Chapter One- Land Leveling

1.1 Land Preparation/Land Leveling

Land clearing

Prior to making the land grading survey, it is important to remove heavy vegetative growth
from the land. Land clearing consists of removing of some or all the trees, bushes,
vegetations, trash and boulders from the area specified for land grading.

Land grading is reshaping of the field surface to a planned grade. It is necessary in making a
suitable field surface to control the flow of water, to check soil erosion and provide surface
drainage.

When uneven land is irrigated, the high spots are watered too little and the low spots too
much. This results in uneven crop growth, yield reduction, and loss of water. A properly
graded land surface ensures unobstructed smooth flow of water into the land, without
eroding the soil and ensuring uniform distribution of water throughout the filed.

Land leveling operations may be grouped into three phases:

o Rough grading
o Land leveling
o Land smoothing
Rough grading

Is the removal of abrupt irregularities such as mounds, dunes and rings, and filling of pits,
depressions and gullies.

Land leveling

= land grading = land forming = land shaping

It requires moving large quantities of earth over considerable distance

Land smoothing

Leveling operations leaves irregular surfaces due to dumping the loads. These irregularities
are removed and a plane surface obtained by land smoothing which is the final operation in
land leveling.

Criteria for land leveling

Land leveling is influenced by

1
 o the characteristics of the soil profile,
o prevailing land slope,
o rainfall characteristics,
o cropping pattern,
o methods of irrigation,
other specific features of the site including the preference of the farmer.

1.2Land leveling design methods

The basic methods of land leveling design are:

1. plane method
2. profile method
3. plan-inspection method and
4. contour adjustment method
This chapter deals with the plane method in more detail and other methods can be referred from
literatures.

Plane Method

The plane method is the most commonly used method of land leveling design. Its use,
however, is restricted to those fields where it is feasible to grade the field to a true plane.
The following is the procedure for land leveling design.

a. Determining the centroid of the filed

o The centroid of a rectangular field is located at the point of intersection of its
diagonals.
o The centroid of a triangular field is located at the intersection of the lines drawn
form its corners to the mid-points of the opposite sides.
o To determine the centroids of irregular field, the area is divided into rectangles
and right angled triangles. The centroid is located by computing moments about
two reference lines at right angles to each other.
o The distance of the centroid of the field from any line of reference is equal to the
sum of the products obtained by multiplying the area of each part times the
distance from the line of reference to its centroid, divided by the area of the
entire field.
o By computing the distance to the centriod from two lines of reference
perpendicular to each other, the exact point of the centriod can be determined.
The centriod can be located with sufficient accuracy by assuming that each stake in the
field represents the same area. The procedure is illustrated in Figure 1.4

2
Figure 1.4 Location of the centroid of the field

Referring to Figure 1.4 , let one of the lines of reference be 12.5m to the south of the line A
and coincide with the southern boundary of the field. The computation process is as follows:

Line Distance No Stakes Product

A 12.5 9 112.5

B 37.5 9 337.5

C 62.5 9 562.5

D 87.5 9 787.5

E 112.5 9 1012.5

F 137.5 7 962.5

G 162.5 6 975.0

Total 58 4750.0

3
The distance of the centriod from the reference line is then obtained by dividing the sum of
the products by the total number of stakes, or

Dis tan ce 4750

of centroid from the referenceline   81.896m
58

o Another line of reference may be assumed at 12.5m to the left of the line 1 and the
location of the centroid in the east-west direction is computed as 105.603m from
the reference line in the same way.
o With the two dimensions, the centroid point is located at (105.603, 81.896).
o It may be noted that the centroid point on the x-axis is
105.603 – 87.503 = 18.103m from point D4.

o On the y-axis it is 81.896 – 62.500 = 19.396m from point C5 (Fig. 1.4).

b. Determining the average elevation of the field

This is obtained by adding the elevations of all grid points in the field and dividing the sum
by the number of points. Thus, in Fig. 1.4,

o the total of the 58 elevations on the grid corners is 98.78m

The average elevation 98.78

  1.703m
58

Any plane passing through the centroid at this elevation will produce equal volumes of cut
and fill. With the elevation of the centroid known and the downfield grade and cross slope
selected, the elevation required at each grid point can be calculated. The desired cut or fill
may be computed from the comparison of the original and the proposed elevations.

Example Problem The topographic survey of a field gave the following elevations (m) at
grid points

1 2 3 4 5

A 10.65 10.43 10.07 9.68 9.67

B 10.47 10.42 9.95 9.84 9.75

C 10.32 10.08 9.92 9.65 9.48

D 9.89 9.48 9.67 9.41 9.13

4
o Calculate the elevation of the centriod of the field. Stakes are to guide the leveling of
this field into a play ground.
o Calculate the cut and fill at the grid points.
o Compare the quantities of earthwork in cutting and filling

Solutions:

Total number of stations = 4 * 5 = 20

Total elevations of 20 stations = 197.96

sum of the elevationsof the grid point s 197.96

Elevationof centroid  Number of grid point s  20 9.898m

o Since the field is to be used as a playground, it is to be leveled without any slope in

any direction.

o The cuts and fills at various grid points are obtained by subtracting the elevation of
the corresponding grid point from the elevation of the centroid.

o Thus, the cut/fill at grid point A1 is 9.898 – 10.65 = -0.752m. The –sign indicates the
cut, while +sign indicates fill. The cuts and fills (in m) at the different grid points are
computed which are tabulated below:

1 2 3 4 5

A -0.752 -0.532 -0.172 +0.218 +0.228

B -0.572 -0.522 -0.052 +0.058 +0.148

C -0.422 -0.182 -0.022 +0.248 +0.418

D +0.008 +0.418 +0.228 +0.488 +0.768

Check: cut   fill  3.228m

Example Problem

A topographic survey of a rectangular field was done for planning a land leveling program.
Grid points were set at intervals of 25m. The elevation of the points are given below:

5
 Elevation (m)

Line 1 Line 2 Line 3 Line 4 Line 5

A 8.26 8.75 9.30 9.52 10.44

B 7.94 8.12 8.90 8.80 9.62

C 7.12 7.86 8.35 8.60 8.42

D 6.74 7.28 7.94 8.16 7.80

o Determine the elevation of the centroid of the field

o The field is to have a downfield slope of 0.2%. Determine the formation levels at the
grid points and also the amount of cut or fill at each grid point.

Solution

Total number of stations = 20

Sum of the elevations of the 20 stations = 167.92m

sum of the elevationsof the grid point s 167.92

Elevationof centroid  Number of grid point s  20 8.396m

The formation levels at the grid points are computed at each grid point with reference to
the elevation of the centroid.

For example,

o Station A1 is 50m from the north-south line passing through the centroid.
o At 0.2% slope, the elevation of this point should be 0.1m below the centroid, or
98.296m.
o Similarly, the formation level at each grid point is computed. The results are
tabulated below:
1 2 3 4 5

A 8.296 8.346 8.396 8.446 8.496

6
B 8.296 8.346 8.396 8.446 8.496

C 8.296 8.346 8.396 8.446 8.496

D 8.296 8.346 8.396 8.446 8.496

The cut/fill is computed by subtracting the original elevation of the point from the
formation level at the grid point.

o Thus, at station A1, the cut/fill is 8.296 – 8.260 = +0.036m. The results are tabulated
below:
1 2 3 4 5

A +0.036 -0.404 +0.096 -1.074 -1.944

B +0.356 +0.226 -0.504 -0.354 -1.124

C +1.176 +0.486 +0.046 -0.154 +0.076

D +1.556 +0.066 +0.456 +0.286 +0.696

Check: cut   fill  5.58m

c. Compute the slope of the plane of best fit
The slope any line in the x or y direction on the plane which fits the natural ground surface,
can be determined by the least squares method. The plane equation can be written as:

EX ,Y  AX  BY  C

Where:

E = elevation of the X,Y

coordinate A,B = regression

coefficients

C = elevation of the origin or reference point from the calculations of

field topography using Eq. above

7
8
The slope of the best fit line through the average X-direction elevation (Ej) is A and is found
by:

N  N  N 
 X j E j   X j  E j  / N
N  j 1  j 1
2 
A   N 
 X 2  X  / N
j
j 1
 j 1 

For the best fit slope in the Y-direction, the slope, B, is

Y E  N i  Ei 
N N
i i  
 i1 Y  i1  /

i1  N ...5.3
B N 2

Y i2  Y i  / N
N

i1  i1 

Finally, the average field elevation, EF, can be found by summing either Ei or Ej and dividing
by the appropriate number of grid rows. This elevation corresponds to the elevation of the
field centroid (X,Y). Thus, equation 5.1 can be solved for C as follows:

C  EF  AX  BY

The differences are the necessary cuts and or fills.

The slope of the plane can be determined on both x and y axes, and the elevation of any
point calculated from the elevation of the centroid.

The grades determined by equation (2 & 3) must be checked to see if they fall within the
safe limits selected for cross slope and downfield grade. If they exceed these values, it will
be necessary to use the nearest values that satisfy the criteria. Example below illustrates
the computation procedure for determining the plane of best fit.

9
Example Problem :

Determine the plane of best fit for the field shown in Fig. below

Figure : Determination of formation levels cuts and fills for land leveling design of the
filed shown in Fig. , adopting the plane method. Note that each grid point the middle figure
shows the original ground elevation, the top figure the cut/fill and the bottom figure the
formation level.

Solution

o Assuming the southern boundary of the field as the x-axis, the slope of the best fit
plane in the y-direction is determined by applying equation

10
 o The distance of the stations from the x-axis on the different lines and the number of
stations on the line are given below:
Line Distance from border, D (m) No. of stations

A 12.50 9

B 37.50 9

C 62.50 9

D 87.50 9

E 112.50 9

F 137.50 7

G 162.50 6

Values of E, the elevation of each station are indicated on Fig. 4. Each factor in equation (5.3) is
computed as follows:

Y A Ei
 12.52.22 2.021.931.801.731.591.471.331.28 192.125

Y B Ei
 37.52.26 2.061.961.811.711.561.441.321.19 574.125

Y C Ei
 62.52.29 2.181.971.801.701.551.411.261.13 955.625

Y D Ei
 87.52.30 2.211.991.791.671.541.361.211.10 1327.375

Y E Ei
 112.52.22 2.021.931.781.651.521.321.191.08 1654.875

Y F
 137.52.16 2.021.901.731.631.451.28 1673.375
Ei

 162.52.081.971.881.701.611.42 1732.25
Y G Ei

 Yi Ei   8109.75

Y i 12.59  37.59  62.59 87.59 112.59 137.57 162.56  4750

E i  2.22 2.021.93 ....1.611.42  98.68

11
 Y  E 
i i 475098.68
   8081.60
N 58

2
 Y   4750  22562500
2

 Y
 2i

  389779
N 22562
500 58

 Y 
2
 (12.5)2 9  (37.5)2 9  (62.5)2 9  (87.5)2 9  (112.5)2 9  (137.5)2 7  (162.5)2 6 
522813
i

Y E i i

 N i  Ei 
N N

  
  i1 Y  i1  / 8109.75  8081.60
B
i1
N 2 N  522813 389779  0.0002116 0.0212%
 N 
Y i   Y i / N
2

i1  i1 

From similar calculations and taking the western boundary of the field as the reference line
on the y-axis,

S x   0.007   0.7 %

It is seen that Sx is negative. This means that the plane reaches a lower elevation as the
distance from the y-axis increases. Since Sy is positive, the plane of the best fit rises towards
north.

The values of Sx and Sy reveal that the slope of the best fit plane in the y direction is
negligible and can be tolerated as the cross slope while that in the x direction is substantial.
The recommended safe limits of land slope presented in the table below show that the
slope of the best fit plane along the x-direction exceeds the safe value in all the three soil
types indicated in the table. Assuming that the soil is loamy, the maximum permissible land
slope is 0.4%. Hence the value of Sx is to be limited to – 0.4%.

12
Table: Recommended safe limits of land slope for efficient irrigation

Type of soil Longitudinal slope (%)

Heavy (clay) soils 0.05 – 0.25

Medium (loamy) soils 0.20 – 0.40

Light (sandy) soils 0.25 – 0.65

d. Compute the formation levels, cuts and fills

With the elevation of the centriod determined, the formation level of any point (the
elevation which the point should attain after land grading operation) may be determined,
using the computed or assumed values of Sx and Sy. For convenience in computation, a grid
point close to the centroid is selected and its elevation computed with reference to centriod
elevation, using the vales of Sx and Sy.

For example, in figure 5.4 the grid point C4 may be selected as the reference station. The
distance of C4 from the centroid is 18.103m in the x direction and 19.396m in the y
direction. Since the plane of the best fit must pass through the centroid, the elevation of any
point on the x-direction should increase at the rate of S x to the left of the centroid and
reduce by an equal amount to the right of the centroid. But since Sy is positive, the elevation
of the y-direction increases at the rate of S y from the centroid towards the north while it
decreases at the same rate towards the south.

In figure 5.4, the elevation of a point on the x-axis, 18.1m to the left of the centroid is,
18.103 0.4
1.703   1.775
100

Similarly, the decrease in elevation of a point on the y-axis 19.396m from the centroid,
towards the south, is

19.396 0.02
100  0.0039m

Hence the elevation of the grid point C4 = 1.755 – 0.0039 = 1.7711m.

The elevations of all other points on line C can be determined by adding 0.4  25
 0.1m to
each grid points to the left of C4. 100

13
For example, the elevation of the point C3 is 1.771 + 0.1 = 1.871 and that of C5 = 1.771 – 0.1
= 1.671 and so on.

The elevations of the points on line 4 can be obtained by progressively adding

25
0.02
 0.005m to the elevations of grid points in the north direction and
100

subtracting the same amount from the elevations of the preceding grid points in the south
direction from C4. Thus, the elevation of

B4 = 1.771 – 0.005 = 1.766 m, and that of

D4 = 1.771 + 0.005 = 1.776

E4 = 1.776 + 0.005 = 1.781 m and so on

2.3 Determine the cut-fill ratio

Experience in land grading with modern earthmoving equipment has shown that the cut-
fill ratio should be greater than one. This means that a greater volume of cut than fill must
be allowed. Compaction from equipment in the cut area which reduces the volume and also
the compaction in the fill area which increases the fill volume needed, are the principal
reasons for this effect. Another reason for the need to have additional fill martial results
from imperfections in the leveling operation. An argument usually put forth is that on level
ground between stakes, the operator has an optical illusion of a dip in the middle, and
therefore in filling, crowning often occurs, which requires additional fill material than what
is estimated.

It is rarely possible to estimate exactly the cut-fill ratio. It usually varies from 1.2 to 1.6. In
extreme cases of heavy or light textured soils and deep or shallow excavation, the ration
may be as low as. 1.1 and as much as 2.0. In case the soil is composed principally of organic
material such as peat or muck, the ration must be about 2.0. The type of soil, quantity of
earth- work involved and the type of equipment to be used should be considered in
deciding the cut-fill ratio.

With the plane method of computing cuts and fills, a settlement correction for the whole
field is more convenient to apply. The settlement allowance or amount of lowering of
elevation may range from 0.3 to 1cm for compact soils and 1.5 to 4.5 cm for loose soils. It
may be noted that a small change in elevation will cause a considerable change in the cut-
fill ratio.

14
Since precise estimates on the additional cut volume cannot be made in advance, it may
often be necessary to first set the grades tentatively. After the work has made substantial
progress, the levels are checked again and the stakes reset to obtain the desired grade as
closely as possible.

In instances where borrow is to be taken from the field fro construction works such as
roads, irrigation channels and filling of p its, the plane surface can be lowered by the
amount of earthwork required. Similarly, if the earth excavated from drainage channels or
other sources is to be utilized in making land leveling fills, the elevation of the plane surface
should be raised by the quantity of earth available. These can be done by dividing the
volume of the borrow or excavation by the area of the field. The adjustment of the elevation
of the plane can be made at the centroid by subtracting the value of the borrow taken from
the field and adding the value of the excavated earth brought to the field. The elevations of
other points are then computed, and the amount of cut or fill at each point determined. The
cuts and fills are marked to the nearest cm since construction tolerances do not warrant a
higher degree of precision.

Example Problem 5.4: The field shown in Fig. 1.1 is to be leveled to a downfield gradient
of 0.4 per cent and a cross slope of 0.02 per cent. The following additional provisions may
be made while designing the land leveling work:

1. A farm road is to be constructed along the boundary ab. The dimensions of the road
are: bottom width 4.2m, top width 3.5m, and average height of embankment 30cm. the
entire earth fill for the farm road is to be taken from the field.
2. A drainage canal is to be dug outside the field along the side cd. The canal is 1.5m deep,
1m wide at the bottom and has side slopes 1.5:1. The excavation from the canal is to be
spread in the field.
3. An allowance of 1cm may be provided to account for the shrinkage of the cut and fill
areas.
Determine the design elevation of each grid point. Compute the cut and fill at each grid
point and the cut/fill ratio.

15
Solution

1) Weighted average elevation of the grid points

E
 N
 (2.50  2.48...  1.43) / 28  1.973m.

2) The location of the centroid is determined by taking moments about the reference
lines ox and oy. (Note that the reference line ox is drawn parallel to the field boundary
ab and is spaced 15 m away from the field boundary line ab. The line ox is laid at right
angles to oy and is 15m from the field boundary line ae. It is usually advantageous to
locate the reference lines outside the field boundary, and space at least one of it at half
grid spacing from one of the field boundary lines. This is especially important in the
land grading design of fields with irregular boundaries).
Referring to Fig.5.5, the location of the centroid on the plane on the x-axis is

16
60 30 6 60 6 90 6120 
 from the line oy or 105.0- 5= 90m from
4150 28 85.71m
line ae.

Fig. 5.6: Determination of design elevations, cuts and fills of the field shown in Fig. 5,5

17
3) The slopes of the best fit planes on the x and y-axis are determined by
using equation (2 & 3).

(a)
( j E ) j
 / N j

A X j
X E
j j

X   X 
2 2
/N


 X E
j
  15 2.50  2.48  ...  2.09  452.30  2.21 ...  1.97
j
 4663.050

X j  4 15  5  45  5  75  ... 
 2520.00
4 165

 
X
E
j/ N  2520
55.25 j
 4972.500
28

 
 X
j
2
 4 152  5  452  ...  4 1652  294300.000

Dx 2520
/n 2  226800.00
2 
28

4663.050   309.450
 A
4972.500   0.00458  0.458%
294300 226800 67500

Yi Ei   Yi Ei / N

b) B 
Yi   Y i  / N
2 2

Yi Ei   152.50  2.30  ...  1.80  452.48  2.21 ...  1.71

 ...  1351.97  1.85  ...  1.51  3754.350

Yi  6  5  6  45  ...  4 135  1980

1980 55.25
Y E / N   3906.964
i
i 28

Yi   6 152  6  452..  4 1352  186300

2

Y 2
1980
i /N 2 140014.286

28

18
 3754.350  3906.961  152.614
B   0.003297   0.3297%
186300140014.286 46285.714

19
Since Slope in X direction is greater than in Y direction, the downfield slope is taken in the
x-direction and the cross slope in the y-direction.

4. Net area of the field which is to be graded is determined

a. Gross area of field

130152 152  123

  99   85  13959 1168.5  25646.5m2
2 2

(b) Area of the drainage canal = top width * length = 5.5 * 90 = 495 m2

(c) Area of farm road = bottom width * length = 4.2 * 184 = 772.8 m2

(d) Net area of the field to be graded = Gross area – (area of canal +area of

road) = 25646.5 – (495.00+772.8) = 24378.7m2

5. Earthwork for road fill and for the excavation of the canal are determined as
follows:

a. Volume of earth required for road fill = Cross-sectional area of road

fill x length of road
4.2  3.5
  0.30184  212.52m2
2

Depth of cut required from the entire area of field for the required borrow

volume of earthwork 212.52

 Net area of field 24378.7 m  0.0087m

b. Volume of excavated earth from drainage canal

= cross- sectional area x length
5.5  1
 1.5  90  438.75m2
2

Height of earth fills resulting from the spreading of the excavated earth in the net area of
field

Volume of excavation 438.75

 Net areaof field 24378.7  0.018m

6. Design elevation of centroid

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 = Average elevation of field – depth of shrinkage – depth of

Borrow + height of excavated earth

= 1.973-0.010-0.0087+0.018 = 1.972m

7. With the design elevation of the centroid, the elevation of the grid points and
computed so as to obtain a downfield gradient of 0.4 percent and cross slope
of 0.02 percent.

The grid point B3 may be taken as the reference point.

0.4150  90 0.0285.71 60

Elevationof B3  1.972  100

100

0.4 15 0.02 25.71

 1.972  100  100

 1.972  0.060  0.005  2.037m

The elevation of all grid points on line B, to the left of B3 is obtained by progressively
adding 0.4
 30  0.12m to each succeeding point. Thus, the design elevation of
100

B2 = 2.037+0.12=2.157 and of B1=2.157+0.12=2.277m.

The elevations of all points to the right of B3 are obtained by subtracting progressively
0.12m from each grid point from the elevation of the previous point on the left. Thus, the
design elevation of

B4=2.037-0.12=1.917m, of B5=1.917-0.12=1.797m and so on.

The design elevations of points on line A can be determined by adding 0.02

 30  0.006m
100
to the elevation of the corresponding point on line B. similarly, the design elevation of all
points on line C can be determined by subtracting 0.006m from the elevations of the
corresponding points on line B. The elevations of points on line C are obtained by
subtracting 0.006m from the corresponding elevations on line D and so on. The design
elevations, thus obtained, are shown on Fig. 5.6.

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8. The cut or fill at each grid point is determined by a comparison of the original and
design elevations.
The values are entered at the entered at the corresponding grid point (Fig.). The total cuts
and fills fro each column are shown below the corresponding columns. Referring to Fig.

Cut  1.646
Fill  1.608
1.646
Cut  fill ratio 
1.608
 1.024

(Note: If a higher value of the cut-fill ratio is desired, a larger value of shrinkage depth may
be assumed and the problem solved again).

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