 1.965 102.76 101.535 C.P
9 2.390 100.376
10 3.035 99.725
Total 7.5 5.86
