What is OpenGround Cloud Extension for AutoCAD Civil 3D?

The OpenGround Extension for AutoCAD Civil 3D has been designed to ease the task of creating and visualising geological and subsurface information.

Geotechnical design is like any other engineering practice, the designs need to be revised and refined. In many respects this is more the case with geotechnics as the engineer with limited information tries to interpret the data to best fit the site. To this end the tool has been designed to quickly display data in AutoCAD Civil 3D to allow the user to start modelling and interpreting the site data.

The Geotechnical Extension is designed to work with drill hole locations, geology data and other down hole data, this functionality includes:

• Creating and managing Boreholes in both plan and model space
• Creating and managing sub strata surfaces
• Producing dynamic profiles and projecting log strips on to them
• Geotechnical hatch and style management
• Creation of XYZ point groups and XYZ surfaces

The extension is designed to show you the geotechnical data as stored in OpenGround, it does not interpret the data automatically, however, the surfaces that are created are a great starting point in the interpretation, modelling and visualisation process.

How to use this guide

Primarily, this document is structured to deal with concepts and functionality in a logical and theme-based manner. As such, the guide can be read progressively. At the start of each chapter you will find an introduction section that gives you an overview of the capabilities of the system related to the chapter. You may find it useful to start by reading these introductions only as this should give you an overview of what OpenGround Extension for AutoCAD Civil 3D can do and which parts you need to learn more about. Further information can be found regarding a topic by the use of the related articles section of each page or elsewhere on Bentley Communities.