topic Re: Steel Rafter to Concrete connection in Revit Structure Forum

Steel Rafter to Concrete connection

smartplans — Thu, 11 Aug 2022 04:39:27 GMT

Has anyone been able to create a custom connection that allows a steel rafter to connect to a structural concrete wall like this one. It has to be parametric as the angle of the rafter may vary with roof slope..

Re: Steel Rafter to Concrete connection

jonathan_mayer — Tue, 16 Aug 2022 21:34:26 GMT

I'm stuck on the same problem.

We use a lot of end/weld plates to connect beams to pre-cast concrete tilt panels in large construction. I wanted to create a custom steel connection for the beam -> concrete wall interface and use the new Dynamo player to send those everywhere they are applicable based on ranges.

The bad news is according to Autodesk's help page, custom connections only work with steel beams and columns. Along with many other limitations.

Worse, even if the custom connection is only attached to the beam end, applying a structural connection to the framing member removes the end grips and automatically snaps the beam end to the center of the structural wall.

The "Change Reference" tool also stops working.

Leaving the only way to align the beam properly with the wall surface to zooming in and adjusting it manually, which again defeats the purpose of this whole exercise.

I've been thinking of formulating an "ideas" post for addressing this in future updates because at the moment this severely limits the possibilities for custom connections.

Re: Steel Rafter to Concrete connection

johnjmbennett — Wed, 17 Aug 2022 06:04:17 GMT

Hi,

For this you could possible try the standard base plate connection, I know in Advance steel this base connection can be placed at the top end of the beam/incline member and then set to be vertical, thye options for this also exist when transfer from AS to RVT under the connection Type.

this connection has a shorten value, that move the base plate along the beam incline line value, if it was a triangle it would be the hypotenuse. in Revit it can be adjusted using the properties of the connections, also you could create a new instance of the connection.

Re: Steel Rafter to Concrete connection

jonathan_mayer — Wed, 17 Aug 2022 21:23:26 GMT

Thank you @johnjmbennett !!

Your suggestion worked and is exactly what I was looking for!

I guess using a "column" based connection on a beam was stopping me from trying this earlier, but it's interesting to see that Revit is not upset with the 90° difference.

The baseplate connection like you said has enough variables that allows for the main plate + a leveling plate with no bolts, using projections and shortening values, to perfectly mimic a weld/end plate connection of a beam in a tilt panel wall.