Within RM Bridge CONNECT Edition, inside Modeler, at each Segment, Variables can be assigned to Formulas and those can be defined by Expressions and Tables that can use alignment station-dependent functions. The construction of expressions using tables is interactively supported and there are three basic options for the station reference: global, local, or point. The main girder references can also be used for any connected substructure members by calling the "father" reference. Therefore, the expressions may be built by tables and pre-defined names like below, which will return the station value:
- sg: station global, the global station of the alignment;
- sl: station local, the local station considering the element beginning;
- sp: station point, the segment point number of the element;
- or:
- sgf: station global of the father, associated main girder global station;
- slf: station local of the father, associated main girder local station;
- spf: station point of the father, associated main girder segment point number.
While global means the function will return the alignment values, local means that the first station is set to 0 and all others will follow from this value and the point will just count the segment point numbers, not the alignment stations. In most of the cases, the Main Girder will be referenced to an SG or SG, while the transversal elements, like cross-members, will use the station point SP. The Station Point is extremely useful when users need to apply variations for transversal members with subdivisions and several elements. This reference to the station point of the element makes it possible to create an element-specific reference, in the direction of the local axis, that can easily be used to create the necessary tables.
For the Tables, the ordinate, the Variable B, will be following the rules for the values at the abscissa, or Variable A. This allows the user to simplify the use of Variables by assigning to the Cross-Section according to this station values at the Tables and Formulas inside the Segment Points.