2011 Grade Beam Best Practice

[ronsarlo]

Best Practice for Grade Beams
The threads I have found seem rather old and I'm certain revit has evolved since.

I'm trying to figure out the best practice method of embedding grade beams within my slabs.
- I would like to model my slab as designed (200, 350 or 600 etc.)
- I would like to model my grade beams as designed (300x600, 750x1000 etc).
- I would like my model material volumes accurate as we intend to scale up to eventually do material take-offs.


If I use concrete beams, then the beams and Floor (slab) automatically join themselves in 3D.
This is a good sign I think.
Unfortunately, it becomes a light solid line in Plan View.

If I use Foundation Slabs or Walls, then they will intersect (and take precedence) with the Floor (slab) in 3D.

Both methods seem to require me to use the join tool to fix linework when taking sections.

If I use Foundation Slabs and join it to my Floor Slab, the Foundation slab will take precedence in 3D.
It becomes a hidden line in Plan View (this is good).

If I use Walls and join it to my Floor slab, Floor Slab will take precedence in 3D.
The wall will dissapear in plan view.



Ideally, I think I'd like Beams to work.
- When embedded, have them automatically show up as hidden in Plan View


Your opinions would be greatly appreciated.

cheers,

[Craig_L]

Go to your "manage" ribbon and select "object styles"
Here you can set the display preferences, and I would recommend setting up view templates to automatically drive these for you, it takes some time to set them up initially, but in the long run they will save you a ton of time during documentation.

For what you are trying to set though, scroll down to structural framing. The line weights, colour, and line patterns will all depend on your company and documentation standards.
Mine is a template I have created for 1:100 GA plans. Here I have set "structural framing" specifically the sub-category of this "hidden faces" & "hidden lines" to
lineweight 4 (proj & cut). Line colour yellow, line pattern dash.
As I said tho, these settings will need to be customised to your company documentation standards. That should make things automatic for you, and document correctly every time.

[ronsarlo]

Ok, view templates sound fine, it's something I'm building as I go.
Good suggestions.


Could you guys help me clarify which method Revit handles grade beams?
I'm sure it was designed 1 of these, but it's never been made clear to me.

Structural Slab
or
Wall
or
Beam

thanks!

[scowsert]

Ok, view templates sound fine, it's something I'm building as I go.
Good suggestions.


Could you guys help me clarify which method Revit handles grade beams?
I'm sure it was designed 1 of these, but it's never been made clear to me.

Structural Slab
or
Wall
or
Beam

thanks!

I typically model mine as Structural Slabs. They aren't walls, I suppose they could be beams but they tend to clean up funky.

[ronsarlo]

Structural Slab makes sense, that would be controllable since it's different from my Slab (floors).

But what about the sloped concrete beams supporting a parkade slab?

[Rodan2000]

Currently, we use a beam family that has a sub-category of "Concrete - Grade Beams". We can set the material in Object Styles and override the Projection Lines with V/G overrides in plan. The material takeoffs are separate for Foundations and Framing, so it's not ideal. I'm willing to figure out best practices for grade beams ASAP.

The only issue we have ran into with using beams is exporting to IFC/Revit. If the client doesn't know that the grade beam is actually modeled and categorized under Structural Framing, they could be discouraged in trying to hide/override it. Also, when exporting to IFC it still categorizes it under a IfcBeam even though we changed the export type to IfcFooting in the export settings.