Stirrups connected to Cast in material

It happens often when the designer needs to insert stirrups or bars around the cast in material. Previously, the designer needed to manually insert the stirrups or bars around the cast in material in element. 

In IMPACT 17, we automated the process of inserting stirrups and we improved the Cast in material definitions. We added a new tab called "Reinforcement" and it is now possible to connect the stirrups or bars to the cast in material definition and to insert both components in element at the same time. 

Figure 1 - Preview in Cast in material definition of Stirrup connected to cast in material 

Name: The name of the connection between stirrup and cast in material

Description: The description of the connection between stirrup and cast in material 

Default: If there is a default configuration, then the option needs to be checked

Element Type: The element type where the configuration will be inserted 

New: Creates new configuration

Delete: Deletes a configuration 

Pick Reinforcement: Allows the user to pick the reinforcement from model

The stirrup connected to the cast in materials can be inserted for the following element type: Solid wall, Insulated wall, Sandwich wall, Double wall, Beam, Prestressed beam, Column, Solid slab, Prestressed slab, Hollow core, Form slab, Prestressed Form slab, Linked element, Prestressed Linked element. 

Figure 2 - Element types that can be used when connecting stirrups with cast in material

How it works

First of all, one needs to create a cast in material definition. Once the cast in material definition is created, one can define which stirrups should be connected with the cast in material. 

It is also possible to define more stirrup configurations for the same cast in material definition. 

Figure 3 - Multiple stirrups configuration for the same cast in material definition

To define which stirrups needs to be connected with the cast in material, one needs to have drawn in advance the stirrups. Once the stirrups are drawn, one can pick the reinforcement from model. 

Click on the configuration that needs to pick the stirrups for and then click on "Pick reinforcement" option. Then go into your model and pick the stirrups. 

If the configuration is created on Local or Common level, then this is a one time job and it doesn't need to be configured every time in each project. 

Figure 4 - Picking stirrups from model

Now that we have defined the stirrups connected to the cast in material, you are ready to use different commands and to have the stirrups inserted in the same time when the CIM is inserted into element. 

As long as the stirrups or bars are connected to the cast in material definition, those can be added with the following IMPACT Revit functions: Draw element, Draw Cast in material, CIM templates, Smart CIM, Draw corbel, Insert connection, Insert/Update lift and Restore lift. 

In the following example, we are going to use Draw element command. As mentioned before, configuring the stirrups connected to Cast in material is a one time job. In this example, we created the configuration on Common level, and we will draw an element in a new project. 

Figure 5 - The configuration is created on Common level

Figure 6 - Drawing elements with stirrups connected to Cast in material

In Draw cast in material command, we also added a new field called "Reinforcement". This helps the user to select between the stirrups configurations that are defined in Cast in material definition for the corresponding Cast in material definition. 

Figure 7 - Stirrup connected to CIM configurations in Draw cast in material

For the other IMPACT commands mentioned before, where it is possible to use the Stirrups connected to Cast in materials, all you need is to have the Reinforcement configuration created in the CIM definition and then when running the commands it will automatically insert the stirrups. 

Below we highlight an example by using the CIM template command. We configure the CIM template as we usually do and then we apply the CIM template. 

Figure 8 - Inserting Stirrups connected to Cast in material by applying CIM template