Non perpendicular bridges (assemblies) ?

[iflorintheo]

I have two questions for you guys.

1. We all understand that designing highways is not simple and I don't know in your country but in my area almost all the bridges come at an angle from the alignment/corridor. Now, how can you do that in Civil 3D ?

2. Can you insert an entire shape, let's say a culvert into the design / corridor and be able to show it in the 3d view preciselly like it will be in real ? what about showing it in profiles or sections ?

[ericcollins6932]

I'm not aware of any way to attach an assembly except perpendicular to the alignment. Maybe someone else would have better insight?

[iflorintheo]

I've heard it's not possible but maybe you're doing all different and have some great ideas (beside the one with blocks).

[sboon]

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@iflorintheo wrote:

I have two questions for you guys.

1. We all understand that designing highways is not simple and I don't know in your country but in my area almost all the bridges come at an angle from the alignment/corridor. Now, how can you do that in Civil 3D ?

2. Can you insert an entire shape, let's say a culvert into the design / corridor and be able to show it in the 3d view preciselly like it will be in real ? what about showing it in profiles or sections ?

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I would suggest that you check out the Civil3D Bridge Modeler extension.  I found a Youtube video demo of it being used here.  Building a corridor to tie into a skewed abutment would be tricky.  I think it could be done using techniques similar to intersection design but I would have to experiment and see what happens.

Civil3d pipe objects will be part of the 3d model and can display as 3d solid objects if you want.  If you look closely at the upper left view of the screenshot you can see the plan view of a skew culvert under the road corridor - it's mostly hidden by the sample line.  Below that is the section view of that sample line, showing the culvert in profile, and to the right is a 3d view of the same pipe.

Steve
Please use the Accept as Solution or Kudo buttons when appropriate

[iflorintheo]

From what I know, not even Bridge Modeler can tell you how to do non perpendicular bridges.

[sboon · Accepted solution]

Check the video at 1:30  The dialog for the abutments shows a skew angle for each one, and for the piers but he doesn't use it in the demo.

Steve
Please use the Accept as Solution or Kudo buttons when appropriate

[Anonymous · Accepted solution]

The way I have done skewed bridge approaches is to build a regular corridor up to the start of the wingwall for the bridge. From there to the start of the bridge only model the pavement,curb, and/or shoulder. This will require multiple regions because the bridge deck will start on one side before the other side. To model the slope around the bridge abutment and wingwalls I use elevations from the structure plans to create feature lines of the important points. You can then use the grading tools to model the abutment and all the slopes around the bridge abutment. As an alternative you could make contours around the bridge abutment but since the slopes are usually variable around the abutment it would take a long time to draw in contours.

[BrianHailey]

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@iflorintheo wrote:

From what I know, not even Bridge Modeler can tell you how to do non perpendicular bridges.

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Sure it can. HERE is a bridge I created for a demo in C3D using the bridge tools.

[sboon]

Well I was interested in this, and I was going to take another look at the Bridge Modeler to see how you did it but apparently it's not part of Civil3d 2014 - only available with the Infrastructure Suite. (Premium or Ultimate)

Steve
Please use the Accept as Solution or Kudo buttons when appropriate

[iflorintheo]

it's available only on subscription directly from the website.

[JeffPaulsen]

Are you guys referring to the Autodesk Bridge Module? I found it HERE but I don't have 2014 installed to try it.

[BrianHailey]

Jeff, 

Do you have the Infrastructure Design Suite? According to THIS Autodesk website, it's only available to suite users on subscription.

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Bridge Module**

Model bridges and bridge components.

**AutoCAD Civil 3D 2014 is included in Infrastructure Design Suite 2014 Premium and Ultimate editions. This module is only available to Infrastructure Design Suite 2014 Premium and Ultimate edition, Subscription users and is not available in stand-alone AutoCAD Civil 3D 2014 software.

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[JeffPaulsen]

Yes. We upgraded two of our C3D licenses a year or so ago when it was free.

I wanted to make sure I found the correct product enhancement on the subscription site. Everyone was calling it Bridge Modeler.

[BrianHailey]

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@JeffPaulsen wrote:

Yes. We upgraded two of our C3D licenses a year or so ago when it was free.

I wanted to make sure I found the correct product enhancement on the subscription site. Everyone was calling it Bridge Modeler.

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Yup, that's the one being discussed.