Access platforms stairs and ladders administrator guide

Access platform, Stairs and Ladders
Administrator Guide


AVEVA Solutions Ltd

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Access platforms, Stairs and Ladders Administrator Guide

Access platforms, Stairs and Ladders
Administrator Guide
Contents

Page

Administrator Guide
Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1:1
Who Should Use this Guide? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1:1
Product Compatibility . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1:1
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1:1
How to Use this Guide . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1:2

Overview of ASL Functionality . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2:1
Hierarchical Relationships of ASL Assemblies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2:2
Simplified Parameterisation of ASL Assemblies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2:2
System Evaluation of Engineering Criteria . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2:3
Administrative Preconditions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2:3
System/User Responsibility . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2:3

Application Data Worlds (APPLDW). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2:3
Application Data and Templates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2:4
Extension to Design Data. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2:4
Valid Value Elements (VVALUE) Additional Attribute . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2:4

General Routing Path (RPATH). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2:5
General Route Path Element . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2:5

Getting Started . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3:1
Administrator Tasks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3:1
Administrator Access Permissions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3:1
Storage Areas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3:2

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Creating Standards (Engineering Criteria) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Standards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Secondary Standards. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Creating ASL Assemblies. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Creating ASL Selections . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

3:2
3:3
3:4
3:4
3:5
3:6

Stair Tower (STRTWR) Assembly . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4:1
Stair Tower Database Hierarchy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4:1
Description of Stair Tower Elements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4:2
Stair Landing (STRLNG) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4:2
Tower Steel (TWRSTL) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4:2
Access Set (ACCSET) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4:2

Stair Flight (STRFLT) Assembly . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5:1
Stair Flight Database Hierarchy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5:1
Description of Stair Flight Elements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5:2
Stair Stringer (STRSTR). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5:3
Tread Set (TREADS) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5:3
Tread (TREAD) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5:3

Ladder (LADDER) Assembly . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6:1
Ladder Database Hierarchy. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6:1
Description of Ladder Elements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6:1
Ladder Stringer (LDRSTR). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Rung Set (RUNGSE) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Ladder Rung (LDRRUN) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Ladder Cage (LDRCAG) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Cage Segment (CAGSEG). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Ladder Exit (LDREXT) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

6:1
6:1
6:2
6:2
6:2
6:2

Platform (PLTFRM) Assembly . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7:1
Platform Database Hierarchy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7:1
Description of Platform Elements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7:1
External Frame (EXTFRM). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Internal Frame (INTFRM) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Platform Grid (PLTGRD) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Platform Feature (PLFEAT) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Platform Opening (PLOPEN) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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Open Feature (OPENFE) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7:2
Route Attachment (RATTA) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7:2

Handrail (HANDRA) Assembly . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8:1
Handrail Database Hierarchy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8:1
Description of Handrail Elements. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8:1
Handrail Panel Set (HRPNSE) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Handrail Panel (HRPANE) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Handrail Kick Plate Set (HRKPSE) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Kick Plate (KICKPL) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Rail Set (RAILSE). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Rail (RAIL) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Handrail Feature (HRFEAT). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Handrail Gate (HRGATE). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Route Attachment (RATTA) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Post Set (POSTSE) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Handrail Post (HRPOST) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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8:2
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Introduction

1

Introduction
This guide introduces the AVEVA Access platforms, Stairs and Ladders (ASL) application. It
identifies the different types of user who would need to read this guide and sets out what
knowledge they will need before they start. The section provides an overview of the main
functionality that the application introduces.

1.1

Who Should Use this Guide?

Administrators and discipline leads should use this guide to understand the concept of
standards and be able to configure standards that define the engineering criteria that the
Access platform, Stair and Ladder and assemblies will be evaluated against, the standards
are fully configurable and can be applied to suit project requirements or international
standards. This guide will also describe the Assembly World concepts that the Access
platform, Stair and Ladder elements use.
Administrators should have a reasonable knowledge of PDMS database structures where
they might need to configure rules and assembly geometry. A knowledge of PML is required
if they need to set up PML expressions in the engineering criteria.
This guide does not cover product installation. Refer to References.
For details of non administrative process of ASL refer to the Access platform, Stairs and
Ladders User Guide.

1.2

Product Compatibility
The ASL application can be used with the following product:
•

AVEVA PDMS DESIGN 12.0SP2.

There is no upgrade path capability of ASL model data based on pre 12.0SP2 versions of
PDMS DESIGN to the 12.0SP2 ASL elements.

1.3

References
This section lists other documents that provide supporting or complementary information to
this guide.
Access platform, Stairs and Ladders User Guide.

Structural Design User Guide.
AVEVA Product Minimum System Requirements.

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Introduction

1.4

How to Use this Guide
This section describes how to use this guide and outlines what each section covers.
Overview of ASL Functionality introduces the ASL application and concepts.
Getting Started explains how to get up and running quickly with the ASL application.
Stair Tower (STRTWR) Assembly explains the database architecture, workflow, UI design
concepts and base functionality for creating a Stair Tower assembly.
Stair Flight (STRFLT) Assembly explains the database architecture, workflow, UI design
concepts and base functionality for creating a STRFLT assembly.
Ladder (LADDER) Assembly explains the database architecture, workflow, UI design
concepts and base functionality for creating a Ladder assembly.
Platform (PLTFRM) Assembly explains the database architecture, workflow, UI design
concepts and base functionality for creating a Platform assembly.
Handrail (HANDRA) Assembly explains the database architecture, workflow, UI design
concepts and base functionality for creating a Handrail assembly.

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Overview of ASL Functionality

2

Overview of ASL Functionality
The ASL application is a PDMS DESIGN application for the DESIGN module that provides a
bespoke database architecture of ASL elements comprising of the administrative elements
below;
•

Stair Tower (STRTWR)

•

Stair Flights (STRFLT)

•

Stair Landings (STRLNG)

•

Ladder (LADDER)

•

Platform (PLTFRM)

•

Handrail (HANDRA)

These elements are the high level administrative elements that are owned by the existing
STRU hierarchy element, these elements with their easily identifiable element type
definition supports the ‘Assembly’ type concept employed throughout the application where
all of the detailed modelling is represented using the existing steelwork objects such as
Gensec, Panel, Template and Fixing. For a detailed explanation of these elements, refer to
the Structural Design User Guide. Throughout the application the workflow associated with
the creation and modification of these elements follows a consistent format through a
common user interface.
The ASL application builds on the existing database concepts and provides 3D model data
in an integrated environment, enabling quick and easy browsing and reporting on that data.

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2.1

Hierarchical Relationships of ASL Assemblies
The ASL elements of Stair Tower, Stair Flight, Ladder, Platform and Handrail are all POS/
ORI elements whose hierarchical ownership is that of a STRU. The ASL elements should be

considered as fabrications in their own right as they in turn own specific objects fulfilling an
engineering function whose naming convention reflects the engineering function.
See the hierarchy view and descriptions below:

The descriptions and functions of these elements will be explained in the following sections.
These objects have been architected to suit specific functionality and workflow to provide
definite engineering purpose and their attribute set accurately mirrors the engineering
criteria for that object. The attributes are evaluated by the system in response to the user’s
interaction with the 3D model environment and the relevant attributes are managed through
the database hierarchy by the ASL application.

2.2

Simplified Parameterisation of ASL Assemblies
Provides a simplified means to define parameters or rules (engineering criteria) for complex
steelwork assemblies or fabrications and to de-couple the dependency on assembly
geometry and parametric rules such that any ASL assembly can be managed by any
particular standard responsible for validating and managing the engineering criteria.

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Overview of ASL Functionality

2.3

System Evaluation of Engineering Criteria

The basic workflow concepts along with the user and system responsibilities provided by
the application are described and illustrated below;

2.3.1

2.3.2

2.4

Administrative Preconditions
•

The administrator has the necessary privileges to create or modify criteria or assembly
data and the criteria and assemblies have been defined in the APPLDW.

•

The assembly selection has been set up for the DESIGN user.

System/User Responsibility
•

The USER uses the application functionality to create, modify or delete assembly data
in the 3D model using the criteria and assemblies in the database.

•

The SYSTEM (ASL engine) analyses the positions and verifies the engineering criteria
of the assembly and then creates the instance in the database and maintains the
assembly and its criteria until subsequent modifications are made to the assembly or

data.

•

The APPLICATION configures or sizes the parameters of the assembly to suit the
USER input and sets any additional attributes such as references to standards and
assemblies.

•

The USER modifies the layout or any of the SYSTEM set criteria.

•

The SYSTEM re-evaluates the assembly as per the second step above.

Application Data Worlds (APPLDW)
For more detailed information regarding Application Data Worlds sets refer to the Design
Reference Manual Creating the Model.
Application Data Worlds and their elements assist applications to store assemblies and
model parts for copying and propagation within a design. They have some similarities with
Templates, but are more general in content.
They are used for ASL assembly data and also by the Piping discipline.

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Overview of ASL Functionality

The Elements available are administrative elements allowing applications to organise data
storage areas of design objects that are not part of the design itself, but supplementary
objects used to create and maintain the model. They will not be accessed (unless
specifically instructed to do so) when performing model queries such as clashing, mass
properties, collections and they are similar to catalogue and in particular Template
definitions.

2.4.1

Application Data and Templates
Templates (TMPLates) can be included in the Application Data World, but only as instanced
templates, NOT template definitions. Such templates can be refreshed from their definitions
using existing (appware and core) driven functions. However there is no core supported
means to refresh copies of Application Data in the real model.

2.4.2

Extension to Design Data
DDAT elements have a new attribute PTOLER supplying a tolerance value as an alternative
to, or instead of the MAXMIN values which determine the range of valid values when set.
Applications using the Application data will use this value to validate its data.

2.4.3

Valid Value Elements (VVALUE) Additional Attribute
VVALUE, owned by a DDAT can have a Valid Rule set stored in the attribute VALRULE.
VALRULE is an expression attribute that can store an expression that evaluates to a logical
true or false value. If the expression does not evaluate to a logical result, or if there are

errors in the evaluation of the expression then the VALRULE will return FALSE when
queried. The VVALUE element owns a Valid Value attribute (VALIDV) that is an expression
returning a real, logical, text or reference value which supports the owning DDAT element. If
the VALRULE is true or if it is a null expression then this VALIDV will be available to the
DDAT.
VALRULEs are used by the system to control the choice of a Valid Value when property
queries are made on the owning DDAT.
One example of a particular scenario shown below of a DDAT element owning four VVALUE
elements with VALIDV and VALRULEs to control the size of a stiffener which changes in
size due to the length of the stiffener:
VValue

VVal expression

VALRULE expression

VVALUE 1

( ID /ANG35x35x15 )

( LDPR LENG le 1800 )

VVALUE 2

( ID /ANG40x40x15 )

( LDPR LENG gt 1800 and LDPR LENG le 2400 )

VVALUE 3

( ID /ANG45x45x18 )

( LDPR LENG gt 2400 and LDPR LENG le 3000 )

VVALUE 4

( ID /ANG50x50x18 )

( LDPR LENG gt 3000 )

The current set of VALIDValues available for the owning DDAT are the set whose
VALRULes either are unset, or evaluate to TRUE. Those that are not available are those
whose VALRULes either evaluate to FALSE, or whose evaluations generate errors.

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Overview of ASL Functionality

2.5

General Routing Path (RPATH)
The RPATH element provides a multi disciplinary routing concept that provides common
basis for defining any open path or closed boundary based objects in the 3D environment
such as those used in the Platform and Handrail elements.
The primary objective is to provide consistent database schema with predictable behaviour
in the creation of a path or boundary with a robust data consistency and internal checking

mechanism that can persist data during the modification of the path or boundary once it has
been created.

2.6

General Route Path Element
Information specific to the core capabilities of the Routing Path element is available in the
Software Customisation Reference Manual.

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Overview of ASL Functionality

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Getting Started

3

Getting Started
This section describes the application pre-requisites and the administrator responsibilities to
provide the DESIGN user with the necessary data to create assemblies in the 3D model.

To access ASL functionality, launch the DESIGN module and select
Design>Structures>Access, Stairs & Ladders.

3.1

Administrator Tasks

3.1.1

Administrator Access Permissions
In order to create and modify ASL standards the Administrator needs the appropriate
access permissions to the database and the Assembly Data World (APPLDW) data.
Administrator read/write access to the sample criteria and assembly data requires the
‘SYSTEM’ user to be a team member of the /ASLADMIN team and it is this team who own
the /ASLCONFIG database. The sample criteria and assembly data provided with this
release in the ASL APPLDW are created in the ASLCONFIG database.
The ASLCONFIG database should be included in all MDB’s where the administrator will be
creating and modifying standards and the user will be creating ASL assemblies

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Getting Started

3.1.2

Storage Areas

Before any new Standards, secondary standards or assembly geometry can be created a
storage area should be assigned, the system will present a warning message if the
administrator attempts to create a new standard with having previously set the storage area.
To manage the setting of the storage areas, select Settings > ASL Storage Area from the
menu toolbar to display the ASL –Default Storage Area form.
This form is sensitive to the access permissions of the user, if the user is an administrator
the form displays with the area for Standards on the form being visible.

The general user however will not see the setting for Standards as it is an administrators
responsibility

3.1.3

Creating Standards (Engineering Criteria)
The Standards for Access, Stairs and Ladder application form provides the ability to
create, copy, modify and delete the data. The tasks indicated on the form to Create, Delete
and Copy are sensitive to the user permissions, where access is valid the task based links
are active and where the permissions are invalid the task link will be inactive.
The application will be provided with a sample set of data based on a British Standard which
is the default sample standard for this release. The application will allow the user to create
their own default, user or project standards using the copy and rename functionality on an
existing standard and simply modifying existing the attribute values (Valid value, Max/Min,
Tolerance, Optimum or a PML expression), see below.
The Standards are managed by selecting Settings > ASL Standards and the criteria shown
in the form is visible to the general user but not writable to the general user.

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The basic workflow for Creating, Copying or Deleting Standards is managed by this form
and the activities are separated into three tasks;

3.1.4

•

Standards

•

Secondary Standards

•

Properties

Standards
Create a New Standard
Creating a new ASL standard will display a form requesting both the Name and Description
of the Standard which updates the Design Explorer with a new Application Data Area
(APPDAR). There is no limit to the number of APPDAR that an APPLDW can own so the
user the flexibility to create any number of Standards.
Delete the Selected Standard
Deleting the Standard will delete the engineering criteria associated with the assembly data
and where the assembly data has been instanced in the 3D model the rule checking engine

and the ability to intelligently update the ASL assembly will be lost. The instances of the ASL

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assemblies all store and use references against the standard (ASLStandard), secondary
standard (ASLSbStandard) and assembly reference (AssTmpReference) with which they
are defined so deleting the standards or assemblies will delete these references.
Copy the Selected Standard
Copying existing standards provides a quick and efficient method of creating new standards
and simply editing the properties in the form control grid.

3.1.5

Secondary Standards
Create a New Secondary Standard
Having created an ASL Standard (and a corresponding APPDAR) for the encapsulation of
the criteria the Standard can then be sub-divided or categorised into secondary standards,
in this instance the secondary standards capture the different criteria of ‘Public’, SemiPublic’ and ‘Private’ secondary standards. For example, in the case of a Ladder conforming
to a ‘Public’ secondary standard it would have rigidly defined degrees of freedom in its
allowable tolerances than those specified for a ladder conforming to a ‘Private’ secondary
standard where its criteria are much more generalised.
In database hierarchy terms the Secondary standard is managed by the Application Data
(APPLDA) element.
Delete the Selected Secondary Standard

As with the deletion of the standard, deletion of the secondary standard should only be
undertaken with care as there are instances of the standard and associated geometry in the
2D or 3D environments which will loose their references.
Copy the Selected Secondary Standard
Copying existing secondary standard provides a quick and efficient method of creating new
sub standards and changing the attribute settings for subsequent use.

3.1.6

Properties
Having created the standard and secondary standard; the properties need to be created or
modified depending on the method of creating the Standard/Secondary standard. The
properties manage the engineering criteria against the appropriate attribute for the relevant
ASL object. The engineering criteria of the ASL objects such as STRFLT, Ladder are
defined and managed by the Design Data Set (DDSE) which is owned by the APPLDA. The
DDSE corresponds to an ASL element type which has a separate Tab for managing the
values against the attribute property (Description field).

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The Description field is a listing of the attributes against the STRFLT element. The DDAT
stores the engineering criteria in the form of an expression, Real, Max/min or VVAL, it is this
data in the DDAT elements that effectively parameterises the assembly and what the rule
checking engine performs its analyses against. Indicated below are the expressions the

'Relationship between rise and going' DDAT element stores;

3.1.7

Creating ASL Assemblies
The ASL assemblies should be created in the appropriate Application Data World hierarchy
of the database as this means that they will not be clashed or queried by the system, unless
they have been instanced in the 3D model.
The creation of assemblies will require some knowledge of the Steelwork application and its
existing GENSEC and PANEL elements used for the detail representation of steelwork
together with an understanding of PML syntax. To allow the creation of more complex
assemblies an understanding of the rule syntax would be an advantage where the rules
referred to are identical to the rules and expressions used to create Template elements.

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3.1.8

Creating ASL Selections
The Selections for Access, Stairs and Ladder application form is used to expose the
relevant assemblies to the project, this functionality allows the Standard (Assigned
Standard) and the Assemblies (Assigned elements) to be used in combination and manages
the presentation of this data in the general users application such that the user can decide
which standard and assembly to use. The form also allows new selections to be created,

modified or deleted. It is then the responsibility of the system to manage the checking of the
engineering criteria based on the graphical picks or selections or manual inputs from the
user.

The figure above left shows how the Selections form manages the visibility of the Assembly
elements and provides the functionality for the administrator to promote the Stair Flights and
other ASL assemblies, to the Assigned elements grid. The elements visible in the lower
potion of the form under the heading Assembly elements are not visible to the ASL Design
application and hence the user. This form allows the administrator to assign only those
assemblies that have been authorised for use on the project.

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The Db structure on the Application Data World indicated above right shows the database
explorer and the location and hierarchy associated with the Standards, Secondary
standards and the Assembly data. Notice that both the standards information and the
assembly data are located in adjacent APPDAR under the same APPLDW.
Create a New Setting
Creating a new ASL setting will display a form requesting both the Description of the
setting and the Setting Type which updates the main menu toolbar to inform the user of the
current selection available to use.

The application allows for both Project and User selection settings to be created and the
Description gadget is autonamed based on the Setting type which can be either Project or

User and the autoname is not a hard-coded naming convention so the administrator can edit
the name to a more appropriate name.

The User and Project Selections are saved to the following directory and files;
The user settings are stored in the PDMSUSER directory and the Project settings are stored
in the Project Default path directory, for example; SAMDFLT folder, BASDFLT folder.
Delete the Selected Setting
The user will be prompted to confirm the deletion of the selected setting which will update
the main menu toolbar.

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Stair Tower (STRTWR) Assembly

4

Stair Tower (STRTWR) Assembly

4.1

Stair Tower Database Hierarchy
The Stair Tower element (STRTWR) is a top level administrative element owned by a STRU
element.
The Stair Tower is a steelwork assembly that enables the user to create a rule based, linear
spiral stair arrangement of Stair Flights (STRTWR) and Stair Landings (STRLNG). A middle
tier hierarchy allows the decomposition of the Stair Tower into its individual assemblies of
Stair Flights and Stair Landings and the existing steelwork elements of GENSEC and
PANEL are used to represent the detail of the 3D model. Refer to the Structural Design User
Guide for further information on the GENSEC and PANEL elements.

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Stair Tower (STRTWR) Assembly

4.2

Description of Stair Tower Elements
The elements denoted with the (…) after the element type identification are described in
more detail under the appropriate section heading.

4.2.1

Stair Landing (STRLNG)
STRLNG is owned by the STRTWR and acts as a transition between the multiple Stair

Flights also owned by the STRTWR, the boundary of the Stair Landing element is defined by
the application using the appropriate template within the APPLDW and the upping
coordinate is typically coincident with the Lower and Upper Work Points of the Stair Flight
elements which are defined by the user. The physical representation of the Stair Landing
element is defined using the existing GENSEC and PANEL element.

4.2.2

Tower Steel (TWRSTL)
TWRSTL is used by the STRTWR to manage the layout of the Steel structure of Beams and
Columns supporting the Stair Flight and Stair Landing layout. The primary function of the
Tower Steel is to manage in an intelligent manner the relationships between the Top of Steel
(TOS) elevations of the supporting beams and the associated Finished Floor Levels (FFL)
for Stair Flights or Ladders accessing the Stair Tower.

4.2.3

Access Set (ACCSET)
Access locations in the Stair Tower are defined and managed by the application, the
ACCSET can own any number of Access Points. Access Points are elements that imply a
logical connectivity or reference concept in that they represent the link between the two
locations being accessed from and to. The attributes of the Access Point define amongst
other things the position, orientation, size (clear opening) and also includes an 'Access
reference' for referencing adjacent locations.

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Stair Flight (STRFLT) Assembly

5

Stair Flight (STRFLT) Assembly

5.1

Stair Flight Database Hierarchy
The Stair Flight element (STRFLT) is a top level administrative element owned by a STRU
element.
The STRFLT as a steelwork assembly enables the user to create a rule based linear Stair
Flight and it introduces a new middle tier hierarchy to enable the decomposition of the
STRFLT assembly into its logical component parts, the existing lower level elements of
GENSEC and PANEL are used to represent the detail of the 3D model.

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