Bentley Colleague Blogs

Blog Post: MX Data Acquisition Tool

Jason.Walsh — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 10:11:00 GMT

Hi All

We have recently been getting queries into the help desk asking how to bring certain surveys into MX that aren't listed in MX>File>Import. The tool to use for this is the Data Acquisition tool.

Data Acquisition compiles information from the following sources:

Field Data Formats:

InRoads Text Import Wizard (.tiw)
InRoads Intermediate (.fwd)
GEOPAK (.obs)
Tripod Data Systems (.rw5 & .raw)
Leitz-Sokkia SDR33 (.sdr)
Trimble Link (.job)
Trimble DC (.dc)
Leica Data Pro (.gsi)
Leica DBX (.xcf)
Field Genius (.dbf)
LandXML 1.2
CAiCE Project File (.pt4)
CAiCE SRV (.srv)
CAiCE KCPRaw Neutral (.kcp)
CAiCE KCM (.kcm)
SDMS (.prj, .cal, .pac)
Geodimeter 500 (.dat) Please Note: At this time, User Defined Sequencing is not supported.
SMI V6 & V7 (.raw)
Wildsoft2 GIF-10 (.fld)

Digital Elevation Model Raster Files:

DTED
ERDAS IMG
Spot Dimap
USGS DEM
USGS STDS
GeoTiff

Terrain Model Formats:

GEOPAK TIN
InRoads DTM
MX FIL
LandXML 1.2
LIDAR XYZ files
LIDAR LAS files
MicroStation Point Cloud element (Note: This option is available with the V8i SELECTseries 2 products)

On the page at the link below you can find videos running through various feature of the Data Acquisition tool.

http://communities.bentley.com/products/road___site_design/w/road_and_site_design__wiki/data-acquisition-support-videos.aspx

To transfer the survey to MX you need to select Export to MX in the right click menu as shown below. This function is available for Field Books and Surfaces.

When you click MX modelfile you will have to browse to the model.fil of the project and the model will be exported to a model with the same name. Field Book will export to a string model and Surfaces will export to a triangulation model.

Any questions, please add comments to this post, or drop me a mail at jason.walsh@bentley.com or call us on 0808 1019246.

Blog Post: What is New & Changed in LEAP Bridge Enterprise V8i (SELECTseries 3) Release 11.00.00, November 2011

shri.bhide — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 16:16:00 GMT

What is New & Changed in LEAP Bridge Enterprise V8i (SELECTseries 3) Release 11.00.00, November 2011

CONTENTS

LEAP Bridge v11.00.00
LEAP CONSPAN v11.00.00
LEAP CONBOX v11.00.00
LEAP RC-PIER v11.00.00
LEAP GEOMATH v11.00.00
Upgrade Instructions

LEAP Bridge V8i Enterprise is a consolidation of all configurations of LEAP Bridge (i.e. LB Suite, LB Precast and LB Cast-in-Place). This single executable integrates CONSPAN, RC-PIER, CONBOX and GEOMATH. LEAP Bridge V8i Enterprise also consolidates all country codes (currently USA, Canada and India) into one application and installer.

NOTE for existing users of LEAP Bridge Suite, LEAP Bridge Precast and LEAP Bridge Cast-in-Place: Due to the change in Licensing, you will be contacted by your Bentley Account Manager or you may contact one of our LEAP Bridge sales representatives; Maria Vega at +1 (954) 343-9308 to guide you through the transition process smoothly. A technical demonstration of the features within the LEAP Bridge Enterprise package can be scheduled at your convenience as well.

LEAP Bridge V8i (SELECTseries 3) v11.00.00 incorporates the following enhancements and fixes to itself and its component programs:

LEAP Bridge Enterprise v11.00.00.24

Enhancements:

Supports Canadian Highway Bridge Design Code, CHBDC
New Drawing Tab: Automatically generate DGN drawings
- Straight, curved, offset, and skewed bridges
- Precast, prestressed I-girders, adjacent boxes, and spread boxes
- Specify DGNLIB, levels, and seed filesView, zoom, pan and print generated drawings in LEAP Bridge Drawing tab
- Open DGN files in MicroStation for further processing
- Drawings offered:

ü Bridge Plan and Elevation

ü Framing Plan

ü Bridge Cross-Section

ü Abutment elevation and cross-sections (Concrete outline only)

ü Precast, prestressed girder elevation and cross-sections

ü Multi-column pier elevation and cross-sections

ü Hammerhead pier elevation and cross-sections

Import roadway geometry directly from GEOPAK, InRoads, and MXROAD files
Import ground data (DTM) directly from GEOPAK and InRoads files
Option to auto-compute beam seats to keep top of pier cap straight
Support for Inverted-Tee pier cap in ABC wizard, 2D and 3D graphics
Well Foundation (India version) support in ABC wizard and graphics
Enabled ProjectWise usage from components in LEAP Bridge environment

LEAP CONSPAN v11.00.00

Enhancements:

Supports Canadian Highway Bridge Design Code, CHBDC
New option to auto-design all beams, strands and stirrups
Updated FDOT rating options as per new guidelines (Sept. 2011)
In the Live Loads Library[SB1] an option to copy “Permit” to “Legal” and vice-versa.

Fixes:

The following issues have been fixed:

The option to include graphics in the report was incorrectly flagging Service 1 Final Stresses.
For continuous spans, Live load reactions under LRFD were incorrectly adding the reaction due to Fatigue Truck.

LEAP RC-PIER v10.00.02

Enhancements:

Supports Canadian Highway Bridge Design Code, CHBDC
Inverted T pier caps (AASHTO LRFD)
Well Foundation (IRC)
Automatic generation of seismic loads (IRC)
Ability to define approach slab in Superstructure Parameters dialog box
Cap and Column tab now show plan, elevation, and cross section details. Also, users can graphically check the reinforcement details at specific locations.

Fixes:

The following issues have been fixed:

Incorrect calculation of minimum pile reaction
Incorrect automatic generation of Water Current load
Incorrect values of M_ux and M_uz reported under File|Print
Incorrect generation of water load for HFL and LWL levels (IRC)
Inability to select end hook type for reinforcing bars in isolated footings
Program did not print loads defined on footing in the final printout

LEAP CONBOX v10.00.02

Enhancements:

Supports Canadian Highway Bridge Design Code, CHBDC

Fixes:

The following issues have been fixed:

Program crash while editing Parts in Cross-section dialog
Variable cross-section columns were reset to constant cross-section columns after round-trip to LB
CONBOX – IRC
- Incorrect design vehicle combinations for a given carriageway width
- Incorrect calculation of Live Load moment from Tuck/Lane moment reports
- Incorrect Impact Factor
- Min Av/S not reported under Design Results
- Incorrect design vehicle selection for one-lane bridge
- Mismatch between Av/S (Min, Reqd, Provd) reported under Design Results and Detailed Shear Capacity report
- Impact Factor is set to zero for Custom Live Load
- Incorrect calculation of Av/S_Min & Vs_Min

LEAP GEOMATH v10.00.02

Fixes:

Some minor changes for enhanced LEAP Bridge compatibility.

Upgrading from LEAP Bridge v10.x, v9.x, v8.x or v7.x

Make a backup copy of your modified default libraries (in the /Lib folder) by copying the files to a different location other than the original folder.
Run the downloaded setup file.
Follow the on-screen instructions and install the program. The program will automatically be installed in the existing LEAP Bridge folder. The existing license key will be transferred automatically to LEAP Bridge v10.00.02 without any further authorization action required by the user.
Restore the back-up copies of the libraries (created in step 1 above) to the LEAP Bridge folder.

[SB1]Delete? I see v10.00.02.19 has LL library.

Blog Post: MX V8i How to add Cut and Fill Hatching to Plans and Longsections

Jason.Walsh — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 15:53:00 GMT

Hi All.

First Post of the New Year.

This post will explain the process of applying hatching to cut and fill areas of a design for plans and longsections using input files. The images below show what will be achieved.

For this process I’ll be using an example design included in the attached genio file (EXAMPLE GENIO.txt). The models used are detailed below.

Design model – DESIGN UG

Ground model – GROUND UG

Plan Cut and Fill Hatching

To display the cut and fill area on plan the process will use isopachyte triangulation models. Isopachytes are lines of equal level difference between two surfaces, an isopachyte triangulation of a design model and ground model will store the distances between the surface of the design model and ground model, i.e. the depth of cut and fill along the scheme.

For this example the cut and fill areas on plan will be limited to be displayed between the verge and earthworks strings on the left and right of the model. This will require the creation of boundary strings for the left and right earthworks.

Initially create the boundary model using Modify>Edit Models>Create Model

Set the model name as BOUNDARY.

Select the Defaults tab and set the style and feature set as below.

To create boundary string for the left and right earthworks mask files will need to be created to limit the strings to be analysed during the boundary creation.

Create a mask file using Tools>Selection Mask Tables

Select the 2 strings IA00 and EV00 and set as Include String and add to table. Also add Exclude all Others to the table, this is important as without it the mask will not work correctly.

Save the mask as earthworks mask left.msk in the Project folder (it should default to this folder).

Create the earthworks mask right.msk file for strings EV0I and IA0I using the procedure above.

Create the left boundary string using these mask files using Modify>Edit Strings>Create a Boundary Around a Model

Select the design model and click the dropdown arrow for the masking options and select Open Mark File, select the file earthworks mask left.msk as the mask file.

Select Next to continue

Save the newly create boundary string as BL00 in the BOUNDARY model, note that the temporary boundary displays as a highlighted area showing its final location.

Create the right boundary string using the procedure above using earthworks mask right.msk as the mask file and save the boundary string as BR00.

The rest of the procedure involves the use of the attached input file (Design Plan Cut and Fill Area Disp.inp). The sections of the input file related to the creation of the hatching are explained below.

Use Design Model and Ground Model to create Isopachyte Triangulations

*Left Triangulation*

TRIANGLE,GROUND UG,DESIGN UG

TRIANGLE,ISO TRIA

962,3=TD00

999

TRIANGLE,Ground Model Name,Design Model name

TRIANGLE, Isopachyte Triangulation Model Name

962,3= Proposed Isopachyte Triangulation String Name

999

Trim Isopachyte Triangulations using user created Boundary Strings for Left and Right Earthworks

*Left*

TRIANGLE,ISO TRIA,BOUNDARY

TRIANGLE,ISO TRIA

961,BL00,TD00,TD00

999

TRIANGLE, Triangulation Model Name,Boundary Model Name

TRIANGLE, Triangulation Model Name

961,Boundary String Name, Triangulation String Name, Trimmed Triangulation String Name

999

Leaving the triangulation string name the same will overwrite the initial triangulation string.

Hatch areas of Isopachyte Triangulations for Areas of Cut and Fill

DRAW,ISO TRIA

801OVER

803,PLAN,NOPA,TRUN,7=1000

*Left Fill Area Hatch*

805,5

807,5,7=0.001,10=90

870,TD00,4=-1,5=-5,6=0.

*Left Cut Area Hatch*

805,2

807,2,7=0.001,10=90

870,TD00,4=-1,5=0,6=5

DRAW, Isopachyte Triangulation Model Name

801OVER

803,PLAN,NOPA,TRUN,7=1000

805,Line Colour

807,Colour of Pattern,7=Hatching Interval (0.001 for Solid),10=Angle of Fill (default = 90)

870, Isopachyte Triangulation String Name,4=-1,5= Lower level, above which all triangles are filled,6= Upper level, below which all triangles are filled

For Fill hatching Field 5 must be set as greater than the maximum depth of fill on the scheme (-5 in this example) and Field 6 set as 0. For Cut hatching Field 5 must be set as 0 and Field 6 set as greater than the maximum depth of cut on the scheme (5 in this example).

Colour Indexes are 1 to 255, the first 10 colours are

1 - Black, 2 - Red, 3 - Green, 4 - Blue, 5 - Cyan, 6 - Yellow, 7 - Orange, 8 - Pink, 9 - Pale Blue, 10 - Grey

Long Section Cut and Fill Hatching

To create the cut and fill hatching on a long section involves the use of the attached input file (Design Longsection with Cut and Fill Area Disp.inp). A standard longsection input file has been modified to create the hatching by including additional sections. The additional sections of the input file related to the creation of the hatching are explained below.

*Fill Area Hatch*

807,5,7=0.001,10=90

875,MC00,10=-1,5=,,7=-1,8=,

876,LZ00,5=,,8=,

*Cut Area Hatch*

807,2,7=0.001,10=90

875,MC00,10=1,5=,,7=-1,8=,

876,LZ00,5=,,8=,

807,Colour of Pattern,7=Hatching Interval (0.001 for Solid),10=Angle of Fill (default = 90)

875,First String Name (design string),10=Hatch Indicator (-1= Fill,1=Cut),5=,,7=Boundary Indicator(1=draw boundary,-1=do not draw boundary),8=,

876,Second String Name (ground string),5=,,8=,

Any questions, please add comments to this post, or drop me a mail at jason.walsh@bentley.com or call us on 0808 1019246.

Blog Post: Using a MS SQL Server Procedure to Populate Project Properties

Jo West — Fri, 16 Dec 2011 16:18:00 GMT

If you read my blog about Cascading Attributes and found that useful, here’s another way to do something similar, but a bit more complicated.

Recently I was asked, “How do I create a SELECT statement to do this?”

I have two Project Properties:
@"PROJECT_Project_Number" and @"PROJECT_Billing_Type"

Here is the logic I want to use:
          If @"PROJECT_Project_Number" is a NULL then
                  @"PROJECT_Billing_Type" = Non-billable (pre-contract)
          Else If the first character of @"PROJECT_Project_Number" is a 'P' then
                  @"PROJECT_Billing_Type" = Non-billable (pre-W)
                  Else If the first character of @"PROJECT_Project_Number" is a 'W'
          then
                   @"PROJECT_Billing_Type" = Non-billable (pre-contract)
          Else
                   @"PROJECT_Billing_Type" = Billable (Contracted)
          End If

Well, I’m no SQL guru, but I do know that it would be tough to do this with just plain SQL, but pretty easy if you create and use a stored SQL Server procedure instead! (And of course, you can do something similar with Oracle.)

First setup the Billing_Type Project Property
Using the ProjectWise Administrator Client, create the necessary Project Type and add your Project Properties as usual, but you will need to provide a default value for Billing_Type as well as adding a “select” statement that actually calls a stored procedure. Here’s an example Project Type (Billing Example) with some Project Properties.

Take a good look at “Project_Number” and “Billing_Type”.

Now create the stored procedure in SQL Server
I used the tools inside of Microsoft SQL Server Management Studio, but no matter what tool you use, you want a stored procedure that looks like this:

Now test the stored procedure
Create a new Project in ProjectWise Explore and then go to the Project Properties page. Your “Billing_Type” should update based on what you enter for the “Project_Number”. Here’s how it should look like with some sample data.

Enjoy!

Blog Post: Hypermodeling videos on Bentley YouTube Channel

Rob Snyder — Fri, 16 Dec 2011 10:17:00 GMT

Four Hypermodel videos are on Bentley's YouTube channel:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8xAfZEK7hrY&context=C3659722ADOEgsToPDskJtsThIZxjLPm_r7ZYWQpni

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZptfxZfyWfc&context=C3a8b769ADOEgsToPDskIJHvspA8uxXOYZQEVVa_iM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aqLDk8gO1Yw&context=C3ee320bADOEgsToPDskLM3cDSEF5I798PyyloUG2I

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fYUHMT-gTR8&context=C35915f2ADOEgsToPDskJh-_ac9f0U0X7Mseu3rMVO

Blog Post: So How Much Programming Experience Do You Need?

Jo West — Fri, 16 Dec 2011 03:58:00 GMT

A common question I get asked about the ProjectWise V8i SDK training is:

“How much programming experience does someone really need to take the class?”

The course description has the following requirements and recommendations:”

Recently a ProjectWise Administrator asked me this familiar question, but with a new twist:

“Someone told me that they had ZERO programming experience, went to the PW SDK class and started developing numerous applications right away! How is that possible when I have heard that you need many years of C++ experience to even attempt to be productive using the PW SDK?”

Well, as my track coach use to say, “There’s no substitute for talent but you still have to work hard to accomplish anything worthwhile!”

Talent

I had a classmate back then that never ran track before, but beat me in the mile run in gym class! So I convinced him to go out for track and he set a school record in the mile run for sophomores that year. He clearly had natural talent because he did this without going to practice very much and he smoked cigarettes! Needless to say that eventually he got kicked off the team for his less than ideal work ethic despite his talent for running.

Obviously a certain amount of “talent” (i.e. ability) is required to create programs that are reasonably robust and useful, but for most of us, experience is what allows us to solve more complex problems in a reasonable amount of time.

Experience

For most of us with talents closer to the mean, “experience” helps make it possible for us to create better programs. And it is hard to measure experience in a way that can be compared. A person who has been doing something relatively easy for many years has experience, but someone else who has less time invested but has been doing much more difficult tasks and growing their skills can typically accomplish more in less time.

The kind of experience also is a factor. If your programming experience is “only” with VB, VBA or some other “scripting” language, you are definitely at a disadvantage when attempting to complete the exercises in the ProjectWise SDK course guide, but at least you understand assignments, if tests and looping. Users with “only” this kind of experience have taken the class and most of them do well enough. However, if you are truly new to programming, you really need to take some programming classes first or come with a partner who can help you with the exercises.

Difficulty

How quickly and how many different applications you can create using the ProjectWise SDK depends of course upon what exactly you are trying to accomplish as well as your abilities and experience. Creating an application that creates new users from a list of some sort is actually pretty easy to design and code, while trying to “integrate” ProjectWise with a system like SAP is much more complex.

So, how much experience do you need?

The real point behind the prerequisite for the ProjectWise V8i SDK class is that the course is about the ProjectWise SDK and not about ProjectWise and especially not about how to program. Since the SDK APIs are “C” based, the class is taught using Visual C++, as that was the development environment of choice when the SDK was first released and continues to be a viable development environment. The material covered in the class is not very complicated because the goal is to help users get a “running start” into using the SDK. It is probably more important that the users who take the ProjectWise SDK training have some experience, or at least exposure to ProjectWise than actual programming experience. It is hard to solve a problem that you don’t understand.

The class instructors do try to help each student as much as possible, including those struggling with the mechanics of Visual Studio as well as “programming” topics, but typically the amount of available time for this is pretty limited, especially if the class has more than 6 or so students. So, each student has to determine just how ready they are for taking this class. A simple measure is to take a look at the sample code provided with the SDK. Take a look at the code that compiles into applications, not custom modules as that requires some knowledge covered in the class. For example, take a look at the “vaultlist” project. If you can follow the flow of the program and understand most of the syntax of the code, then you probably can handle the programming aspects of the class. If you don’t understand what “vaults” are (AKA “projects” or “folders”) or what documents are (they are not files), then you probably should study up on ProjectWise a bit before taking the class.

The real value of the class comes from the probability that it will likely save a programmer at least two weeks of time in trying to understand how the SDK is organized, how to use the documentation, how to compile and examine the sample code as well as some “tips and tricks”. Some students have reported that taking the class saved them a lot more than 2 weeks of effort, but of course it depends upon the skill of the student as well as the effort they put behind it. Just like my track coach use to remind us...

Blog Post: Augmented reality for underground infrastructure: the problem of spatial perception

StephaneCote — Sat, 10 Dec 2011 16:26:00 GMT

Augmented reality (AR) is a hot subject. Every day, we see more applications of that technology. At the moment, AR finds applications mostly in marketing, tourism, and wayfinding. However, progressively we see research and industrial groups being interested in other, more complex applications of AR, such as medicine and engineering. In those demanding areas, accuracy is important. For instance, decisions taken by engineers often have a major impact on people's lives or safety, so those professionals must rely on accurate data.

Augmented reality is promised to a brilliant future in the infrastructure engineering world. But at the moment, it has not really past the stage of prototypes. The problem is that achieving high quality (I mean “engineering quality”) augmentation is very hard. The reason is we must be able to track the position of the user’s tablet or smartphone within millimeter precision, outdoor, and in real time. That is extremely difficult to achieve. In my last post , I described our solution to the problem: instead of augmenting reality, we augment panoramic images. Doing so increases our chances of obtaining accurate augmentation. See my last post for detailed explanation and videos.

Now augmentation accuracy is not the only challenge of augmented reality. Last summer, we pursued our exploration of panoramic images augmentation by studying another difficult problem: spatial perception. Augmented scenes often look supernatural: adding artificial objects to a real scene is unusual, and sometimes confuses the brain that refuses to understand what it sees. This is illustrated in the figure below, where a 3D pipe model is used to augment a street scene. The photo is meant to show underground pipes, through the ground. The augmentation is achieved by displaying the pipes on top of the image. If you had X-Ray vision, that is possibly how you could see the pipes. The problem is that underground pipes are located under the road surface, so you are not supposed to be able to see them. Displaying the pipes this way creates a confusing image that is hard to understand for the brain. Such an image does not convey good spatial perception - it is too confusing to be useful.

The problem of spatial perception in augmented reality often arises when the model that is used for augmentation is supposed to be hidden, like those pipes. The question is: how can we make hidden objects become visible in a way that is visually pleasing and understandable?

In their work, Avery et al (2009) [1] proposed an interesting method. In one of their example applications, they show the augmentation model through a brick wall (see the first 40 seconds of their video below). During augmentation, the wall is not made totally invisible - they show their augmentation behind a brick texture. That is very clever, and helps the brain understanding that the augmentation image is actually behind the wall (and not covering it, as displayed in the pipe example above). That probably works because our brain is used to such representations – a good example is when you look through a screen door: you see the outdoor landscape, but you also see the screen very close, reminding you there is something between you and the landscape, and helping you understand that the landscape is actually away. Working with such analogies is helpful to help us understand such unusual scenes.

[View:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BTPBNggldTw]

Subsurface pipes present a similar problem. Pipes are underground, so they should not be visible. If we want to augment a scene with hidden pipes, we have to find a way to make it clear in the augmentation that the pipes are actually underground. For that, we need an analogy with the real world. How do we normally see subsurface utilities? Well, we can only see them during installation, or after excavation. In both situations, we see them inside a hole (excavation). We are used to seeing that image – the brain is used to it, and understands it. So let’s do the same and display the pipe models inside a virtual excavation! That is what our team has done last summer:

[View:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2mXRO48w_E4]

As you can see, it works pretty well. By drawing a virtual excavation, our brain can more easily understand the scene: we feel as if the pipe model was really underground. Note that the idea is not ours – a team at the university of Graz came up with the idea first, in their projet Vidente. We adapted the concept to panoramic images, and made it dynamic.

Near the end of the video, you can see a 2D GPR radar scan. GPR stands for “Ground penetrating radar”. It is a device that is used to “detect” underground pipes, through the ground. A GPR scan is meaningless unless you know exactly where it was captured. Displaying it in the context of reality the way we have done it is very helpful for interpreting it. We can more easily see whether the scan detected the pipes that appear at that location in the model. And this way we can verify whether the model is properly geolocated. And we better know what obstacles may be met during excavation in that area. That sort of interpretation is made possible because the 3 sets of data are displayed together: subsurface utility pipes models, GPR scan, and panoramic image of reality.

Spatial perception is very important for good augmentation. The virtual excavation appears to be a very good solution to the subsurface utilities visualization problem, probably because it displays an image that is familiar to us.

Interested in seeing more? Stay tuned! We will have other exciting results to show you this winter.

References

[1] Benjamin Avery, Christian Sandor and Bruce H. Thomas, Improving Spatial Perception for Augmented Reality X-Ray Vision, IEEE VR 2009

Blog Post: Adobe Flash fading out

Mark Dane — Wed, 09 Nov 2011 22:38:00 GMT

According to this article Adobe is no longer going to focus on Flash for mobile devices. It is exciting to see the software community using open standards. Now if only all the browsers would conform to those standards so developers didn't have to worry about quirks mode.

Blog Post: MX E-Seminar. Thursday 17th November 2011. Data Import, Data Export and Data Acquisition.

Skybluesfan — Fri, 04 Nov 2011 16:30:00 GMT

All,

For those who turned up to the E-Seminar last week, many apologies. Some unforseen circumstances caused us to postpone.

Anyway, the E-seminar will now be this Thursday at 14.30.

Here is a reminder of the new date and subject:

Thursday the 17^th of November at 2.30pm

Data Import, Data Acquisition and Data Export

The agenda for the session:

Data Import
- ASCII Files including Genio, Text Files, LandXML , LIDAR
- DWG / DGN / DXF
- OS
- Point Cloud Data
- Referencing
- Data Export
  - CAD Files
  - Site Reports / Setting Out Information
  - Spreadsheets
  - ASCII Files
  - Data Acquisition
    - New Tool at SS3
    - Raw Survey Data in to MX
    - Types of Data.
    - Overview of functionality
    - Anything anybody wants to see within the time allocated

As always the session will be for approximately 40 minutes, with time at the end for Q&A.

The meeting site is here: https://sas.elluminate.com/m.jnlp?sid=465&password=M.7B3A13EDD6C2C4D0F0396797D5DECA

It’s best to test the connection before the start time to be sure you can get access. Should you have a problem connecting I have a document which should help. Please get in touch.

The seminars will be recorded and published on Simon Peggs blog site (the recording of the CAD tools session has been posted to the blog):

http://communities.bentley.com/other/old_site_member_blogs/bentley_employees/b/skybluesfans_blog/default.aspx

For those who don’t have sound cards on the PC’s here are the details of the conference line:

Chairperson Name:	PAUL BENNETT
Ready-Access Number:	08004960579
Secondary Ready-Access Number:	+44 02079040084
7-Digit Access Code:	7993434

When logging in to the Elluminate site could you please put your email address in the name field as many attended the last event that we couldn’t identify. For those with several logging in as one could you please add a + at the end of your email address – I will contact you after the session for a list of who was watching with you.

Please confirm by email if you are able to attend.

Simon

Blog Post: RAM Concrete Shear Wall Verification - Planar Wall Using ACI 318

Josh Taylor — Tue, 25 Oct 2011 20:16:00 GMT

OVERVIEW

This document is intended to provide technical verification for the analysis and design results within the RAM Concrete Shear Wall design module. This example utilizes RAM Structural System v8i, SELECTseries4, Release 14.04.02.00, which is available for download on Bentley SELECT.

The scope of this document is limited to providing sufficient technical background so that the user may reproduce the design results and calculations performed in the design module. This document is not intended to exhaustively report the design results for the entire model, or provide a tutorial on how to use the applications.

The RAM model referred to in this document can be downloaded at the following link:

http://communities.bentley.com/cfs-file.ashx/__key/CommunityServer-Blogs-Components-WeblogFiles/00-00-00-10-51/5141.ShearWallDesignVerification_2D00_PlanarWall_2D00_ACI318_2D00_08.123

After downloading the file, change the extension from *.123 to *.rss.

MODEL PROPERTIES & ASSUMPTIONS

(4) 12'-6" stories
12" thick x 20'-0" long concrete wall stack
f'_c = 4,000 psi, f_y = 60 ksi
Walls reinforced with (2) layers of #6@12" o.c. vertically, and (2) layers of #5@12" o.c. horizontally
10 klf dead load, 10 klf unreducible live load applied across full extent of wall at each story
Static lateral seismic story forces applied as shown in diagram below
Walls treated as Special Reinforced Concrete Shear Walls per ACI 318, Chapter 21
Maximum mesh node spacing of 4' used in RAM Frame
P-D effects are neglected
Membrane modifier of 0.35 used for walls

DESIGN FOR SHEAR

The shear strength calculation is per ACI 318-08, Section 11.9.6 (as specified in the RAM Concrete design criteria setting) and 11.9.9. The relevant parameters are summarized below:

f'_c = 4,000 psi
h = 12"
L_w = 20'
d = 0.8*20' = 16'
N_u = 656 kips (combo 0.82D + E1)
V_u = 250 kips (combo 0.82D + E1)
M_u = 9,333 k-ft (combo 0.82D + E1)

Equation (11-27)

V_c = 3.3l*sqrt(f'_c)hd + N_ud/(4L_w)
     = 3.3*1.0*sqrt(4,000)*12*(16*12)/1000 + 656*16/(4*20)
     = 480.9 + 131.2
    = 612.1 kips

Equation (11-28)

V_c = [ 0.6l*sqrt(f'_c) + L_w[1.25*sqrt(f'_c) + 0.2N_u/(L_wh)] / (M_u/V_u - L_w/2) ]hd
    = [ 0.6*1.0*sqrt(4,000) + 20*12*[1.25*sqrt(4,000) + 0.2*656,000/(20*12*12)] / (9,333*12/250 - 20*12/2) ]*12*16*12
     = [ 37.9 + 240*[79.1 + 45.6] / 328.0 ]*2304/1000
    = 297.5 kips

Thus, Equation (11-28) controls

Horizontal reinforcing is (2) curtains of #5@12" o.c. Thus,

A_s = 2*0.307 in² = 0.614 in²

V_s = A_vf_yd/s = 0.614*60*16*12/12 = 589.4 kips

V_n = 297.5 + 589.4 = 886.9 kips

Equation 11.9.3 limits V_n to:

V_n <= 10sqrt(f'_c)hd = 10*sqrt(4,000)*12*16*12/1000 = 1457.2 kips (does not control)

Thus,

fV_n = 0.75*886.9 = 665.2 kips

Since this system is considered a Special Reinforced Concrete Shear Wall per ACI 318, the shear strength per Section 21.9.4.1 is also evaluated,

Equation (21-7)

V_n = A_cv(a_cl*sqrt(f'_c) + r_tf_y)

h_w/L_w = 12.5/20 = 0.625 < 1.5, thus a_c = 3.0

A_cv = 0.8*20*12*12 = 2304 in²

r_t = 0.62/(12*12) = 0.004306

V_n = 2304.0*(3.0*1.0*sqrt(4,000) + 0.004306*60,000) = 1032.4 kips

fV_n = 0.75*1032.4 = 774.3 kips

Therefore, Equation 11.9.3 controls

fV_n= 665.2 kips

Comparing to shear results in the design report for the bottom-most section cut:

DESIGN FOR AXIAL/FLEXURAL FORCES

Equation (10-2)

fP_n_,max = 0.80f[0.85f'_c(A_g - A_st) + f_yA_st]

f = 0.65

A_g = 20*12*12 = 2,880 in²

A_st = 2 layers x 21 rows x 0.44 in² = 18.5 in²

fP_n_,max = 0.80 x 0.65 x [0.85 x 4 x (2,880 - 18.5) + 60 x 18.5] = 5,636 kips

We can deduce the value of fP_n_,maxcalculated by the program by dividing the value of P_u (which has zero moment) by the interaction value:

1119.95 / 0.199 = 5,629 kips

SPECIAL BOUNDARY ELEMENT DESIGN

From ACI 318-08, Section 21.9.6.1, compression zones shall be reinforced with special boundary elements where:

c >= L_w / (600d_u/h_w) ACI Equation (21-8)

d_u is the design displacement. ACI 318-08 elaborates on the meaning of this quantity in Section R21.9.6.2.

The value of displacement used in the calculation of d_u is taken from the RAM Frame Nodal Displacements report for the worst case combined load (accessible in RAM Frame Load Combinations mode).

From the report shown above, load combination 4 provides the worst case elastic lateral displacement d_e = 0.770".

d_u = C_dd_e = 5.0(0.770") = 3.85"

Also,

L_w = 12' x 12"/' = 240"

h_w = 4 x 12.5' x 12"/' = 600" (overall height of wall)

d_u/h_w = 3.85"/600" = 0.006417 < 0.007, thus use d_u/h_w = 0.007 in ACI equation (21-8):

c_limit = 240/(600*0.007) = 57.14" = 4.76'

From the shear wall design results, the neutral axis distance from the extreme compression fiber for load combination 4, 1.28D + 0.5L - E1, is

c = 5.09' > c_limit

Thus a special boundary element is required. The required length of the boundary is specified in ACI 318-08, Section 21.9.6.4, and is equal to the larger of:

c - 0.1L_w = 5.09 - 0.1*20 = 3.10'

and

c/2 = 5.09/2 = 2.55'

Thus the required boundary length is 3.09', or 3'-1-3/16"

In this example, boundary regions have been assigned to the wall panel using the Assign -> Manual Reinforcement command. They have been laid out so that the resulting boundary length exceeds the minimum required length for each load combination. The point of maximum compression within the section cut for the selected load combination is denoted with a black dot. The required boundary length is then dimensioned from that point as shown in the screen capture above. If any reinforcing zones not designated as boundaries lie within this region, a design failure will be issued on the Design Warnings tab. In the scenario above, a boundary has been assigned so that the requirement is fulfilled.

The design of ties in confinement zones is per ACI 318-08, Section 21.6.4.

Equation (21-5)

A_sh = 0.09sb_cf'_c/f_yt

Per the code design criteria settings, a #4 tie is used,

A_sh = 2 x 0.196 in² = 0.392 in²

b = 12 - 2 x (0.75 + 0.50/2) = 10.0"

Rearranging and solving for s,

s = 60.0 x 0.392 / (0.09 x 10.0 x 4) = 6.53"

The spacing of transverse reinforcing shall also conform to ACI 318-08, Section 21.6.4.3, which states that the spacing of transverse reinforcing shall not exceed the smallest of:

a) 1/4 of the minimum member dimension = 12/4 = 3"

b) 6 x the diameter of the long bar = 6 x 0.75" = 4.5"

Therefore the controlling maximum tie spacing is 3"

Blog Post: MX E-Seminar recordings Cad Drafting

Skybluesfan — Tue, 18 Oct 2011 14:43:00 GMT

Hello All

We've completed the recordings of the last e-seminar, well to be honest all the hard work has been done by my esteemed colleague Mr Dean Rickwood. So many thanks to Dean.

The live session was attended by over 50 users, so thanks to those who did. If you didn't catch it, you can view the recordings.

Dean has split the recording up in to two chunks to make it more manageable for you to deal with

I've had a few problems trying to attach them to this post as they are quite large. When I've resolved the issue, I'll attach them to this post. In the mean time you should be able to download them easily from the FTP Site. The FTP site does periodically get cleared up, so if for any reason you can't get them it may be that they've been deleted. Drop me an email, and I'll repost them.

Attached below are links to our FTP where you will find recordings of his recent E-Seminar on using the CAD tools within MXStandlaone.

ftp://ftp.bentley.nl/pub/outgoing/cad_drafting_part_1.zip

ftp://ftp.bentley.nl/pub/outgoing/CAD_Drafting_Part_2.zip

Just cut and paste into your browser and it should start downloading.

NOTE

There is a new Link to two smaller WMV files :

ftp://ftp.bentley.nl/pub/outgoing/caddraftingpart1800x600.wmv

ftp://ftp.bentley.nl/pub/outgoing/caddraftingpart2800X600.wmv

I do encourage you to have a go at some of the things Dean has shown, I'm convinced they will add value to the product and improve your workflow.

As always, and problems or any questions about the content, please either post below, email me at simon.pegg@bentley.com or give us a call on 0808 1019246 (see previous post).

The next E-seminar is schedule for November 10th. Keep an eye out for your email, and I will post more details here nearer the time.

Simon.

PS I'm on Leave 24th 28th October, so during that time, any problems, give us a ring.

Blog Post: MX V8i. What's a Survey Display or Style Set going to produce.

Skybluesfan — Tue, 18 Oct 2011 10:09:00 GMT

Hi All,

We get asked about how a Style Set is going to look, or how to specify a survey and how to get it to look how you want it to.

The start of this is really your Survey Style Set. This dicatates string naming and the colours and styles that its going to produce.

Sometimes we get asked this question from the other direction. I've been sent a style set, but I've no idea what its going to produce.

To resolve all these problems with how a Style Set displays things, a couple of versions ago, we built the Style Set Checker.

This can be found under Tools>Style Set Checker.

Then it really does exactly what it says.

You have toggles across the top to select which types af Style sets are shown, and then you can tick or untick to select individual Style Sets

Once you have picked one, it loads the details up on the bottom panel.

It will display the string mask, sub reference etc etc. The edit and display buttons now become active, so you can save a style set to a csv file, use the Display Style Set tool, open in the Style Set Editor or open in Notepad (Not recommended !).

The Display style Set button gives you plenty of options for displaying it. Basically, what it does is create a string in a temporary model for every feature in the style set, and then draws that string as per the style set.

Just pick the options you want, and a drawing gets created.

This is a section of the Detail Survey Style Set.

If you then needed to pass this on to some other part of your project group, e.g. Surveyors, or Landscape Designers etc, you could create a PDF of this.

This is only part of theStyle Set Checkers functionality. Please have a go with it.

Any questions, please add comments to this post, or drop me a mail at simon.pegg@bentley.com or call us on 0808 1019246.

Simon

Blog Post: Nederlandse MX V8i SS2 refresh is uit

Wolfgang Weh — Fri, 14 Oct 2011 07:52:00 GMT

Beste Bentley Civil Benelux bloglezers,

De nieuwe Nederlandse MX V8i SS2 refresh versie (08.11.07.536) is nu op de Bentley Website beschikbaar.

Naast verbeteringen in de Nederlandse Country Kit, vooral in de StyleSets, zijn er nog veel details in MX verbeterd en gecorrigeerd. Zie de MX Release Notes:
http://selectservices.bentley.com/en-US/Support/Downloads+And+Updates/Readme/MX+Suite+v08.11.07.536.htm

Vanuit de SELECTservices website kunt u een CD bestellen of de nieuwe MX versie downloaden.

Gebruik de volgende zoek opties op de SELECTservices website:

Met vriendelijke groeten

Wolfgang

Blog Post: Access Control in Preview Pane (SS3)

Jo West — Mon, 10 Oct 2011 14:02:00 GMT

With ProjectWise SelectSeries3 release, there is an easier way to set Project/Folder and document security. You no longer need to open the folder properties dialog to set its permissions.

As you select each folder, its’ permissions are displayed on the ‘Access Control’ tab of the preview pane. You can easily perform the following

Identify folder and document permissions (create subfolders, read, write and no access, etc.)
If the folder has its own security or inherited from its top level folder
Assign users and groups with appropriate permissions to selected folder and document
Apply current folder permissions to a different folder/document

Import/export permissions to an excel file.

Blog Post: What is the Restricted Administrator Group?

Jo West — Mon, 10 Oct 2011 13:59:00 GMT

When a user is a member of the Administrator group, he or she will have full access to every node under the datasource (Applications, States, Environments, Users, etc.).

Now with ProjectWise SELECTseries 3, each node has a “Granular Security” tab allowing the ProjectWise administrator to define who should have access only to a particular node. There is also a new group called “Restricted Adminstrator” that works along with “Granular Security”.

For example, if you want userA to have access only to Applications and Environments node, you need to make userA a member of the “Restricted Administrator” group first and then assign userA to the “Granular Security” tab of the Applications and Environments node. The end result will be that userA can only view these two nodes when he/she access the ProjectWise Administrator module.

Note: if userA is also a member of the Administrator group, then he/she will have access to all the nodes, not just Applications and Environments node.

Blog Post: Group and User List Membership

Jo West — Mon, 10 Oct 2011 13:45:00 GMT

Group and User List Membership

Groups and user lists are two different ways of grouping users together in the datasource.

Groups are typically created by the administrator as a way to group together users who need the same access rights to folders and documents. Once a group is created, you can then assign that group permission to a folder, rather than assigning each user permission to the folder, one at a time.

User lists provide a way to group together users, groups and also other user lists. There are two types of user lists: access lists and mailing lists. The administrator will create an access list to group together users, groups and other access lists that need the same access rights to folders and documents. The administrator will create a mailing list (also referred to as Global Address Books) to group together users with email addresses, groups, and other mailing lists, so users with email addresses can send and receive messages using Messaging Services in ProjectWise Explorer.

The membership of groups and user lists could previously only be managed from ProjectWise Administrator, but now can also be managed from ProjectWise Explorer, using the new User / Group Management dialog, which opens when you select Tools > User Management.

The user you are logged in as must be an owner of a group in order to manage its membership and ownership; however you are not required to be a member of the group to be an owner of it. For any group of which you are an owner, you can add users to the group, and you can also designate other users to be owners of the group (a group can have multiple owners). You can also add a group to a user list, provided that you are an owner of both the group and the user list.

Note:

The version of the ProjectWise Integration Server you are connecting to must be ProjectWise V8i (SELECTseries 3), in order to fully use the controls in the User / Group Management dialog.
If the user you are logged as is a member of the Administrator group and the version of ProjectWise Integration Server you are connecting to is ProjectWise V8i (SELECTseries 1) or (SELECTseries 2), then the controls in the dialog will be read-only.
If the user you are logged as is NOT a member of the Administrator group and the version of ProjectWise Integration Server you are connecting to is ProjectWise V8i (SELECTseries 1) or (SELECTseries 2), then the dialog will not open if you select Tools > User Management.
If an owner of a group is not also a member of the group, then that user will not be able to see any folders and projects to which the group is assigned, when using User/Group Management dialog.
The user you are logged in as must be the owner of a group, to manage it. Any group you select which you are not the owner of will display the text “Current user has no access to the list.” in the Available and Assigned lists.

Blog Post: PW Variables to Managed Workspaces

Jo West — Mon, 10 Oct 2011 13:42:00 GMT

Is there a way to use Project Properties conditionally in a MicroStation Workspace? There is a technique to do this, simply create a Workspace Variable at the Command Line using the –ws switch.

In ProjectWise Admin, edit the MicroStation Application.
Modify or create a new Association.
In the command line arguments, create a variable with the desired Project Property:

Example: -wsCountry=$PROJECT#PROJECT_Country$

The -ws switch creates a Workspace Configuration variable before any configuration file is read.

Hint: Click Add to get the correct syntax for any System Variable or Project Property.

Now, the workspace is able to use the variable. For instance, a conditional statement could load a cell library specific to the project based upon country:

%if $(Country)=="UK"

MSCELLLIST > ukcells.cel

%endif

The same technique can be used with System Variables and Windows Variables.

Blog Post: PW Database Requirements

Jo West — Mon, 10 Oct 2011 13:38:00 GMT

ProjectWise Database User requirements

ProjectWise can run on both Oracle and Microsoft SQL Servers, it uses a multi-user connection in which the ProjectWise Server has a connection with the database (through ODBC or SQL Native Client). Besides this, users access ProjectWise through their own authorization in ProjectWise.

For the Database, there is only one user which is really important and needs to be setup with according specifications. When you login via the ProjectWise Administrator, a table check is executed and if you have insufficient privileges, you will keep getting prompted with the create tables dialog. You will need sysadmin/dbo privileges for the “SP” to execute or the tables will not be found correctly.

In both cases the database to be used will have to be in the UniCode format.

General information for servers using 64-bit.

There is no real problem if you use a 64-bit server to install your ProjectWise server. However, since our software is 32-bit, the ODBC datasources will have to be created using the 32-bit version of the tools. In case of Oracle, make sure to install the 32-bit Oracle Client for your database according to the specification, including ODBC driver. The 32-bit version of the ODBC manager can be found in c:\windows\syswow64\odbcad32.exe

Oracle installations

Connections made to the database will have to go through the Oracle ODBC driver (NOT the Microsoft ODBC for Oracle).
The user in Oracle will need the following privileges

— CONNECT role
— CREATE PROCEDURE privilege
— CREATE SEQUENCE privilege
— CREATE TABLE privilege
— CREATE VIEW privilege
— UNLIMITED TABLESPACE privilege
— EXECUTE permission on the DBMS_LOB package

SQL Server installations

Connections made to the database can go through the SQL server Native client or the ODBC client. No real difference there:

Make sure the user we use for ProjectWise is a user who has in SQL-server the Dbowner privilege.

The easiest way to give the PWDB user the best rights without giving them full database rights is to make them the database owner. Simply go to the database, right-click on properties, select Files, and assign the user as the owner:

The results of this are shown in the user’s User Mapping windows.

Blog Post: Creating a PW Network Diagram

Jo West — Mon, 10 Oct 2011 13:31:00 GMT

In all of my ProjectWise deployments, one of the first things I develop is an architecture diagram depicting a structure of the system hardware and ProjectWise components that run on them, showing how the hardware and software components work together. In other words, an architecture diagram should include the hardware for your ProjectWise system; including key specifications such has CPUs, operating system and RAM(memory). The diagram should also show the software that is installed on that hardware, both the required Windows components for ProjectWise and the exact ProjectWise modules.

A good architecture diagram will also show applications that are deployed to several machines, for example the ProjectWise Orchestration Framework as well as the physical location of the servers, noting if any reside behind a corporate firewall or a DMZ (Demilitarized Zone) and the port(s) used.

Of course, before you can develop the architecture diagram, you need to determine the scope of your ProjectWise deployment. Some considerations include:

- Identify the size of the deployment. Will ProjectWise be used by select corporate stakeholders (departments, business units, etc.)? Or will it be used throughout your organization? Make sure your design considers long-range planning as many companies will scale the use of ProjectWise over time.

- Consider fundamental technical issues. Will any existing systems need to interact/integrate with ProjectWise? How robust does your system need to be (will there be redundant hardware to failover to)? What/who will need to connect to and/or interact with your system and how will they do it? What operating system and database will your system use? How secure does the system need to be? Do you need a DMZ? Will any ProjectWise components require a SSL certificate?

- Identify Responsibilities. Most ProjectWise deployments will involve multiple IT/System technicians. Consider who will be responsible for making server and network decisions, database configurations and, if using the Web component, does anyone possess IIS/XML experience. Further, who will administrate ProjectWise?

- Distribute software to nodes. Identify how ProjectWise will be deployed on each workstation and include critical information such as ProjectWise configurations, licensing information and make sure you consider all desktop applications (ProjectWise Explorer, InterPlot, Navigator, etc.)

Having a solid architecture diagram of your ProjectWise configuration will aide both your organization and Bentley during the installation, as well as troubleshooting any problems or with future upgrades.

Blog Post: Definition of a PW Datasource

Jo West — Mon, 10 Oct 2011 13:30:00 GMT

During ProjectWise training, I am often asked what is the definition of a “Datasource”. In general terms, the name datasource is commonly used when creating a query to the database. More specifically, I define a datasource as a structure that contains specific ProjectWise information, such as users, groups, environments, etc. which is stored in a database. Each PW datasource must be attached to its own database (SQL or Oracle) and contain at least one Storage Area.