Effortless Bridge Reporting with OpenBridge Designer

Bridge engineers know that quantities, elevations, and reinforcing are essential reports included in a complete set of plans. However, a single design change late in the process can lead to significant manual rework.

Creating these detailed reports manually is not only time-consuming but also prone to errors. Each design change requires careful updates to maintain accuracy, resulting in inefficiencies and potential issues. OpenBridge Designer addresses these challenges by integrating seamlessly with your 3D models, updating all reports with any design modifications. This saves time and enhances the reliability of your project data, allowing engineers to focus on designing and building robust bridges.

OpenBridge’s reporting capabilities stand out as some of the most user-friendly in the industry. While many engineering software competitors offer report generation, they often fall short in various ways. Some focus mainly on analytical reports, others require extensive customization to achieve the desired outcome, and many still rely on manual efforts to extract data from the model. In contrast, OpenBridge Designer offers unmatched speed, automation, and seamless integration.

Test out the reporting tools for yourself with a 30-day Trial of OpenBridge Designer

Quantity Reports

As part of every engineering project, a report of the total bill of materials is given to the Client by the Engineer. This report includes a detailed cost breakdown and the quantity of each item, providing the project owner with an estimated construction cost. It also serves as a guideline for the contractors who will build the project. The quantity report process is simplified within OpenBridge Designer. After the bridge model is created in OpenBridge Modeler and all materials are assigned to the correct elements, a report can be generated. The Materials Report includes a unit cost which can be updated manually to correspond with historical bid prices. Some DOTs even provide their own material library in XML format to use within OpenBridge.

The steps are as simple as:

1. 3D bridge model created
2. Materials assigned to elements
3. OpenBridge Modeler workflow navigate to Reports and Drawings
4. Click Quantities Report
5. Report Generated

Geometry and Elevations Reports

Engineers rejoice, OpenBridge Designer offers elevation reports as well. Setting up an entire Excel file for your Top of Deck, Beam, Bearing, and Pier Elevations is no longer a massive effort that requires hours of setup and meticulous QC for any design change. While it’s always wise for a bridge engineer to double-check the numbers, the reports pull elevations directly from your 3D bridge model. This means that any point on the model can be analyzed, with corresponding coordinates, dimensions, and elevations presented.

Even in scenarios where the bridge is on a curve, skewed, or the deck is superelevated, the reports remain accurate. Those tedious screed tables that always take longer than they should are no longer an issue with the elevation reporting tools provided in OpenBridge Designer. These reports can be regenerated with any change to the model or roadway profile, so you don’t have to chase down every change in your calculations to verify they’ve been caught. Outside of the mentioned elevation reports, under the same tab, engineers can also generate Beam Camber and Deflection Tables once their model is linked to the LEAP Bridge Concrete or Steel analysis

Following the same general steps as the Quantity Reports section above will yield the desired Geometry and Elevation Report.

Reinforcing Tables

Using the ProConcrete workflow within OpenBridge Modeler and a ProConcrete license, engineers can efficiently generate detailed reinforcing reports. Key features include:

• Bar Bend Tables, Weight Calculation, and Rebar Schedule Generation: Easily report bar bend tables, calculate the weight of reinforcing used, and automatically compile all reinforcing in the 3D model into a table with accurate bar marks and quantity information.
• Dynamic Updates: Quickly regenerate the Rebar Schedule with updated characteristics whenever the model is modified.
• Customization Options: Fully customize the appearance of the table and bar marks to align with specific plans and standards.

Final Thoughts

Recreating and checking work when design changes occur is typically unaccounted for in a project’s budget. Major changes can add 8+ hours of unplanned rework and increase the risk of inaccuracies in the plan set. Engineers are well aware of the headaches and risks associated with manual Quantity, Elevation, and Reinforcing reports, especially when last-minute changes arise.

As highlighted in this article, using OpenBridge Designer eliminates the concern of inaccurate, time-consuming manual reports after changes occur. Engineers can be confident that the numbers reported correspond directly to the 3D model, even when the model is updated. This ensures accuracy and efficiency, allowing engineers to focus on designing and building robust bridges.

Think these automated reports can help you and your organization? link below??????

Test out the reporting tools for yourself with a 30-day Trial of OpenBridge Designer