Modeling Foundations...

[gposton]

OK, I am starting to try and apply Revit Structure to an actual project in our office. So far the framing stuff has been pretty simple (yes - I have just done the basics, so it SHOULD have been simple...) and now I am looking at how to put in foundation. Right now I am assuming that it will be slab-on-grade (very typical for our projects) with an exterior grade beam. The columns would be supported by drilled piers with a square/rectangular pier cap.

As for now I am looking at using just a concrete beam for the grade beam and creating a family for the concrete drilled piers (probably something similar to a column). I can create a seperate family for the cap, or include it in the family for the pier - not sure yet.

My issues have mostly with the graphics and how they will show in plan. I can get the beams to "link together", but even if I just put a concrete column in for the pier now - there is a line showing up at the intersection of the beam and the column. Of course if I try a footing there, the beams will show into the footing...I guess I am wonderig if there is a way to get the beam and the pier cap to show as one piece in the plan view...

Ok, that was a bit of a long question - hope I didnt confuse you guys...thanks in advance

[Paul Andersen]

While not the ideal solution your best bet for now is a combination of the join geometry tool and/or the linework tool with invisible lines to clean up the intersecting lines. Be advised that certain operations can wipe out your linework and the linework is view specific and won't copy to other views.

A suggestion for your grade beam that can be applied to some of the other families your are considering would be to copy the concrete beam family and rename it to grade beam for example. Open the new family and under settings -> object styles create a new subcategory and name it grade beam. Right Click -> Properties on the sweep and change it's subcategory under identity data to grade beam. You can also select family types from the design bar and change the assembly code under identity data to something more appropriate like A10. I also believe if you dig deep enough they have an assembly code for grade beams.

The subcategory will give you better control of the grade beams in your model as you will be able to turn them off or override some of their settings independently of all of your other structural framing. Down the road if you want your grade beams to display differently, add different parameters etc. you can do so independently of your concrete beam. Hope this helps.

[belyo]

i'm going to tack this question to this thread... i'm an architect using revit building and the engineer is using structure. i'd like for the "S" objects to show and everything is working great, except for grade beams. when i go into the "S" link and make it so i can turn off the "S" walls (that he copied/monitored from me), i loose the grade beams...

what does he have to do so that i can turn off his copied walls, but keep the grade beams, for my sections...?

[Tom Weir]

belyo,
It sounds like the grade beams were made using foundation walls, so they turn off when the wall category is turned off.
So you could ask the engineer to use concrete beams instad of walls.

Tom Weir
Los Angeles

[belyo]

is that easy a change? just "select all" and change?

[kmarsh]

Regarding the first questions from gposton:
I'd also suggest checking the material types of each of the elements you do a "join geometry" on. If the materials are, for instance, set to "concrete cast in place" and "concrete cast in place - 3ksi" the geometries will "join" but there will be a line where the material changes type. Changing both to the same material type will cause these material break lines to disappear.

I'd also suggest looking at it in 3d, maybe with the section box turned on and cropped down to just this intersection so that you can look at the geometry and see what it's doing in 3d.

If you have some extra time, you could make a separate file and remove all but this condition and post it here so that others could see what you're looking at.

[Thomas Maleski]

I'm looking at this post and have a few questions.

I've been using walls for grade beams. The reason is that I could

use either the draw or pick option
set the location line quickly
apply an offset
dont need different depths, just widths
cons:

because a wall is a system family, use can't create a new object style and apply it to the wall type grade beam. So you have to apply linework.
Using the concrete beam method:

Pros:

I can create a Object Style called Grade Beam with different lineweights
Cons:

Each width/depth combination must be created
Cant draw from the face of a wall For example, I have a 16" wide GB, flush outside face of wall. You must draw the GB first and then align it.
No pick option
What's are some of your comments, I would like to know.

[Paul Andersen]

Looking at your pro/con lists it appears that walls work best for your purpose. I would recommend using filters to override the object styles of walls that are acting as grade beams instead of using the linework tool.

This would eliminate your only con and would hold up better and also be quicker to apply to other views. You can also build the filter and grade beam wall types into your project and view templates to save even more time.

[CeeVee]

One con I've found when using wall type grade beams is that downstream consultants see it as a wall. This happens when I send off my model to the quantitiy surveyor and also if I export to IFC for others. Hence I am using a concrete beam family instead...

Regards, Charles