Structural Rebar Detailing Workflow

[Anonymous]

Good day

I have just started 3D rebar detailing in Revit. So far I have detailed the elements in a detached model as the central model is quite large and we are doing coordination across multi-disciplines. Initially I preferred to do it this way to keep both models light and also I prefer to work outside of the central model since the model is sensitive and could affect a lot of other people.

However, the challenge now is that there has been some updates to the central model which I need to incorporate in my detached model for the rebar detailing. I have tried to link in the updated central model, but I cannot change the host of the rebar to the new, updated concrete elements in the linked model.

What is the best way to approach detailing concrete elements as part of a big model which incorporates coordination from multi-disciplines? Is it possible to do them separately and then coordinate them somehow?

Any advice or guidance will be greatly appreciated.

Thank you.

[christian.riley]

@Anonymous -

If I understand correctly it sounds as though all trades are working live within the central model. Is this correct? In order to make the file lighter and more efficient I would definitely recommend splitting that model into trades and link them all together for coordination. 

In this example, your model would contain only the structural elements, the architectural and trade drawings could be linked in for references. This will make sure that the file size is small and manageable and that all of the hostable elements are present.

If my post answers your question, please click the "Accept as Solution" button. This helps everyone find answers more quickly!

[christian.riley]

@Anonymous

Please let us know if you need any further assistance.

[Anonymous]

Hi Christain

Thank you for the response on confirmation of creating separate models between multi-disciplines, we have done this. My concern is more related to having two separate Structural Models, one (the central model) represents the  Concrete Elements and the other (detached) houses the rebar. 

Is this a bad idea? As any changes to the concrete elements in the central model would not be reflected in the detached model. 

[scottjames121]

This has been plaguing us too.  Our formwork engineers have no problem detailing formwork in a linked model, but rebar seems to be the outlier.

For example, if our company is working on a 40 story building, we usually are pouring foundations well before the model is complete.  Usually the structural engineer only has rudimentary details for the upper floors, and we have a hundred RFI's out.  Our model is constantly being updated and it would be impractical (tons of wasted man-hours, and an invitation for errors) to draw the model twice just so we can add rebar.  Currently, it is our only hurdle left to fully commit to detailing rebar in Revit.

Is there any way this issue be resolved in the next update for Revit 2019?

[Anonymous]

 Hi scottjames121

We are experiencing the exact same challenge. I have managed to copy the rebar that was detailed in the detached model to the central model and then rehost it. This is still double work though and there is a risk of duplicating concrete elements as you have to copy the rebar together with the host and then delete it after rehosting.

This constraint definitely needs some thought. 

[Michal_Kaminski]

@christian.riley 

Revit 2021

Is there any improvement on this subject?

We are about to work on a large model of a long bridge that need to be reinforced. Due to preset workflow, we would realy need to place rebar into linked model. 

1. So, is there any possibility to model rebar in linked file?

2. Bar segments are described by parameters A B C etc. Once the model with rebar is linked to another files, these parameters are not visible and not possible to schedule. We have solved it using shared parameters and dynamo, but maybe there is a "native" way to read that parameters from linked file...?

PS

Due to sophisticated shape, geometry of the bridge has been made as Generic Model Adaptive Families. 

[kingldt]

We are also modelling rebar in the linked file. I think this is the best way to model rebar in a large project. Currently, Revit doesn't support much in modelling and detailing rebar. So we have to use a lot of tools to do it.