Pier Cap Properties Dialog Box

Adding Piers

A bridge in Precast/Prestressed Girder may have from zero (0) to an unlimited number of piers. The Ref Name attribute refers to a pier defined in the Pier and Column Definitions dialog box. If Precast/Prestressed Girder does not find a match on a pier (i.e. there isn’t a pier defined in the Pier and Column Definition dialog box with the same name [reference names are case sensitive]), then a continuous beam model is generated using the specified connection as the connection between the beam (i.e. superstructure) and the boundary. Perform the following steps to add a pier to the bridge:

Select one of the existing rows in the grid by clicking anywhere in its row. A blue arrow displays on the left side of the grid to mark the selection.
Click the Add Pier button. This adds a pier after the selected component. The value of the stationing for the newly added pier will be at the midpoint stationing between two existing components or equal to an existing component’s stationing when placed after the last component.
Enter the pier values in the grid. A definition for each parameter can be found below.

Pier Cap Properties Dialog Box Terms

Setting	Description
Pier Name	User editable unique name for pier.
Copy Properties from	By selecting from the drop down, the properties are copied into current pier automatically filling all the fields in the dialog. Click OK to accept the values.
Length	The physical length of the pier cap. If skewed, enter the actual length of the cap and not a projected distance.
Alignment Offset	Define the lateral offset from the alignment to the centerline of the cap (along cap length).
Left/Right Girder Clearance	Common for all girders in span. It is the distance between centerline of pier cap and face of precast girder at left and at right. Distances to the left of bearing CL need to be entered as negative.
Left / Right Bearing Offset	Distance between centerline of bearing to centerline of pier cap. Distances to the left of bearing CL need to be entered as negative.
Cap Width	Default values primarily for exchange with LEAP Bridge.
Cap Depth	Default values primarily for exchange with LEAP Bridge.

Deleting Components

The purpose of the Delete Component button is to remove a superstructure connection from the bridge. Only pier caps can be deleted. If you select anything other than the pier row, the Delete Component button will be unavailable.

Note: You will not be asked to confirm the delete, nor can the deletion be undone.

Perform the following steps to delete a component from the bridge:

Select one of the existing rows in the grid by clicking anywhere in its row. A blue arrow displays on the left side of the grid to mark the selection.
Click the Delete Component button to remove the selected component.

Layout Dialog Box Terms

Setting	Description
Component	This non-editable field lists the component types (e.g., beginning-of-bridge, abutment, pier, hinge and end-of-bridge).
Ref Name	Abutment or Pier Name by default, or as modified by the user in the Abutment Properties or Pier Cap Properties dialog box, activated by clicking on the specific row in this column.
Station	Enter the station of the component.
Bearing	Enter the bearing of the centerline of the component using either a N-S degrees-minutes-seconds E-W value, the keyword NORMAL or the command SKEW x.x where x.x is a positive or negative skew (from a normal) angle.
Deck Width	The width of the deck at the location under consideration. Always measured normal to alignment.
Deck Offset to Alignment	Define the lateral offset from the alignment to the centerline of the deck (along cap).

Technical Discussion

The Bridge Component Layout dialog box is used to define the physical locations of superstructure. Precast/Prestressed Girder does not consider the torsion in the superstructure analysis. The skew angle is only used to compute the physical lengths of the beams for self-weight analysis. Also, any dead loads acting on the individual beams act on the computed length of the individual beams. While some parameters defined in the pier and abutment dialogs in the Layout are used to establish the lengths of the beams, the remaining parameters are primarily used in the data exchange with the LEAP Bridge component programs such as Substructure and CIP RC/PT Girder.