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12d Model software’s vast suite of modules includes 12d Track, which was specifically designed for the survey, design and construction of light, heavy and high-speed rail projects.

12d Track allows users to calculate the centre of a track of surveyed rails, get a ‘Line of Best Fit’ to develop and alignment, calculate and plot slews, output slew diagram and reports/spreadsheets, product a rail profile, create and edit turnout sets, place and edit turnouts, and more!

Many of our users have utilised 12d Model on a variety of interesting rail projects over time (some using 12d Track, and others using other modules such as Detailed Alignment Design, 12d Field, and even the Drainage capabilities). Some of the highlights have included:

Sydney Metro Light Rail

When opened, this new light rail service will run from Circular Quay, all the way up the main street of Sydney CBD – George Street – and east into Randwick, where a major university is located.

It’s a very complex project given all the underground services involved, and all the existing infrastructure surrounding the route.

12d Model’s BIM capabilities have been invaluable to the designers on this project. The feedback from the design team was that this simply could not have been done without this functionality.

North Strathfield Rail Underpass

The team behind this project utilised 12d Model very innovatively.

The main aim of this project was to remove the need for freight trains travelling south from Newcastle to cross over onto commuter lines and causing delays.

The project involved the construction of a new rail underpass at North Strathfield in Sydney’s west. The underpass consists of two dive structures and a shallow driven N.A.T.M. type tunnel running beneath existing operational commuter and freight railway lines.

The key project requirements were to verify the thickness of the shotcrete (primary structural support for the tunnel), and to design and implement a 24/7 automated system to measure track deformations.

The NSRU team found that while there are commercially available solutions designed for tunnel surveying applications, these do not allow a thickness to be computed in the field, make accurate comparisons to points’ rough or jagged profiles, or make comparisons directly to previously surveyed points…enter 12d Model! Mick Gunter at 12d Solutions in Sydney worked closely with the NSRU team to help tailor 12d Model with 12d Field to their needs and make the project a success.

Dave Mares (Alliance Survey Manager) said, “12d Field exceeded their expectations on this project, and its features surpassed the overseas software traditionally used for this type of project”.

Gold Coast Rapid Transit

The GCRT Project comprised a 13km light rail system between the Gold Coast University Hospital on Parklands Drive in Southport and the Broadbeach South Station adjacent to Pacific Fair Shopping Centre. The Project brought together the world’s best infrastructure and urban design solutions to create a vibrant and bold future for the City.

The project involved many inter-discipline interfaces using 12d Model with 12d design/survey teams including rail alignments, road design, stormwater drainage, surveying, and utility services.

The decision was made to produce the design in 12d Model to enable all relevant disciplines to work from 12d and utilise the model sharing capability. Doing this would enable a truly coordinated approach to the multi-disciplinary design. The teams involved worked closely with 12d Solutions, who helped tailor 12d Model software to suit their complex needs.

Adelaide Hills Rail

It was necessary on this project to have plotted cross sections showing rail design formation with the track infrastructure correctly displayed. This meant having the ballast, sleepers and rail profiles shown in all cross sections, but on the correct cant at the horizontal curves.

It was also important to be able to calculate the exact ballast depths under the sleepers at both (high and low) rail locations. This value was critical as all the loads of the train were directly bearing under the rail foot, and the minimum designed depth needed to be maintained. Axle loads in the Pilbara in Western Australia on heavy haul rail are reaching up to 40-tonne limits.

Despite the many difficulties involved in such a complex project, the use of 12d Model with 12d Track on the Adelaide Hills Rail saved time and money, and assisted design processes greatly.

Port Hedland Rail

Fortescue Metals Group (FMG) undertook a $US8.4bn expansion program to triple the size of its operations and take it to 155 million tonnes of iron ore per annum by mid 2013. FMG had a triplication of their rolling stock fleet. To meet the demand and the growth in associated maintenance procedures, an expansion of their existing facilities at Rowley Yard, Port Hedland was required.

20 options were investigated using the powerful ‘element method’ tools within 12d Model’s Super Alignment, with the turnout placement function providing a quick and effective method to arrange track layouts. Storm water drainage design was developed in 12d Model. Three options were investigated, limiting pipe sizes to 900, 1200 & 1500(mm). A cost/benefit analysis was completed that compared pit and pipe quantities and thrust boring sites. With the site 1600km away from the nearest pipe supplier, this decision was critical to logistics planning. “Using 12d to design this solution saved more than $AUD2million in capital costs for the project.” The storm water drainage design was independently verified. Diversion drains were mapped in 12d Model using the HEC RAS writer. Importing the water surfaces from HEC RAS to 12d Model was used to then calculate tail water conditions.

“12d modelling isn’t just a click of a button. It often takes many attempts to find a solution to a problem. In a brown field environment, where little planning had been done in the past…issues were constantly faced. “It seemed that everything we touched was broken and every solution we tried to implement failed. This led to blowouts in the delivery, but we are very happy with the result thanks to 12d Model and its vast array of tools.” —Chris Compton, Fortescue Metals Group

Adelaide Metropolitan Rail

This important project involved the upgrade of approximately 130km of rail track, including new concrete sleepers, formation earthworks, drainage and services for the Adelaide Metropolitan rail network.

All design and construction work associated with the $200M project was undertaken by the Tracksure Joint Venture, which primarily comprised the John Holland Group, Coleman Rail and York Civil.

Quick and accurate measurement of drainage quantities was a critical issue for the Tracksure construction team, for both pricing and procurement purposes.

For this project, JBT developed a more automated process for drainage system scheduling, utilising the standard output reports from the 12d Drainage module. All subsurface drainage systems were modelled and designed in 3D, using the 12d Drainage module.

The Tracksure construction team was appreciative of the high standard of drainage scheduling information which was able to be provided during the project. The team members had been advised that their demonstrated process would be adopted on future projects as an example of high quality presentation and documentation.

Southern Sydney Freight Line

An independent 36km freight line running adjacent to the existing commuter line, known as the SSFL – Southern Sydney Freight Line. Construction of this project would enable the passenger and freight services to operate independently.

Being in the rail corridor, there was a vast array of underground services. Geo Image Services was also continuously working in very close proximity to the existing commuter line, major overhead wiring, and all existing infrastructure, Gantries, signalling equipment, etc.

By using 12d, they were able to create instant Cross/Long Sections in relation to the design and the existing commuter line throughout the project. In the field, the were able to assign attributes to the services surveyed for clarification in the office at a later date.

At the end of the first stage of the project, they were even able to create a 12d Model Visualisation using the design, As-builts, and the general topographical information collected during the three years.

Combined Services Route (CSR)

New city rail services from Glenfield to Leppington in NSW (GLRL project). The project involves the design of about 10km of rail track including earthwork, buildings, stations, roads, bridges and all the relevant power and signal services. GHD received the previously designed rail and surface tin, and was then involved in modelling the cables consisting of high-voltage cable, signal, and communication conduits running along and across the rail corridor.

The various cables were modelled as conduits arranged in combined configurations running inside the different sizes of trenches. There were several hundred pits of various sizes for cable pulling and changes in directions. There were trenches that went across and under the railway (called ULX) and also cables above the ground placed inside galvanised service troughs (GSTs).

The use of 12d Model on this project has enabled on-time completion and satisfied client requirements. Although no complicated macros were used, the application was innovative, particularly in draping 3D pits, auto updates of chainages and creating templates using Excel/UltraEdit.

Rail Revitalisation Project – South Australia

This Rail Revitalisation project in South Australia was part of the state’s $2.6 Billion upgrade to public transport services. The survey aspect of that involved over 110 kilometres of Adelaide’s metropolitan rail network.Using a GPS camera, the team added images and site photos into 12d Model in an automated process to supplement a standard survey model with information that would not be practical to key in as text.

Using the CAD Insert Image command to insert a JPEG into a 12d Model project allowed them to set a precedent for other images to follow – the first image was inserted as a sample only, with the manual process needing only to be done once.
Adding attributes to the point/inserted image allowed for attributed information either pertaining to or extracted from the image to be associated with the vertex.
Exporting the model with the sample image provided a base for the mail merge to be set up.

GPS-Photo Link camera software facilitated a CSV Export of the images with their associated coordinates and attributes.
Any attribute columns that needed to be populated manually were added, and needed to correspond with the field names in the 12d ASCII file, as created previously.

The mail merge document was created, merging the repetition of the single point, with a JPEG appended for each field photograph and creating a model of points for each.

Initially, photographs were used to remove large quantities of text from the survey model, avoiding lengthy descriptions of assets cluttering the view. The uses for this quickly grew to include:

• Identifying signal numbers and types
• Determining track circuit frequencies
• General Site and track condition assessments
• Geotechnical bore log results

The finished product allowed for a virtual site visit capturing far more than just engineering survey breaklines. 12d Model managed datasets across multiple disciplines including Design, Signalling, Geotech, Contamination, and asset management.

Auckland City Rail Link

This ambitious project set out to double the capacity of the rail network in Auckland, New Zealand. When this was in the planning phase, it was determined that the city was expecting to grow by an extra million people over the ensuing five years – this created a vital need to plan to reduce congestion. High quality public transport has been shown to be one of the most important parts of a plan such as this. Rail moves three times as many people as buses, and ten times as many as motorways!

Prior to this section of the wider project, Auckland had implemented double tracking of rail systems as well as lots of station upgrades. They needed this inner city rail link to expand the full rail network. Electric trains are an important part of this plan.

This project is critical to all public transport users (with a flow-on effect to drivers) in and around Auckland’s CBD. Two tunnels are being built – Britomart to Eden Terrace (3.5km). The safety of commuters and workers has always been paramount in this project.

The main benefit when this is finished will be to double the number of people with access to the Auckland CBD in 30min or less.

12d Model has been integral to this important project.

12d View allows 12d Model customers and non-12d Model customers to view 12d Model projects and aggregate other industry data in a single 3D platform. 12d View is great for engineers, staff onsite who want to view civil data in 3D or anyone who doesn’t have access to a full 12d Model licence and wants to view 3D data.

12d View is free to all users – simply download and register the program from our website, or you can even run 12d View unregistered.

We chatted with Michael (Mick) Connor – Survey Manager at Fulton Hogan – about his team’s use of 12d Model with 12d View (and 12d Synergy), especially on the Sydney B-Line bus project. Mick has over 19 years’ experience in surveying, so we definitely value his opinions on such matters! Fulton Hogan is a large infrastructure, construction, roadworks, and aggregate supplier company in New Zealand, which is also active in wider Australasia. The company was founded by Julius Fulton and Robert Hogan in Dunedin in 1933 (Source: Wikipedia).

The Sydney B-Line bus project has revolutionised bus travel along the Northern Beaches and Lower North Shore into the northern end of the CBD. Such an ambitious project presented certain challenges, including narrow corridors, especially through Neutral Bay and Cremorne, where roads are congested with utilities.

With the help of 12d Model with the 12d Viewer (12d View), Mick and his team were able to alleviate the strain of such an enormous project detracting from their day-to-day work. When their engineers were able to harness the power of 12d View for their utility analysis, time, cost and quality benefits ensued, meaning the engineers involved in the project were afforded greater ownership and accountability, leading to a greater sense of empowerment. In turn, this allowed Mick to gain back some much-needed time each day, because he no longer needed to oversee other processes as much.

Mick said the installation process for adding 12d View was simple. Then once he added it on, he simply ran a Chain to output the models he needed on a weekly basis, and the designers would just read that in using drag-and-drop.

You can watch Mick’s full presentation here.

I caught up with Peter Taynton of 12d Queensland for Episode 1 in a new webinar series!

This first session focussed on the object types shipped with 12d. There was a generalised discussion on how the objects were created, along with some editing:
• File structure
• Vertex objects
• Segment objects

There was also a discussion on how the objects are applied:
• Attributes
• Tin Interface
• Regular Vertex & Segment interval

There will be follow-up webinars that will focus on some particular applications of the BIM objects – details to follow!

–Lisa Stewart

Watch a presentation given by Peter Ryan (Jacobs, Technical Director, Digital Engineering) at our sold-out 2018 12d Technical Forum. Learn about the challenges, workflows and benefits of designing the M1/M3/Gateway project under Civil BIM, and how 12d Model and 12d Synergy enabled this.

What is the M1/M3/Gateway Merge?

Where is the M1/M3/Gateway Merge?

What does the project entail?

What are they trying to achieve?

What roles are involved?

TMR’s BIM Objectives

• understanding what is reasonably achieveable for designers and contractors using current technology, and what challenges they face
• assessing whether the requirements of the BIM Functional Spec are appropriate, and whether any would pose an unnecessary cost
• continuously improving clarity in the BIM specifications through collaboration with industry partners
• developing an internal TMR skill set for electronic delivery and review
• assisting the industry to deliver the ultimate TMR objective of a LOD500 object-based as-built model.

Lendlease’s BIM Objectives

• avoiding duplicate modelling effort for construction setout
• identifying clashes before construction
• using the 3D model to assess safety during construction
• educating the construction team to understand the scope and status of work in progress
• using the model to assess constructability and simulate 4D sequencing scenarios.

Jacobs’ BIM Objectives

• collaborative 3D coordinated design for all disciplines
• use of 3D models to review design in the virtual environment
• providing string setout to suit construction requirements
• providing confidence in the quality of electronic data handover
• embedding BIM workflows as ‘Business as Usual’.

Inherent to this were challenges such as balancing increased upfront design effort while delivering to program and budget.

To find out how the Jacobs team overcame this and other challenges, watch Peter’s presentation today!

Subtitle: Digital Transformation in the Civil Infrastructure Industry

As data managers, Surveyors are faced with many challenges, and are responsible for ever-increasing spatial and metadata information sets. Much of this data is of a basic xyz nature, without attributes or QA information.

Presented by 12d Field Product Sales Manager Graham Wirth, this presentation is derived from the shared experiences of Surveyors, over the past 25 years. The evolution of the surveying industry has been explosive. With the advent of GNSS, Motorised Total Stations and Scanning, positioning productivity initially outstripped the digital computing ability. The past decade, however, has seen improvements in digital capture and Design BIM modelling. We’ll explore the difficulties surveyors have experienced when setting out design solid models. Initially, designs using BIM or solid modelling were restricted to building structures. This format is now becoming the norm across most structural infrastructure designs – Surveyors’ traditional use of line and point positioning technologies needed new methods to manage setout of solid design models.

This presentation demonstrates new digital tools that assist Surveyors with this process. Using the IFC BIM data exchange format, Surveyors are able to import solid models traditionally referenced at a 0,0,0 coordinate location, convert to metres, and – using 2D and 3D transformations – bring models into real-world geodetic positions, as used by Surveyors. With the IFC format ability, Surveyors can separate the structure elements critical to setout requirements, such as footings, slabs and columns. These solid elements can then be broken down to the points and lines for setout.

This is only half the story, as the use of IFC and solid modelling comes full circle to provide designers, clients and government bodies the structural BIM model of as-constructed buildings and structures, complete with attribute and meta data required to meet industry standards.

When Frenchs Forest-based surveying firm ESO Surveyors won the contract to perform the quantity surveying on Sydney’s new International Convention Centre (ICC), they jumped at the chance. They had previously made the transition into buildings, and the challenge of such an interesting space appealed. The project was completed in conjunction with Robert Bird Group (for the structural engineering), Hyder Consulting (for the civil engineering), and Lendlease Group – the main contractors.

This important Darling Harbour redevelopment involved three conjoined key structures: the ICC Sydney Theatre, the ICC Sydney Exhibition Centre and the ICC Sydney Convention Centre. The buildings contain a variety of event spaces. The space opened in December 2016. ESO used 12d Model software for all their 3D modelling, as-builts, etc. on the project. Surveyor Greg Cech said, “12d was a good program to check how the design looked.” In fact, according to ESO General Manager Campbell Blogg, the firm now uses 12d Model across the board on all their projects.

12d Model creators 12d Solutions Pty Ltd were very interested in this application of their software, according to their CEO Dr Lee Gregory, who declared “That’s not what you’d normally think of with 12d Model; most people associate the software with roads and the like.”

Greg said, “Using 12d Field is handy for buildings because you can have all your grid lines set up as separate layers – turn them on, turn them off…have the controls set up as your separate layers so that you’re able to use that as an easy way to control the whole job.”

This video demonstrates the many features of the Drainage Plan Plot PPF Editor, and the example PPFs installed in the library folder in 12d Model.

Techniques for producing outputs for multiple drawings with different frame rotations are shown, on the way to producing PDFs of drainage plans.

The Drainage Plan Plot PPF Editor is unique among the PPF Editors in 12d Model, and some of its non-plotting applications are also discussed.

Presenter Owen Thornton has been writing software for 12d Solutions since 2003. Owen has 15 years’ professional experience in the civil and mining industries. He is the original author of the 12d’s Drainage Network Editor and the Drainage Analysis module and is a 12d specialist in drainage, utilities, plot parameter files, survey conformance, volumetrics and system setup. Owen has recent consulting experience using 12d Model on a variety of large projects. These days, Owen also gives regular 12d training courses in drainage design and macro writing.

Sudharsanan Loganathan of the Department of Transport and Main Roads, Queensland (TMR) spoke to our Technical Forum audience about a lighting module in 12d Model he’s been working on. It includes some tools to help designers produce models, and specifically to create consistency in processes and improve the as-constructed.

Background

Managing assets was vital to his team – they’re now doing more with what they’re given. They focussed on improving processes and efficiency. Implementing BIM has been very important. The lighting package is an R&D project to improve these processes.

Lighting was chosen as a test case because it leads to significant benefits – it’s still in the 2D drafting stage, so making it 3D helped a lot. It was also low risk in terms of dollar values – it’s easier to shift lighting than, say, a bridge! Points and linear assets are dealt with at the same time.

It was a big change for their electrical designers to come back to a modelling space. With road operations moving more and more into this space – self driving vehicles, etc. – they need their information and assets all in right spot; there’s no room for errors/omissions.

Benefits

The main objective was to clarify the handover requirements from the TMR side – they need to build something, but what does the client actually want, in detail?

Other benefits included:

• Minimising hard copy drawing requirements at handover
• Minimising manual processes
• Minimising duplication
• Improving information management
• Providing data validation
• Improving quality and consistency of ‘As-Built’ information.

Project Life Cycle

• Planning – single source required
• Design
• Construction
• Finalisation
• Asset Management (also archiving, etc.)

Components of the Lighting Module

• Lighting Schema
• User interface to help create a valid data file (xml format)
• Data validation
• Design tools: modelling lighting installations in 12d Model, performing electrical calculations, generating electrical schematics, generating tables/schedules.

What’s Next?

• Finalising attributes required for construction and finalisation stages
• Expanding the schema to cater for all other ITS&E assets
• Creating tools to bring the ‘BIM model’ out into the field
• Linking/integrating with their DMS
• Migration/Integration with Industry Foundation Classes (IFCs) 5.0.

For more information, watch the video of Sudhar’s full presentation today!

What can we do to shape a better world? Charity, the environment, education, and health all spring to mind as areas to focus on…

Since its humble roots back in 1988, sitting in (literally) a basement to sell the first licence of 12d (then 4d) Model, 12d Solutions has held dear these Company Values:

Quality                                                Team-work

Change                                               Achievement

Customers                                          People development

Excellence                                          Integrity

This last one is possibly the most important. We believe we have a moral responsibility to help make the world a better place, in any small way we can, and to always stay true to our core values. As individuals, this responsibility begins, but when one has the capacity to help make bigger changes…that’s an absolute must. And we try to do that through 12d products whenever we can.

Charity

They say “charity begins at home”…but it doesn’t have to end there.

Some of you may be aware that 12d Solutions often lends software to groups doing Charity and Not for Profit work. One such user is Shane Elson, a Bundaberg man, who is working in Kalimantan as the Director of Innovative Solutions Indonesia.

Shane recently updated us on what he has been up to…

Because an extensive survey was unavailable for this project in Martapura, South Kalimantan, Shane and his team were unable to do full 2D drainage modelling but they were able to import the existing local survey into 12d Model and produce a solid 1D drainage model using ILSAX2 and some included basins.

To do the drainage properly data for the existing road was required but given the lack of existing road profile, Shane designed a new road at a very similar height to the current road (so pit levels were close to existing).

In the end, the design was approximately 4km of road and 6km of drainage network including pipes, open channels, basins, etc.

It is safe to say that the city (and most likely, in fact, the state) has never seen a detailed design like this before. Shane’s team used this project for education, and to open the locals’ minds to what is possible.

Shane also commented that he is now “much more thankful for the access to high quality surveyors I had in Australia. A good survey is foundational to a good design!”

Shane also ‘stretched himself’ and learned to use the Visualisation module through the 12d Model YouTube channel, to the extent that he could give the government a sense of what this infrastructure could look like if it were built to a standard.

The government now wants Shane’s team to finish the design of the road and build it as well, but there are potential issues with local business owners that could make this next stage difficult due to building in the road reserve without the necessary permissions (this is normal).

Of their use of 12d Model on this project, Shane told us, “We are using 12d Model to catalyse vision and change for the people. As always there is some resistance but the government is very keen and already talking about buying a licence of their own. We are also talking with the largest university in the state about implementing 12d Model there.”

Shane says it looks as though 2019 will bring even more opportunities to develop standards using 12d Model, with another drainage study needing to be done. His team’s hope is to be able to do 2D drainage models, but it will again come down to survey. They are looking into a drone that can perform local LiDAR, and are talking to the local government about the possibility of doing this.

Shane’s local business partner absolutely loves using 12d Model, and will be trained more comprehensively in it this year along with other local employees. To add to his credibility, Shane just received his Indonesian engineering accreditation at the highest level, to go with his CPEng, RPEQ and FIEAust.

This is such an exciting partnership, and both Shane’s team and the team at 12d Solutions look forward to its continuation.

We have a long history of charitable donations as well, and when natural disasters have struck our customers (such as during the Queensland Floods, and the Christchurch Earthquakes, in 2010-11), 12d replaced any dongles lost in these disasters free of charge. Because it was the right thing to do.

Environment

From 12d Model 9, we’ve had the 12d Field modules as part of 12d Model. While at a glance it didn’t seem like this was something that would automatically assist with environmental concerns, we discovered from talking to clients that it did just that.

Survey teams at an ever-growing number of 12d customer sites have combined the use of 12d Field out on site, and simultaneously linked to 12d Model projects and GIS data stored back in the office.

12d Field is a 12d Model module designed to give Surveyors and Engineers the ability to use the full functionality of 12d Model on small daylight-readable tablets and notebooks whilst out on site.

The power lies with having 12d Model and 12d Field as part of the client’s software suite. Clients then have the freedom to work with entire 12d projects either in the office, or remotely on site and send information back to designers and GIS officers in the office. (and vice versa).

Entire 12d projects can be easily connected to and setout with survey accuracy, all without having to drive back to the office, and more importantly without relying on static data import/export. The connections to 12d projects and GIS data allow seamless integration for the surveyor and designer.

One client estimated the reduction in CO₂ greenhouse emissions to be 676kg per year through the savings in vehicle trips achieved by being able to access data in 12d Field without having to return to the office from the site.

Another important advantage of 12d Field is that it allows the user to focus on ensuring greater project quality in a substantially shorter time frame than was traditionally possible. Survey data reductions happen on the fly and are instantly viewable on the tablet PC for error checking.

Plus 12d projects and GIS data can be easily connected to and setout with survey accuracy, all without having to drive back to the office, and more importantly without relying on static data import/export. The connections to 12d projects and GIS data allow seamless integration for the surveyor and designer.

Internationally, we are seeing companies embracing technologies that maintain quality and promote energy conservation. Ultimately, embracing such technology is also proving to help with economic profitability, so it’s a ‘no-brainer’ when it comes down to it!

We’ve also found it very important in recent years to modify our invoicing system to allow for the emailing of invoices, to help reduce our environmental footprint. And wherever possible, we like to work with ‘green venues’ such as Brisbane Convention and Exhibition Centre, where we host our biennial Technical Forums (the next of which will take place 2-4 August 2020 – register here).

12d Model has also been used on a number of wonderful renewable energy projects such as wind farms and solar farms – customers such as ESO Surveyors have led the charge in applying the technology to such endeavours.

Health

The new Northern Beaches Hospital’s surrounding road project is essential for getting people in and out for life-saving medical care.

In February we caught up with Greg Cech from ESO Surveyors, who is currently employed as the Survey Manager on the Northern Beaches Hospital road infrastructure job. Greg has been on that project for two and a half years, and it was going for approximately a year before he started. All ESO’s work on this project is being done in 12d Model with 12d Field.

As we drove through the project zone, which is just minutes from ESO’s lovely Frenchs Forest office space, we could see their great work in action, and just how much things are taking shape at this point.

Greg confirmed what an exciting project this is to work on, and told us a little about the masses of infrastructure underground – services and such – which of course slowed down the apparent construction for a few months, even though the actual construction was still going on underneath. He said it’s getting to a particularly interesting point from a public perspective as bridges are now being constructed, so people coming past will be able to see the bridges, as well as the slot, which is also starting to be constructed and will be a big visual enhancement in the space. The ‘slot’ is what will come out from Wakehurst Parkway; colloquially it may be known as a ‘tunnel’, but that’s not the technically correct term. Greg told us that it’s actually literally a slot that goes up to about eight metres deep, and the east-west through traffic will run in the slot. Local traffic will run up above it.

During the earlier phases of this project, there were massive disruptions to traffic through the area, but it’s now flowing much better than before. Greg said he hopes it will only get better as they get more and more lanes open up to through traffic.

All in all, a very exciting project, and one we’re proud to say 12d Model and 12d Field are being used for!

Education

12d Model is used and taught at a wide variety of educational institutes, around Australia and internationally. We give these licences to universities and colleges so that upcoming generations can be skilled in software that will help them throughout their careers. With 12d Model being the market leader in Australia and New Zealand, there aren’t many firms these young people could end up working for where being skilled in 12d Model wouldn’t be an advantage!

Over time, we’ve also had some interesting examples of 12d Model being used on projects to assist educational institutes.

For instance, in 2001, New Zealand firm Gary Pidd Architect Ltd jumped on the cutting edge of technology with its innovative use of 12d Model for an ongoing project to build a database of over 200 schools:

In 2016, Brent Gordon of Dalton Consulting Engineers (DCE) addressed our Conference attendees about an exciting project they were involved in, for educational and sports facilities at St Kevin’s College in Melbourne. DCE is a privately-owned civil engineering consultancy with a growing global footprint. They specialise in three core areas of expertise: urban development, infrastructure and sport. The college bought the 5.4ha site – one with a rich and varied history – in 2012, and had a variety of land development requirements.

St Kevin’s bought the former Coles carpark site in 2012…by bike or car it’s less than 10min from the school, so it had appeal. It’s now the largest privately owned Fully Synthetic Facility in Australasia.

This 5.4 hectare site comprises:

• 3 x FIFA Soccer Pitches – 100m x 60m
• An incorporated AFL Football Field – 135m x 110m
• FIH Hockey Field with 12d tennis courts
• 200m Athletic Track
• High Jump Facilities
• 2 x Long Jump Facilities
• Shot Put facilities
• 2 x pavilion and storage facilities
• Gardiners Creek Bike Track

Design challenges for the site included:

• Environment Audit Overlay
• Flood Inundation Overlay
• Sewer Manhole
• Design Compliance
• Tree Protection – so important from an environmental perspective; the team had to ensure fill material from new construction was outside the Tree Protection Overlays.
• Earthworks
• Subsidence

The facility opened in 2017.

Another example we were particularly proud to be involved with happened after the 12d Model Conference in 2005, when we were chatting with Innovation Awards winner Dwayne Honor to discuss his prize and discovered that Dwayne was donating the prize money to his former high school in the rural town of Gin Gin in Queensland, to establish a perpetual award to encourage students from regional areas into science and engineering.

On top of his prize money, Dwayne donated $1,000 of his own income, and this was matched by 12d Solutions.

12d Water Resources Engineer Rob Graham is our ‘go-to guy’ for all things Drainage 2D. Watch this video to hear him talk about this exciting aspect of 12d Model!

Stormwater overland flow is a critical component of roadway design. Estimating flow paths through intersections and roundabouts can be difficult, especially under complex diverging flow conditions. 2D hydraulic modelling provides the modeller a more advanced tool for evaluating the surface flow patterns. Conventional 1D modelling requires the modeller to define the flow routes based on evaluation of the terrain and estimated flow direction (water does not always flow downhill and has a reluctance to turn corners).

In this introductory session, we use 12d Model to create a small 2d hydraulic model of a roadway intersection, run the TUFLOW engine and review the velocity, depth and hazard results. The visualisation of the results are in plan, section and 3d animation.