The exact determination of the volume of excavations and embankments is necessary to develop the right organization of works, determining the necessary equipment and means of transport and to calculate the cost and develop the work schedule.
Calculations are made on the basis of technical and robbing projects, in which the designed terrain are marked with the help of the ordinates, layer and other used characters. The volume of excavations and embankments is calculated separately after determining the position on the stain: lines of excavations and embankments, which determine the size of the surface covered with earthworks and the line that demarcous the surfaces of excavations and embankments. Linia ta, called the zero line, It arises from the intersection of the surface of the designed excavation and embankment with the existing surface.
Calculations of the volume of earth masses can be approximate or accurate. It depends on the required accuracy, the compliance of the presented measurements has a plan with the existing state, accepted calculation method etc..
Calculation of the volume of designed excavations and embankments can be carried out by various methods. The most commonly used are methods: cross -sections, squares and a layer method.