Create lane

Create a lane in a lane set for the structural members assigned by assemblies

Note: You can define the lanes before or after assigning the assemblies. If you define the assemblies before, you can do the definition in a 3D view (or optionally 2D view) of the respective cross section. Moreover, you can interactively align the reference line for the begin of the lane set as well as the lanes themselves on the parametric lines of the cross section. Further you can align the inclination of the lane set on the parametric lines or boundary lines of the cross section.

To define a lane first select the lane set in the navigation tree for which you want to define lanes (for creating lane sets see here). Then advantageously first define the range of the structural member by assemblies, for which you want to define the lane (for details see here). Then follow the step-by-step instruction below. After clicking in the empty area of the view window you can switch between the 2D and 3D view in the property window. Remark: Some definitions are only possible in the 2D window - in this case the program temporarily switches back to the 2D window during the input.

The reference line for defining the lanes is the vertical blue line in the cross section. This line defines the start position for defining the lanes. Per default this line is positioned at the Y-axis of the cross section coordinate system. You can change the distance of the reference line from the Y-axis at any time (i.e. before or after the lane definition) using the tool Lane set offset.

In the horizontal direction the lanes are placed per default along the z-axis of the cross section coordinate system. The lane width is always measured in this direction, however, you can align the lanes along a different direction (i.e. project it to these lines) using the tools Reference boundary and Reference parametric line in order to e.g. consider the load application point of centrifugal or braking loads at the road surface. These two tools are (only) available via the context menu of the reference line of the lane set (by clicking it).

You can also define the desired Load directions (vertical, longitudinal, centrifugal, combined) for the influence line calculation and evaluation in the Property window by selecting the reference line. If more load directions are selected, a respective influence line is created for each direction when calculating. When selecting combined, you can freely define the particular components for the load directions (as a normalized vector).

To define a lane

1. Click Create lane.
2. To define the lane there are 2 possibilities:
   • Move the mouse in the direction of the desired position of the lane to be created and input the desired distance (width of the lane) relative to the reference line in the appearing text box. Alternatively, you can define the position directly with the mouse cursor. Confirm the input in both cases with the enter key or the left mouse button.
   • Activate the option Parametric line in the Property window to display the (vertical) parametric lines defined in the cross section. Click a param. line to create the lane at this position.
3. Directly create further lanes, now in reference to the last created lane line (back to 2.), or quit the tool with ESC.