Add Connections and Propagate Them

00:01

DEEPAK MAINI: Our objective in this part of the course

00:03

is to Add Connections and Propagate Them.

00:07

We'll start with adding the base plate connections

00:10

and will propagate them.

00:12

Next, we are going to add the end plate connections.

00:16

And then we'll add various bracing connections.

00:19

So let's get straight into Advance Steel.

00:21

The first connection we are going to add

00:23

is a Base Plate Connection and for that, I'm

00:25

going to navigate to the N5 grid intersection point.

00:30

In Advance Steel we've got a number of different connections

00:33

available out of the box.

00:35

Those connections are available in the Connection Vault.

00:42

This Connection Vault has got a number of different categories

00:45

available on the left side.

00:47

Depending on the connection type that you are going to add,

00:50

you can activate the required category.

00:53

Whenever you're adding any connection

00:55

you can look at the preview of the connection in this area

00:59

here, and also you can see some description

01:02

about the connection and the selection order.

01:05

So for example, when I hover the cursor over the tube base plate

01:08

connection, it's telling us that the selection order is column.

01:11

So you're only picking one item.

01:13

But the profile types which can be applied in this connection

01:16

is only square, rectangular, and circular tubes.

01:20

Also, a connection that you use on regular basis,

01:24

you can add them to the favorites

01:26

by clicking on this Add To Favorites button.

01:28

This is what I do with the Base Plate Connection.

01:30

I'm going to add this to the favorites.

01:33

The other thing that I'll do is, I'm

01:34

going to join my Advance Steel Tool Palette

01:38

and the connection holds together.

01:40

So the idea is that I can move them together here.

01:43

By bringing two of my favorite category,

01:45

I've got the base plate connection added.

01:47

I'll invoke this tool and I'm going

01:50

to hide the connection vault. I'm

01:53

prompted to select a column.

01:55

I'm going to select this column here.

01:57

Now, as you could see I'm prompted

01:58

to specify if I need to select an additional concrete object,

02:01

I'm going to press Enter to say no.

02:05

And now you can see the Advance Steel Base Plate Connection

02:07

Ballot Box is displayed.

02:09

I'm going to speed up the process

02:11

of modifying the parameters of this connection.

02:14

All of these values are available in the exercise

02:16

steps.

02:20

The other important thing that I want to do with this connection

02:23

is I'm going to specify the name of this connection.

02:26

I'll explain in detail later on why I have specified

02:28

the name of this connection.

02:32

As you can see in this model we have

02:34

a number of columns to be applied the same base plate

02:37

Connection.

02:38

This is where I'm going to right-click on the connection

02:41

box of the connection that we have just added,

02:43

and I'm going to use this really cool option called

02:46

propagate joint.

02:47

This option applies the same base plate joint

02:50

to all the columns that match the same type

02:54

and size of the original column to which the base plate

02:56

connection was applied.

02:58

In doing that it'll also create a parent-child relationship.

03:02

So all the copy connections will be dependent on this connection

03:06

here.

03:06

When I modify this connection, all the other connections

03:09

will be modified as well.

03:11

I'm going to click Propagate Joint.

03:16

And as you could see the same joint

03:18

is applied to all these columns.

03:22

Now, the reason we applied name to this connection

03:25

is because, on a large and a complex job,

03:29

you can easily filter the connections

03:31

and highlight the connection boxes using the names.

03:34

To do that I will go to the Advance Steel Tool Palette

03:37

and under the selection category,

03:39

I've got this tool called Search Filter.

03:42

I need to filter a connection, so I'm

03:44

going to go to the Joint tab.

03:48

And then I'll paste the name here.

03:54

And I'm going to go OK.

03:56

As you can see all the connection

03:58

boxes of the connection with the same name

04:00

are highlighted in red.

04:03

How cool is that?

04:05

Let me now regenerate the model and clear

04:07

the highlighted connection boxes.

04:11

Next, I'm going to apply the end plate

04:12

connection between this column and this beam.

04:17

For that, I'll go back to my connection vault,

04:21

and this time I'm going to go into the platform beams

04:24

category.

04:25

The connection type that I'm going to apply

04:27

is single side end plate connection.

04:29

And as you could see in this connection,

04:31

I need to select two elements, beam, and beam to connect.

04:34

So in this case, the column and the beam to connect.

04:38

I'll also add this to my favorites.

04:42

I'm being prompted to select the main beam, which in this case

04:45

is the column.

04:46

Enter.

04:47

And then secondary beam I'm going to pick this.

04:49

Enter.

04:50

And now it has applied a default connection.

04:53

I'm going to speed up the process

04:55

of modifying the parameters of this connection.

04:58

All these values are available in the exercise steps.

05:09

And again, I'm going to define the name of this joint.

05:12

And now I'm going to propagate this joint.

05:18

And to find out all the locations for this joint

05:20

as applied, I'm going to filter it again.

05:36

As you can see at this location here,

05:38

the connection was not needed.

05:40

So we can delete this connection.

05:42

But while deleting the connection

05:43

please be mindful, if you delete the connection box

05:46

it will break the connection into individual elements

05:49

like plates and bolts.

05:51

So to delete a connection you need

05:53

to select one of the elements of the connection such as plates

05:56

or bolts and delete them and that

05:58

will delete the connection.

06:01

Other places it looks fine.

06:06

The next connection I want to apply

06:08

is the bracing connection.

06:13

The bracing connections are available in their own category

06:16

in the connection vault. And I'm going

06:19

to use this connection, which is the gusset plate to column

06:22

and Base Plate.

06:23

I'll add this to the favorites as well.

06:27

And again, I'm speeding up the process,

06:29

but all these parameters are available in the exercise

06:31

handout.

06:44

So that's the bracing joint.

06:46

Now, I need to propagate this joint.

06:47

So if I click on the Joint Box.

06:49

Right-click.

06:50

Notice that the Propagate Joint option is not available.

06:54

The reason is because the only joints that can be propagated

06:57

are the ones that are applied to beam or columns only.

07:01

If they've also got plates or concrete elements

07:05

as their selection, then you cannot propagate them.

07:08

So the question is, how do we then copy this joint

07:11

at the other location?

07:12

For that, if I expand my Advance Steel Tool Palette,

07:16

on the tools category, we've got these four tools available

07:20

here.

07:22

The first tool is to copy the connection at a single location

07:27

without maintaining the parent-child relationship.

07:30

The second tool is to copy the connection at multiple places

07:34

without maintaining the parent-child relationship.

07:38

The third tool is to copy the connection at a single place

07:42

with parent-child relationship.

07:44

And the fourth tool is to copy the connection

07:46

at multiple places with the parent-child relationship

07:50

maintained.

07:51

In our case, we are going to use the third tool.

07:54

I'm prompted to select the connection part,

07:56

so I can simply select any element of the connection.

07:59

Enter.

08:00

And now I need to make sure that I select the elements

08:03

in the same sequence.

08:05

So column first.

08:07

Enter.

08:08

Base Plate second.

08:09

Enter.

08:10

And the diagonal.

08:11

Enter.

08:12

And that's our connection created.

08:14

I'll press Enter to finish this.

08:16

I'm given this message that the connection

08:18

is different from the parent connection.

08:19

Do you want to separate it?

08:21

I'm going to say no.

08:22

A connection which is different from the parent connection

08:25

has a connection box displayed in blue color.

08:29

And similarly, I can add the connections to the other places

08:32

as well.

08:37

This here is the completed model with all the connections

08:39

created.

08:40

In this model I've also turned off the visibility

08:43

of the connection boxes layer.

08:45

That's why you don't see the boxes around the connections

08:48

bracing or joists.