Bridge Object Abutment Assignments Form

Abutment assignments allow specification of the following items at each end of the bridge:

Support name
End skews
End diaphragm property, if any
End steel U girder internal diaphragms property, if any (only for steel U girder bridge section)
Substructure assignment for the abutment, which may be none, an abutment property, or a bent property.
Vertical elevation and horizontal location of the substructure
The bearing property, elevation, location and rotation angle from the bridge default

Note that the elevations specified for the substructure and the bearings are Global Z coordinates.

Use the Bridge Object Abutment Assignments form to assign the appropriate items at the end of the bridge. The form has two tabs, one for the Start and one for the End Abutment. The options on the tabs are identical.

Superstructure Assignment
- Support Name edit box. Specify the support name at the abutment.
- Abutment Direction (Bearing Angle) edit box. Specify the abutment direction. Use the default or specify the angle from the default direction.
- Diaphragm Property and Steel U Girder Diaphragm drop-down list. Select the diaphragm property from this drop-down list, or click the + (plus symbol) to access the Define Bridge Diaphragm Properties form and define a new property.
Substructure Assignment
- None option. When this option is selected, the abutment will have no substructure property, and thus, should have no substructure.
- Abutment Property option and drop-down list. Use this option and drop-down list to specify a previously defined abutment property for the abutment substructure. Alternatively, click the + (plus symbol) to access the Define Bridge Abutments form and define a new abutment property.
- Bent Property option and drop-down list. Use this option and drop-down list to specify a previously defined bent property for the abutment substructure. Alternatively, click the + (plus symbol) to access the Define Bridge Bents form and define a new bent property.
Substructure Location
- Elevation (Global Z) edit box. Use this edit box to specify the vertical elevation of the abutment substructure in the Global Z direction.
- Horizontal Offset edit box. Use this edit box to specify, for the abutment substructure, the horizontal offset from the layout line to the mid-length of the abutment.
Bearing Assignment
- Girder-by-Girder option. Select this option to have the program generate bearings under each girder.
- General option. Select this option for specifying the number of bearings and the bearing locations. This is only available for concrete box-girder bridge section types.
- Bearing Property drop-down list. Use this drop-down list to select a previously defined bearing property. Alternatively, click the + (plus symbol) to access the Define Bridge Bearings form and define a new bridge bearing property.
- Restrainer Property at Bearing drop-down list. Use this drop-down list to select a previously defined restrainer property. Alternatively, click the + (plus symbol) to access the Define Bridge Restrainers form and define a new bridge restrainer property.
- Elevation at Layout Line (Global Z) edit box. Use this edit box to specify the vertical elevation, in the Global Z direction, of the abutment bearing at the layout line.
- Rotation Angle from Bridge Default edit box. Use this edit box to specify the rotation angle from the bridge default.
- Number of Bearings per U Girder drop-down list. Use this drop-down list to specify the number of bearings per U girder. This is only for the steel U girder bridge section.
- Number of Bearings for Bridge Section edit box. Use this edit box to specify the number of bearings at the abutment locations. This is only for the General bearing assignment option.
- Uniform Spacing edit box. Use this edit box to specify the uniform spacing between two bearings along the bent skew direction. This is only for the General bearing assignment option.
- Offset from Section Ref. Point to Bearing Center edit box. Use this edit box to specify the offset distance from the bridge section reference point to the center of the bearing along the bent skew direction. This is only for the General bearing assignment option.
Girder-by-Girder Overwrites Modify/Show Overwrites button. Click this button to access the Girder-by-Girder/Bearing-by-Bearing Bridge Abutment Overwrites form. Initially, the form will indicate "No Overwrites Exist" until an overwrite has been specified.

Access the Bridge Object Abutment Assignments form as follows:

At a minimum, create a layout line and define a deck section.
Click the Bridge > Bridge Objects > Expand arrow command, or on the Bridge Wizard select the Bridge Object Definition item and click the Define/Show Bridge Objects button, to display the Define Bridge Objects form.
- Alternatively, bypass the Define Bridge Objects form by clicking the Bridge > Bridge Objects > New command and go directly to the Bridge Object Data form identified in the next step.
Click the Add New Bridge Object button, or highlight a previously defined bridge object in the Bridge Objects area of the form and click the Add Copy of Bridge Object or Modify/Show Bridge Object button, to display the Bridge Object Data form.
In the Modify/Show Assignments display list, highlight the Abutments item and click the Modify/Show button to display the Bridge Object Abutment Definition form.

Alternatively, on the Bridge Wizard select the Abutments item in the Bridge Object Assignments area and click the Assign/Show Abutments button to access the Bridge Object Abutment Assignments form.