By John Flanagan
Introduction
Figure 1 shows a stepped footing with a foundation perimeter wall and some evenly spaced concrete columns/piers. The only problem is that the foundation wall appears to be cutting through the columns. Ideally, we want the columns to cut the wall and not the other way around. The material for both the foundation walls and the structural columns is Concrete Cast In Situ. I have taken the surface pattern of the walls for clarity.
Fig 1: Concrete Columns and Foundation WallFig 2: Concrete Columns – Structural Usage
The first step is to select the walls and in the element properties panel set the Structural Usage to Shear as illustrated in figure 2.
Next, go to the Modify tab on the Ribbon and from the Geometry panel select the Unjoin Geometry tool. Now click on each of the columns in turn. Visually things will look better but we are not done yet. Go back to the Geometry panel and select the Join Geometry tool. Click on the wall and then click on the columns. The result should look like figure 3 below.
Fig 3: Concrete Columns Cutting through Foundation Wall
In the Element Properties panel set the Structural Usage for the foundation walls back to Bearing.
For more blogs and White Papers, visit www.cadlinecommunity.co.uk