Precast Frustrations

[Anonymous]

Hello all, 

I am currently working for a Precast Company coming from a Structural Engineering firm where I was a Drafter.

Having used Revit for some 13yrs, I transitioned my new place of employment from Autocad to Revit Structure to utilise the inbuilt precast features. 

I have since found that this might not have been the best option, while it is adequate for structural drawings the manufacturing side requires more detailed documentation and here is where the shortfalls are.

I have listed below a few of the issues that I have come across in the last 3 months.

Most of this relates to OOTB issues that can probably be resolved by using 3rd party add ons as well as Dynamo (Which I am pretty crap at) but these are just another expense, and time which is not readily available due to work loads.

Panel and Slab

- Panel to panel connections have limited options

- Bolted panel to panel connections are non existent

- Panel lengths are not equal when a wall is split, assemblies and parts are deleted when edit division used to create equal lengths.

- Grout tubes must be placed manually unless you use Dynamo, they do not work from configurations.

- Panel edge shapes cannot be set in the configurations

- Panel edge shapes delete assemblies after splitting when edit division used

- Solid slab parts only contain lifters in configuration (all other inserts / connections are manual)

- Solid slab connection/edge shape can't be configured before splitting and will delete assemblies and parts when altered

- Reinforcement around openings are manual (dynamo option)

- Cast in items for steel connections are manual (beam to wall connections - ferrules)

- Limited precast learning tutorials and vids are generic.

Other Precast items

- Precast does not recognise in place mass and will not add reinforcement, lifters or COG

Items I have tried to create are

- Retaining walls with base (poured as a single entity)

- Retaining walls with varying thickness

- Concrete road barriers with sloping sides

- Concrete bollards with a pyramid shape

- Box culverts with sloping internal legs (no base)

- Interlocking slabs on ground

Additionally when multiple assemblies have been created and deleted the assembly names are not sequential and have to be manually changed in the assemblies list and the shop drawings separately

Methods used are 

- Structural wall and slab for retaining walls, this does not work as it treats the items separate and reinforecment is not continuous

- Structural wall edited by edit type, modify vertical structure sweep added, sweep is not recognised as part of the wall when split, reinforcement not added to sweep section of wall (refer my other post Precast Issues, Revit Structure Forum)

- In place mass, not recognised by precast

- Conceptual mass, not recognised by precast

- Generic model, not recognised by precast. 

The last 3 have been assigned a family category of Structural Foundations or Framing in the family before importing into a project. 

I am sorry for the long winded post but I am just looking for answers/solutions.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Cheers

Shawn

[peticid]

Dear Shawn,

We really appreciate this very extensive feedback about Revit’s features for precast concrete. Some of the items mentioned by you are limitations we are aware of and are on our radar for future improvements, while others, like the ability to support generic models, are ideas which I’m sure would be beneficial to the broader community of people engaged in precast projects.

I know one of my colleagues has reached out to you to set up a call, as we would like to understand better your workflow, which of these functionalities are more important than others and, of course, to see what workarounds we can suggest you, based on the current functionalities that we provide. The latter point I’ve mentioned is because our extension has been designed to work with standard planar elements produced in highly-automated precast factories.

If I may, I propose you to post on the Revit Idea Station the features you see as contributing the most to the efficiency and versatility of the precast tools, which would help us shape a better roadmap.

Kind regards,

[peticid · Accepted solution]

There is one thing that I would like to add, when it comes to the versatility of Revit for precast concrete. As I’ve mentioned in my previous post, our precast extension supports five types of elements, manufactured on automated carousels (solid walls, solid slabs, hollow-core slabs, girder slabs and double walls).

Using the API and Revit as a platform, customization of the workflow for these elements is possible, as well as bringing automation to other types of precast elements, like beams, columns, pad foundations, TT slabs, for various modelling and detailing stages. You can read more about the role of our partners in this in this blog post.

Kind regards,

[teodorb · Accepted solution]

Hi @Anonymous ,

Here are some valuable resources for the Structural Precast Extension in Revit:

https://www.autodesk.com/autodesk-university/class/Introduction-Structural-Precast-Revit-2017

https://www.autodesk.com/autodesk-university/class/Dynamo-Structural-Precast-2018

Let me know if you need additional information.

Kind regards,

[Anonymous]

I would like to thank Bogdan and Dan for their time last week. 

The solutions they provided were very helpful.

As a tip for those trying to create an odd shape for precast use a structural wall/floormake it the width of the item you are trying to create then use cast in place voids to cut out the shape. This will then allow Revit to recognise it as a precast element for shop drawings.