CI1697-R: Bridge Modeling Approaches

Dave Simeone – Autodesk, Inc.

Edmundo Herrera – Autodesk, Inc.
Ara Ashikian - Autodesk, Inc.

CI1697-R - This roundtable session focuses on the Autodesk® solution for design and implementation of
typical overpass bridges. We also evaluate approaches for working with tunnels, retaining walls, and
other structural elements that are common to road, rail, and highway projects. Attendees can learn how
these structures can be initially located by the roadway engineer in the context of the road or rail model,
further designed and detailed by the structural engineer, and finally used by the contractor for
construction planning. Key to this workflow is the ability for all project participants including civil,
structural, contractors, and owners to work in a coordinated way with the goal of reducing production
cost, compressing project timeline, mitigating risk and improving the overall quality of the end product.
This session has a live walk-through of the process, primarily using a combination of Autodesk®
AutoCAD® Civil 3D®, the Civil 3D Bridge Module, and Autodesk® Revit® Structure software.

Learning Objectives
At the end of this class, you will be able to:

 Decide where to use the different tools in the Autodesk solution for bridge design

 Apply workflows for moving model information between Civil 3D and Revit Structure

 Describe the steps for initial layout, detailed modeling, and production drafting of a bridge

 Use best practices and work with limitations in the workflow based on the current tools.

About the Speaker

Dave has been Civil Product Manager since he joined Autodesk in 1997 where he’s been
responsible for the product management of AutoCAD Civil 3D and Autodesk Land Desktop. His
role includes working with customers to understand and prioritize industry workflow
requirements which in turn drives scope of future product improvements. Beyond AutoCAD
Civil 3D, Dave is focused on broadening the solution that can be used to complete complicated
tasks within the project lifecycle including streamlining model accessibility, interoperability and
cross product workflows. Dave is a graduate of The University of Massachusetts with a degree
in Environmental Design.

dave.simeone@autodesk.com
 CI1697-R: Bridge Modeling Approaches

Section 1: Introduction

This class covers a subset of the extended bridge design process including:

1. Preliminary bridge layout (in context of road)

2. Detailed bridge modeling
3. Bridge drafting (Civil perspective)
4. Bridge drafting (Structure perspective)

This session does NOT focus on bridge analysis, construction simulation, reinforcing (Rebar), or
operations/maintenance. Note also that the principals discussed in the “elevated roadway”
section of this document can also be used to model other type structures including tunnels,
walls, rail platforms and other linear structures.

Finally, there are a variety of different bridge types based on project demands. This session is
focused on design and delivery of the following:

a. Overpass-type bridges (e.g., a bridge that’s crossing a roadway or small river). This includes
you’re “typical” bridge modeled with steel or concrete girders, concrete slab, or basic box
girder.

b. Viaduct-type / elevation road bridges (e.g., a smoothly flowing concrete bridge for an elevated
highway or rail project).

This session does NOT cover iconic bridges (aka, cable stay and suspension bridges) or
structurally intricate steel structures (e.g., rail or roadway trestle bridges).

Bridge modeling approaches

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There are multiple approaches that can be employed for design and delivery of production /
submittal documentation for bridge and civil structures when using Autodesk products. This
session provides insight into 2 approaches that are most commonly used using Autodesk tools.

1. A Common overpass is most efficiently developed using the Autodesk Bridge Module (using
both Civil 3D and/or Revit Structure as the base platform)
2. A viaduct or elevated rail/road is best initially modeled using a Civil 3D corridor model and then
transferred into Revit as solids (generated in Civil 3D).

Content:
The following content has been provided to help you complete the steps in this class.

Bridge Corridor - river Starting drawing with no bridges or drafting/analysis

crossing bridge - start.dwg

Bridge Corridor - river Final drawing with all steps complete

crossing bridge - final.dwg

Elevated Road - solids.dwg Drawing that contains AutoCAD solids for curved bridge

Bridge Corridor - river Drawing that contains final bridge, but no clearance model
crossing bridge - no (created as “Advanced Topic”)
clearance.dwg

bridge bottom surface - 4 Subassembly for creating bridge bottom surface

girders -rev2.pkt

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Section 2: Initial Overpass Definition

This topic will focus on the design of a typical highway/road/river overpass. These bridges are
generally designed with slab/road deck that is supported by girders (steel, concrete or box).
Shorter bridges that carry less weight may also be designed as simple concrete slabs (i.e., no
girders). Key considerations that we will consider in this session include:

1. Seamless integration with the roadway surface (road alignment, profile and cross slope must
match perfectly)
2. Vertical clearance
3. Water flow (scour around piers and abutments, flow restriction resulting in upstream flooding)

The high level steps that you will use through this session include:

 Model a corridor with defined bridge regions (Start/End)

 Model a bridge with structural elements that are derived from the key roadway elements
(plan/profile geometry, road cross slope, lane width).
 Refine the bridge
 Add girders into roadway profile for clearance and drafting
 Include Bridge elements in sections
 Analyze clearance

Exercise 1 – Define Bridge Region in Corridor

1. Open “Bridge Corridor Start.dwg” Drawing

2. Confirm that the road corridor (Corridor – (1)) has a region defined that controls the river crossing. It
should be defined with the following parameters…

Region Name River Crossing

Start station 200.00 (2+00)

End station 400.00 (4+00)

Assembly “Bridge Deck”

Frequency 10’ for all geometry types

3. Confirm that the roadway is up-to-date.

 Review superelevation parameters (select alignment, superelevation tabular editor). For this
example, we are using a simple lane configuration with superelevation throughout the bridge.
 Rebuild corridor if necessary

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 Review assembly settings (GenericPavementStructure is being used to build simple lane

geometry that includes superelevation)
 Review roadway profile (Layout) to understand how the river crossing is defined vertically.

Exercise 2 – Define bridge type and geometric controls

4. Launch “Bridge – Concrete slab with girders” command from Bridge Module (Bridge TAB in Civil 3D
workspace)

5. Set the following values in the Corridor definition form UI.

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Note – The bridge width and cross slope is defined by the corridor edge of travel way code. The bridge
modeler attempts to use the appropriate value that is used in the regional country kit that you are using.
To confirm, select “options” to review.

Exercise 3 – Define Bridge parameters

For the first pass at the bridge, we will use the default bridge settings.

6. Review the default settings within the bridge module.

7. Select OK – The bridge will be drawn as a grouped collection of AutoCAD solids.

 Review the bridge in 3D using standard AutoCAD 3D navigation tools. “Object Viewer” is an
effective way of visually inspecting the bridge in 3D.
 Use the “Drive” Command to drive along the new roadway. Note that bridge will appear
cleaner if you hide the bridge corridor region. Important – Remember to turn the region back
on if you are going to re-enter the Bridge Module.

Exercise 4 – Edit the bridge

Now that we have a first pass at the bridge, there are some changes that we want to make. In this
exercise you will make changes to the bridge using both corridor and bridge module techniques.

8. Edit Corridor - Widen the bridge from 12’ to 14’

 Change lane with from 12’ to 14’ for both the left and right subassemblies in “Bridge Deck”
assembly
 Rebuild corridor (note that the bridge corridor region should now be wider than the standard
graded roadway)

9. Edit Bridge – Launch “Concrete slab with girders” tool from the Bridge Module
 Select “Edit Bridge” in the Corridor Definition dialog
 Select the existing river crossing bridge

Make the following changes:

Bridge Layout Locate Pier 1 to station 250

Bridge Layout Locate Pier 2 to station 350

Abutment Change Abutment type = Abutment

with Wings

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 Select “OK” and the bridge will be re-created to reflect the wider travel lanes and with all of the
adjusted bridge parameters.

Initial Bridge (Default Values)

Modified Bridge (longer center span)

Exercise 5 – OPTIONAL – Further refine the bridge in Civil 3D

Now that you have your initial bridge created, use the Edit Bridge option to evaluate different bridge
options. Examples of edits you should try include…

 Adjust pier and abutment location and skew angle

 Explore different girder type options (concrete vs. steel, variable steel girder height)
 Girder configuration per span
 More…

Note also that you can use the “verify” command (under Verification menu) to determine if there are
any modeling errors based the values that you have set within the bridge modeler. The error log will

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display any errors and, in most cases, will allow you to navigate to the problem data value by
selecting the error from the list.

Example of changing girder type to Steel with variable height

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Refine Bridge in Revit Structure

This phase of the project will transition from Civil 3D to Revit where the structural engineer can
further refine the bridge model and then complete structural tasks such as reinforcing and
production of structural documentation.

The high level steps that you will use through this session include:

 Transfer the Initial bridge model and supporting civil model information from Civil 3D into Revit
Structure
 Make changes to the bridge definition
 Move the refined bridge back into Civil 3D

Exercise 6 – Edit the Import Civil Model and Bridge Definition into Revit Structure
In this exercise you will import the surface, road and preliminary bridge parameters into Revit Structure
where the bridge can be refined.

1. Launch Autodesk Revit

2. Create a New Project using “Structure” template
3. Select “Integration with AutoCAD Civil 3D” to begin the import process.

 Civil 3D must be running and the drawing with the corridor and bridge that you wish to import
must be open

4. Select the desired drawing, corridor, surface (EG) and bridge that you want to import
5. Import the desired road elements –Review and set the appropriate values for roadway station
range, profiles and other settings.

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A Revit Slab has been created that represents the roadway pavement layer. This will be used by the
bridge modeling tools in Revit Structure to define the bridge.

Exercise 7 – Refine the bridge model

The parameters that were used to initially model the bridge in Civil 3D have been imported into Revit
Structure. However, the bridge itself is not imported. You will now use the bridge modeling tools in Revit
Structure to recreate the bridge using the parameters set in Civil 3D. Note that you can also make
refinements to the bridge at this time.

1. Select “Bridge – Concrete slab with girder” command.

2. Make changes to bridge elements

 Change pier type / parameters

 Change abutment parameters

Exercise 8 – Create Bridge Drawings

The Bridge Module for Revit Structure includes a powerful tool for creating submittal documentation from
the bridge model.

1. Select the “Documentation” command from the Civil Structure panel of the Extensions ribbon.

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2. Toggle On any bridge documentation that you wish to draft. For this class, review the options and
select OK to create all documentation.

3. You can now review the various details that have been created by selecting (double clicking) each
sheet

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Move Bridge Back into Civil 3D for Production Drafting

The final step in this process is to move the bridge back into Civil 3D where civil drawing sheets,
detailed grading and other tasks can be completed.

The high level steps that you will use through this session include:

 Transfer the refined bridge model from Revit Structure back into Civil 3D
 Extract geometry that represents the lowest elements of bridge for clearance analysis
 Draft Bridge in roadway section sheets
 Perform more advanced clearance analysis

Exercise 1 – Export the Bridge model to Civil 3D

1. Run “Integration with AutoCAD Civil 3D” to export the bridge back into Civil 3D.

 Civil 3D must be running and the drawing that will receive the bridge from Revit Structure
must be open.
 Assuming the bridge is for the same corridor and station range, it should replace the bridge
that was originally configured in Civil 3D

2. In Civil 3D, review the newly imported bridge. Confirm that the changes that you made in Revit are
in the newly created Civil 3D bridge. Also confirm that the bridge is oriented correctly. Note that the
newly imported bridge will be drawn as an AutoCAD Block that is composed of AutoCAD solids.

Exercise 2 – Create alignments/profiles from bridge strings

1. Our next step will be to extract strings for key linear elements of the bridge. Launch the “Bridge –
Extract Bridge Strings” command to being the process.

 The utility will create alignments and profiles for all strings that you select.
 In this example, we will use the extracted strings for production drafting and clearance
evaluation.
 Toggle on option to list girders. Note also that you can limit the listed girders to only those
that are lowest within each span.
 You can control the alignment settings including site, layer label and object style. For this
exercise, you can use the default settings.
 Note that you may want to change the alignment settings values for “label set” to
“No_Labels” or some other label set that limits the labels that will be drawn.

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Exercise 3 – Create production drafting (include strings in roadway profiles)

Note that certain Civil 3D commands (including the “superimpose onto profile view”) require that
you select the profile graphically vs. from a list. Therefore you need to import the profile views
including the girder layout profiles into the drawing.

1. Create Profile Views - You will now superimpose bridge string profiles onto the roadway centerline
profile for drafting and clearance documentation.

 Create profile views for the lowest girder alignments. Note that both EG and FG profiles will be
included for each bridge string alignment.
 Use the Civil 3D option to superimpose the girder bottom profiles onto the centerline profile
 Note that you’ll repeat this step for all girders

2. Hatch area between profiles - You can use the same process to create strings for other features such
as barriers and deck edges and then project the resulting profiles onto your centerline profile.

 Use profile view properties command to hatch areas between bridge strings in the profile view
 Note – If the bridge model is updated, you can recreate the bridge strings and subsequent
drafting.

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3. Bridge Section – The final documentation step is to include the bridge in your Civil 3D section views.

 Create a sample line at any location in the bridge

 Create a section view (optional whether you want to include the corridor in the section)
 Select the section View and select the “project objects to section” command from the
contextual ribbon.

 Select the bridge as the object that you want to project. Note that by default, all solids that
make up the bridge will be selected which can result in performance issues if the bridge is
updated. The “Object Grouping” selection setting (AutoCAD Options) allows you select just a
subset of the objects in a group. This allows you to limit the objects that you will project when
working on larger bridges.

 The final step is to use a style that is set to display a true section of the solid. The sample
drawing should include a projection style called “Slice Solid”

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 If this style does not exist, create a new style with the AutoCAD solids display with Section
toggled on.

Exercise 4 – Clearance Analysis (Advanced)

For those of you who are ambitious and want to try something interesting, we have created a workflow
that allows you to visually highlight areas where your bridge may not meet clearance requirements.

Important Notes:

 You will need to import the bridge bottom surface - 4 girders -rev2 subassembly (.pkt file) into your
Tool Palette.
 The Bridge Corridor Start.dwg includes an assembly called Bridge Bottom Surface. It assumes that you
have named the subassembly GirderBottom4a when adding it into your tool palette
 The subassembly assumes you have a bridge that is supported by 4 girders. However, you can easily
update the subassembly in subassembly composer to provide support for any number of girders.

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Girder Bottom subassembly geometry

Steps:

1. Extract bridge strings for all girders in bridge.

2. If you do not have the bridge bottom assembly created, create using the girder bottom subassembly
that you imported (above notes)
3. Create a new corridor

 Name = bottom bridge girders

 Subassembly is the Bridge Bottom Surface assembly (or whatever you chose to call it in above
setup)
 Station range is from start to end of bridge
 Align/profile are the main centerline (design profile)

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 Set sampling frequency to something small (e.g., 2’). The smaller, the more accurate your
clearance analysis will be.
 Set width targets to corresponding Girder alignments.
 Set elevation targets to corresponding girder profiles (layout)

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4. Create a corridor surface (Bridge Bottom Surface) using the “bottom” link code. This will create a
surface that matches the bottom of the girders. The image below shows the girder bottom surface
when using a “Two Arc Girder” configuration.

5. The final step is to create a Tin Volume surface between the EG and Bridge Bottom Surface.

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 Make adjustments to the surface display to show elevation banding

 Set the range control to “Range interval with datum” to clearly display any areas that are above
or below a specific clearance

Key Point – If the bridge changes you can re-extract the bridge strings. Provided the start/end of
each span hasn’t changed, the girder alignments/profiles will update resulting in updates to the
corridor, corridor and clearance (volume) surface.

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Elevated Roadway Modeling (Civil 3D)

The Elevated Highway modeling process is very different than when designing an overpass bridge.
Below are primary steps that are involved:

1. Create Civil 3D corridor model of elevated road superstructure (deck, box girder, barriers). Note that
this does not include the bridge substructure (piers, abutments, bearings, foundations). Civil 3D is
well suited to model complicated elevated roadway models that include horizontal and vertical
curvature, superelevation and widening conditions.
2. Use the Corridor Solids tool to create AutoCAD solids from the shapes that make up the Civil 3D
corridor model. These shapes move easily into Revit Structure and other applications.
3. Import the corridor solids into Revit Structure

Below is a list of steps that are used along with supporting comments.
1 Create Corridor in Civil 3D  For this example, use one of the stock bridge subassemblies
and create a bridge that fills the curved overpass in the
second half of the roadway. Elevated Road.dwg has the
corridor already modeled.

Notes:

1. Shapes with gaps/holes should be modeled as 2 shapes.

Civil 3D 2014 will fill the hole as part of the larger shape.
For example, create separate shapes for the upper and
lower shapes that will make be used to model a box
girder.

2 Extract Solids for area that you  Extract solids just for the bridge region
want to import into Revit Structure  Save solids in separate drawing. This will simplify the process
of importing into Revit. It will also facilitate an iteration
process
 A drawing named Elevated Road - solids.dwg is included with
the sample materials for this class.

3 Create a New Project in Revit 

Structure

4 Use the “Component - Model In  This will allow you to create Generic Families in Revit
Place” option Structure that can be used for sections and dimensions. This
is important in order to complete downstream tasks such as
section creation in Revit.
5 Use the “Insert CAD” or “Link CAD”  Select the drawing with the bridge solids
command to import the AutoCAD  Set coordinates, levels and other Revit setting
solids

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6 You can now use various Revit 

Structure commands to create
documentation and other output.

Tech Preview!

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QA / Notes:

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