Generating the Slab Model
To model the slab:
1. Open the 'Properties | Concrete Sections' dialog box.
2. Select the 'Edit' tab. You will see that the pre-generated slab has only two layers:
Now we can start to generate new layers. This can be a little tricky at first - the best approach is to work outwards from the centre! In the first instance, we will generate the layers below the centre-line:
3. Click the 'Prev' button so that the layer below the centre-line is selected (it will be highighted in red in the preview window).
4. Click the 'Insert Layer' button. You will see that the bottom layer has been split into two, evenly sized layers.
5. Select the layer next to the centre line using the 'Prev' and 'Next' buttons.
6. Enter the correct dimensions of this layer in the 'Upper' and 'Lower' Y-Coords boxes (you can check the dimensions on the previous page).
You will notice that the second of the two layers below the centre-line has altered its dimensions so that the overall slab depth remains as 130 mm (as specified when generating the grid at the start).
7. Select the lowest layer using the 'Prev' button.
8. Repeat from step 4 until all the layers below the centre-line have been entered.
9. Create the first two layers above the centre-line in the same way as before.
Now we must generate the two rebar layers:
10. In the same way as before, create the next layer.
11. Check the tick box in the 'Rebar Layer' section of the window - this signifies that the layer is rebar and not concrete. In this example, all the rebar has the same properties (as defined in the previous section).
12. In the 'angle' box, leave the value at 0 degrees. This tells Vulcan that the rebar in this layer follows the x-axis.
13. Working from step 10, create the next rebar layer. This time, however, enter '90' in the 'angle' box - this creates a layer of rebar that follows the y-axis.
14. Generate the final 3 layers of concrete as before.
