General information on creating bridge and civil engineering components

Creating a bridge or civil engineering component involves the following three steps:

Paths can be defined directly in the bridge and civil engineering component tool or imported using external files. You can create these import files in Allplan or other programs. In addition, ASCII files created manually can be used.

Path and station points

A path transferred from Allplan, for example, must be continuous and may not include any break or branches. It may consist of the following elements:

Individual 2D elements (lines, circles (ellipses), segments of circles (segments of ellipses), splines, clothoids)
Composite element consisting of 2D elements
Individual 3D elements or 3D surfaces
3D road location line from a site plan

The path can be open or closed and does not have to be planar. Curved elements (circles, ellipses, splines and clothoids) are approximated polygonally so that the station points can be modified.

If you have already created stations, they can be transferred to the bridge and civil engineering component tool.
Individual 2D elements, composite elements consisting of 2D elements or 3D road location lines from a site plan (station points are assigned a height) can already be stationed in Allplan.

If you do not use a route from Allplan or any other program, you can use individual station points to define the path in the bridge and civil engineering component tool.
In addition to the x, y and z coordinates, you specify the angle of rise, the angle in plan and the station. You can define a route profile by entering the height and height curvature for individual corner points. The program uses this profile to automatically determine the z coordinate and the angle of rise in all the station points.

Note: You can define several, independent paths (routes).

The required cross-sections can be defined in the bridge and civil engineering component tool or taken from symbol catalogs. The cross-sections are assigned to the individual station points. It is important that all cross-sections have the same number of points.

Entering cross-sections

You can use the Cross-Section Definition tool to enter a cross-section for the selected station point.
You can create cross-sections by entering coordinates of individual points or any outlines. In addition, Allplan provides various predefined cross-sections. You can define these cross-sections by specifying their dimensions.
You can also use cross-sections you have designed and saved as symbols in Allplan or cross-sections from any symbol catalog.
After you have confirmed your entries, the program calculates the coordinates of the points.

If you have not yet modified a corner after creating a predefined cross-section, you can change its dimensions using the Modify cross-section tool.

By defining several cross-sections you can cut out regions of existing cross-sections or combine several cross-sections. In addition, you can create cross-sections that consist of parts of other cross-sections.

You can select and edit existing points by clicking a cross-section point in the tree structure or by clicking a point in the graphics area.
When you insert additional cross-sections, the point clicked is used as the reference point.

Note: Based on the min-max box of the cross-section, the reference point for new cross-sections is always centered at the top and can be modified. The reference point and the x, y and z coordinates of the station point are the same.
The reference point is only of relevance when you want to enter additional cross-sections.

The component data can be written to an Excel file or transferred to Allplan‘s 3D designer, which creates the bridge/civil engineering component based on the path and the cross-sections in the station points. This component contains all the information you have defined in the bridge and civil engineering component tool. The component is attached to the crosshairs and can be placed in the workspace.
If you want to modify the component, you can re-import it into the bridge and civil engineering component tool without having to convert it first.

The component created with Allplan's 3D designer can be converted using the

Convert Elements tool and edited using any modification tool. When you do not convert it, the options provided for editing are limited.
Note, however, that the component loses its association with the bridge and civil engineering component tool when you convert it.