Create a concrete spiral beam
Use the Create concrete spiral beam command when you want to model spiral staircases, parking ramps, and complex architectural shapes, for example.
Basic concepts related to spiral beams
The images below illustrate some basic concepts related to the creation of spiral beams. Note that if you change the positioning, the entire geometry of the spiral beam changes.
(1) Start point (the first point picked)
(2) Center point (the second point picked)
(3) Direction of the rotation axis (the optional third point picked)
(4) Center axis
(5) Total rise: the distance from the start point to the end point, parallel to the center axis
(6) Rotation angle: the rotation angle of the spiral beam, given in degrees. Note: positive value = counter-clockwise rotation, negative value = clockwise rotation.
(7) Radius: the distance from the start point to the center point, perpendicular to the center axis
Create a spiral beam
Limitations
- Spiral beam has a single, constant radius.
- Unfolding of spiral beams whose total rise is larger than 0.00 does not produce completely straight results in drawings. The amount of deviation in the part profile outlines and part length depends on several factors: the type, size, and length of the profile; the amount of total rise; and the amount of rotation angle and detailing used.
- Spiral beams are not always untwisted in unfolding. If unequal twisting is applied to the start end and end end, the unfolded drawing shows an unfolded but twisted part as a result.
- Connections and details may not work as expected with spiral beams.
- DSTV export of spiral beams may not produce a correct result.
- You cannot export spiral beams as parts in IFC export. If you are modeling cast-in-place structures with spiral beam, you can export the geometry to IFC as pour objects.