Creating Substructure Functional Components in Open Bridge … · 2019-09-17 · 2. Use Equal Distance constraint to define the symmetrical parts of the pier. 3. After selecting the

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Practice Workbook This workbook is designed for use in Live instructor-led training and for OnDemand self-study. The explanations and demonstrations are provided by the instructor in the classroom, or in the OnDemand videos for this course available on the Bentley LEARN Server (learn.bentley.com).

Creating Substructure Functional Components in Open Bridge Modeler

Version 10.07.00.xxx or newer

TRNC01xxx-1/0001

Copyright © 2019 Bentley Systems, Incorporated DO NOT DISTRIBUTE – Printing for student use is permitted 2

Modeling a Parametric Pier

Description

In this exercise, you will perform tasks related to modeling a parametric pier that we can place inside OBM. We will first define step by step the parametric object, then we will define the relations between some parameters and intrinsic variables in OBM. Finally, we will see how to place the support into a bridge and, modify inside OBM some of the parameters. The pier will look as:

Skills Taught

How to use Constraints in 2D and setup some parameters

How to define solids

How to define 3D Constraints

Using parametric support in OBM


Exercise 1: Create a file and define the skeleton of the pier

1. Start OpenBridge Modeler

2. Select the Metric Standards Workspace.

3. Create a new 3D file from the Seed3D – Metric Design.dgn file provided in the software, and name it: MyPier.dgn.

4. Setup the views as shown below, we will first work in Front View:


5. Select Drawing > Drawings Aids > Define ACS by Front Plane, and define origin as XY=0,0,0. This will be the origin of the parametric cell and will be the center top of the pier.

In order to define the origin point:

6. Check that key-in window is displayed:

7. If not, type in the Help window: Key-in

8. when prompted for origin for the ACS, type in the key-in window xy=0,0,0


9. Select Drawing > Home > Primary > Level Manager to create a new level: Help Lines to hide the construction lines at placement.

10. Make Help Lines the active level.

11. Select File > Settings > File > Design File Settings. Setup the Grid to Grid Master =0.2 and Grid Reference= 5, you can also

type in the key-in view: GU=0.2, GR=5.


12. Then, display the Grid and Constraints in View 1.


13. Place 3 lines as shown below. The vertical one will be the Vertical Reference, the horizontal line will be the Horizontal

Reference, and the Sloped Line will indicate the top slope of the cap. All three points meet at 0,0,0 as indicated by the ACS Triad in the image. Hint: Enable Grid Lock Modeling>Drawing Aids>Locks>Grid to simplify placing the lines.


14. Draw the construction lines for the pier. This will indicate the beginning and end of each column, as well as two lines representing

the middle of the cap and the middle of the footing:



Exercise 2: First constraints

5. Select the Drawing > Constraints ribbon tab. These are the constraints to be applied while creating the parametric cell, first in 2D.

6. The first constraint is to fix the global reference line which is the Vertical Reference. For that, fix both endpoints of the Vertical

Reference.

7. In order to fix the line, after selecting the function, move the cursor above the element to fix and closer to the end point you want to fix,

a small square appear on the nearest end point. Accept by clicking on it.

8. Repeat for the second endpoint of the Vertical Reference.

Note: To remove a placed constraint, hover over the constraint, and when the constraint changes color, press the right mouse button. Select Remove Constraint

Vertical Reference

Horizontal Reference


9. Then, we will constrain the other lines, first by defining coincident points

10. First, move the cursor above the Vertical Reference element at the origin point and give a datapoint.

11. Then, move the cursor on the second element, the Horizontal Reference, and accept on the coincident point. Repeat the same

process for the Slope Reference.


12. Define that the Horizontal Reference will remain horizontal for their parametric behavior, by using the Perpendicular constraint.

13. Select first the Vertical Reference, then select the second element, the Horizontal Reference and accept it.

14. Then, define the sloped element representing the top of the cap. First, define a new local variable by selecting fx from the

Constraints > Dimensional ribbon menu.

15. Select Local Variables, then select New icon and fill as shown. Close the dialog box when done.


16. Attach the defined variable to an angle dimension. OBM can assign automatically the slope of the deck (superelevation) to a variable.

In that case, the angle transmitted is the angle measured from the Vertical Reference. Select the Angle constraint.

17. Select as the first line, the Vertical Reference, and as second line the Sloped Reference. A dimension should appear near the

cursor.


18. When defining the point of placement for the dimension line, we have access to a menu listing all variables. Select Slope Angle then

press Enter. That will modify the angle value of the line.

Note: To delete a previously place dimension, hover over the dimension, and when the dimension changes color, press the right mouse button. Select Remove Dimension.


Exercise 3: Constraining constructions lines for columns, cap and footing

1. Constrain the lines placed for column, cap and footing definition. This first constraint will be to fix the intersection points between the drawn lines using Constraints> Coincidence:

2. Use Equal Distance constraint to define the symmetrical parts of the pier.

3. After selecting the function, select first the Vertical Reference (1), then select the two vertical elements (2) and (3). A dimension line

EQ/EQ should appear and placed it between the lines as shown below.

4. Repeat the same function with the lower vertical lines, using the same Vertical Reference.


5. Define that all the small vertical lines remain vertical by using the Parallel constraint relative to the Vertical Reference. Repeat the

command for all 4 vertical lines, selecting the vertical reference first each time.

6. Enter two more variables, to input the theoretical distance between the ends of both columns at the top and at the bottom. Add the

following variables:


Top Column Delta = 8m

Bottom Column Delta = 12m

7. Assign these variables to the length of the horizontal lines (top and bottom parts of the column) indicating the distance between column ends. Select Dimensional > By Element.

8. Define that the footing will remain horizontal, constraining it to be Perpendicular to the small vertical lines.

9. Add the two center lines of the columns. Then, use the Coincident constraint such that each end of the columns (top and bottom)

centerlines remain at the intersection of the small vertical and horizontal lines.


10. Define the orientation of the top line representing the cap centerline. Constraint it to be parallel to the sloped line.

11. Finally, test the result by modifying the variable values.



Exercise 4: Modeling and Constraining the Cap and Footing

In this Exercise, 2D elements representing the cap and the footing will be drawn, constrained and have dimensions applied to them.

1. Define a new level that will be used for modeling, with a specific symbology and make it the active level:

2. Draw two blocks on that level as shown below:


3. Constrain the footing block as it will remain a horizontal rectangle during modifications. First, indicate that the top line of the footing is Parallel to the middle construction line. Then, constrain that the bottom line of the footing to be Parallel to the top line of the same footing. This will lead into the following:

4. Constrain as Perpendicular the vertical lines of the footing block to the horizontal ones (3 corners are enough to constrain the

rectangle block to remain a rectangle).

5. Define a new variable for the Footing Thickness.

6. Define an Equal Distance constraint from the center line of the footing (1) to top (2) and bottom line (3). Then, place a By Element

dimensional constraint to the side element (4) assigning it the variable Footing Thickness.


7. Define a new variable for the length of the footing.

8. Establish an Equal Distance constraint from the Vertical Reference (not shown) between side lines (2) (3). Then, use By Element

dimensional constraint to assign the Footing Length variable to the length of the footing (4).


9. Constraint the Cap. Define that the sides are always vertical (parallel to the Vertical Reference), and that the bottom and top lines remain parallel to each other. For that use the Parallel constraint and set as reference the Vertical Reference line(1,3) and assign parallelism to both sides(2,4). Then, set the top(5) and bottom(6) lines to be parallel.

10. Introduce a new constraint, Equal.

11. Indicate that both sides of the cap have the same element length using the Equal constraint.

12. The cap should rotate when sloped, so assign slope to it. Indicate that the center line of the cap(1) is Parallel to the bottom line(2).


13. Define that the center line (1), is at the center,by using the Equal Distance constraint applied to the top and bottom(2),(3) line relative to the center line(1).

14. Define new variables for the Cap Length (10m) and the pier height Hpier (14m).

15. Use the By Element dimensional constraint to set the length of the cap to the line representing the bottom of the cap. Use the

previously defined variable for the desired length.

16. Compute the elevation difference between the center point of the cap and the edge of the cap. Assign this value to a variable. For that

use Expression and Expression builder. After defining the variable name, press the button Expression.


17. With Expression Builder open, in the right part of the window, wrtite the full expression of the variable. The variables used in the

expression can be double clicked in the left panel, as well as the mathematical signs in the top. Standard trigonometric expression can also be used.

18. When the expression is defined test it, by either pressing return at the end of the expression or by clicking on Test. “Expression is

valid” will be returned. Press OK when done.


19. Using the Distance dimensional constraint, assign the DeltaSlopedCap variable to the dimension of the vertical distance between the origin(1) and top edge of the Cap(2). In the Tool Settigns Window, set the Alignment to Drawing and move the cursor to beyond the right edge of the cap to force the vertical dimension.

20. Using the Distance dimensional constraint, assign the height of the pier to the distance from the same origin point to the bottom line

of the footing.


21. Define the Cap Height variable, then use the By Element dimensional constraint to assign the Cap Height variable to the cap vertical

line.



Exercise 5: Test and Error correction

1. Test the structure by modifying the different values of the variables.

2. Modify the slope angle variable to a value over 90°, so the lower point of the cap will be on right and not on left

Note: that we don’t get what expected. The right point is the lower point, but the pivot point is the edge of the cap and not the center. The dimension is always positive, so the top point of the edge of the cap cannot be used. Instead reference the bottom point of the cap which has no chance to be higher than the origin for standard values of superelevation. If this is not the case, another method should be used. One would be to add a fifth point in the middle and constraint it to origin, other constraints will ensure that it remains in the middle.

3. Reset the Slope Angle variable value to 85 to go back to the previous state and remove the dimension DeltaSlopedCap. To do so, hover over the dimension, and when the dimension changes color, press the right mouse button. Select Remove Dimension.


4. Edit the variable for the new dimension value.

5. Apply the Distance dimensional constraint between origin and bottom right corner of the cap. In the Tool Settigns Window, set the

Alignment to Drawing and move the cursor to beyond the right edge of the cap to force the vertical dimension.

6. Check now that everything works with different values of the sloped angle variable.


Exercise 6: Modeling 3D Elements

1. Give a 3D aspect to our object. First, define variables for the width of the cap and the width of the footing. It will be used as a symetrical projection. Use the half width as a variable.

2. Working in the isometric view, select the Modeling > Solids tab.

3. Select the Extrude tool. Use the following parameters for distance, by assigning half of the cap width variable in both directions


4. Data point on the 2D Cap, and accept.

5. Do the same for the footing by assigning Half of Footing width variable.

6. Define a new variable for the Column Diameter.


7. Create columns by using the Extrude Along tool.

8. Select the variable Column Diameter for the outer diameter. Set the remaining values as shown below.


9. Select the line representing the centerline of the column and accept. Do the same for both columns.

10. Set the level of both columns to level Pier.

11. Try modifying the Diameter value. You will notice that the columns are not updated. The parametric value was not set to extrusion. It needs to be redefined.


12. Define a new variable: Column Radius equal to half of the column diameter. Also set the variable to Hidden as the designer using the

parametric cell will only need to modify the Column Diameter variable.


13. Use Drawing > Constraints > Dimensional > By Element and pick the circle, which is the profile of the column, and assign it to the Column Radius variable. Also, set the Alignment to True. Repeat for the other column.

14. Try a few new values for the Column Diameter to verify it now works correctly. Set the variable back to 2m when done.

15. Use Boolean function found on the Modeling > Solids tab Subtract to remove the extra part of the column inside the footing and the cap. Select the column first, then the cap. Accept the selection with a data point.


16. Repeat previous step for the other 3 overlapping column ends.

17. Review the finished model of the parametric pier.


Exercise 7: Setting up the Pier for OBM Usage

18. Close the MyPier.dgn file.

19. Using the Windows Explorer, copy the file Mypier.dgn to Mypier.cel.

20. Open the file Mypier.cel with OpenBridge Modeler, then open the Models dialog.

21. Right click on the model and display the properties.

22. Rename the “Default” model to “2 Column Pier”.

23. Verify that this model Can be placed as a Cell.

24. Set the Cell type to Parametric.


25. Select the Parametric Cell tab from the OpenBridge Modeler workflow.

26. Use the Assign Tag tool to tag elements for quantities. Separate the pier to specific elements as Cap, Columns and Footing.


27. Use the Variable Mapping icon to assign the appropriate parametric cells variables to the intrinsic OBM variables.

28. Select a variable from left and move it on top of the right part at the proper section. Select OK when done assigning variables.

29. Use the File > Save As command to make a copy of the cell library. Navigate to the folder shown below, then create a new folder

called Functional Components. C:\ProgramData\Bentley\OpenBridge Modeler CONNECT Edition\Configuration\Organization-Civil\_Civil Default Standards - Metric\Bridge Templates


30. Open the folder, then save your cell library to this new folder.

31. In order to have access to the parametric cells, the path to the Pier Cell list in the Configuration Variables list needs to be modified. Go to File > Settings > Configuration > Configuration Variables.

32. Set the search value to OBM_P .


33. Select Edit… to modify the variable. Change the variable as shown by adding the following text:

$(CIVIL_ORGANIZATION_STANDARDS)Bridge Templates\Functional Components\*.cel

34. Exit OpenBridge Modeler.


Exercise 8: Use of Parametric Custom Piers

1. Start OpenBridge Modeler.

2. Set the Workspace and Workset as shown.

3. Open the file shown below.

4. Delete the piers that are currently in the model.

5. Select OpenBridge Modeler > Home > Substructure > Place Custom.

6. The newly created pier should appear in the list box.


7. Select a SupportLine and reset, the parametric pier is placed under the bridge deck.

8. Remove the level help lines if they appear using MicroStation commands or turn off the Help Lines level.

Note: If there is a need to delete the pier and replace by a different one with the same name, be careful as parametric cells are stored hidden in the file. Then, after deleting a parametric cell, compress the file (File>Tools>Compress File) and remove the unused cells definition, otherwise it will use this definition instead of the new one from the cell library.

Documents

Creating Substructure Functional Components in Open Bridge … · 2019-09-17 · 2. Use Equal Distance constraint to define the symmetrical parts of the pier. 3. After selecting the