Comparative study of software for road geometric design

Abstract

This study compared the results obtained in developing a highway geometric design through the use of the softwares TCP-MDT, AutoCAD Civil 3D and TopoGRAPH. For this, the results were compared taking into account the technical recommendations of the National Department of Transportation Infrastructure (DNIT). The parameters evaluated were: modeling with contour lines; horizontal layout; vertical layout; superwidth; superelevation; and earth moving calculation. In the digital modeling, small differences were found in the contour, both in the mesh and the final product. There was no difference in the results for the horizontal layout between softwares. For vertical layout, there was a slight difference in the terrain profile possibly caused by the digital modeling of the programs. In superwidth, TopoGRAPH and TCP-MDT were the ones that best met the Brazilian standards. To calculate the superwidth, the best results were found with AutoCAD Civil 3D and TCP-MDT. Besides, there were small differences between the respective land volumes computed by the softwares, which may have larger magnitude for a project with greater longitudinal extension. Therefore, it is concluded that the choice of the software can affect since the technical parameters until the planning of the work, with implications on the overall cost.