Balance Grade to an existing surface

[dchope]

Hi There,
I have an existing surface (very large site) which has a nominal cross fall of approx 10m. The surface was taken from survey data so surface follws this. The site is broken up into 8 zones. Based on these zones I need to calculate the average level of each zone based on a balanced grade.
(ie - for each zone, what is the average level if the zone is leveled off). No cut or fill just an average level.
The tools available in Civil 3D do not appear to provide a straight forward way of doing this. Its very hit and miss which is not what I expected from this autodesk product. Be happy to hear from ANYONE who has a simple method of balancing an existing surface.

[dpresley58437170]

Old post, but interesting problem. If I'm understanding correctly, this would be an iterative process that would indeed involve cut/fill calcs.

The thought is to create a flat surface with the same horizontal dimensions as the existing surface (or zones, in your case) and set its' elevation to be approximately mid-way between the upper and lower elevations of the existing. Get a cut-fill report on it and see what the results are. If you have more fill than cut, for instance, lower the flat surface incrementally until cut and fill almost balance. This would give you the rough elevation obtained if you started moving dirt around to level it out... which is the same as cutting and filling it.