Model Coping Settings dialog
Used to automatically cope linear structural members imported from an ISM repository. Coping is performed on pairs of members using the same OpenBuildings Designer standard Structural coping features used when defining Structural parts, placing Structural members, and applying copes, updating/editing copes, and removing copes.
Benefits of using the Model Coping Settings dialog to automate coping of imported members include:
- The ability to define an arbitrary number of coping pairs based on their Structural Data attribute Material (Concrete, Steel) and Type (Beam, Column, Cantilever, Horizontal Brace, Vertical Brace)
- Enabling/disabling coping pairs
- Independent coping settings for each coped member pair
- Easy to use interface. Add/remove rows, drag and drop rows for reordering of copes
- ISM Import dialog menu bar:
The Model Coping Algorithm
When an imported Structural model is defined to be automatically coped, each coping pair is processed in order. The internal steps are:
- Scan the model and create a collection of all linear members that match the Material selected.
- Scan the model and create a collection of all linear members that match the Member (type) selected.
- Compare each member to each support in the respective collections. If a member endpoint is not contained on the member line (PQ line) of the support member then it is skipped.
- If an existing cope is present on the endpoint the member is skipped.
- The cope is created using the cope settings (Flange, Web, Corner and Radius) associated with the cope pair.
Handling of Existing Copes
If a member has an existing cope it is skipped, allowing you to modify any cope that was created automatically and have it preserved. This is important when the model is coped again, during subsequent imports as any manually applied copes are always preserved.
Precedence
Since existing copes are never overwritten, the order that the cope pairs are defined in the Model Coping Settings dialog is very important. If a member shares an endpoint with more than one other support then only the first eligible cope pair will be performed. Any additional possible copes of the member against other supports will be skipped because the member has an existing cope.
Consider the case where the coping pairs are defined in this order (upper cope pair rows precede the lower rows); Vertical Brace to Beam followed by Vertical Brace to Column.
The following illustrates that after import, the Vertical Brace to Column cope (2) was skipped because the Vertical Brace to Beam cope (1) was applied first.
Setting | Description |
---|---|
On (check box) | When on, the cope pair is enabled and processed. When off, the cope pair is skipped completely and no coping is performed. |
Material | Used to select the member Material for the cope
pairs. The available materials are Steel and Concrete. The material must be the
same for both members (member and support) of the cope pair.
Note: Material is
one of the Structural Data properties assigned to Structural members. Default
materials are typically
assigned to Structural
parts prior to placement, but it can be assigned at any time on any
member.
|
Members to Cope | Used to select the Member and Support member Type for the cope pairs. The available types are provided in the Member and Support drop lists. |
Cope Settings | Used to define the coping settings for cope pairs.
Value fields are provided for the Flange, Web and Radius options, and a drop
list for the cope Corner treatment.
|
Cope Pairs – working with the rows |
|
OK | Completes the Model Coping Settings for application on imported
structural members. Clicking
OK writes the changes to the
ModelCopeSettings.xml settings file, and
dismisses the Model Coping Settings dialog.
Note: ModelCopeSettings.xml
contains a variable length list of CopePair elements that describe the
cope pair settings. There is a separate settings file for imperial and metric
worksets. The imperial units are inches and the metric units are millimeters.
The settings file is defined through a the configuration variable
STRFILE_MODELCOPESETTINGS.
|
Cancel | Discards all changes, restores the settings to the previous saved state, and dismisses the Model Coping Settings dialog. |