Retaining wall on a previous elevation

[Doug_N]

I have a very interesting challenge ahead of me.  I am modelling a retaining wall that will have as its base a historical elevation of a paved walkway.  The existing grade, a parking lot at the edge of a harbour, is gently sloping in two directions, a crown, running east and west, down the center of the parking lot and a slope that starts at the west along and north and south line that goes towards the east.  There is also an east west line at the northern boundary that defines the edge of the parking lot and then sharply drops (at about a 26 degree slope) into the harbour.  The length of the lot east to west is about 782' long.  The historical grade had a saddleback droop at around the 400' mark about 24" deep.  That saddle back is the base for the retaining wall that will run along the edge of the parking lot.

 

Here is the question.  How can I model two terrain surfaces at the same time?  One that shows the existing grade and one that shows the historical grade?

[Chopsaw]

I think you would need two separate files and turn one into a symbol and import into the other file.  Likely the historical one.  Is this an archaeology project or do you have an existing and proposed grade.

[glennw]

Your description is a bit of a riddle without knowing where north is.

As Chopsaw says, you could go the symbol route, or, what may be better is to use the new 3D reference feature to reference the second terrain in another plan.

This would have the advantage of avoiding a static object like a symbol for the second terrain.

This would allow the second terrain to be edited dynamically and have the changes reflected in the main terrain model. 

[Doug_N]

In the pictorial view, we are looking to the southeast.  I suppose I could do this in two plans and then superimpose the existing grade in one plan over the historical grade in another plan.  The top of the retaining wall would be a constant height over the existing grade while the bottom of the retaining wall followed the historical grade. 

so the top stays level, and the bottom is curved following the historical grade.  The trick is, how to construct and model that wall.  At its maximum height, it would be about 3' tall and at its shallowest height, about 1' tall.  So how to model that changing wall height.

[glennw]

Quote

So how to model that changing wall height.

 

Shape the top and bottom of the wall in an elevation view by using the Break Line tool and then dragging the various segments to form the profiles you want.