Accura Surveys Ltd

Best Fit Software Exercise Tutorial

Document No: ACC/SFT/BFT/EXG/7

Revision 5

ISSUE RECORD
5 13/12 21 Use of Java 11 due to high resolution screens SR PB CER
4 05/10/21 Installation & file separation updates SR WC CER
3 16/04/20 Minor modification and additions SR PB CER
2 27/02/18 Added spool 3D weighted best-fit SR PB CER
1 14/12/17 Update for rev1 release of software SR WC CER
0 30/01/16 Version 7 of software released SR WC CER
Rev Date Revision Description Prepared Checked Approved
 BestFit Software Exercise Guide

Document No: ACC/SFT/BFT/EXG/7 Revision 5

Programme

1.0 Exercise 1 (Software Installation) .................................................................... 3

2.0 Exercise 2 (Making vertical and flatness)........................................................ 4
3.0 Exercise 3 (Levelling and circle fitting) ........................................................... 5
4.0 Exercise 4 (Aligning a spool) ........................................................................... 6
5.0 Exercise 5 (Importing co-ordinates from a total station) ............................... 8
6.0 Exercise 6 (Auto separate out files) ................................................................. 9
7.0 Exercise 7 (Software Configuration) .............................................................. 10
8.0 Exercise 8 (Fitting to design co-ordinates) ................................................... 11
9.0 Exercise 9 (Structure inclination determination) .......................................... 13
10.0 Exercise 10 (Connecting survey set-ups) ..................................................... 15
11.0 Exercise 11 (Connecting survey set-ups – Independent Exercise)............. 16
12.0 Exercise 12 (Flange fitting) ............................................................................. 17
13.0 Exercise 13 (Flange fitting – Independent Exercise) .................................... 18
14.0 Exercise 14 (Flange angle diagram)............................................................... 19
15.0 Exercise 15 (Spool 3D best-fitting to design) ............................................... 20
16.0 Exercise 16 (Cad plotting – Independent Exercise)...................................... 22
17.0 Exercise 17 (Plotting to AutoCAD – Spool Survey) ...................................... 23
18.0 Exercise 18 (Reflector-less pipe route surveys) ........................................... 25
19.0 Exercise 19 (Surveying pipe supports) ......................................................... 26
20.0 Exercise 20 (Reflectorless Jacket surveys) .................................................. 28
21.0 Exercise 21 (Creating a jacket design file) .................................................... 30
22.0 Exercise 22 (Basic bundle fit) ......................................................................... 32
23.0 Exercise 23 (Locating errors in a bundle fit) ................................................. 34
24.0 Exercise 24 (Importing raw survey data from a total station) ...................... 36
25.0 Exercise 25 (Independent exercise – Gyro Calibration) ............................... 37
26.0 Exercise 26 (Independent exercise – Template Survey) .............................. 39
27.0 Exercise 27 (Flange fitting offshore– Independent Exercise) ...................... 40
28.0 Exercise 28 (Observations to edge points) ................................................... 41
29.0 Exercise 29 (Reflectorless Flange Survey– Independent Exercise)............ 42
30.0 Exercise 30 (Weighted Best-Fitting) .............................................................. 43
31.0 Exercise 31 (Plotting in AutoCAD – Bridge Clearance)................................ 44
32.0 Exercise 32 (Tutor led, Red Line Mark-Up) .................................................... 45

Page 2 of 45
 BestFit Software Exercise Guide

Document No: ACC/SFT/BFT/EXG/7 Revision 5

1.0 Exercise 1 (Software Installation)

In this practical session you will:

 Install the BestFit software

 Install the required third party software for the application to run (Java, JavaMatrix, WibuKey)
 Provide an icon on the desk top for the application

Installing the BestFit software

 Create a folder in a suitable location to hold the application files (ie C:/Program Files/BestFit)
 Insert the BestFit memory stick into a USB drive and double click the BestFit-V7.2.zip file
 Extract the contents of the zip file to the created folder (ensure all files & folders are copied)

Installing third party software

 Install Java 11 (OpenJDK11U-jre_x64_windows_hotspot_11.0.13_8) ** (see below).

 Double click over the extracted installDrivers.bat (in the created BestFit folder). Accept
every menu option (Next and Finish) for the installation of the WibuKey drivers.

Creating a shortcut on the desktop

 Right click over the BestFit.bat file and select the create shortcut menu option
 Drag the shortcut over to the desktop, renaming it to BestFit and change the icon to a user
preferred image (properties, change icon)

Starting the BestFit application

 Insert the dongle into a USB port. The first time a dongle is inserted in a USB port you may
have to wait while the operating system search the hard drive for the WibuKey drivers.
 Double click over the created BestFit icon on the desktop to start the application.
 When starting BestFit for the first time a logging error dialog may be displayed. This is not a
problem, it is telling you that it couldn’t use the default log file location. Just set the log file
location to somewhere acceptable (use first tab in the Configuration menu).

Starting the tutorial

 It is recommended that the tutorial folder is copied to another location for undertaking the
exercises. This ensures that the original data isn’t corrupted.
 With the application running, select the Config menu and select Settings. The preferred
number of decimal places can be set. Set the projects directory to the tutorial location and
set the log file name as Tutorial Log in the tutorial folder being used.

Java installation **

Until a few years ago the Java Runtime (JRE) used by clients to run BestFit was free. Oracle now
offer the JRE free for personal use but require a small subscription for business use.

The Oracle Java JRE previously supplied by Accura Surveys is no longer supported by Oracle and
has a very small security risk (minimal due to being a standalone program).

We recommend using the up-to-date version supplied (OpenJDK11). If you decide to use the
OpenJDK version, delete all Oracle existing installations.

We have recently found that some high resolution laptop screens have a problem with Java 8 &
below. The Java 11 provided resolves this bug.

Page 3 of 45
 BestFit Software Exercise Guide

Document No: ACC/SFT/BFT/EXG/7 Revision 5

2.0 Exercise 2 (Making vertical and flatness)

In this practical session you will:

 Create a centre for a series of points taken at the top of a crane pedestal
 Set the crane pedestal vertical and review the elevation differences
 Fit the pedestal top to a best fit plane and review the deviations

Ped.1 to Ped.96

View on top (machined) face of crane pedestal

Surveyed on its side

Circle fitting the pedestal top

 Open the co-ordinate file Exercise2.crd (Ctrl+O)

 Circle fit the points on the top of the pedestal (highlight records ped.1 to ped.96, right click
the mouse while over the table, select Circle Fit, Circle Fit 3D, enter a name of Ped Top-Ctr
for the centre point name, Accept). The centre point is added to the table.

Set the pedestal vertical and the top to 0.000 elevation for ease of analysis

 Highlight Ped Base-Ctr and Ped Top-Ctr records, Transform, 2 Point Vertical, select the
Ped Top-Ctr button, Accept)
 Set the mean top elevation to 0.000 (highlight Ped Top-Ctr, Transform, Set to (0,0,0))

What is the range of elevations with the pedestal vertical? ___________________________

What is the average elevation? (Try selecting all, Edit, Mean Records) ________________

Determining the flatness of the pedestal top

 Plane fit and level the top of the pedestal (highlight records Ped.1 to Ped.96, Transform, Fit
to Horizontal Plane, Accept)

How much is the pedestal taken off being vertical with the top levelled? _________________

Page 4 of 45
 BestFit Software Exercise Guide

Document No: ACC/SFT/BFT/EXG/7 Revision 5

3.0 Exercise 3 (Levelling and circle fitting)

In this practical session you will:

 Level the hydro-cyclone reject plate (shown below)

 Align the structure to design drawing North (for ease of co-ordinate interpretation)
 Circle fit the top of the plate and set the centre to 0 E, 0 N, 0.1 El
 Circle fit the flange ends (F01 & F02)

Bolt N
top.1 to top.5

Bolt S

F02
F01

top.1 to top.5
100 mm

Levelling the structure

 Open the co-ordinate file Exercise3.crd (Ctrl+O)

 Level the plate using the points on the outer top rim (highlight records with names top.1 to
top.5, Transform, Fit to Horizontal Plane, enter 0.1 for the required plane elevation,
Accept

Aligning the structure N / S

 Align the plate to design orientation (highlight bolt S & bolt N records, Transform, Align in
E/N plane, select bolt S as the origin and required angle of 0, Accept)

Circle fitting and setting the centre

 Locate the centres for the plate and flange ends (Circle Fit, Circle Fit (All), select all the
sets available for circle fit, OK and Accept for each circle fit results)
 Set the plate centre co-ordinate to 0 E, 0 N, 0.1 El (highlight top-Ctr, Transform, Coord Set,
edit the easting and northing values to 0.0, Accept

Page 5 of 45
 BestFit Software Exercise Guide

Document No: ACC/SFT/BFT/EXG/7 Revision 5

4.0 Exercise 4 (Aligning a spool)

In this practical session you will:

 Set a spool to be in a horizontal plane and run N-S along its main axis.
 Move the spool such that F011-Ctr has co-ordinates E100, N100, El+100

The simplified spool consists of 3 points, 2 flange raised faces (F011-Ctr, F021-Ctr) and a corner
intersection point (IP1).

Elevation F021-Ctr
IP1
Spool positioned as found
North on the deck (inclined and
off aligned)

F011-Ctr

East

Aligning and levelling the spool

 Open the co-ordinate file Exercise4a.crd (Ctrl+O)

 Highlight the 3 records by dragging the mouse cursor over them.
 Select Transform, Align & level buttons. Select the middle button (where A-B is aligned N
to S and C is to the east).
 In the dialog that appears, move F011-Ctr over first (to match with A), then IP1 and lastly
F021-Ctr. Depress the OK button

Notice that the co-ordinate records have been moved with all of them at the same elevation and
F011-Ctr to IP1 aligned to North.

Setting a datum end

 Select F011-Ctr (highlighted blue) and Transform, Set to (100,100,100).

Which button would you use to set the spool vertical (F011-Ctr to IP1), with F021-Ctr to the North?
Try this and the set F021-Ctr to (0,0,0).

Page 6 of 45
 BestFit Software Exercise Guide

Document No: ACC/SFT/BFT/EXG/7 Revision 5

Manually aligning the same spool using the ‘Transform / Align’ functions.

We will:

 Set a spool to be in a horizontal plane and run N-S along its main axis.
 Rotate the spool about its main axis such that the shorter spool length is level

Transform
East / North

Elevation F021-Ctr
IP1
Spool positioned as found
North on the deck (inclined and
off aligned)

F011-Ctr

Transform
North / Elevation
East

Transform
East / Elevation

Note that the align functions always view E to W (Align N/El), S to N (Align E/El) and above
to below (Align E/N). All rotations are positive clockwise when viewed in these directions.

Aligning F011-Ctr to IP1 North - South

 Open the co-ordinate file Exercise4b.crd (Ctrl+O)

 Select F011-Ctr and IP1 (highlighted). Transform, Align in E/N plane (alignment viewed
down from above), select F011-Ctr as the origin and required angle of 0, Accept.

The angles for alignment are always given clockwise from north or clockwise from the vertical
when viewed along the axis shown in the diagram (from above, east to west and south to north).

Level F011-Ctr to IP1

 Select F011-Ctr and IP1 (highlighted). Transform, Align in N/EL plane (alignment viewed
from east to west), select F011-Ctr as the origin and required angle of 90, Accept)

Level IP1 to F021-Ctr

 Select F011-Ctr and F021-Ctr (highlighted). Transform, Align in E/EL plane (alignment
viewed from south to north), select F011-Ctr as the origin and required angle of 90, Accept)

We used F011-Ctr as the datum for each alignment (in the provided dialog box), but we could have
used the alternative point and an angle 180 ° different to achieve the same alignment.

Page 7 of 45
 BestFit Software Exercise Guide

Document No: ACC/SFT/BFT/EXG/7 Revision 5

5.0 Exercise 5 (Importing co-ordinates from a total station)

In this practical session you will:

 Set the total station data file type in the configuration

 Read in the co-ordinate data from a Leica total station
 Save each set-ups data in a separate file

The BestFit software provides for interpreting codes entered during the survey observations. The
most basic codes are 1000 and 999, used to identify the start and end of a survey set-up.

Set the total station data output format

 Open the configuration menu and select Leica GSI from the Raw File Type drop down
selection box (Config, Settings, select Leica GSI, click on the Apply button).

Reading a Leica GSI file for co-ordinate data

 Open the raw GSI co-ordinate file Exercise5.gsi (File, Open, Open Raw Co-ord file, select
Exercise5.gsi, Open)

All of the survey data records held in the gsi file are displayed together with start and end of
set-up code records. All other code records are ignored.

Saving the records to files for each set-up

 Separate out each set-ups records into different files (highlight the records between the first
set of ---START--- and ---END--- records, right click the mouse and select CopyPasteNew,
repeat the operation for the second set-up).
 Close the original combined gsi co-ordinate file without saving. Save the two separated files
as Exercise5(a) and Exercise5(b)

Comments
 A single data file may be opened and the individual set-ups separated out using the start and
end code records as identifiers to set-ups.
 Only the Start and End codes are interpreted by the software when importing co-ordinates,
therefore prism offsets need to be set within the total station rather than using codes to be
interpreted by the BestFit software.

 For Sokkia total stations use either sdr2x or sdr33 formats. Both formats allow co-ordinates
or angles to be imported.
 Trimble total station may use SDR33 format or configure a comma separated file.
 For Nikon the Raw2 format may be used.
 The latest Topcon total stations allow for different formats to be read in including the Sokkia
sdr33 format.
 For the Topcon ES range, when outputting the data the user should select either:

T followed by SSS(Obs) This will create a file of gts7 format (ends with .gt7)
S followed by SDR33 This creates a Sokkia sdr33 format file.

Page 8 of 45
 BestFit Software Exercise Guide

Document No: ACC/SFT/BFT/EXG/7 Revision 5

6.0 Exercise 6 (Auto separate out files)

In this practical session you will:

 Use Auto separate files rather than copyPasteNew to separate out set-ups.

Auto separate out set-ups from a single file

 Open Exercise6a co-ord file (File, Open, Open Coord file, select Exercise6a.crd, Open).
 Run the file auto separate function (Edit, Auto separate files).

We need to let the program know what to call the files and what number to start at.

 Enter ‘Exercise6a’ where the ‘????’ are or click on the ellipses button (…) and select the
Exercise6a file.
 In the Start index number box leave 1 entered.
 Click on the Start button and for each highlighted set of records click the Save button.

Check that the 4 files have been created

Auto separate with incorrect Start and End marker locations

 Open Exercise6b co-ord file (File, Open, Open Coord file, select Exercise6b.crd, Open).

There are 2 survey errors in the file. PIPE.4 and PIPE.5 were surveyed in the same set-up as the
other PIPE records. Also at the bottom of the file between STN04 and STN01 there should be
END and START lines. The surveyor forgot to enter them (I always survey the control first with a
set-up and hence I can see when I accidentally miss the End / Start codes).

 Run the file auto separate function (Edit, Auto separate files).
 Click on the ellipses button (…) and select any one of the Exercise6b files.
 Set the Start index number to 5.
 Click on the Start button.

Notice that only up to PIPE.3 has been highlighted.

 Highlight the PIPE.4 and PIPE.5 records as well as those already highlighted (don’t highlight
the End record between them).
 Click the Save button

Notice that the highlighting has jumped to STN01

 Click on Save for the STN01 to PIPE.E records

 Change the highlighting for just the top STN01 to STN04 and click Save

The function is now highlighting the remaining records

 Click on Save
 Check that the 4 files have been created

Page 9 of 45
 BestFit Software Exercise Guide

Document No: ACC/SFT/BFT/EXG/7 Revision 5

7.0 Exercise 7 (Software Configuration)

In this practical session you will:

 Open and review the log file

 Set the projects and log file locations
 Review the use of tolerance values
 Change the displayed number of decimal places and print a co-ordinate file in PDF
 Set the total station data output format and CAD package to be used

Reviewing the log file

 From the top menu bar, select Config, Settings. The configuration dialog is opened on the
General tab. Note where the log file is located (details in the Logging File text box).
 The general logging file can only be opened with the BestFit application closed. Close
BestFit and open the log file with WordPad or another text editor that allows formatted text.

Set where BestFit should first look for files

 Start BestFit again and open up the configuration settings dialog. (Config, Settings).
 Click on the Projects directory ellipses button and navigate to the ‘Tutorial / Exercise data
files’. Select Open to set the default opening location.
 Click on the Logging file ellipses button and click on the Open button. Click on Apply.

Reviewing the fit tolerances

 Open Exercise7 co-ordinate file (File, Open, Open Coord file, select Exercise7.crd, Open)
 Highlight all the Circ1 points and complete a 3D circle fit (Circle Fit, Circle Fit 3D, Accept).
 Highlight all the Plane1 points and complete a plane fit (Transform, Fit to Horizontal Plane,
Accept).
 Open the Configuration dialog with the Fit Tolerance tab visible. Edit the Circle fit and plane
fit tolerances both to 1mm (0.001), Apply.
 Complete the circle and plane fits again.

What happens? __________________________________________________________

Are all the records used in the fits? ___________________________________________

Change the displayed number of decimal places and print the open file in pdf

 With Exercise7 co-ordinate file still open, change the number of decimal places in the
configuration to 4 (Coord table decimal places, select 4 from the drop down menu).
 Edit the tolerance settings back to their original values and apply the settings. Apply
 In BestFit print a pdf file of Exercise7.crd. (File, Print, select a pdf printer if one is
available). Note that the co-ordinates are printed to 4 decimal places.

Reviewing CAD and Codes

 Review the CAD tab in the configuration menu and select the appropriate cad package used
and plotting unit.
 Set the raw file type for the total station being used in the General tab.
 Review the Start and End code settings in the Code tab.
 Change the number of decimal places to be displayed back to 3
 Close BestFit and review the new log file

Page 10 of 45
 BestFit Software Exercise Guide

Document No: ACC/SFT/BFT/EXG/7 Revision 5

8.0 Exercise 8 (Fitting to design co-ordinates)

In this practical session you will:

 Circle fit the legs of a template

 Circle fit the horizontal braces
 Carry out a least squares fit of the template legs to design
 Translate the template to a pre-defined elevation

C04 C03 C02 C01

C12 C10

C11 C09

C05 C06 C07 C08

Plan view on template

Circle fitting the legs (viewed from above)

 Open the co-ordinate file Exercise8.crd (Ctrl+O)

 The circle fit points around a leg varied slightly in height, therefore the circle fits will be
carried out using just the easting and northing values (looking down on top). (Highlight
records C01.1 to C01.6. Right click over the co-ordinate table and select Circle Fit E/N,
Accept. Repeat for C04,C05 & C08)

 Try the alternative method to above on the open file. Select Circle Fit, CircleFit (All). Move
over to the right side of the displayed dialog C01, C04, C05 and C08, click the OK button.
With each circle fit select the E/N radio button and then Accept.

 The results are exactly the same. Delete one set of the circle fit results (highlight C01-Ctr,
C04-Ctr, C05-Ctr, C08-Ctr. Right click the mouse over the open file and select delete from
the pop-up menu. OK

Page 11 of 45
 BestFit Software Exercise Guide

Document No: ACC/SFT/BFT/EXG/7 Revision 5

Circle fitting the horizontal braces

We could just complete 3D circle fits on the horizontal braces, but if the surveyed points weren’t
all square to the brace this would give poor results (usually okay to complete circle fits in 3D).

Where there are 2 or more circle fits on a line, we can use the Circle Fits On a Line function.
This views down the tubular centre line such that a circle fit being off square to the pipe doesn’t
matter. I use this method all the time to process reflectorless piping surveys.

 Select Circle Fit menu, Circle Fits on a Line. (Alternatively right click the mouse and select
Circle Fits on a Line from the pop-up menu).
 Move C02 and C03 to the right hand side of the selection dialog. Click Okay and then
Accept in the circle fit processing results panel.
 Complete the same operation for (C11 & C12), (C06 & C07), (C09 & C10).

Fitting the template legs to design

A file has already been created with the design co-ordinates for the template.

 Open up ‘Exercise8-Design.crd’ in BestFit to review the file (could also open in any text
editor ie NotePad or TextPad). (Ctrl+O)
 Close ‘Exercise8-Design.crd’ after reviewing it. (File, Close)

We will now best-fit our survey file to the design file (rotating and translating our file).

 With Exercise8.crd as the open file (displayed on the left) undertake the 2D Best Fit.
(BestFit, 2D BestFit, select Exercise8-Design, move the all the records to the right hand
side of the dialog, OK

The fit deviations are displayed. This is the difference in co-ordinates between our surveyed
template and the design after best fitting.

 Click on Accept and our Exercise8.crd file is moved to its best fit position

Setting the mean horizontal brace elevation to 0.0

 Create a mean elevation for the horizontal braces (highlight C02-Ctr, C03-Ctr, C06-Ctr, C07-
Ctr, C09-Ctr, C10-Ctr, C11-Ctr, C12-Ctr, Edit, Mean record(s), edit the name to ‘Brace
Mean El’, Accept)
 Set the Brace Mean El record to have elevation 0.0 without moving the easting and northing.
(Highlight Brace Mean El, Transform, Coord set, edit just the elevation to 0.0, Accept)

Comments

If there aren’t 2 or more circle fits on a horizontal brace, we could just undertake 3D circle fits. If
the circle fits aren’t square to the brace though then poor centre point results may be calculated.
To get around this we have circle fits that view E to W (Circle Fit N/El), S to N (Circle Fit E/El)
and above to below (Circle Fit E/N). We could have undertaken Circle Fit N/EL on (C02, C03,
C06, C07) and Circle Fit E/El on (C09, C10, C11, C12), once the template had been best fitted to
design (need the braces to be aligned S-N and E-W first).

If individual circle fits are going to be undertaken rather than Circle Fits on a Line it is likely to
be quicker to use Circle Fit (All) and select the ones to be undertaken along with the fit type as
each individual circle fit is processed.

Page 12 of 45
 BestFit Software Exercise Guide

Document No: ACC/SFT/BFT/EXG/7 Revision 5

9.0 Exercise 9 (Structure inclination determination)

In this practical session you will:

 Determine the inclination of the structure for C-O Mini-Tilt values

 Level the structure using 2 points vertical
 Set the datum elevation to +0.000
 2-Dimensionaly best-fit the structure back to design

NB This exercise starts where exercise 8 finished.

C03 C02

C12 Mini-Tilt C10

C11 Mini-Tilt C09

C06 C07

Plan view on template

Create a normal to the best fit plane through the braces

 Open the co-ordinate file Exercise9.crd (Ctrl+O)

 Create a normal to the best-fit plane of the structure (highlight the brace centre points C02-
Ctr, C03-Ctr, C06-Ctr, C07-Ctr, C09-Ctr, C10-Ctr, C11-Ctr, C12-Ctr, Best Fit, Plane Fit,
Accept). A point on the best-fit plane and one normal to the plane through that point is
created.

Determine the inclination of the normal to the plane

 Select the 2 newly created points, Utilities, Grid vertical angles

 Interpret the vertical angle (zenith angle) in the N/S and E/W planes (with the normal to plane
point as origin, the vertical angles are 0.01º down on the East and 0.04º down on the North)
 Close the grid axis angle dialog box (OK)

Page 13 of 45
 BestFit Software Exercise Guide

Document No: ACC/SFT/BFT/EXG/7 Revision 5

Set the best-fit plane to be horizontal and elevation 0.0

 Using the created point on the plane and normal to it, set the structure plane horizontal
(highlight the 2 newly created records, Transform, 2 Point Vertical, keeping the Point on
plane as uppermost selected, Accept in the dialog
 Set the plane elevation to 0.0 (highlight the Point on plane record, Transform, Set to (0,0,0)

Re-fitting the structure to its design in the horizontal plane

Plane fitting using Fit to Horizontal Plane or 2 Point Vertical has the effect of rotating the co-
ordinate system and hence it is necessary to re-fit the legs back to design (under normal
circumstances a plane fit would be carried out first and then a 2 D best-fit carried out).

 2 dimensionally best fit the active file to the Exercise8 Design file previously created (Best
Fit, 2D Best Fit, select Exercise8 Design as the control file, Open. Select all the matching
control for use in the best fit transformation, Ok. The deviations shown are how well the
template structure fits to its design. De-select the elevation fit as these elevations have no
significance and we wish to keep the datum set to 0.0, Accept

Alternative method using Pitch & Roll

For those companies that use Pitch and Roll terminology when determining structure inclination, the
user may compute the required values without the need for plane fitting.

 Select Config, Settings from the top menu-bar. On the Hydrographic tab review the
direction for positive pitch and roll, adjusting to suit client company directions if necessary.
Apply.
 Highlight the brace centre points C02-Ctr, C03-Ctr, C06-Ctr, C07-Ctr, C09-Ctr, C10-Ctr, C11-
Ctr, C12-Ctr and select Hydro, Calculate Pitch & Roll. The results should be the same as
determined previously.
 With the brace centre points still highlighted, level the structure using Transform, Fit to
Hororizontal Plane.
 As previously described, 2 dimensionally best fit the active file to the Exercise8 Design file,
Best Fit, 2D Best Fit, select Exercise8 Design as the control file, Open. Select all the
matching control for use in the best fit transformation, Ok.

Page 14 of 45
 BestFit Software Exercise Guide

Document No: ACC/SFT/BFT/EXG/7 Revision 5

10.0 Exercise 10 (Connecting survey set-ups)

In this practical session you will:

 Connect a series of set-ups

 Best fit the connected set-ups to control
 Learn why a fit fails

Observation
to control
N
Stn 2

Stn 205 Stn 3

Total station
set-up location

Stn 8 Stn 1

Plan view on station set-ups

Creating a final file to hold all the data

 Create a single file to hold all the data (alternate is to create a control file and data file)
(Open the co-ordinate file Exercise10(a).crd (Ctrl+O, Exercise10(a))
 Save the file as Exercise10-FINAL.crd (File, Save As, enter Exercise10-Final, Save)

Best fit survey set-up to survey set-up

 Open the second file to be linked and fit it to Exercise10-FINAL (Ctrl+O, Exercise10(b), Best
Fit, 2D Best Fit, select Excersise10-FINAL as the control file, Open. Select all the matching
control for use in the best fit transformation, Ok, Accept.
 Copy into Exercise10-Final all the data records apart from the control that was used in the fit
(with Exercise10(b) active, highlight all but STN 1 to STN 3, Ctrl+C, change the active file to
Exercise10-FINAL, Ctrl-V)
 Close Exercise10(b) (with the tab for Exercise10(b) active, File, Close, Yes to saving the
file)
 Repeat for set-up files Exercise10(c) to Exercise10(e)

Fitting the combined data file to design

 2 dimensionally fit the final file to the co-ordinate file for the datum targets (Best Fit, 2D Best
Fit, select Exersise10-Control as the control file, Open. Select all the matching control for
use in the best fit transformation, Ok, Accept.

 Why did the fit fail (look at I001 & T001& merge operation) __________________________
 What is the bearing from STERN 2 to STERN 1: ___________________________________
 What is the E/N co-ordinates for Ref1 circle fit : ___________________________________

Page 15 of 45
 BestFit Software Exercise Guide

Document No: ACC/SFT/BFT/EXG/7 Revision 5

11.0 Exercise 11 (Connecting survey set-ups – Independent Exercise)

In this practical session you will:

 Fit 6 survey set-ups such that the co-ordinate records can be combined in a single file
 Rotate the combined file such that a wall is North South aligned.
 Set datum points (east wall 100.000E, south wall 0.000N and pit floor level +10.000 El)

N
T4 T3 T2

T1
T5

Pit A Pit B

Plan view on laser scanned pits

Suggested sequence of calculations

 Open up Exercise11(a).crd and save as ‘Exercise11 Final.crd’

 Fit the remaining files using 2D fits and copy and paste into the final file.
 Align target 2 with target 4 to be north-south (Transform, Align E/N)
 Set target 2 to 100.000E, set target 1 to be 0.000N and lev01 to be +10.000 El

Delegate Solutions

 What do you think the records were with the same name? _________________________

 Easting and Northing of T3? _________________________________________________

 What is the El difference between the pit base and T1 (use bearing and distance)? ______

Page 16 of 45
 BestFit Software Exercise Guide

Document No: ACC/SFT/BFT/EXG/7 Revision 5

12.0 Exercise 12 (Flange fitting)

In this practical session you will:

 Compute the centres for a flange

 Calculate the flange angles and bolt hole rotations

N
Bolt N
Top.1 to Top.5

Bolt S

F02
F01

Top.1 to Top.5
100 mm

Computing the centres for a flange

 Open the co-ordinate file Exercise12.crd (Ctrl+O). The structure has already been levelled
and aligned. Records starting with F01 are for flange 01 and F02 are for flange 02.
 Compute the flange centres (highlight one or more flange 01 and flange 02 records, Flange,
Make flange(s). The calculations for the flange centres are displayed, Accept for both)

Calculating the flange angles and bolt-hole rotations

 Select one or more of the records for flange 01, Flange, Auto Flange(s) angles, enter 8 for
the number of bolt holes in the flange (4 were surveyed). The flange orientation and bolt hole
rotation for the flange is displayed.

Calculation flange angles from bearing and distance

 For an inclined flange the orientation can be calculated using bearing and distance between
the back and front of the flange. For a vertical flange it would be necessary to use grid
vertical angles. (Highlight f021-Ctr and f023-Ctr, Utilities, Bearing and distance, select
f023-Ctr as the origin)

 What are the flange angles for flange 02: _______________________________________

Page 17 of 45
 BestFit Software Exercise Guide

Document No: ACC/SFT/BFT/EXG/7 Revision 5

13.0 Exercise 13 (Flange fitting – Independent Exercise)

The aim of this exercise is to process the survey data for a piping spool. The spool is lying on its
side and was surveyed using 2 station set-ups. In order to retrieve as-built dimensions the
delegate is required to make the spool vertical and align it in a North direction.

F02
N

F03

Flange No of Bolt Holes

F01 28

F02 28
C1 (Circle Fit)
F03 20

F01

Spool in isometric view

Suggested sequence of calculations

 Open up Exercise13(a).crd and save as Exercise13 Final.crd

 Fit Exercise13(b) to Exercise13 Final.crd using 2D Best Fit.
 Copy and paste the unique records from Exercise13(b) into Exercise13 Final.crd
 Compute the centres for the flanges using Make all flange(s)
 Compute the circle fit for C1 (CircleFit 3D)
 Set the spool vertical (2 Point Vertical) with F021-Ctr above C1-Ctr
 Align the spool with F021-Ctr north of F011-Ctr (Transform, Align in E/N plane)
 Set F01 raised face to 0E, 0N, 0EL for ease of calculation (F011-Ctr to (0,0,0)
 Compute the bolt hole rotational deviations and flange angle deviations for all the flanges (for
F01 highlight 1 or more F01 records, Flange, Auto Flange(s) Angle)

Delegate Solutions

 What is the co-ordinate for F021-Ctr? : E____________N____________EL____________

 What is the average bolt-hole rotation for flange F02? ______________________________

 What is the vertical flange angle (back centre to from centre) for F03? _________________

 When might we have circle fitted C1 again (using Circle fit E/N) and for what reason?

Flange angles are given for the line from the back centre of the flange to the front centre are
clockwise from North when viewed from above or the angle down from the vertical (above) when
viewed from the side.

Page 18 of 45
 BestFit Software Exercise Guide

Document No: ACC/SFT/BFT/EXG/7 Revision 5

14.0 Exercise 14 (Flange angle diagram)

In this practical session you will:

 Display the flange angle deviations using the ‘Show Deviation Diagram’ button
 Calculate the flanges angle deviations as mm’s across the raised face

F02
N

F03
Flange No of Bolt Raised face Radius to
Holes Diameter bolt centre

F01 28 0.860 m 0.516 m

F02 28 0.800 m 0.453 m

F03 20 0.416 m 0.290 m C1 (Circle Fit)

F01

NB Decimal feet may be used instead of metres Spool in isometric view

Displaying the flange angle diagram

 Open up Exercise14.crd (note that the centres have already been calculated)
 Select one or more of the records for flange 01, Flange, Auto Flange(s) angles, enter 28 for
the number of bolt holes in the flange (4 were surveyed). The flange orientation and bolt-hole
rotation for the flange are displayed.
 Click over the ‘Show Deviation Diagram’ button.
 In order to provide the deviations as mm across the raised face as well as degrees, enter
0.86 in the Raised face diameter entry box. Click over the ‘Calc ARF’ button.

The bolt hole deviations are usually given as rotational errors from the centre of the flange to the
bolt centre and referred to as OPCR (over pitch circle radius).

 Enter 0.516 in the Radius to bolt centre entry box. Click over the ‘Calc OPCR’ button.

Delegate Solutions

 What is the bolt-hole rotation for flange 02? Direction: ____________ Amount ______(mm)

 What is the vertical deviation (y) for flange 03? _______ °, _______mm

Comments

The flange angles are compared to the closest main axis orientation (E-W, N-S or vertical) in
order to determine the final deviation. If the deviation is more than 10° from a main axis then no
deviations are shown and the user has to interpret the full angles given from North and vertical.

Page 19 of 45
 BestFit Software Exercise Guide

Document No: ACC/SFT/BFT/EXG/7 Revision 5

15.0 Exercise 15 (Spool 3D best-fitting to design)

In this practical session you will:

 Open the Leica GSI file (single set-up in file)

 Compute the flange and pipe centres
 Calculate the spool corners
 Create a design file for the spool
 Fit the spool to design using a 3D weighted best-fit

(1302) (944)
C02
C03

C01
F02
C04

(1240)
(944) – Design length
F01
C01 – Circle fit location

Flanges F01 & F02 – both 12” WNRF 600#

20 bolt, 73mm from back face to RF Spool in isometric view

Computing the flange and circle fit centres

 Open the raw gsi file (File, Open, Open Raw Co-ord file, select Exercise15.gsi, Open)
 Compute F01 & F02 flange centres (Flange, Make all flange(s)). Accept flange F01. When
requested a distance from back face to front face for F02 enter 0.073. Accept.

Circle fits C01 to C03 were carried out reflectorless and may not be square to the pipe. By using
Circle Fits on Line the accuracy is kept high. In order to use Circle Fits on Line for C03 and
C04 we can use the flanges but just reject their circle fit.

 Circle Fit, Circle Fits on a Line. Select C01 and C02. OK. In the circle fit dialog boxes
shown select a 12” pipe from the Fix R drop down menu and press Re-Calc. Try the Show
circle diagram button, then close it. Accept the circle fit results.
 For C03 circle fit select C03 and F023 using the Circle Fits on a Line function. For C03 use
Fix R, selecting 12”. Reject the F02 circle fit (we just needed it to view down the line).
 Circle fit C04 was completed using an offset device so don’t fix the radius to 12” using Fix R.
(Circle Fits on Line, select F011 & C04, OK, Accept C04 and Reject F011).

Compute the pipe corners

 Highlight C01-Ctr, C02-Ctr, C04-Ctr and F013-Ctr in the co-ordinate file.

 Compute the corner (Best Fit, 3D Corner Fit, move C01 and C02 over to one side of the
dialog box leaving C04 and F013-Ctr on the other side. Click OK. Give a name ‘IP1-Ctr’ for
the centre and Accept the result.
 For the second corner fit select centres C01, C02, C03 & F023-Ctr (Best Fit, 3D Corner Fit,
move C01 and C02 over to one side of the dialog box, OK, use name ‘IP2-Ctr’, Accept.
 Save the file as ‘Exercise15 Final’.

Page 20 of 45
 BestFit Software Exercise Guide

Document No: ACC/SFT/BFT/EXG/7 Revision 5

Creating a design file

To create a design file for the spool (simple comma separated file consisting of ‘Pt Name, E, N,
El’) we could either use BestFit (create a new empty file and add records) or open up a text
editor and type the data in.

 Open the text editor from BestFit (File, Open, Open Text Editor). In the opened text editor
type in the following rows of data:

F011-Ctr, 0,0,0
F021-Ctr, 1.302, 1.240, -0.944
IP1-Ctr, 0, 1.240,0
IP2-Ctr, 1.302, 1.240, 0

 Save the file as ‘Exercise15 Design.crd’ in the ‘Exercise data files’ folder (alongside
Exercise15.crd).

Best-fitting to the design spool

We could just 3D best-fit our surveyed spool file (Exercise15 Final.crd) to the design file
(Exercise15 Design.crd) but this would give equal importance to the computed corners and the
flange centres. For us it is the flange centres (the tie points) that are important, so we will use a
weighted best-fit giving the flange centres 100% weight and the corners just 25%.

 With ‘Exercise15.crd’ as the open file undertake a weighted 3D best-fit (Best Fit, 3D Best
Fit (weighted)). Select Exercise15 Design to fit to.
 Move over all 4 records displayed from the left hand side to the right hand side in the control
point selection dialog box. Click OK.
 The weight selection dialog will be displayed. Leave F011-Ctr and F021-Ctr as all 100. Click
over the 100’s in the IP1-Ctr and IP2-Ctr rows. A drop down menu will appear, select 25 for
each value. Click OK.
 Like any best-fit function the deviations table is displayed. Note that F011-Ctr and F021-Ctr
have a maximum deviation of 2.5mm. Click Accept.

Improving the best-fit

In our previous best-fit IP1-Ctr was shown to have a final deviation in height of -5.5mm. This is
influencing the position of the final spool and yet the height of IP1-Ctr and IP2-Ctr is unimportant
to us (not sitting on supports). Why not set IP1-Ctr and IP2-Ctr to have 0 weight in elevation.

 With ‘Exercise14.crd’ still open undertake the weighted 3D best-fit again (Best Fit, 3D
BestFit (weighted)). Select Exercise15 Design again as the file to fit to.
 This time give weights of 25,25,0 for IP1-Ctr and IP2-Ctr. Click OK.

Notice now that the maximum fit deviation for the flange centres has reduced to 1.6mm.

 Accept the fit.

Draw an isometric with the deviations and flange angles

 In order to calculate the flange angles select one of F01’s records (ie F011-Ctr). Flange,
Auto Flange(s) angles. Enter 20 for the design number of bolts. Click OK.
 Click the Show deviation diagram button. Select WNRF, 600, 12 from the flange type
selection boxes and click Use Design. Save the image as a PNG file (Save Image).
 Carry out the same operation for flange F02.

Page 21 of 45
 BestFit Software Exercise Guide

Document No: ACC/SFT/BFT/EXG/7 Revision 5

16.0 Exercise 16 (Cad plotting – Independent Exercise)

Aim of the exercise:

 Plot Top.1 to Top.5, Bolt S and Bolt N points with their names
 Plot Top-Ctr, F01-Ctr and F02-Ctr points with their names and co-ordinates
 Plot the F011 and F021 flange raised face points (without name or co-ordinates)
 Plot a line from Bolt S to Bolt N
 Plot the 2 flanges as solid models
 View the model in AutoCad

N
Bolt N
Top.1 to Top.5

Top-Ctr

Bolt S

Top.1 to Top.5 F021-Ctr

F011-Ctr

Suggested sequence of calculations

 With Exercise16.crd file open, create the script file for the Top.1 to Top.5, Bolt S and Bolt N
points (enter a tick in the Show name only with plotted point tick box and edit the file
name to Exercise16_Points1.scr).
 Complete the same operation for Top-Ctr, F01-Ctr and F02-Ctr points but include the co-
ordinates (tick in Show name and co-ordinates with plotted point). Use a file name of
Exercise16_Points2.scr such that to Exercise16_Points1.scr isn’t overwritten.
 Create a script for the flange raised face points (no tick in any boxes and call the file
Exercise16_Points3.scr).
 Create a script to plot a line from Bolt S to Bolt N (Cad / Create point to point lines file)
 Create a script for plotting the flanges. A dialog will appear for selecting the design flanges to
be plotted (use WNRF, 300#, 2” for both flanges).

The flange solid model will be located, aligned and rotated to match the surveyed flange location
and deviations, with the centre raised face being used as the primary datum.

 Open up AutoCad and run the scripts one at a time, viewing the output as each is added.
 Try shading the plot (View, Shade, Gouraud Shaded within AutoCad) and viewing it from
different angles.

Page 22 of 45
 BestFit Software Exercise Guide

Document No: ACC/SFT/BFT/EXG/7 Revision 5

17.0 Exercise 17 (Plotting to AutoCAD – Spool Survey)

In this practical session you will:

 Combine 2 co-ordinate files

 Complete the circle and flange fits
 Align and level the spool
 Create AutoCAD script files for the flanges, spool centre line and flange centres
 Run the script in AutoCAD

F01
WNRF 900# 12”
F02
WNRF 900# 12”
C001
N

F05
WNRF 900# 1”

F04
WNRF 900# 12” F03
WNRTJ 900# 2”

View on surveyed spool

Combining the files

 Open co-ordinate file Exercise17(a) and save as ‘Exercise17 Final’

 Open co-ordinate file Exercise17(b) and 2D best fit the file to Exercise17 Final. Best Fit, 2D
Best Fit or right click over the left hand panel and select 2D Best Fit from the pop up menu.
 Using all 4 control targets accept the fit and copy over the highlighted records from
Exercise17(b) to Exercise17 Final (with the mouse over the Exercise17(b) records, right click
the mouse and select Copy Record(s), change the selected table to Exercise17 Final and
select Paste Record(s) from the pop up menu).

The compensator of the total station was turned off during the survey due to vibrations that
occurred. With the instrument levelled and stable the 2D best-fit was still found to work well.
If is often worth trying 2D fits first and if not acceptable use 3D fit of files.

Circle and flange fitting

 Select Flange, Make all flange(s). Enter the distance from the surveyed face to the raised
face of the flange (given below), accepting the results each time. The dimensions were
measured on site and checked in PipeData Pro.

 F01 86 mm
 F02 86 mm
 F03 8 mm (surveyed face 2 not face 3)
 F04 86 mm
 F05 6mm (surveyed face 2 not face 3)

Page 23 of 45
 BestFit Software Exercise Guide

Document No: ACC/SFT/BFT/EXG/7 Revision 5

 Select all the C001 points and complete a 3D circle fit (this may not be that good a circle fit
as the points may not be all aligned around the pipe). Circle Fit, Circle Fit 3D, Accept.

Aligning and levelling the spool

 Set flange F04 to be the datum. Highlight F041.Ctr and Transform, Set to (0,0,0)
 Align the spool E/W. Highlight F041-Ctr and C001.Ctr and Transform, Align in E/N plane,
select F041-Ctr as the origin in the dialog box and enter 90° for the required bearing,
Accept.

The spool is now aligned E/W with F04 raised face as the datum. We could re-calculate C001
circle fit using a circle fit viewed along the E/W axis (Circle Fit, Circle Fit N/El), but in our
case the points taken for the circle fit were all square to the spool and hence a 3D circle fit
worked well. Try the circle fit, but reject it.

Notice that the spool is 2mm out of level. We could level the spool or leave it as it is (since it
is being replaced and it is just the final dimensions from the tie points that matter). As part of
the exercise we will level the spool.

 Select F041-Ctr and C001.Ctr from the co-ordinate table. Since we wish to view it along the
N/S axis to level it (already aligned E/W), Transform, Align in E/El plane, select F041-Ctr
as the origin in the dialog box and enter 90° for the required bearing, Accept.

The Align in E/El plane is a view on the spool from south to north. The 90° bearing is the
clockwise angle from the vertical when viewed from south to north. Notice that F041-Ctr and
C001-Ctr now have the same northing and elevation.

Creating the AutoCAD script files

 We will plot the flanges and the main centre line from F04 to C001.
 Select the flanges for plotting. Cad, Create flanges file from the top menu bar. Select all the
available flanges in the dialog box displayed and click on OK.
 In the flange type selection box displayed select according to the drawing above (F01, F02,
F04 are WNRF, 900 #, 12”), (F03 is WNRTJ, 900#, 2”) and (F05 is WNRF, 900#, 1”),
Accept.

The script file is saved in the same file location as the co-ordinate file. The bolt hole
rotational values are computed using the design number of bolts from a database for the
flanges. Should any of the rotations be above a default value the deviations will be displayed
(quality check on the user having selected the correct flange type).

 Select Cad, Create point to point lines file. Click over Add Line button and select F041-
Ctr and C001.Ctr. Accept.
 Open AutoCAD. Set the UCS Icon to stay in the left corner, View, Display, UCS Icon, and
take the tick out of the Origin box
 In AutoCAD select Tools, Run Script... Navigate to Exercise data files / Exercise15 folder.
Click over the Exercise17 Final-Flanges script file and Open.
 In AutoCAD, select View, Shade, Gouraud Shaded.
 In AutoCAD select Tools, Run Script... Navigate to Exercise data files / Exersice15 folder.
Click over the Exercise17 Final-CtrLines script file and Open.
 Try using the 3D Orbit function in AutoCAD to view the model from different positions.

Student exercises

 Experiment with plotting points from the co-ordinate file. Try plotting all the points around
F023 (do they fit the back of the flange?). Create a new layer in AutoCAD and plot the flange
centre points with the name and co-ordinate values.

Page 24 of 45
 BestFit Software Exercise Guide

Document No: ACC/SFT/BFT/EXG/7 Revision 5

18.0 Exercise 18 (Reflector-less pipe route surveys)

In this practical session you will:

 Compute circle fits to a pipe using a fixed radius

 Calculate the pipe corner positions

The pipe was surveyed using reflectorless mode of the total station due to inaccessibility.

C004
N

C003

C002

C001

Isometric for surveyed points on piping route

Comments

With the pipe being surveyed reflectorless on just one side, it is possible that a normal circle fit
may ‘balloon’ out to an incorrect radius.

Where a pipe size is known and there is not likely to be ovality (variation in radii), better results
are likely to be obtained by fixing the radius for the circle fit.

Compute the circle fits for C001 – C004 for a 2” pipe

 Open the co-ordinate file Exercise18.crd (Ctrl+O)

 3D circle fit C001 to C004.Circle Fit 3D (All) selecting all the data sets. With a circle fit
dialog open select the 2” pipe size from the Fix R drop down menu. Depress the Re-Calc
button. Accept each of the circle fit results.

A quality check is to review the difference between the average radius and the fixed radius
(30.2mm for a 2” pipe).

Calculate the pipe route corner

 In order to calculate the pipe corner at C002 / C003, highlight the 4 points that make up the 2
lines that are to intersect (C001-Ctr, C002-Ctr, C003-Ctr & C004-Ctr). Select Best Fit, 3D
Corner Fit from the drop down menus. Within the displayed dialog that appears move 2 of
the record names that make up one of the lines over to the right hand side (ie move C001-
Ctr and C002-Ctr, leaving C003-Ctr and C004-Ctr in the left box). Click OK, enter a name of
‘Corner1’ for the new record and Accept.

NB: Even better, use Circle Fits on Line and fixed circle radii together (try this now)

Page 25 of 45
 BestFit Software Exercise Guide

Document No: ACC/SFT/BFT/EXG/7 Revision 5

19.0 Exercise 19 (Surveying pipe supports)

In this practical session you will:

 Compute the pipe corners

 Align the main pipe length East / West and set F011-Ctr to 0,0,0
 Calculate the support locations

The pipe centres have been pre-computed using 2” fixed radius circle fits.

C004-Ctr Flange
SUP3 F02
N
C003-Ctr SUP4
SUP5

C002-Ctr
C006-Ctr
C005-Ctr
C001-Ctr

SUP2

SUP1

Flange SUP3, SUP4 & SUP5

F01 SUP1 & SUP2 Two points on S side of
Circle fits to tubular support web (20 mm thk)

Isometric for surveyed points on piping route offshore

Calculate the pipe route corners

 In order to calculate the pipe corner at C001 / C002, highlight the 4 points that make up the 2
lines that are to intersect (F011-Ctr, C001-Ctr, C002-Ctr & C003-Ctr). Select Best Fit, 3D
Corner Fit from the drop down menus. Within the displayed dialog that appears move the 4
records names over to the right hand side such that F011-Ctr and C001-Ctr lie side by side
and C002-Ctr and C003-Ctr are together. Click OK, enter a name of ‘Corner1’ for the new
record and Accept.

 Try calculating the other 2 corners using C002-Ctr, C003-Ctr, C004-Ctr, C005-Ctr and C004-
Ctr, C005-Ctr, C006-Ctr, F021-Ctr, using the new records names of ‘Corner2’ and ‘Corner3’.

Align the main pipe length to E-W & set F011-Ctr to E0 N0 El+0

 Select F011-Ctr record, Transform, Set to (0,0,0).

 Select F011-Ctr and Corner1 records (both highlighted). Transform, Align in E/N plane
(alignment viewed down from above), select F011-Ctr as the origin and required angle of 90,
Accept.

Page 26 of 45
 BestFit Software Exercise Guide

Document No: ACC/SFT/BFT/EXG/7 Revision 5

Calculate the easting values of supports SUP1 & SUP2

The support SUP1 and SUP2 are tubulars running N-S (90° to the pipe line), with a T section on
the top. No access was available and for speed of survey the tubulars were surveyed
reflectorless (for circle fit) at locations approximately beneath the pipe.

 Select all the SUP1 records and circle fit them, Circle Fit, Circle Fit 3D or Circle Fit, Circle
Fit E/El (viewed down the pipe towards N for greater accuracy). Accept the results.
 Carry out the same operation for SUP2

Calculate the easting and northing values for supports SUP3, SUP4 & SUP5

The pipe above SUP3, SUP4 & SUP5 is 31° rotated from N. With the supports also rotated it
would be difficult to guess where the intersection point of a support and pipe CL would be (point
whose co-ordinates are required). To enable the calculation a point either side of the pipe on the
support beams web was surveyed in reflectorless mode.

We can’t calculate the intersection point with the 3D corner fit operation (using Corner2,
Corner3, & 2 SUP3 points) as they are not close to making a plane. What we can do though is
rotate the pipe to be N-S and then use the Point on Line operation to calculate where the
support beam would intersect the pipe (looking down in plan).

 Prior to rotating the data file to set Corner2 - Corner3 to be N-S, we need to set the roll back
datums such that the records can be returned to their original position after completing the
necessary calculations. Transform, Set RollBack Pts. Notice that 3 RollBack points are
added which lie on the main axis.

 Select Corner2 & Corner3 records from the right hand table. Transform, Align in E/N plane
(alignment viewed down from above), select Corner2 as the origin and required angle of 180,
Accept .

 Let us temporarily set Corner2 record to have an easting value of 0. Select the Corner2
record, Transform, Set to (0,0,0).

 Now that we have the pipe length N-S, highlight the 2 SUP3 records, Geometry, Point On
Line. Enter ‘SUP3 IP’ for the point name and 0.0 for the required easting. Calculate, Add,
Exit. Notice that the calculated point on the support beam at 0 E is added to the bottom of
the table.

 Carry out the same operation for SUP4 and SUP5 records, but using SUP4 IP and SUP5 IP
as new record names.

 The SUP03, SUP04 & SUP05 support beam webs are 20mm thick. We would like to move
the calculated intersection points 10mm north. Highlight the 3 newly created records,
Transform, Translate selected records. Enter 0.010 in the Delta North box and Accept.

 We have now calculated the 3 intersection points and just need to return all the data to the
position when setting the roll back pts. Transform, RollBack Datum Pts.

Alternative method using 2D Corner Fit

With revision 6 of the software the 2D Corner Fit operation was added. This calculates the
intersection of 2 lines in plan, such that the 2 lines need not make a plane. Had there not been an
offset required to account for the web thickness, we could have used this operation and saved a
considerable amount of processing time.

Page 27 of 45
 BestFit Software Exercise Guide

Document No: ACC/SFT/BFT/EXG/7 Revision 5

20.0 Exercise 20 (Reflectorless Jacket surveys)

In this practical session you will:

 Complete circle fits for a leg and brace within a jacket frame
 Undertake the corner fit for the brace and leg intersection
 Scale the jacket for the steel temperature
 3D best-fit the surveyed jacket work to design

The sketch below shows Frame 1 of a jacket laying on its side.

Leg B1

B6

B5 Jacket Top

Leg A1 A1-7 A1-6

Side view on jacket, with circle fit locations

Circle fitting and calculation of the leg / brace intersection point

The circle fits were carried out reflectorless and only on one side of each tubular. Since we have
a series of circle fits down a leg I would always use the Circle Fits on a Line function as it then
doesn’t matter if the circle fits aren’t square to the tubulars. Ideally the circle fits would be
surveyed from both sides to give 360° coverage.

 Open co-ordinate file ‘Exercise20.crd’

 Complete the 4 circle fits. (Circle Fits, Circle Fits on a Line, select B5 & B6 and move them
over to the right hand side of the dialog, OK and Accept each circle fit.
 Undertake the A1-6 and A1-7 circle fits the same way.

With large diameter tubulars ovality may occur and surveying only one side of the tubular may
allow the circle fit to ‘balloon’. We are likely to improve the accuracy by forcing the radius to a
design value. With the circle fit results table displayed we could have entered a design value of
0.550 in the Fix R / User text box and depressed the Re-Calc button.

 Select the 4 circle fit centres (B5-Ctr, B6-Ctr, A1-6-Ctr and A1-7-Ctr) which have been
added to ‘Exercise20.crd’. Calculate the intersection point (BestFit, 3D Corner Fit (Any
Plane), move B5-Ctr and B6-Ctr to the right of the selection dialog to separate the lines, Ok.
Give the new point a name of WP-A1-41-Ctr, Accept.

Often the surveyed work point is required to be kept on the main leg centre line. Our calculation
may have been pulled off the main leg by several mm if the 2 intersecting lines weren’t co-
planier. To keep the intersection point on the leg centre line we could have used BestFit, Main
Line Corner Fit and moved A1-6-Ctr and A1-7-Ctr to the right.

Page 28 of 45
 BestFit Software Exercise Guide

Document No: ACC/SFT/BFT/EXG/7 Revision 5

Set the RollBack datum points

Setting the RollBack datum points, lets the user (at any time) move all the records back to the
position when it was set. Typical uses might be when you want to level a plane or make a
structure vertical before undertaking a calculation and then return all the data to the original
position. I also set the RollBack points once a file is in its final position. On returning to the file at
a later date I can check that it is still in its final position or return it to its ‘final’ state if it has been
moved.

 Transform, Set RollBack Pts. Notice that 3 RollBack points are added to the open file.

Scale the jacket for steel temperature

Most fabrication tolerances state that all dimensions are to be correct with the steel at 20° C. For
larger structures it is important to correct for the steel temperature, especially if different parts of
a structure are built in different parts of the world with differing temperatures.

 Scale the file for a steel temperature of 30°C and a standard of 20°C. (Utilities, File scaling
for steel temp).
 Enter 30 in the Steel Temperature text entry box and click on the Accept button.
 Notice that a new file has been created. File, Save As, give a name of ‘Exercise20-Scaled’.

We aren’t too concerned about the scaling centre point as we will now best fit the scaled file to
an upright design position.

Fit the surveyed and scaled jacket to upright design

 With ‘Exercise20-Scaled.crd’ open, 3D best fit it to the design file for the jacket. (BestFit, 3D
BestFit, select ‘Exercise20 Jacket Design.crd’, click on the Open button.
 In the dialog that opens up, view the matching control points (these are all the work points
that we want to match). Move them all over to the right hand side of the dialog and click on
the Okay button.

The 3D deviations shown are the jacket as-built deviations from design. Don’t be too concerned
about some being shown in red. This occurred because we have a 3D tolerance setting of 3mm
in the configuration settings (of more interest when fitting one survey set-up file to another).

 Click on Accept and the ‘Exercise20-Scaled.crd’ file is rotated and translated into its best fit
position. Set the RollBack datum points (Transform, Set RollBack Pts).
 Save the file as ‘Exercise20 Scaled Upright FINAL’. (Save As, give a name of ‘Exercise20
Scaled Upright FINAL’).

What is the distance between WP-A1+22-Ctr and WP-A2+22-Ctr? __________________

(Try using Utilities, Bearing and Distance between the 2 points)

Comments

 For larger diameter braces and legs, ovality may occur. If only one side is surveyed, then the
error in the calculated centre may be magnified when calculating an intersection point for an
angled brace. If time doesn’t allow for more than one set-up to observe the tubular from
different sides, it is likely to be more accurate to circle fit to a fixed design radius.

Page 29 of 45
 BestFit Software Exercise Guide

Document No: ACC/SFT/BFT/EXG/7 Revision 5

21.0 Exercise 21 (Creating a jacket design file)

In this practical session you will:

 Rotate a jacket frame to the horizontal

 Insert design work point target records
 Re-set the frame into the fabrication position

20m
20m

EL +10 m North
WP B1-3

EL -20 m
WP B1-2

Leg B2

WP B1-1 40m
EL -50 m
Leg A1 40m Leg B1

View of simplified jacket

Open the design file and set roll back points

 Open co-ordinate file Exercise21 Design.crd (Ctrl+O) and select the file.

The design file has been created for the main work points with the jacket vertical and the
centre set as E 0 000, N 0 000. These co-ordinates can be calculated using the main
dimensions of the jacket or by taking dimensions off the elevation section drawings.

 We wish to be able to add records to the file with a frame horizontal (easier to calculate and
add work point target locations), but bring the jacket back to its upright design location after
the additions are made. To do this set the roll-back datum points (Transform, Set RollBack
Pts).

Notice the 3 points added are on the main axis. These roll back points can’t be modified but
can be re-set or deleted at any time.

Page 30 of 45
 BestFit Software Exercise Guide

Document No: ACC/SFT/BFT/EXG/7 Revision 5

Setting Frame 1 level

 We could either view Frame 1 from the east (towards west) and set the angle between WP
B1-1 and WP B1-3 to be 90° or select three of the work points in Frame 1 and use
Transform, Fit To Horizontal Plane (setting the elevation to +0 000). We will use the
former. Highlight records WP B1-1 and WP B1-3, Align in N/El plane, set WP B1-1 as the
datum and the angle to 90°, OK.

Viewing from the east towards the west we have rolled the jacket over 90° clockwise.

Aligning a leg and inserting a target design datum point

 To make it easier to visualise what is happening, set WP B1-1 to (0, 0, 0). Highlight record
WP B1-1, Transform, Set to (0, 0, 0).
 We will consider leg B1 for the moment and align it north (already level). Highlight records
WP B1-1 and WP B1-3, Transform, Align in E/N plane, select WP B1-1 as the origin and
enter 0, Accept.

It is normal on jackets to have punched marked datums on the outside of the leg at the
quarter point marks. It is here that reflective target tape is likely to have been located by the
contractor’s surveyors. Whether the jacket is being fabricated on its side or in the vertical
position will determine where the reflective targets are to be located.

 With the jacket being fabricated on its side (frame 2 horizontal), and with a leg diameter of
2m at the WP’s, we will insert records for the design target locations. Highlight WP B1-1, WP
B1-2, WP B1-3, using the pop-up menu Copy record(s), Paste point(s). Edit the new
record names to be WP B1-1-T, WP B1-2-T, WP B1-3-T and set the easting of each to be
1.000.
 We have now inserted the design locations for the reflective target tape and just need to
return the jacket to its original position. Transform, RollBack Datum Pts.

Notice that because the legs are slightly inclined, the datum points on the outside of the leg
differ from the centre WP in their northing and elevation co-ordinates.

 We can now rotate the design to any position and co-ordinate system in order to match that
being used for fabrication on site.

Comments

 The same process could be repeated for other work point locations as required.
 The jacket final file can know be rotated to the position that the fabrication is being carried
out in.
 Any surveys can be 2D or 3D best-fitted to the design to give the deviations of the work
points.
 In practice some of the reflective targets may have to be offset due to support cups around
the lower legs (for roll up of the frames) and with large jackets the reflective tape could be
rotated down (square to the leg by 100 or 200mm) for the upper legs (when on its side) to
aid the quality of the total station return signal.
 The contractor may have surveyed the reflective targets for a post weld frame or node when
horizontal on the ground. A correction could be made to the design location of the targets to
account for the ovality of the tubular (ie 997mm radii rather than 1000mm).

Page 31 of 45
 BestFit Software Exercise Guide

Document No: ACC/SFT/BFT/EXG/7 Revision 5

22.0 Exercise 22 (Basic bundle fit)

In this practical session you will:

 Bundle fit a set of co-ordinate files

The bundle fit considers all files simultaneously rather fitting one file at a time and discarding the
redundant control after fitting.

Creating the bundle fit project

 Select Bundle Fit, Bundle Fit (1 iteration) from the top menus
 In order to run a bundle fit a project must be created. In the opened dialog box enter
‘Exercise 22’ for the project name and click on the project location ellipses button to locate
and accept the Exercise 22 data folder (Tutorial/Exercise data files/Exercise 22).
 The data files being fitted are copies of those in exercise 10 (2D best fit files). Click on the
Add 2D fit file(s) and select the Exercise 22(a) to Exercise 22(e) files.
 Double click over Exercise 22(a) in the dialog box. The file will be opened in Notepad. Notice
that the control points all start with ‘STN’. Close the file and enter ‘STN’ into the Control
point name starts with? Text box.
 At this stage we can run the bundle fit, but we will save the project so that it can be re-
opened and edited later if necessary (files added or deleted). Click over the Save Project
button.

Running a single iteration bundle fit

 Click the Run Bundle Fit button. A single iteration bundle fit is run, with the maximum fit
deviations being displayed in a dialog and the adjusted final co-ordinate file opened. Under
normal usage we would save the created file if the fit deviations were acceptable.

The single fit iteration is the same as using the 2D and 3D Best Fit operation, copy and
pasting over the new records into a combined final file.

Running a multiple iteration bundle fit

 Close the Single iteration bundle-fit dialog and select the Bundle fit (multiple iteration)
from the top drop down menus.
 Click on the Open button for the project and select ‘Exercise 22’. The dialog will be
populated with the data for the Exercise 22 project previously saved.
 Click the Run Bundle Fit button. Again the results will be displayed in a new file and the
maximum deviations will be displayed.

Notice that the maximum deviation has reduced from 2.1mm to 1.0mm. The multiple
iteration bundle fit uses all the control in an iterative solution rather than carrying out a single
best-fit and discarding the control.

Reviewing the log file

 Using Windows Explorer navigate to the Exercise 22 folder and notice that 2 new files are
present. One is the .ini configuration file for the project and the other is Exercise 22Log.
Open the log file using WordPad. The fit deviations, maximum deviations and final results
can be observed and copy and pasted into other documents.

The log file is best opened in WordPad rather than NotePad as it contains formatting for data
alignment

 Close all the open files and the bundle fit dialog

Page 32 of 45
 BestFit Software Exercise Guide

Document No: ACC/SFT/BFT/EXG/7 Revision 5

.
Fitting to a control file

 At present the files have been bundle fitted together but are in an unspecified co-ordinate
system. Open up the project again for multiple iteration use. Using the Control file text box
ellipses button, select the ‘Exercise 22 Control’ file.
 Edit the Control point name starts with? text box content from ‘STN’ to just ‘S’.

The control points observed have names starting with S and not STN. If the bundle fit
control and the final control differ in name style, it may be necessary to first carry out the
bundle fit and then best-fit it to the required control (using BestFit menu).

 Save the project and run the multiple iteration.

Notice that the maximum deviations are still the same. The bundle fit has been carried out
exactly as before, but on its completion the final file has been fitted to the control file.

 Open up the logging file again (using WordPad) and notice that there is an additional
deviations table for fitting the final bundle fit file to the control file.

The control file records are not included in the created final file. If the control file is part of
the survey, then it should be included in the list of bundle fit files as well as being the
control file.

Experimenting

 Try changing the ‘Control point name starts with?’ name to ‘stn’ (lower case) using a single
and multiple bundle fits, with and without the control file. Review the logging.

Using lower case ‘stn’ within a multiple iteration and no control file, the bundle fit operation
returns an empty file as no matching control points are found. For a single iteration it will
just return the first file used (as this is the final file), but show no maximum deviations.

If no maximum deviations are returned you know that no fits have been completed (as
seen in the logging file).

Note that the logging file is independent of the global log file and unlike the global log file it
can be opened after running a bundle fit and with the dialog still open.

Page 33 of 45
 BestFit Software Exercise Guide

Document No: ACC/SFT/BFT/EXG/7 Revision 5

23.0 Exercise 23 (Locating errors in a bundle fit)

In this practical session you will:

 Create a bundle fit project

 Add files to the project
 Locate and rectify errors in the project

Creating the Exercise 23 project

 Select Bundle fit (multiple iteration) from the Bundle Fit drop down menu.
 In the Project text box enter ‘Exercise 23’
 Click over the Project Location ellipses button and navigate to the Exercise 23 folder. Click
over the OK button to enter the folders location.
 Click over the Add 2D fit file(s) button and select all the files in the Exercise 23 folder.
 Click over the Save Project button

Editing for multiple copies of control point names in a file

 Click over the Run Bundle Fit button

The bundle fit returned an empty file and no maximum deviations.

Why do you think this was? __________________________________________________

 Double click over Exercise23(a).crd in the selected file box. Notice that there are no records
with names starting with ‘STN’. Double click over Exercise23(b).crd in the selected file box.
The control records all start with ‘T’ instead of ‘STN’.
 Edit the Control point name starts with? text box value from’ STN’ to ‘T’.
 Save the project and run it again.
 A dialog message box appears to tell us there are records which have the same control file
name in a single file (can’t carry out the adjustment when multiple records with the same
name occurs – which one to use?)

In this survey the duplication occurs due to taking Face Left and Face Right observations for
targets which were greater distances away or had steep vertical angles. We will merge the
duplicated records (replace the 2 records with a single averaged value).

 Double click over Exercise23(a) in the duplicate record dialog box. The file is opened within
the BestFit application left panel. Highlight the 2 T09 records, right click on the mouse and
select Merge Record(s). The merged records results will be displayed in the right hand side
BestFit panel. Move the dialogs to the side so that you can accept the merged records result.
 Merge the 2 T08 records in the opened Exercise23(a) file. Save and close the file.
 Undertake the same merging operation for T12 and T13 in Exercise23(e) remembering to
save the file.

Locating an incorrect record naming error

 Click over the Run Bundle Fit button.

 The adjustment completes but there is a maximum fit deviation of 442 mm for T03 in
Exercise23(e).

We will try to locate the error by removing control records from the adjustment until it works
correctly.

Page 34 of 45
 BestFit Software Exercise Guide

Document No: ACC/SFT/BFT/EXG/7 Revision 5

 Double click over Exercise23(e) in the file selection box. With the file opened edit the ‘T03’
name to ‘T03??’ (no matches will be found for the name). Save and close the file.
 Run the project again. Notice that the project now runs with a 1.2 mm maximum deviation.
 Within the newly created file, double click over the Easting table header. The records will be
sorted by easting magnitude (can carried out for name, easting, northing and elevation).
 Locate the ‘T03??’ record and notice that it has nearly the same co-ordinates as the T06
record next to it.
 It has obviously been incorrectly named and should have a name value of ‘T06’.
 Open Exercise23(e).crd file in either the BestFit application or through double clicking over
the file name in the bundle fit selected files box. Edit ‘T03??’ to ‘T06’. Save and close the file.
 Run the bundle fit again. This time it completes with a maximum deviation of 1.2 mm.

Comments on error detection

 My personnel preference is to create the project and run the single iteration bundle fit first.
This can give a better indication of weaknesses in the survey control and where any errors
are. The multiple iteration bundle fit tries to minimise a maximum deviation which may be the
result of a naming error, rather than a small network adjustment.
 The easiest way to locate and correct naming errors is by renaming suspect records such
that they won’t be used in the fit and then comparing their co-ordinates with those in the
adjusted final table.
 On occasions the bundle fit may fail without completing due to a naming error that results in
too large a mismatch for the fits to complete. Under these circumstances it may be
necessary to iteratively add files and run the bundle fit calculation until the error file is located
and corrected.
 It is the users choice, but many surveyors prefer to use the Best Fit 2D and 3D operations on
files first (adding results to a final file). Only when all corrections are made and they are
satisfied with the quality of each set-up, will they use the multiple iteration Bundle Fit.
 The Bundle Fit operations have no ‘weighting’ of files to signify the varying quality of set-ups.
Where a set-up is of particularly low quality (high vibration, low quality long shots etc), it may
be beneficial to leave these files out of the bundle-fit operation and run the 2D / 3D fits to the
final bundle fit file.
 Where files are added to the bundle fit file list each evening after completing surveys, it may
be advantageous to first undertake a primary control survey. This network could then be
adjusted and fitted to design values such that it is considered to be in the final best-fit
position. This could then be used as the control file in the adjustment process.

Control networks

 For larger laser scanning networks it may be beneficial to locate and survey the main control
using reflective tape targets. The targets should be ‘spiked’ using face left and face right
observations.
 With the FL and FR observations merged, the bundle fit adjustment results can be fitted to
the client provided site control (probably of lower accuracy), to create the ‘control’ file for
future bundle fits.
 On land based surveys, the compensator of the total station should be left on (active) and
the survey files used in 2D fits.
 The compensator should only be taken off when there is high vibration or when offshore on a
moving structure, in which case a 3D fit is recommended.
 For surveying the scanning control targets (after control survey and adjustment), it would be
acceptable to ‘shoot’ the reflective tape using the reflective tape setting in the total station.

Page 35 of 45
 BestFit Software Exercise Guide

Document No: ACC/SFT/BFT/EXG/7 Revision 5

24.0 Exercise 24 (Importing raw survey data from a total station)

In this practical session you will:

 Read in the raw survey data from a Leica GSI file

 Save each set-ups data in a separate file

This is an alternative to importing raw co-ordinate files (Exercise 5). Although this approach is slower
to create all the co-ordinate files, it enables checking at an earlier stage and modification of codes
(including spike length adjustment), to correct errors.

Refer to the User Guide for details of the required survey method when using this approach.

Opening a Leica GSI file for raw survey data

 Open the GSI file Exercise24.gsi for importing raw survey files (File, Open, Raw Survey file,
select Exercise24.gsi, Open)

Similar to when opening a raw co-ordinate file, opening a ‘raw survey file’ caused the whole
file to read in and displayed.

Notice that the start and end codes for each survey station set-up are displayed as records
with names ---START--- and ---END---.

Other code records are displayed with a # in front of the code name. The #SP150 represents
a spike code with the spike being 150 units (mm) length.

Saving the records to files for each set-up

 Separate out each set-ups records into different files (highlight the records between the first
set of ---START--- and ---END--- records, right click the mouse and select CopyPasteNew,
repeat the operation for the other set-ups).
 Close the original combined gsi co-ordinate file without saving. Save the four separated files
as Exercise24(a), Exercise24(b), Exercise24(c) and Exercise24(d)
.
Converting a raw survey file to co-ordinates

 After checking over the correctness of the records, create a co-ordinate file for the
Exercise24(a) survey file (Survey, Make Coords).

Rectifying incorrect data input

 Try Survey, Make Coords with the remaining 3 survey files.

 Why wouldn’t the raw files initially convert to co-ordinate files

File 2: ___________________________________________________________________

File 3 ____________________________________________________________________

 Try correcting the survey data input error using Edit, Modify for Exercise24(b) (#SP150)

Comments on survey method

Using this method the surveyor could set the spike code to 0 length (SP0) and select the prism type
in the instrument (total station making adjustments) or let the software make the adjustments for
prism type and select the standard prism when using a spike. Note that with revision 6 of BestFit,
decimal values of spike length may be used (ie SP37.5 for Leica mini-prism used without it holder).

Page 36 of 45
 BestFit Software Exercise Guide

Document No: ACC/SFT/BFT/EXG/7 Revision 5

25.0 Exercise 25 (Independent exercise – Gyro Calibration)

In this practical session you will:

 Fit the main vertical columns to design

 Insert dummy North and South points
 Set the bearing of GPS A to GPS B to that calculated from the GPS data
 Calculate the true bearing of the structure (from orientation of South to North)
 Calculate the corrections to the gyros

GPS B

GPS A

GPS A – GPS B is satellite GPS

baseline used to obtain true bearing
C01 C03

C01 to C04 are template main

columns used to best-fit the template Gyro 1
to design FORE

Gyro 2

C02 C03

Plan view on template with surveyed GPS datum line

Setting the template to correct orientation

 Open Exercise25 co-ordinate file and circle fit C001 to C004 in plan (using Circle Fit E/N).
 Best fit the columns to design such that a correct fore is established (2D Best Fit to
Exercise25-Design without a tick in the elevation adjustment box).

The design has just been given dummy 0 mm elevation. The tubulars were surveyed at the
most convenient elevation (heights varying on a single column), hence the best-fit has to be
in plan and the elevations won’t fit properly – we use the top of steel elevations for this.

 Now that the template is orientated to fore, insert dummy North and South points (Edit, Add
Record and enter ‘North, 0 E, 100 N, 0 El’ and ‘South, 0 E, -100 N, 0 El’).
 The true bearing of the GPS baseline (from GPS data) is 297.65°. Rotate the whole co-
ordinate file such that GPS A to GPS B is 297.65° (highlight GPSA and GPSB records,
Transform, Align in E/N plane and set the bearing to 297.65°).

Page 37 of 45
 BestFit Software Exercise Guide

Document No: ACC/SFT/BFT/EXG/7 Revision 5

Calculating the gyro computed – observed corrections (true – gyro reading)

 At this stage you should have the template orientated relative to true North. Obtain the true
bearing of the template by calculating the bearing of the template axis dummy points we
inserted (North and South). Highlight North and South, Utilities, Bearing and Distance,
ensuring that South is the datum for the orientation.
 Calculate the C-O corrections to the gyro (the C values will be the same for both Gyro1 and
Gyro2 as this is the template orientation).

Gyro 1 C Value ________ - Observed Value (gyro reading) 43.6° = _______

Gyro 2 C Value ________ - Observed Value (gyro reading) 42.7° = _______

 You should obtain C-O values of +0.15° and +1.05° respectively.

Comments

 The design file was created by using the fabrication design drawing dimensions, setting the
centre to 0E, 0N for convenience and orientating fore to be North.
 We would calculate the orientation and inclinations of the structure (pitch and roll) prior to
levelling the structure as this is likely to throw out the control network.
 The C-O value is the correction that is added to a reading from a gyro or inclination reading
device such that the resultant value is correct.

Page 38 of 45
 BestFit Software Exercise Guide

Document No: ACC/SFT/BFT/EXG/7 Revision 5

26.0 Exercise 26 (Independent exercise – Template Survey)

In this practical session you will:

 Level the structure & set the datum elevation (BOS) to 0.0
 Circle fit the legs and best-fit to design of the co-ordinates
 Derive the final co-ordinates for Guide1, T3 & T4
 Derive the orientation and inclination of the ROV interface plate

N ROV3 ROV1
ROV4 ROV2

A1 B1 C1 D1

Guide

A2 B2 C2 D2

T4 T3

Plan view on template

Suggested sequence of calculations

 Plane fit and transform to a horizontal plane at elevation 0.0 the points (A1EL to D2EL)
 Circle fit the legs using just the east and north values
 Best fit the leg centres to the design (Exercise26-Design.crd)
 Circle fit Guide1 (in N/El), T3 (E/N) and T4 (E/N)
 Plane fit the ROV panel to obtain a normal to the plane line (BestFit, Plane Fit)
 Calculate the orientation and inclination of the ROV panel (use Utilities, Bearing & Distance)

Delegate Solutions

 Easting and Northing of T3 : _______________________________________________

 Easting and Northing of T4: ________________________________________________

 Northing and Elevation of Guide1: ___________________________________________

 Bearing and inclination of ROV plate: _________________________________________

Page 39 of 45
 BestFit Software Exercise Guide

Document No: ACC/SFT/BFT/EXG/7 Revision 5

27.0 Exercise 27 (Flange fitting offshore– Independent Exercise)

The diagram below shows part of a survey carried out offshore. There are 4 sets-ups that require
to be linked. Leg A2 is to be used as a datum with A1 being south and the elevation of F02 raised
face being 0.000

Calculate the co-ordinates of the flanges, flange angles and E/W distance of the support from F03.

Leg A2
F04 100 E 100N

F03

Leg A1
sup2w 100 E
(N & S on W side of web)

F01

F02

Offshore surveyed points

Suggested sequence of calculations

 Open up ‘Exercise27(a).crd’ and save as ‘Exercise27 Final’.

 Fit ‘Exercise27(b).crd’ to ‘Exercise27 Final.crd’. Try using 2D fits first – if this gives poor
results try using a 3D fit (high vibration in area resulted in difficulty in levelling instrument).
 Copy and paste the unique records into Exercise27 Final.crd
 Carry out the same operations for Exercise27(c) and Exercise27(d)
 Compute the centres for the flanges using Make all flange(s)

 F01 0.100 m
 F02 0.006 m (surveyed face 2 not face 3)
 F03 0.092 m
 F04 0.006 m (surveyed face 2 not face 3)

 Compute the circle fits for A1 & A2 (reflector-less survey to leg) (Circle Fit E/N)
 Align leg A2 to leg A1 to be South (Align in E/N plane – use 180° with A2-Ctr as datum)
 Set leg A2-Ctr to be 100 E & 100 N (Transform, Set to (100,100,100))
 Set F01 raised face to 0.000 EL (Transform, Coord set – change just the elevation)
 Compute the bolt hole rotational deviations and flange angle deviations for all the flanges
(highlight 1 or more flange records, Flange, Auto Flange(s) Angle). Assuming we forget to
note the number of bolts, either experiment (use 16, then 12 no bolts) or use PipeData Pro.

Delegate Solutions

 What is the diff in E, N & EL between F02 & F04? E_________N_________EL_________

 What is the average bolt-hole rotation for flange F01? ______________________________

 What is the E/W distance from F04 to the support CL? ______________________________

Page 40 of 45
 BestFit Software Exercise Guide

Document No: ACC/SFT/BFT/EXG/7 Revision 5

28.0 Exercise 28 (Observations to edge points)

In this practical session you will:

 Compute the co-ordinates for the edges of an inaccessible structure

 Take the mean of the 2 corners to provide beam centre end co-ordinates

C1.2

F1 pts are reflectorless

F1.2 distance shots to the box
girder end face.
C1.1
F1.1
F1.3

F1.6
C1 shots are
F1.4 observations to the
corners with no distance.

F1.5

Adjust the edge observations for distances to the end plane

 Open up survey file (horizontal angle, vertical angle, slope distance) ‘Exercise28.srv’.
 Highlight all the F1 and C1 records (notice that the C1 records have no distances).
 Select Survey, Adjust Angle Obs to Plane
 In the dialog displayed, move the F1 points (define the end face plane) to the right side.
 On clicking the OK button the results are displayed. (How good the plane fit is and the
calculated distances along the observation lines to the corners).
 Accept the results and notice that the 2 corner records have modified distances.
 Carry out the same operation for the F2 & C2 points (other end of the beam).

Create the coordinate file & mean the top corner records

 Convert the survey file records to co-ordinates (Survey, Make Coords).

 Highlight the C1.1 & C1.2 records, and mean the results (Edit, Mean Records)
 In the mean records dialog box change the name to C1-Ctr and Accept
 Mean the C2.1 & C2.2 records providing a name of C2-Ctr

Order the records and calculate the bearing and distance between the ends

 Double click over the tables Point header box. Notice that the records are sorted in
alphanumeric order.
 Single click over the tables Point header box. Notice that the records are sorted in
alphanumeric order but with all the records ending in –Ctr at the btm

Delegate Solutions

 What is bearing and distance from C1-Ctr to C2-Ctr? BR?____________ Dist?__________

Page 41 of 45
 BestFit Software Exercise Guide

Document No: ACC/SFT/BFT/EXG/7 Revision 5

29.0 Exercise 29 (Reflectorless Flange Survey– Independent Exercise)

This exercise is a continuation of the method used in exercise 28, where just angle observations
were taken to the edge of an inaccessible structure.

Calculate the flange centre co-ordinates.

F013.2 F013-R.2
F013.1 The F013-R points are
reflectorless distance
F013-R.3 F013-R.1 observations to the back
face of the flange
F013.3

F013 points are angle

observations to the edge of
the back face of the flange
F012

F013.5 F012 is a point towards the

F013.4 raised face.

Comments

The F012 & F013 observations are recognised by the software as flange mid face and back face
observations. F013-R named points are not recognised as flange points by the BestFit software,
but are named such that the user recognises the points when processing the survey.

Suggested sequence of calculations

 Open up survey file ‘Exercise29.srv’.

 Highlight all the F013 and F013-R records
 Use Survey, Adjust Angle Obs to Plane to provide distances to the F013-R plane for the
F013 records
 Create the co-ordinate file from the survey file. Survey, Make Coords.
 Compute the centres for flange 01 (Flange, Make all flange(s)), using a distance of 30 mm
from the back of the flange to the raised face (when asked for).

 What are the co-ordinates of flange 01 raised face centre?

 E ______________ N _____________ EL _____________

Comment

We would expect the modified F013 and the F013-R points to be in the same plane. Highlight all
the F013 and F013-R records and review how good the plane fit to the points are (Utilities, View
plane fit deviations).

It is always preferential to ‘spike’ a flange where possible (in preference to the reflectorless
method), due to the higher accuracy achieved.

Page 42 of 45
 BestFit Software Exercise Guide

Document No: ACC/SFT/BFT/EXG/7 Revision 5

30.0 Exercise 30 (Weighted Best-Fitting)

In this practical session you will:

 Open up a file and 3D best-fit it to a design file setting weight values for each ordinate
 Open up and review the log file

F NORTH
E

A, B & F have fixed design co-ordinates

A C & E have unknown northings

D has unknown easting

D
C

Comments

A, B & F have been surveyed and computed as pipe intersection points. C, D and E are circle fit
centres at unknown locations along the pipes. A design file has been created using just estimates
for the northings of C & E and eastings for D. By giving 0 weight to the northing of D the effects of
the mismatch from design will be ignored.

Best-Fitting and selecting weights

 Open co-ordinate file Exercise30

 3D best fit the file to Exercise30Design using Best Fit, 3D Best Fit (weighted).
 Select all the 6 points for use in the best-fit, OK
 With the weight selection box displayed click over the 100 for C’s northing and select 0
 Set 0 weight for the northing E and 0 for the easting weight of D. Click OK
 Notice that the deviations table has empty spaces where 0 weight was selected for an
ordinate. Click OK to accept the best-fit

Reviewing the log file

 Locate the log file and open with TextPad or WordPad (BestFit needs to be closed to open it
with WordPad)
 Notice that the fit deviations and weights have been logged

Comment

Weights of 25 to 75 could be applied where the survey accuracy is lower than normal for a line of
sight. A 0% height weight might be applied where the elevation of the control is unknown.

With 2D weighted fits (in plan), the elevation may take just a 0 weight (don’t use) or 100% (use).

Try fitting Exercise30 to Exercise30Design using just 3D Best Fit (not weighted). The effects of C
to E on the fit will produce a poor fit or in many cases cause the fit to fail.

Page 43 of 45
 BestFit Software Exercise Guide

Document No: ACC/SFT/BFT/EXG/7 Revision 5

31.0 Exercise 31 (Plotting in AutoCAD – Bridge Clearance)

In this practical session you will:

 Open a co-ordinate file for a bridge clearance survey

 Align the bridge East / West
 Create AutoCAD script files for plotting the points
 Run the script files in AutoCAD and view the data

The file Exercise31.crd contains co-ordinate records for a bridge clearance survey. The records with
names Bridge.A to Bridge.T are locations on the underside of the bridge. T1 and T5 are points on the
outer support column faces, whilst Water10.00 is a shot to the water level at 10.00 am.

Loading and Transforming the Bridge co-ordinate records file

 Open the co-ordinate file Exercise31.crd (Ctrl+O)

 Align the bridge E/W setting T1 directly East of T5 (highlight T1 & T5 records, Transform,
Align in E/N plane, select T5 as the origin and required angle of 90, Accept)
 Mean T1 & T5 to obtain the bridge centre (highlight T1 & T5 records, Edit, Mean record(s),
provide a name for the mean of MeanT1T2, Accept
 Set the middle of the bridge to have co-ordinates 0E 0N (highlight MeanT1T2, Transform,
Set to (0,0,0)
 Set the water level to 0 (highlight WATER10.00, Transform, Coord set and edit the
elevation value in the dialog box to 0, Accept

Creating and running the AutoCAD script file

 Create an AutoCAD script file for the bridge points (Cad, Create 3D points file, select all but
the Water10.00 and MeanT1T2 records, OK).
 Within the plotting dialog edit the point diameter to 0.1 and enter a tick for the point name to
be plotted alongside the point (Show name only with plotted point). Edit the file name for
the point plotting script from Exercise31_Points.scr to Exercise31_Points1.scr, Accept
 Create another point plotting script file but just for Water10.00 and MeanT1T2 points. (Cad,
Create 3D points file, select Water10.00 and MeanT1T2 records, OK).
 Within the plotting dialog, edit the point diameter to 0.1 and enter a tick for Show name and
co-ordinates with plotted point. Edit the file name for the point plotting script from
Exercise31_Points.scr to Exercise31_Points2.scr, Accept
 Start up AutoCAD and run each of the created script files (in AutoCAD Tools, Run Script…)

Interrogate the AutoCAD drawing

 Zoom in on the plotted points and notice that the bridge points have their name alongside,
whilst the water level and bridge centre have the name and co-ordinates plotted.
 View the bridge points from the front (in AutoCAD View, 3D Views, Front)

Comments on AutoCad plotting

 If plotting is required in mms rather than metres, ensure there is a tick in the box provided
within the Cad tab of the Configuration settings dialog (Config / Settings menu).
 With the latest versions of AutoCAD, scaling may be automatically undertaken (set in Tools /
Options). It may be necessary to review the setting to ensure that the correct plotting scale is
achieved. The script files plot with units of metres or mm’s

Page 44 of 45
 BestFit Software Exercise Guide

Document No: ACC/SFT/BFT/EXG/7 Revision 5

32.0 Exercise 32 (Tutor led, Red Line Mark-Up)

In this practical session you will:

 Review the use of the PipeDataPro application

 Discuss how to complete a red-line mark-up
 Undertake 2 red line mar-up exercises provided by the tutor

PDF’s of the 2 incomplete red-line mark-ups are provided in the tutorial folder.

Suggested sequence of calculations

 Open up PipeDataPro and review the Flanges/ASME B16.5, Pipe Fittings/Butt Welded/45°
Elbow & ANSI/MSS Composite menus.
 Calculate the difference in E, N & El between the flange tie points
 Determine which dimensions are fixed and which can be altered.
 Modify the isometric with a red pen such that the dimensions between the tie points add up.

Additional operations normally undertaken

 Calculate and display flange angle and bolt hole deviations

 Add a title box
 Include any suggested new flange locations to enable fitting of the pipes
 Mark up any minor clashes (cable trays etc). Major clashes should have been avoided with
the proposed pipe route.

Page 45 of 45