In LEAP Bridge Steel, when defining the Pier/Abutment Locations, what exactly is the user defining when they input a station for an Abutment aka Support 1. Is it the centerline of bearing for the girders? Or is it the centerline of the abutment stem?
All three tutorials included with LEAP Bridge Steel have the centerline of the bearings and the centerline of abutment stem fall on the exact same station, so I cannot determine the best practice to define a bridge that has bearings which are offset from the abutment stem centerline.
I have experimented with the bearing line offset input and I see that it will move the bearings relative to abutment stem centerline; however, the girder ends always extend to the centerline of the abutment stem.
As it stands now, I cannot figure out how I can configure LBS to model something like the attached graphic. I would appreciate some guidance, thank you -Ross
Hi Ross,
When defining the Pier/Abutment Location the station value entered corresponds to the centerline of support. Attached image should clarify the station and bearing offset:
In LEAP Bridge Steel when defining the abutment geometry you can define the total back wall width (9" + 1'-3" = 2'), you can also define Seat Width (1' + 1'= 2'). We cannot model the Back Wall Horizontal Offset (9" as shown in your image).