Revit plug-in InstaBar | How to manage mix dia. rebars in a column?

Every structural designer, Revit expert or BIM modeller must have dealt with columns having rebars with a mix of diameters.

They know how it is difficult to manage the Revit modelling in such a situation.

InstaBar provides an easy solution. I am sure you will like it.

Today I am going to show you, how to manage a mixture of two diameters in the column?

Let us begin the demonstration with this third tool.

In these two columns, I have rebars of 20-millimetre diameter. I aim to build the top column with rebars of a mix of diameters of 20 & 16.

Click this third tool.

Select this top column & this beam.

Now select this bottom column & beam.

Insta-bar detects the number of rebars their diameter & the lap length in the bottom column.

For the top column, select the rebar diameter of 16 & lap length 640.

Let the crank length be 200.

Select stirrup diameter of 8.

Select non-uniform.

Stirrup distance for group G1 100.

The number of stirrups in the G1 group is 8.

Stirrup distance for group G2 150.

As we need a mix of diameters, we need to decide which rebars will have their diameter of 16.

To decide that, click this arrow.

In this graphic, click on the dots so that the rebar represented by this dot will have a diameter of 16. While selecting the dots, see that you maintain the symmetry.

Now we have few black & blue dots. The black dots will have rebars of diameter 20 & the blue one will have a diameter of 16.

If you are not satisfied with the selection, click the clear button. And again select the dots.

Once you are satisfied, hit done & then click the okay key.

Insta-bar will place the rebars as per your inputs.

Repeat the procedure for this column.

Press the escape key & hit the Okay button to end the command.

Let us check these rebars.

In this view, you can see the 16 millimetres bars have a lap length of 640. While 20 millimetres bars have a lap length of 800. In the dialogue box, we have clicked a few dots, exactly at that position we see the 16 millimetres rebars.

The designer wants the same mixture of rebars in the top column.

So, click this fourth tool.

Select this top column & this beam.

Now select this bottom column & beam.

Insta-bar detects the number of rebars their diameter & the lap length in the bottom column.

In this area, you can see the rebar details in the bottom column.

It shows it has rebars of 20 & 16 diameters with different lap lengths.

Click this arrow to open the graphic.

The yellow dots represent 16 & the black dots represent 20 diameters.

The same rebar composition would be repeated in the top column.

Input 200 as the crank length.

Set the stirrup diameter 8.

Select non-uniform for the stirrup arrangement.

The stirrup distance for group 1 is 100.

The number of stirrups for group 1 is 8.

The stirrup distance for the G2 group is 175.

Hit the okay key.

You can see the rebars.

Repeat the procedure for this column.

Press the escape key & hit the Okay button to end the command.

We all know that this column has a mixture of 20 & 16 diameter rebars.

The designer wants rebars of 16 in this top column.

So, select this fifth tool.

Select this top column & this beam.

Now select this bottom column & beam.

Insta-bar detects the number of rebars their diameter & the lap length in the bottom column.

In this area, you can see the rebar details in the bottom column.

It shows it has rebars of 20 & 16 diameters with different lap lengths.

Click this arrow to open the graphic.

The yellow dots represent 16 & the black dots represent 20 diameters.

This tool will place rebars of 16 diameters in the top column.

Input 200 as the crank length.

Set the stirrup diameter 8.

Select non-uniform for the stirrup arrangement.

The stirrup distance for group 1 is 100.

The number of stirrups for group 1 is 8.

The stirrup distance for the G2 group is 175.

Hit the okay key.

You can see the rebars.

Press the escape key & hit the Okay button to end the command.

Select the rebars in the top column.

Use the filter.

In the properties area, you can see all the rebars have 16 diameters.