Assistants

When starting a new job, the program allows users to use an assistant to automatically generate the data necessary to describe the job (depending on the type of assistant selected) from a small number of parameters entered sequentially. This includes the generation of geometry and earth loads, truck loads, strip uniform loads and uniform loads over slabs.

Several assistants are available to help with data entry for common cases:

• None
  An empty job will be created.

• Assistant for straight box culverts
  Defines a frame with parallel joints and lateral walls, i.e. rectangular plan. The sequence of data to be entered is shown as an example. For the other frame types, the data to be entered varies slightly. Here, the clear internal height of the modules, the free span between the lateral walls and the total length of the modules are required. The bottom road plane level is not required. This bottom road plane level is given by the thickness of the upper slab, which is a function of the free span (see table below).
  The existence of wingwalls and their angle can be activated or deactivated. The program generates the load on the backfill of the wingwalls as a function of the sine of the angle. For example, assuming an overload of 1 t/m2, an angle of 0 degrees generates 0 t/m2 of overload, an angle of 45 degrees generates 0.7 t/m2, and an angle of 90 degrees generates 1 t/m2.
  The bottom road plane level is defined and the loads are arranged in strips, with position and rotation to be defined. The base and backfill soils are defined. Then the program requests the type of truck load generation and the overload on the bottom road plane. Finally, a summary of the frame generation parameters is displayed. Once the generation has been completed, users can modify the data as required.

• Assistant for skewed box culverts
  Defines a joint frame with any angle and parallel wall.

• Assistant for general box culverts
  Defines a frame of joints and parallel wall at any angle. The following thickness design criteria is used for any of the assistants included in the program:

Horizontal road planes are generated in all assistants.