A Guide On How to Use Search Areas

Please read the whole document and have a look at the worked examples before starting.

Setting Up a Search Area

1. Go to “Attributes” (at the top of the page) and select “search area…”
2. Rename the search area as something sensible (eg “Deck 1”) and click ok (or if you want to
create multiple search areas click “apply” and type in the next name).
3. Search areas can be applied to lines or surfaces, to apply the search area select the
surfaces/lines you want to apply it to and drag and drop the appropriate search area from
the attributes tree view. The following give some tips on where to apply the search area:
 If you have a deck plate (or troughing etc)- apply the search area to the deck plate surfaces.
Note that if the deck plate is angled it does not matter.
 If you have cross girders or similar with no deck –plate modelled the search area will have to
be applied to lines.
a) When applying the search areas to line the lines have to form a continuous
perimeter, therefore dummy lines with a null mesh are required.
b) Go to “Attributes”, “mesh” and “line”. Keep structural element type as “none” and
set “number of divisions” (highlighted) as 1. Set “name” to NULL or similar.
c) Create lines between cross girders and apply the Null mesh. For an example see
below (null lines selected, in black).
d) Think about where the load should be applied.
 In the example below all the load between the cross girders will be applied
to the lines highlighted (red box). The example below had a concrete deck
slab simply supported on the cross girder top flange. Going from edge to
edge of the cross girder top flange would have put a unrealistic bending
moment on the top flange.
 If there was a deck slab connected to the edge of the XG flange, then putting
the null lines from the edge may be realistic (A-A).
 If there are jack arches then a null line from B-B may be appropriate
(assuming jack arches spring from the base of the web).

e) Apply the search area-in the example above the search area is applied to the
following lines (Null lines to adjacent cross girders not shown for clarity):
 and the following surfaces:
f) Not that the lines selected must form closed loops, otherwise the search area will
not work correctly.
g) At the ends of the bridge it may be nessesary to crete a dummy member so that
loading can be applied to the last cross girder. For example below is shown a section
of the last cross girder the line selected (in black) represents the abutment. It has
nominal line beam properties assigned and is fully supported (including rotation),
but is NOT connected to the rest of the model.

4. Visualise the search area to ensure it has been applied correctly.

a. Right click on the search area in the attributes tree view, select “visualise
assignments”.
b. In the “layers” double click on “Attributes” and select the search area tab

Select “settings”. Select “visualise by colouring geometry” and tick “show search
area topology”

c. The search area should now visualise as a solid surfaces, check for gaps. Note that
some areas, particularly those with null mesh, may look like the search area doesn’t
go right to the edge. This is not a worry.
d. Reasons for the search area not working correctly:
 If the search area is applied to line check that they form a continuous loop.
 If the search area is applied to lines it may be there are too many edge
elements in a single loop. Go to “file”, “model properties”, “defaults” (see
 below) and click “advanced”

Then select “new option” and type in “SareaMaximumCellEdges” and type

“250” into the Integer value. Click ok.
 The mesh lock is on, release the mesh lock.
 Mesh has not been applied to the surfaces/lines in question (note if a line is
part of a surface that has been meshed it does not require a mesh to be
applied).
Setting up Loads

1. Patch Loads
a. "Attributes”, “Loading”. Select “Patch” under Discrete and click “Next >”

b. Assuming this is a vertical load leave the “Patch Type”, “Load Direction”, “Projection
Vector” and “Patch Load divisions” as they are. Populate the table with the
co-ordinates of the corners of the load patch and the load (note downwards is
negative). Example of Patch Loads will be given below. Note that when the Load box
is selected a small arrow appears, if unsure of units click this arrow to convert values
to the model units. Note the x,y,z co-ordinates are relative to the point the loads are
 applied to, not the model (0,0,0). “z” should almost always be 0.

c. Linearly varying load can be included by varying the load on each corner. For a UDL
all four loads should be set to the same.
d. Name the load something sensible and click “finish”
e. The default patch divisions tend to be unsuitable. To change the default spacing go
to the attributes tree view and double-click on “patch divisions” (highlighted below).
Select “Distance between loads” and set to something sensible (100 mm is ok for
most models)
2. Line/Point Loads
a. Line Loads are done in the same way as patch loads, except select “Straight line”
from the options at the top of the box.
b. For Point Loads select “point” instead of “patch” in the initial loading view, creating
the load is then straightforward.
3. Compound Loads
a. For some loadings such as Annex D vehicles or Train Loading creating a single load
with several patches (for each wheel or sleeper) is useful, particularly if a rolling load
analysis is to be performed.
b. Go to “attributes” and “loading” as for the patch loads (see plate above) and select
“compound” under “discrete” then click next.
c. Select the loads you want to include in the compound load and click “>>” to include
them. The x, y and z offset then set where the patches are relative to the point
 applied (note that this will interact with the patch load offsets-see examples).

d. Enter the relative positions of the loads in the “x offset”, “y offset” and “z offset”
columns.
e. Call the load something sensible and click ok.
Applying Discrete Loads
1. Create points for the loads to be applied to. These points need to be in the correct position
in the x and y axes so that the load is applied to the correct area of the deck and well above
the model so they are easy to select (a value of 3000mm+ for z is recommended). An
example with the points highlighted (red circle) is shown below:

2. Select the approprite point, then drag and drop the load into the modeller window as for a
normal load. Under “search Area” (red box) select the search area you want the loading to
be applied to. In the green box select the appropriate analysis and loadcase and type in the
load factor. Then Click Ok. Note that all load that is not projected on the search area is
discarded, therefore creating loads of exactly the correct size is not important (and axles etc
off the end of the bridge don’t matter, particually useful for a rolling load analysis).
3. Check the loads- at the bottom of the screen, in the grey box, the applied load will be
displayed when you apply a discrete load. This is a very useful check. Also visualise the
loading, check the location and density of the arrows looks reasonable.
4. Applying load-advanced.
a. Patch transformations. These are particually useful when you need to apply vehicles
going in both directions and avoids creating twice as many compound loads. When
applying the patch under “patch transformation” select “new”. To reverse the
direction selecte “rotate” and set the angle to “180”. Note that the defaults of z axis,
0,0,0 are fine. Call it something sensible (eg turn 180).
Worked Examples

1. Uniform Dead Load (eg. Fill)

a. “Attributes”, “loading”, select “patch” and click “next >”
b. This bridge is approximately 22m long and 11m wide, after the skew is taken into
account. Therefore to ensure the fill covers the bridge the load has been applied to a
24m by 10m patch. The calcualted load in N/mm2 is typed into the load section.

c. A point has been created above the bottom left corner of the bridge (circled)
d. The load is applied as described above.

e. Load check-magnitude: the following text appears at the bottom of the screen:

f. Load check-position and arrows. Arrows look fine (see below), cover the deck.
2. Vehicle loading (eg Annex D or Rail, this example will show part of the RAI vehicle).
a. Calculate loadings - spreadsheets exist to calculate this with varying ballast depth,
distribution between sleepers etc included. Don’t re-invent the wheel, ask someone
for one.
b. Create patch loads for each sleeper. To ensure you know where the load is relative
to the rail creating the centre of the patch directly beneath the rail can be helpful.
See example below:

Note that for some narrow bridges the patch may need to be narrower in
the y direction so it is all on the bridge.
c. Create the track load. This can either be done in two steps as shown below (creating
a compound load for a single rail, then creating a compound load for a single track)
or in a single step by putting all the sleeper loads into a single compound load.
d. Go to “attributes”, “loading” and select “compound”, then click “next >”.
e. Move the sleeper loads across as shown below, with the co-ordinates: This sets up a
compound load with the 0,0,0 point under the axles highlighted (this keeps the point
 most of the worst case loadings are applied to over the bridge, not 10m away.

f. Go to “attributes”, “loading” and select “compound”, then click “next >”. Create a new
compound load for the track. Note the y offset is set to +/- 762mm so the track is applied to
a point in the centre of the rails. This makes rotating the load for the other direction and
doing a rolling load analysis easier later on.

g. Create a point above the centre of the track and above the appropriate axle. Then apply the
load as above.
h. Check the magnitude of the load is of the correct order of magnitude and visualise the load
as shown below:
Other tips

If you have a transverse load (eg wind load or nosing)that you wish to apply to a search area in the
xy plane it is possible. Tick x or y under “load direction”. Then deselect “project in load direction”
and type in “0”, “0” and “1” in the x, y and z components respectively. This tells LUSAS to project the
load in the global z direction even though the loading is in the global x or y direction.

The load transformation (rotation) can also be used if the track/carriageway is at an angle to the
bridge, so the load is set up square and then rotated, much easier than calculating the load on a
skew .