Advance Concrete provides several commands and options that enable the creation of reinforcement cages for concrete structural elements.
Drawing a reinforcement plan requires caution and systematic work, especially when the structural element has an irregular form, or the reinforcement cage presents itself with particularities.
Planar elements (wall, beam) with openings of any kind or curved edges can be easily reinforced on both directions using linear distributions. Afterwards, they can be trimmed, in order to follow the exact contour of the structural element.
The "Trim distributions" command was created for this purpose and can be accessed from the "AC: Drawing" ribbon, on the "Others" tab:
To illustrate its use, a slab will be reinforced on one direction, using straight bars. The slab has a curved edge and a stair opening. There is also an entrance area where the slab contour is discontinuous.
In a reinforcement drawing with 2 views, a straight bar is created in the elevation face and afterwards it is distributed linearly in the top view, covering the whole slab contour:
To consider the slab openings, the bar distribution must be trimmed, using the specified command, but first, the user has to create polylines for the opening contours.
After the command is applied, the distribution is selected, and then the user must select the opening contour:
Afterwards, there is the possibility of setting the concrete cover value, on the command line. Clicking "Enter" validates the change.
Finally, the user must choose which side of the distribution (inside or outside the polyline) will be kept, by clicking anywhere on the drawing. Right after this, the distribution is trimmed according to the user's choices:
For the other opening in the slab, the procedure is the same:
If the position, size or geometry of an opening should change, the user only needs to change or move the corresponding polyline accordingly and the distribution trim will automatically adapt to the change.
For the curved edge of the slab a custom reinforcement will be needed, therefore the existent distribution bars in the area should be removed.
The same command can be used, but instead of selecting the opening outline, the "Bars to delete" option is chosen, using the shortcut, followed by "Enter":
Then, the user has to select the bars to remove:
