Create a retaining wall

00:03

The retaining wall shown in the image below can be created

00:07

with a wall and sweep to create the sloped face.

00:10

The profile is high, it can be changed to accommodate deeper wall depths.

00:14

The foundation should be added with the standard wall foundation tool.

00:19

When creating

00:20

families, you can use formula within parameters to perform math calculations.

00:26

In our retaining ward example,

00:27

we need to calculate the thickness of the base of the wall

00:30

to do this, we can take the angle which is our face angle,

00:34

find the tangent of that angle and then multiply that by the wall height.

00:40

So let's begin by creating our new family

00:43

on the home screen. We'll select new family

00:47

in the new family dialog box. We're going to use profile dot RFT

00:52

and we can click open.

00:56

So now that the family editor is open,

00:57

you'll see that we have two initial reference planes.

01:01

Both of these are pinned and they both define the origin.

01:05

Our profile that we're going to create is essentially a triangle.

01:08

And historically trying to constrain angular lines

01:11

with reference planes is very difficult.

01:14

So what we're going to do is use a trigonometric

01:16

function to actually calculate one of the sides of the triangle

01:20

and to do this, we're going to have to create our parameters first.

01:24

So on the modify ribbon, let's go ahead and select family types

01:29

in the family types dialog box. We'll begin by creating some new parameters.

01:33

Let's start by clicking new parameter

01:36

and we'll type in here face angle. This is going to be the angle of our retaining wall.

01:43

So of course, the discipline wants to be set to common

01:46

but the type of parameter is now going to be an angle.

01:49

We'll group this under dimensions. And here this is going to be a type parameter.

01:55

I'll just put an initial value in here of perhaps three degrees

01:59

and we'll go ahead and create a second parameter.

02:03

This one will be wall height

02:06

and again, it will be a tight parameter.

02:09

The discipline is common,

02:10

the type of parameter is length and I'm going to group

02:13

this under dimensions and we can go ahead and click.

02:16

OK

02:18

again. Initially, I'll give this a value of 10 ft.

02:23

And the last parameter we're going to create is

02:25

the one that we're going to perform the calculation on

02:27

this one's going to be profile width.

02:32

Again, it will be a type parameter.

02:34

The discipline is common

02:35

and a type of parameter is a length.

02:39

So now you'll notice here we have a value

02:42

column where we've been entering in our initial values.

02:45

But we also have a formula column in here as well.

02:48

We're now going to put a formula in for the profile width.

02:52

What I'd like to do first is calculate the tangent of the face angle. So I can type in 10

02:59

open brackets

03:00

and then I'm going to type in face angle.

03:04

You must take care that what you type in here matches over here.

03:08

If I use a lower case F or a lower case A,

03:11

this will be different just to demonstrate that point.

03:14

If I type in lower case A here,

03:16

you can then see that it's not a value parameter, face angle.

03:20

So that's quite an important step.

03:23

OK. So that's the tangent of that face angle created.

03:26

What we now need to do is enclose that entire formula into brackets.

03:32

And then we're going to multiply that by the wall height.

03:34

So we can type in wall height here

03:37

and then the asterisk symbol which represents the multiplication function

03:41

and there we are. So you can now see we've now calculated that profile width.

03:46

So now that we have our parameters created,

03:48

we can get on and build out the reference points for our parametric framework.

03:52

So let's go ahead and click. OK to the family types dialogue.

03:56

We'll then go up to the creates ribbon

03:59

and we'll select reference plane

04:02

on the context ribbon. I'm going to use pick lines.

04:05

And initially here I'm going to set an offset of 10 ft.

04:09

I can then offset this reference plane down.

04:11

So you can now see here we have our 10 ft offset

04:15

and then to the right hand side, I'm gonna offset this one,

04:18

perhaps 1 ft just to start.

04:23

Ok? I'm gonna then press escape to come out of the reference plane command.

04:27

Now, what we might want to do is perhaps elongate these reference planes.

04:31

So you notice here,

04:32

I can just modify this by dragging the model end

04:35

of the reference plane just to elongate these planes.

04:40

I'll need to unpin this one to do the same thing. So I can temporarily unpin it

04:44

and then pin it back in again.

04:47

OK.

04:47

So we're now ready to create some aligned dimensions

04:49

and then assign the parameters to those dimensions.

04:53

So up on the quick access toolbar, I'll go ahead and select aligned dimension.

04:59

I'm going to place my dimension in here. So she's gonna represent the profile width.

05:04

We have another one here which is going to

05:06

represent the actual height of the wall profile.

05:10

So once again,

05:11

we will leave the dimension command by clicking the

05:13

modifier button or we can press escape twice.

05:17

And now we're pretty much ready to assign our parameters to these dimensions.

05:21

So let's go ahead and select this one here

05:23

and we go up to our label

05:26

and here this one is going to be profile width.

05:28

Remember that this was our calculated value,

05:32

we'll now select this dimension here and this one

05:34

is going to relate to the wall height.

05:38

So I can now construct in my geometry for my angle

05:42

to do this. I'll go to the creates ribbon,

05:45

I'll select the line option

05:48

and on the context ribbon in the drawer panel, I'm just going to use the line tool

05:54

and I can now begin by sketching around the reference plane, my triangular shape.

06:03

OK. So there it is.

06:05

Now before we actually save this, let's test it first.

06:08

So we'll go back to the modify ribbon and select family types.

06:14

What I'm gonna do here is just change the face angle perhaps to four degrees.

06:19

And then here we'll click, apply

06:21

and we can see that the geometry has now updated.

06:24

Let's now change the wall height, perhaps we'll change this to 8 ft

06:28

and again hit apply. And we can see that geometry is now driving and updating.

06:34

So the formula here has been very useful

06:36

to allow us to control this angular geometry.

06:39

And that's something you can use in any type of

06:41

family any time you need an angle being shown.

06:45

OK? So let's now go ahead and save this profile.

06:48

So we'll go up to the quick access toolbar and select save.

06:51

And for the family name, we'll call this one retaining or profile

06:57

and we'll then go ahead and click save.