In this tutorial we look at the process and scripting to facilitate piled wall systems with Dynamo. Many projects require piled walls to enable deep basements and water retention. Secant piled walls and interconnecting piles which alternate between hard and soft piles. The soft piles are normally installed first, and the reinforced hard piles are then cut into the soft piles.
We begin by creating two family types for the hard and soft piles. The hard piles will need to be installed at each vertex or corner of the piled wall system.
Creating the pile family
We begin by creating a new family using the ‘Metric Structural Foundation.rft’ or the imperial version ‘Structural Foundation.rft ‘if you require the pile in imperial units.
Once you have created the new family you will need to ensure that the following built-in parameters are configured correctly.
- On the Create tab in the Properties panel select the Family Category and Parameter tool as shown below.
In the Family Category and Parameter dialog ensure that you check ‘Work Plane – Based’ and set the ‘Material for Model Behavior’ to Concrete.
This will ensure that the pile can be joined to other piles and allow the user to place the pile on a Work Plane, Reference Plane, or face of an existing family instance.
2. Next you create an extraction to create the cylindrical shape of the pile. On the Create tab in the Forms panel select the Extrusion command as shown below.
On the draw panel select the Circle command and sketch a circle with a radius of 250mm (10”)
Next you select the Annotate panel and in the Dimension panel select the Diameter command.
3. You now add a label to the diameter dimension to control the piles diameter. Select the diameter dimension and then select the Create Parameter tool as shown below.
4. In the Parameter Properties dialog type ‘Pile Diameter’ for the parameter name and ensure that the Type radio button is selected as shown in the image below.
Click OK.
On the Modify | Create Extrusion tab select the Finish Edit Mode button as shown below. This will finalise the extrusion.
5. In the Project Browser, open the elevation view named ‘Front’. You will see the Reference Level and your extrusion above.
6. Next you create two additional Reference Planes to control the pile embedment and pile depth. On the Create tab in the Datum panel click the Reference Plane command as shown below.
You now create two new reference planes as shown in the image below, the positions are approximate and will be controlled in a later step. The top reference plane represents the embedment and the bottom reference plane controls the toe level of the pile.
Next you add dimensions and labels to control the pile length and embedment.
7. On the Annotate tab in the Dimensions panel select the Aligned Dimension command. Place dimensions on your newly created reference planes as shown.
8. You now create the labels and parameters to control the embedment and pile length. Select the first aligned dimension and select the Create Parameter tool as shown below.
In the Parameter Properties dialog type ‘Pile Embedment’ for the name and ensure that the Type radio button is selected as shown below.
Click OK.
9. Repeat the above steps for the Pile Length parameter as shown in the image below.
Next you constrain the extrusion to the newly created reference planes.
10. Select the extrusion and drag the shape handle to the top reference plane to constrain the extrusion. Ensure that the padlock is locked to keep the extrusion constrained.
Repeat the above step to constrain the bottom of the extrusion to the lower reference plane.
11. Next you create two family types for the hard and soft piles. On the Create tab in the Properties panel select Family Types.
In the Family Types dialog, click the ‘New Type’ button as shown below.
In the Name dialog enter ‘500 Dia Hard Pile’ and click OK.
You now add the correct dimensions to the 500 Dia Hard Pile. In the Family Types dialog set the following parameters:
Pile Diameter = 500mm ( 20”)
Pile Embedment = 75mm( 3”)
Pile Length = 6000mm (315”)
12. Next you add the relevant concrete grades to the piles. In the Family Types dialog click into the Structural Material value field and select the 3 ellipses button as shown below.
In the Materials Browser dialog type ‘concrete’ into the search and filter box at the top of the dialog. If you do not see the lower panel with the library of materials click the double chevron button as shown below. Add a strong concrete grade such as Concrete, C40/50 or similar. To add the material to the project materials in the upper panel, double click the material name.
Click OK to the Material Browser.
13. Next you assign the material parameter to the extrusion. Select the pile, in the Properties Palette click the associate button and then associate this to the structural material as shown in the steps below.
14. Repeat the above steps from 11 to create the ‘500 dia Soft Pile” and select a weaker concrete grade such as C12/15.
You now have the two family types created for the hard and soft piles.
Click OK to the Family Types dialog.
15. Save the family as ‘Concrete Round Pile.rfa’.
When it comes to creating the Dynamo script I will go through the script step by step on my YouTube video!
Autodesk Revit Structure 