Slabs and rafts

Create the slab

Open the Slab menu on the 3D Modeling toolbar. MODEL_SLAB (the Slab (flat / inclined) button) asks Slab input [Polyline/Points/Axis-cell/Legacy-rectangle] <Polyline>:, then the thickness.

• Polyline: you select a closed polyline with straight segments. A 3D polyline with vertices at different levels, but in one plane, gives an inclined slab.
• Points: you give the vertices of the outline one by one.
• Axis-cell: you click inside a cell of the grid. It works on orthogonal grids.

Drop panels and punching

• MODEL_CAPITEL (Drop panel) places a drop panel around the selected columns or along a wall, below the slab or above it. The panel is trimmed at the slab edge.
• DROP_PANEL_REBAR_SET (Drop panel rebar) gives the panel its own bottom mesh. An unreinforced panel is marked in red on the plan.
• PUNCH_SET (Punching rebar) lays out the links around the columns. It asks Punching in the slab [Top/Bottom(raft)] <Top> and Link layout [Radial/Orthogonal] <Radial>, then the diameter, the distances and the number of perimeters, with values proposed from the slab thickness.

The software does not check punching shear. You give the diameter and the distances, from your design.

Reinforce

REBAR_EDIT on the slab opens the window with the general reinforcement: bottom and top bars in both directions, the support bars, the cover and the reinforcement scheme.

• The scheme: bars, welded mesh, or mixed (mesh in the field and support bars from bars).
• Zones with different reinforcement are tagged on the cells of the slab: SLAB_REBAR_TAG_CELL (Rebar zone (tag cell)) for one cell and SLAB_REBAR_TAG_EDGE (Support bars (cell edge)) for the bars over a support. SLAB_REBAR_TAG_ALL (Tag all slab cells) tags them all.
• The priority rule: the local tag, then the general tag, then the values of the slab.
• Chairs are drawn and counted automatically.
• Welded mesh: SLAB_MESH_SET (Slab mesh settings) chooses the mesh type and the layers. The mesh plan shows each panel, reusing the offcuts.

The raft

• MODEL_RAFT (the Raft button, Raft menu) creates the raft like a slab, then asks for the thickness of the blinding concrete. RAFT_SLAB_MARK (Mark slab as raft) turns a slab already modelled into a raft.
• A raft and a slab can share a level, at different elevations, and are reinforced separately.
• Reinforcement is set with REBAR_EDIT too, with local tags from the Raft menu. The layers are the reverse of a slab: the support bars are at the bottom.
• Punching reinforcement under the columns is laid out with PUNCH_SET, option Bottom(raft).
• The starter-bar plan of the raft is generated by itself at PLANS.

What appears on the sheets

• Slab, at 1:50: the bottom reinforcement plan, the general top reinforcement plan and the support-bar plan. Levels with drop panels or punching reinforcement also get their plans, with details at 1:25 or 1:20.
• Raft: top reinforcement, bottom reinforcement and bottom support bars.
• Raft starter bars: a plan at 1:50, the layout scheme of the bars and the cage details.
• Welded mesh: the layout plan, with the mesh schedule (cut pieces, sheets to order, waste).
• The sheets are called REINF_Slabs, REINF_Raft, REINF_RaftDowels and REINF_Meshes (ARMA_Placi, ARMA_Radier, ARMA_Mustati_Radier, ARMA_Plase).

Slab plans are crowded. MOVE_LABEL (Move label, on the 2D Detailing tab) moves a label, and its position is kept on regeneration.

Good to know

• Outlines with arcs are not accepted; use straight segments.
• An inclined outline that is not planar is refused. Draw the slab flat and tilt it with SLAB_SLOPE.
• An opening must lie entirely inside the slab and must not touch the edge or another opening.
• A round opening is reinforced as a square one with the side equal to the diameter.
• Oblique supports are left out of the automatic panel division; the software reports them.

What is covered and what is not →