Jason Martin configuring his measurement equipment

Jason Martin collecting data points on a chip pile.

Stockpile Volume Measurement

Stockpiles of wood chunks, chips, hog fuel, aggregate, crushed rock, bark, or any other material can be difficult and expensive to measure. Atterbury Consultants offers Stockpile Volume Measurement as a field-tested service using equipment we rely upon every day. Depending on the shape of the pile, we can measure up to 100,000 cubic yards per hour. Our experiences have shown that one person can measure an average chip yard in one day. Reports are instantly available on a Pocket PC and are easily downloaded to a desktop computer. Accuracy varies from .05% to 7% of actual volume depending on equipment used and site characteristics.

1. Walk around the pile, temporarily marking instrument points that will afford full coverage of the surface.
2. Choose a starting point, set up and configure the equipment.
3. Aim and shoot the base or "toe" points of the pile. Then shoot the surface or "pile" points.
4. After collecting your last data point at an instrument location, aim and shoot to the next instrument location (traverse) and then occupy that point. (backsight necessary with Angle Encoder)
5. Continue shooting the pile from each new location until the entire surface has been measured.
6. Volume information is instantly available on the Pocket PC. The field data may also be exported to a PC as a DXF file, a text file list of data point measurements, a BMP file of the contours, and other formats.

Advantages

• Fast turnaround for volume information
• Financial savings, greatly reduced price versus aerial flyovers
• Increased accuracy over volume estimates
• Provides third party accountability
• All work can be done with one person
• Each measurement point is recorded and can be included in a report
• Reports include a contour map and 3-D image of each pile measured

3D Rendered Image from Data Points

Stockpile with three instrument points

Data Point Collection

Contacts for Stockpile Volume Measurement