CHAPTER VIII

A FIELD REPORT ON
CHAIN SURVEYING
A REPORT BY RABI SHRESTHA

-frozenrabi28@gmail.com

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Contents

1. INTRODUCTION............................................................................................................. 4

1.1 Background: ................................................................................................................ 4

Chain surveying: ................................................................................................................... 4

1.2 OBJECTIVES: ............................................................................................................ 5

1.3 SCOPE OF WORK: .................................................................................................... 5

1.4 TERMS USED IN CHAIN SURVEY: ........................................................................ 6

2. Methods ............................................................................................................................ 7

2.1 Instrument used: .......................................................................................................... 7

2.2 Area of project:............................................................................................................ 7

2.3 Specification used for project: ..................................................................................... 7

2.4 Methodology: .............................................................................................................. 7

3. Output, Analysis and Discussion ....................................................................................... 9

4. Conclusion ...................................................................................................................... 10

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List of Tables

Table 1: Types of chain

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1. INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background:

Chain surveying:
Chain surveying is the branch of surveying in which the linear measurement are made and no
angular measurement are taken with the help of chain or tape.

Principles of chain survey

The principle of chain survey is triangulation. This means the area to be surveyed is divided
into number of small triangles which should be well conditioned.

Purpose of chain survey

 Determine the area of a plot of land.

 Prepare an accurate plan of plot of land.

 Divide plot of land into number of small division.

 Secure data for executing engineering projects.

Chain surveying is recommended when:-

 The ground surface is more or less level.

 A small area to be surveyed.

 The formation of well conditioned triangle is easy.

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 Types of chain

SN Types of chain Length links Used for

1 Metric chain 20m or 30m 100 Measuring distance along fairly

level ground

2 Gunter's chain 66ft 100 Measuring distances in miles

and for long

3 Engineers chain 100 ft 100 Engineering project

4 Revenue chain 33ft 16 Cadastral survey

Table 1: Types of chain

 Advantages of chain:
 They can be read easily and quickly.
 They can withstand wear and tear.
 They can easily be repaired or rectified in the field.
 Disadvantage of chain:
 They are heavy and take too much time to open and fold.
 They become longer and shorter due to continuous use.
 When the measurement is taken in suspension, the chain sag excessively.

1.2 OBJECTIVES:
The major objectives of chain survey are:

 To take the detail of an area.

Sub objective includes

 To have basic knowledge about chain.

1.3 SCOPE OF WORK:

The scope of this project is to prepare the plan of the area to be surveyed. Linear
measurement was made with the help of chain and tape. The details covered are based
on the perpendicular offset measurement so covering the details using oblique offset
measurement is not under the scope of our work.
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1.4 TERMS USED IN CHAIN SURVEY:
 Main station: A point where the two sides of a main triangle meet.

 Tie station: A station on a survey line joining two main stations.

 Main survey line: The chain line joining two main survey stations.

 Tie line: A chain line joining two tie stations.

 Base line: The longest main survey line on a fairly level ground and passing through
the center of an area.

 Check line: A line which is provided to check the accuracy of the field work.

 Offsets: The lateral measurement from an object to chain line. line.

 Chaining: The process of measuring distance between two point on the ground .

 Ranging: The process of laying out straight line between two points is known as
ranging.

 Perpendicular offsets: When lateral measurement are taken perpendicular to the

chain line.

 Oblique offsets: Any offsets not perpendicular to the chain

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2. Methods

2.1 Instrument used:

 Chain

 Tape

 Wooden peg

 Ranging rod

2.2 Area of project:

The project area is located at Lalitpur-22, Pharsidol. It covers area inside Mass Nepal which
includes features like road, houses etc.

2.3 Specification used for project:

 Type of chain: Metric chain
 Number of links: 100 links
 Distance per link: 2 meters
 Unit of measurement: meter
 Time:1day

2.4 Methodology:
For chain surveying following methods were applied:

a. Reconnaissance: Small area was allocated for chain surveying to cover as much as
detail as possible. The area with some permanent and temporary houses, electric pole
and road was allocated.

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b. Marking of stations:
Two stations were marked in order to build a main survey line. More stations could be
marked for the easiness, but the area was small so only two stations were marked
joining main survey line.
c. Running of survey lines:
Survey line was run to measured the distance between main stations and adjacent
detail was located by offsets. At first the ranging out of the baseline was done. Then
the chain was unfolded and laid on the line. At first distance between main station was
measured and with the help of offsets detail of ground features was measured. Tape
was used to measured offsets.

d. Recording:
The measurement taken in chain surveying was recorded in the field book. Each page
of Field book had pair of lines ruled down the center along the length. The space
between two the line was about 12.5 to 15 mm. The chainage of various point were
written in the column between two lines. The space on either side of line was used for
writing the offset. The booking of field book was done from bottom of page to
towards top of the page.
e. Plotting:
The details of the features were plotted on the paper in 1:500 scale. The plotting accuracy
was 125mm. The chain line was drawn and after completely filling the detail the chain
line was erased.

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3. Output, Analysis and Discussion
With the help of chain and tape, the detail of area was collected and planimetric map was
prepared.

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4. Conclusion
Hence with the help of chain and tape , the detail of area was collected and map of the area
was prepared.

**Field books containing data and map of chain survey is attached in annexes.

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