AutoCAD Tools · Windows · MSE retaining walls

VinhHungTool: an AutoCAD tool for MSE retaining wall design

VinhHungTool was designed by the Institute of Information Technology in Civil Engineering (IIC), Hanoi University of Civil Engineering, for Vinh Hung Trading, Consulting and Construction JSC under the contract “AutoCAD tool for automatic panel layout and Excel quantity take-off”. From a list of cross sections and a strip table, the tool draws the wall face, places the precast concrete panels, draws the reinforcement strip sections and the plan along a straight or curved alignment, then schedules the panel types and strips.

10 AutoCAD commands

3 Plan alignment types: straight, arc, curved polyline

mm Drawing output units

2023 AutoCAD version

See the workflow About the software

What VinhHungTool does

From the cross-section table to the general arrangement, plan and panel schedule

You enter the cross sections along the wall: name, top level, ground level, spacing and chainage. VinhHungTool draws the outline of the wall elevation, divides it into panels by the height of each segment, assigns each panel its number of strip connection points from the strip table, then uses the same data to draw the sections and plan and to count quantities.

Manage the cross-section list, paste it straight from Excel, save and reopen projects as .xml
Draw the wall face with the inner parapet edge level, ground level and footing level
Place panels automatically on the face polyline, number the panels in each row and dimension the panel heights
Draw strip layout sections for each wall height
Draw the strip plan along a straight line, a circular arc or a curved polyline, with strips pointing up or down
Schedule the concrete panel types, panel count, strip types and lengths, wall area and wall length
Trim panel blocks with a polyline and update the dimensions after editing panels

Retaining wall general arrangement with panels placed automatically by VinhHungTool in AutoCAD — Result of the DATPANEL command: panels cover the whole wall face, each marked with its number of strip connection points, with its sequence number and height dimension along the base.

Commands

Four groups of tasks in one retaining wall drawing set

All commands share one set of cross-section and strip-table data, so one change lets you redraw the whole set.

Input data

BANGNEO shows and updates the strip table. QUANLY manages the cross-section list and draws the wall face.
General arrangement

DATPANEL places panels on the face. TAO_DIM redoes the dimensions. CATBLOCK_CUTSIDE trims panels with a polyline.
Sections and plans

TAOMATCAT draws the strip sections. TAOMATBANG_THANG, VEMATBANGDUONGCONG and TAOMATBANG_CONG draw the plans.
Quantities

THONGKELOAITAMBETONG takes a window selection of the drawing and builds a table of panel types, panel count, strip types and strip count.

Schedule of concrete panel types and polymeric strips produced by VinhHungTool — The schedule: panel type, panel count, polymeric strip type, strip length and count, plus wall area and wall length.

Reference

VinhHungTool command list

Type the command name at the AutoCAD Command line after loading the tool.

Command	What it does
`BANGNEO`	Shows the current strip table (number of connection points, upper/lower group, group size, length, count, height limits) and re-imports it from Excel
`QUANLY`	Opens the cross-section manager: add, delete or paste sections, set the face data, save or open an .xml project, draw the wall face
`DATPANEL`	Select the face polyline (layer `TUONG`) to place panels automatically
`TAOMATCAT`	Select the axis lines, then pick a point to draw a series of strip layout sections
`THONGKELOAITAMBETONG`	Window-select the panels and press Enter to build the panel and strip schedule
`TAOMATBANG_THANG`	Draws the strip plan along a straight alignment
`VEMATBANGDUONGCONG`	Draws the strip plan along a circular arc
`TAOMATBANG_CONG`	Draws the strip plan along a curved polyline
`TAO_DIM`	Window-select the edited panels to redo the dimensions for the new heights
`CATBLOCK_CUTSIDE`	Trims panel blocks with a polyline and keeps the chosen side

Workflow

Producing drawings for a retaining wall section with VinhHungTool, step by step

1. Check the strip table

Type BANGNEO. The table shows the strip data in use. To update it, click Nhập Excel (Import Excel), paste all 7 columns of the strip table in the correct order and click OK.

VinhHungTool strip type table form in AutoCAD — The strip type table: each row is one strip configuration by number of connection points and wall height.

2. Enter the cross-section list

Type QUANLY. In the form:

Go to Dự án (Project) › Mở bề mặt (Open face) to open a saved .xml file, or start a new one.
Go to Mặt cắt (Section) › Thêm mặt cắt (Add section) and enter the name, top level, ground level and spacing.
If the cross sections already exist, paste the whole table from Excel.
Set KC từ mép đến đỉnh tường (the distance from the road edge down to the top of the wall, for example 170 mm) and Cao độ đặt móng (footing level).
Choose the display units and check the thumbnail below the table.

VinhHungTool cross-section manager form — The cross-section manager with a thumbnail of the wall face.

Add section dialog with name, top level, ground level and spacing — The Add section dialog.

3. Draw the wall face

Click Tạo bề mặt (Create face) and pick an insertion point. The drawing shows the section names, ground levels and face data; the red line is the inner parapet edge level and the blue polyline is the wall face. Save the project with Dự án (Project) › Lưu bề mặt (Save face).

Retaining wall face drawn from the cross-section list — The wall face once created: each section station has a table of levels and chainage below it.

4. Place the panels

Type DATPANEL and select the face polyline on layer TUONG. The tool fills the face with panels by the height of each segment and writes the number of strip connection points on each panel, the panel's sequence number in its row and the height dimension. Cut panels are named by Vinh Hung's convention, for example SL4-90: an S panel cut on the left, 4 connection points, 900 mm wide at the base.

5. Edit panels and redo the dimensions

Type CATBLOCK_CUTSIDE, select the panel blocks, the cutting polyline and the side to keep. After editing, type TAO_DIM and window-select the panels to redo the dimensions for the new heights.

Dimensions for the new heights after TAO_DIM, placed above the old dimensions — The TAO_DIM command: the top dimension row follows the edited heights, the row below is the old dimensions.

6. Draw the strip sections

Type TAOMATCAT, select the axis lines to draw, then pick the insertion point. Each section shows the wall height and the type and length of each strip.

Strip layout sections for walls 11.2 m and 11 m high — Strip layout sections for two wall heights, showing the polymeric strip type and the length of each layer.

7. Draw the strip plan

Window-select the panels to draw, choose whether the strips point up or down, then pick the command for the alignment shape:

TAOMATBANG_THANG: pick a start point; the plan runs along a straight line.
VEMATBANGDUONGCONG: select an arc in the drawing.
TAOMATBANG_CONG: select a curved polyline longer than the selected panels, then pick the start point on the polyline.

Strip lengths come from the strip table, with a length dimension for each zone.

Strip plan along a straight alignment — Plan along a straight alignment.

Strip plan along a circular arc — Plan along a circular arc.

Strip plan along a curved polyline, strips pointing down — Plan along a curved polyline, strips pointing down.

8. Schedule the quantities

Type THONGKELOAITAMBETONG, window-select the panels and press Enter. The table lists each panel type with its count, the strip type used with it, strip length and count, together with the wall area and wall length.

About the software

Developers and ownership

Name: VinhHungTool – AutoCAD tool for automatic panel layout and quantity take-off of MSE retaining walls
Version: Release delivered under the 2025 contract
Developed by: Institute of Information Technology in Civil Engineering, Hanoi University of Civil Engineering (SDC)
Client: Vinh Hung Trading, Consulting and Construction JSC
Ownership: Under the contract between the Institute and Vinh Hung; delivered with the installer and the user guide
Platform: AutoCAD 2023 (.NET) on Windows
Data exchange: Cross-section list and strip table pasted from Excel; projects saved as XML; drawings and schedules in DWG

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