About Free Form Reinforcement

Free form rebar populates the surfaces of irregularly shaped hosts with variable planar and non-planar distribution.

You place free form rebar by specifying the reference surfaces along the host, a rebar set layout, and defining rebar properties. It populates any planar or complex 3D structural element. There are a few differences between free form rebar and shape-driven rebar when detailing your model. Free form rebar behaves differently in certain situations to maintain parametric fidelity and the geometry of the model.

Free form rebar is part of the Structural Rebar category, and possesses all the associated properties. Create either single bars or sets with common rebar attributes such as hooks, quantities, bar lengths, total bar lengths, and automatic numbering. Likewise, you can add free form rebar to assemblies and groups.

Valid free form rebar hosts

Just like shape driven rebar, you can place free form rebar in any Revit element that can host rebar. Any face selected as a reference for defining the set or adjusting the bar ends must belong to an element that can host rebar. Multiple faces can be selected, however, the host faces must share the same structural element.

Constraints

Free form rebar constraints set and lock the geometry of each rebar instance with respect to its defining references and the concrete host element. Free form rebar derives its geometry from the intersection of the specified reference faces and reacts to changes of those references.

Directly editing free form rebar instances and rebar sets removes constraints to the host. This includes copying, moving, rotating or mirroring rebar as well as adding the bars to assemblies and groups. Rebar that loses constraints no longer responds to changes in the geometry of the structural element.

Free form rebar automatically extends or shortens to the nearest host faces. As seen in the following image, extensions run tangent to the end , while shortening occurs along the curve .

You can also use other geometry to constrain rebar.

Couplers

You can connect free form rebar with rebar couplers. End treatments will also apply to the rebar ends in the coupler connection. Modifications done to the rebar will prompt the deletion of couplers, and no changes between the connected sets are propagated. Be sure free form rebar placement is complete or the couplers will need to be reapplied to the rebar.