Expert Tips: Nodes and Elements

There are so many ways to help you save your time when you are working on your bridge project. One of the easy tips is renumbering of the nodes and elements.  Our Expert Engineer Tom Less, P.E., a Senior Associate, Team Leader & Bridge/Structural Engineer from Woolpert shared his tips for nodes and elements. 

He renumbers all girder 1 nodes/elements using 10000 as a start, girder 2 as 20000, etc. through the structure then do the same for crossframes sorted by type.  This makes applying design criteria and doing load and design pulls really quick and easy as engineers always know where the nodes/elements are and don’t have to select or go to the model view at all to pull tables for them. It's a pretty basic one, but has been a huge help.

Step 1: Got to Node/Element tab

Step 2: Select Renumber Node ID

Step 3: Select the nodes you would like to renumber, enter the New Start Number, click Apply

About Our Expert Engineer:

Tom Less, PE, SE is an experienced Structural (Bridge) Engineer with a demonstrated history of working in the civil engineering industry. Skilled in analysis and design of bridges, including complex geometry, historic rehabilitation, pedestrian suspension bridges, and non-standard materials. Strong professional experience; currently leading a team of 13 staff engineers and designers in the transportation field (bridges, traffic, construction admin), with a Bachelor of Science (BS) and Master of Science (MS) focused in Structural Engineering from The Ohio State University.

You can also ask more tips & tricks, questions or consult your project with our expert like Tom Less and other Expert Engineers. Check out the list of our Expert Engineers here.