Precast Buried Structures
Precast concrete plays a crucial role in underground infrastructure for transportation and infrastructure projects.
A 3D BIM model, used in the planning and design stages, can streamline everything from fabrication to scheduling and shipping. Integrated quality assurance and automatic functions - such as clash detection - enable optimal precast planning and simplifies change management.
Allplan helps to simplify the precast reinforcement process with an automatic shop drawing creation—reducing errors, freeing more time for quality control, and enabling companies to bring in more projects.
- Easily place inserts & calculate the center of gravity
- Automatically generate sections and plan views
- Generate reports, material take-offs & production drawings
- Automatically detect clashes between reinforcement or precast components
Box Culverts
Precast concrete box culverts are a precast buried structure, often unseen by the casual observer. Manufactured in many sizes and configurations, they’re incredibly durable and allow for increased design flexibility.
Concrete culverts enable building in a way that doesn’t infringe on the natural landscape, if they are installed correctly. While modeling a four-sided, concrete square doesn’t seem hugely challenging. Working in 2D CAD is incredibly limiting, and often leads to mistakes in reinforcement.
Allplan is a highly efficient tool for culvert design because it allows users to retain a familiar 2D workflow, while simultaneously producing a 3D model.
Read more about precast box culverts here>
Prebenched Manholes
Precast manholes are, in essence, vertical access points from the ground to a sewer or underground system. As buried structures, they’re made to allow for cleaning, inspection, connections, and repairs integral to today's modern sewer systems.
If accurately designed, and properly installed, pre-benched manholes are highly durable and will last many years. However, precast concrete manholes are often drafted in 2D, making the task of detailing rebar incredibly time-consuming.
Using Allplan as a specialty precast design software tool, you’ll discover how much easier concrete manhole design is in 3D. With features such as automatic clash detection and automated reporting. Drafting and reinforcing pre-benched concrete manholes becomes a comparative breeze.
Lifting Inserts
Concrete might be a durable finished product, but it is prone to cracking and breaking if not lifted and handled correctly before arriving at its destination. Since broken precast can’t be installed, it is important that the center of gravity is calculated in advance of any transport to ensure quality and safety.
But, calculating the center of gravity is tedious, and lifter insert placement is error-prone. There’s also a tremendous risk in sharing incomplete drawings or information with your transport company and crane operators.
Stormwater System
Precast concrete stormwater management systems serve as backup to a typical drainage pipeline. When heavy rainfall overwhelms the capacity of a stormwater screening system, such as during a hurricane. The remaining water goes to a underground precast holding tank. These structures have to be meticulously designed to bear and retain heavy loads, both internally and externally.
Like most precast buried structures, these tanks for underground rainwater collection are part of the foundation in a larger project. In many cases, these are custom pieces of precast. Total accuracy is necessary, and once these pieces are installed there’s no going back. The cost to repair or replace the underground tank will be steep both in terms of time and money.
Allplan can help you design and reinforce stormwater management and screening facility systems quickly in one, simple workflow. You can draft in 2D, and generate a 3D model simultaneously. Plus, with automatic clash detection and automated reporting, calculating reinforcement and bending schedules will take mere minutes.
Soundwalls
Sound walls and noise barriers are an increasingly common precast product. As our urban and suburban areas become more densely populated, these walls are built as a means of minimizing noise pollution along heavily trafficked roads and maintaining quiet in residential neighborhoods.
Precast concrete sound wall panels are typically secured in concrete columns that are attached with anchor bolts to an existing structure.
Webinar - Benefits of BIM for Buried Structures
Get a deeper understanding of how easy it is to model and reinforce buried structures
We will demonstrate how to use our robust set of modeling and reinforcement tools, automatic quantities, COG, auto-generated weights, volumes, and rebar bending schedules.
All of these tools will increase your drawing productivity while reducing your errors and checking the time, thus increasing the quality of your production drawings.
After this webinar you will understand:- Modeling pre-benched manholes, box culvert, concrete pipe, and vaults
- How to use python parts
- Reinforcement and dimensioning of simple and complex shapes
- Production drawings
