EXPERIMENT 5

Objective: Determination of reduced level of different points with dumpy level by height of instrument
and rise & fall method.
1. Apparatus: Dumpy level, levelling staff

Dumpy Level
2. Theory:
Levelling: The art of determining and representing the relative height or elevation of different
objects/points on the surface of the earth is called levelling. It deals with measurement in the
vertical plane.
By levelling operation, the relative position of two points is known whether the points are near or
far off. Similarly, the point at different elevations with respect to a given datum can be established
by levelling.

Levelling Instruments: - The instrument which is directly used for levelling operation are: -
Level, Levelling staff.
Level: - An instrument which is used for observing staff reading on levelling staff kept over
different points after creating a line of sight is called a level.
The difference in elevation between the points then can be worked out. A level essentially consists
of the following points:
a) Levelling Heads
b) Limb plate
c) Telescope
d) Bubble tube
e) Tripod stand

Dumpy level: The following actions are followed for setting up the level: -
(a) Fixing the instrument in the tripod: - The tripod legs are well spread on the ground with
the tripod head nearly level and at a convenient height. Fix up the level on the tripod.
(b) Leg adjustment: - Bring all the foot screws to the level in the centre of their run. Fix any two
legs firmly into the ground by pressing them with a hand and move the third leg to the leg to
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 the right or left until the main bubble is roughly in the centre. Finally, the legs are fixed after
centering approximately both bubbles. This operation will save the time required for
levelling.
(c) Levelling: - Levelling is done with the help of foot screws and bubbles. The purpose of
levelling is to make the vertical axis truly vertical. The method of levelling the instrument
depends upon whether there are three-foot screws or four-foot screws. In all modern
instruments, three-foot screws are provided and this method only is described.

1) Place the telescope parallel to a pair of foot screws.

2) Hold these two-foot screws between the thumb and first finger of each hand and turn them
uniformly so that the thumbs move either toward each other until the bubble is in the centre.
3) Turn the telescope through 90 so that it lies over the third foot screw.
4) Turn this foot screw only until the bubble is centered.
5) Bring the telescope back to its original position without reversing the eyepiece and object glass
ends.
6) Again, bring the bubble to the centre of its run and repeat this operation until the bubble remains
in the centre of its run in both positions which are at a right angle to each other.
7) Now rotate the instrument through 180°, the bubble should remain in the centre provided the
instrument is in adjustment: if not, it needs permanent adjustment.
d) Focusing the eyepiece: - To focus the eyepiece, hold a white paper in front of the object glass,
and move the eyepiece in or out till the crosshairs are distinctly seen. Care should be taken that
the eyepiece is not wholly taken out, sometimes graduation is provided at the eyepiece and
that one can always remember the particular graduation position to suit his eyes, this will save
much time focusing on the eyepiece.
e) Focusing the object glass: - Direct the telescope to the levelling staff and on looking through
the telescope, turn the focusing screw until the image appears clear and sharp. The image is
thus formed inside the plane of crosshairs, Parallax if any is removed by exact focusing. It may
be noted that parallax is completely eliminated when there is no change in staff reading after
moving the eye up and down.

Reduced Levels
The system of working out the reduced level of the points from staff reading taken in the field is
called as reduced level (R.L) of a point is the elevation of the point with reference to the same
datum.
3. Procedure
There are two systems of reduced levels

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(1) The plane of collimation system (H.I. method)

In this system, the R.L. of the plane of collimation (H.I) is found out for every set-up of the level
and then the reduced levels of the points are worked out with the respective plane of collimation as
described below.
a) Determine the R.L. of the plane of collimation for the first set up of the level by adding B.S. to
the R.L. of B.M. i.e. (R.L of the plane of collimation= R.L. of B.M. + B.S.)
b) Obtained the R.L. of the intermediate points and first change point by subtracting the staff
readings (I.S. and F.S. from the R.L. of the plane of collimation (H.I). (R.L. of a point = R.L
of the plane of collimation H.I. – I.S./ F.S.)
c) When the instrument is shifted and set up a new position a new plane of collimation is
determined by addition of B.S. to the R.L of change point. Thus, the levels from two set-ups of
the instruments can be correlated by means of B.S. and F.S. taken on C.P.
d) Find out the R.L.‟s of the successive points and the second C.P. by subtracting their staff
readings from this plane of collimation R.L.
e) Repeat the procedure until all the R. Ls are worked out.

Observation table: -
Reading R.L. of plane Reduced
Station Remarks
B.S I.S F.S collimation (H.I) Level

Arithmetical check: The difference between the sum of the back sights and the sum of the fore
sights should be equal to the difference between the last and first reduced levels.
∑B.S. - ∑ F.S. = LAST R.L. – FIRST R.L.
(2) The Rise and fall system
In this system, there is no need to determine the R.L. of the plane of collimation. The difference of
level between consecutive points is obtained as described below.
a) Determine the difference in staff readings between the consecutive points comparing each
point after the first with that immediately preceding it.
b) Obtained the rise or fall from the difference of their staff reading accordingly to the staff
reading at the point is smaller or greater than that of the proceeding point.
c) Find out the reduced level of each point by adding the rise to or subtracting the fall from the
R.L. of a proceeding point.

Observation table: -
Reading Reduced
Station Rise Fall Remarks
B.S I.S F.S Level

Arithmetic check: - The difference between the sum of back sight and the sum of fore sight=
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difference between the sum of rise and the sum of fall = the difference between the last R.L. and
the first R.L.
∑B.S. -∑F.S. =∑RISE -∑FALL =LAST R.L.- FIRST R.L.
5. RESULT:
The various reduced levels are calculated by rise and fall method and by using height or plane of
collimation method and are shown in the observation table.

6. Precautions
● The staff should be held vertical while taking the reading;
● The bubble in the level tube is to be brought to central before taking any reading;
● Readings should be taken in the proper direction depending on the type of staff;
● Balancing of sight is to be maintained as far as possible;
● Reading and recording of observation correctly.

Viva Questions and answers

1. What is the purpose of a level?
Ans. You know that level can be used for the levelling or sometimes for contouring too. So the
basic purpose of a level is to provide a horizontal line of sight.
2. What is Leveling?
Ans. Levelling is the art of determining and representing the relative heights or elevations of
different points on the surface of the earth.
3. Methods of Calculation of Reduced Level.
Ans. a) Height of Instrumentation method
b) Rise-and-Fall method
4. Which type of instrument is used in levelling?
Ans. a) Dumpy level b) Wye (Y level) c) Cooke‟s Level
d) Cushing Level e) Tilting Level f) Automatic Level
5. What is a level surface?
Ans. Any surface parallels to the mean spheroidal surface of the earth are said to be a level surface.
6. What is datum surface?
Ans. This is an imaginary level surface from which the vertical distance of different points is
measured.
7. What is the benchmark?
Ans. These are fixed points or marks of known R.L. determined with reference to the datum line.
8. What is a line of collimation/line of sight?
Ans. It is an imaginary line passing through the intersection of the cross-hair at the diaphragm and
the optical centre of the object glass.
Some Important question list:

● Uses of Leveling
● Reduced Level
● Bench-marks (BM)
● Back sight Reading (BS)
● Foresight Reading (FS)
● Intermediate sight Reading (IS)
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