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earthmoving Earthworks are engineering works created through the processing of parts of the earth's surface involving quantities of soil or unformed rock. Shoring structures An incomplete list of possible temporary or permanent geotechnical shoring structur ...
, cut and fill is the process of constructing a
railway Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a p ...
,
road A road is a linear way for the conveyance of traffic that mostly has an improved surface for use by vehicles (motorized and non-motorized) and pedestrians. Unlike streets, the main function of roads is transportation. There are many types o ...
or
canal Canals or artificial waterways are waterways or engineered channels built for drainage management (e.g. flood control and irrigation) or for conveyancing water transport vehicles (e.g. water taxi). They carry free, calm surface f ...
whereby the amount of material from cuts roughly matches the amount of fill needed to make nearby embankments to minimize the amount of construction labor.


Overview

Cut sections of roadway or rail are areas where the roadway has a lower elevation than the surrounding terrain. Fill sections are elevated sections of a roadway or trackbed. Cut and fill takes material from cut excavations and uses this to make fill sections. It costs resources to excavate material, relocate it, and to compact and otherwise prepare the filled sections. The technique aims to minimise the effort of relocating excavated material while also taking into account other constraints such as maintaining a specified grade over the route.


Other considerations

In addition to minimising construction cost, other factors influence the placement of cut or filled sections. For example, air pollutants can concentrate in the valleys created by the cut section. Conversely,
noise pollution Noise pollution, also known as environmental noise or sound pollution, is the propagation of noise with ranging impacts on the activity of human or animal life, most of them are harmful to a degree. The source of outdoor noise worldwide is mai ...
is mitigated by cut sections since an effective blockage of line-of-sight sound propagation is created by the depressed roadway design. The environmental effects of fill sections are typically favorable with respect to air pollution dispersal, but in respect to
sound propagation In physics, sound is a vibration that propagates as an acoustic wave, through a transmission medium such as a gas, liquid or solid. In human physiology and psychology, sound is the ''reception'' of such waves and their ''perception'' by ...
, exposure of nearby residents is generally increased, since sound walls and other forms of sound path blockage are less effective in this geometry. The reasons for creating fills include the reduction of grade along a route or the elevation of the route above water, swampy ground, or areas where snow drifts frequently collect. Fills can also be used to cover tree stumps, rocks, or unstable soil, in which case material with a higher bearing capacity is placed on top of the obstacle in order to carry the weight of the roadway or railway and reduce differential settlement.Herbert L. Nichols, Jr., and David A. Day, P.E., ''Moving the Earth: The Workbook of Excavation,'' 5th ed. (New York: McGraw-Hill, 2005), pp. 8.16 et seq.


History

The practice of cut-and-fill was widely utilized to construct tracks along rolling terrain across the British Isles. It was later applied in the construction of new dwellings for returning veterans in Ireland at the end of World War II. This application was developed by Irish railway engineer Lachlan J. Boland, who saw the benefits of introducing railway practices to residential construction.


Software

A number of software products are available for calculating cut and fill. A simple approach involves defining different earthworks features in a software program and then adjusting elevations manually to calculate the optimal cut and fill. More sophisticated software is able to automatically balance cut and fill while also considering the materials. Software that can do this falls under the broad category of earthworks estimation software.


See also

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Cut (earthmoving) In civil engineering, a cut or cutting is where soil or rock from a relative rise along a route is removed. The term is also used in river management to speed a waterway's flow by short-cutting a meander. Cuts are typically used in road, rail ...
* Cut-and-cover * Fill dirt *
Grade (slope) The grade (also called slope, incline, gradient, mainfall, pitch or rise) of a physical feature, landform or constructed line refers to the tangent of the angle of that surface to the horizontal. It is a special case of the slope, where zero i ...
*
Grading (engineering) Grading in civil engineering and landscape architectural construction is the work of ensuring a level base, or one with a specified slope, for a construction work such as a foundation, the base course for a road or a railway, or landscape and ...
*
Regrading Grading in civil engineering and landscape architectural construction is the work of ensuring a level base, or one with a specified slope, for a construction work such as a foundation, the base course for a road or a railway, or landscape a ...
*
Trench A trench is a type of excavation or in the ground that is generally deeper than it is wide (as opposed to a wider gully, or ditch), and narrow compared with its length (as opposed to a simple hole or pit). In geology, trenches result from ero ...


References

{{Geotechnical engineering * Environmental engineering Rail infrastructure Road cuttings Building engineering