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Evaluating Different Scenarios

Updated October 19, 2017

This article applies to:
  • Softree Optimal

Softree Optimal makes it easy to compare various alignments with different design constraints. We will now create another alignment for a higher standard of road (K = 70) and compare it with the alignment created in the example above.

  1. Open the Softree Optimal application.
  1. File button | Open. Select Hart Rd optimal.dsnx. Press Open.
  2. If it is not already shown, press the Alignment Properties button in the bottom navigation toolbar to open the Alignment Panel (or select View tab | New Window | Alignment Properties).
  3. Activate and maximize the Profile window

This is the design you should have at the end of the previous exercise; Profile labels have been turned off however (right click, Profile Options menu).

The following step makes a copy of Trial 1 (created in the previous exercise) except for changes to the curve constraints.

  1. Create a copy of Trial 1 alignment and modify the curve constraints:
    1. Left-click on Trial 1 to select it the Alignment(s) list (this is the alignment with the options we want to copy)
    2. Press the New button.
    3. In the General tab, change the Description to “K=70”.
    4. In the Standards tab, change minimum Sag and Crest K to 70, press Add/Edit to update the range.
    5. Press OK to save the new optimization parameters.
  2. Find a new optimized alignment:
    1. Press the Process button to open the Process Control dialogue.
    2. The Optimal Profile action should already be selected.
    3. Press the Process. This process will take a few moments.
    4. When complete, press OK to close the log.
  3. To visualize the two optimized alignments together:
    1. Press the Set Current button to set Trial 2 as the current alignment.
    2. Select Trial 1 in the Alignment(s) list.
    3. Use the Re-Cost button to update Trial 1.
    4. Set the Compare with current check box at the top of the Alignment panel.

Figure 1: Check Compare with current to show selected and current at the same time.

Now the information list (under the buttons) has extra columns to show two alignments and the differences between them.

Note: The Compare with current option displays the selected alignment (high-lighted in list) and the current alignment (green dot). If you select the current alignment it just shows the same data twice.

  1. If necessary, adjust the Alignment Panel width and the column widths (with your mouse) to show the information more clearly as shown in the figure below.

Figure 2: Optimized Results with K=30 (magenta solid) and K=70 (red dash-dot – current)

The figure above shows the two alignments. As expected, Trial 2 with K=70 is more expensive than Trial 1 with K=30.

  1. Select each of the three alignments and notice the behavior of the Profile display and the information list in the Alignment Panel.
  2. File button | Exit. Do not save changes.

Vertical Alignment Optimization