I have not been able to determine which direction the bearing releases are in by default. Are the roller releases along CLgirder or perpendicular to CLBRG? And are reactions Fx and Fz perpendicular/tangential to my CLBRG or to my CLgirder? There's quite a heavy skew on my bridge so releasing the rollers along CLgirder is very different than perpendicular to CLBRG.
I'm trying to give a generalized answer to your question.When the user Runs the analysis the program generates STAAD file which is the analysis engine of the program.
The staad file is available in the Temp folder .
C:...............Local\Temp\LEAP_STEEL\
User can open and check the file to see the release condition of each support condition.
For more information related to Leap Bridge Steel program please check the wiki articles in the below mentioned Bentley Communities link.
https://communities.bentley.com/products/bridge_design___engineering/w/bridge_design_and_engineering__wiki/20537/leap-bridge-steel-main-page
I've tried doing this, we don't have STAAD but instead we have RISA3D which should be able to import .std files however is crashing when trying to open the .std files generated by LEAP Steel.
My question really stems from the fact that the bearings in the 3D representation of the bridge are shown perpendicular to my CLBRG and there's no way to rotate them. So are the reactions provided by running LEAP Steel (I'm running in FEA) x and z based on the beam alignment or x and z of the bearing orientation?
“We don’t know what is causing the crash in RISA3D."
Supports in STAAD.Pro AM is set with inclined support specification. The inclination of the support is set with a node coordinate placed near to the support.The support x axis is set towards that node and the y is always normal to bridge deck. The x axis is by default tangent to the girder path at the support location, unless directional spring specification is used in LBS.
While reporting the reaction, taking from STAAD.Pro results, unlike STAAD.Pro LBS rotates the reactions to align towards the LBS support axis system. That is why the reactions would differ from STAAD.Pro reported reactions. STAAD.Pro always reports the reactions about the global axis system. User would notice just because the support x and z are rotated from global X and Z axis while support y and global Y are along same direction, the vertical component of the reaction would be exactly same and x and z are rotated if these two are not aligned to global direction.”
Thank you that is helpful.
You are welcome.