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Managing Projects using Variants

By using variants it can be toggled between different project situations based on the prevailing group structure. The group definitions applied may originate from user-defined definitions (via menu Tables|Group) or from definitions within the ObjectTree (via menu Tables|ObjectTree).

The procedure is explained using a road without and with a parallel barrier.

Editing a Road and a Barrier

  • Enter a road with a MDTD of 20000 vehicles/day (Federal Road) with a road width of 3 m.
  • Click with the right mouse button on the road’s axis and select the command Parallel Object.
  • Select as object type „Barrier“, enter one distance of 5 m and a height difference of 8 m.

Generating a parallel barrier

  • Double-click on the barrier and enter for the ID: bar_1
  • Open the dialog Variant on the Tables menu.

Just the variant V01 is activated per default („Use Variant“). In this example, two variants „without barrier“ and „with barrier“ shall be used. At first, the variant V02 has to activated.

  • In the table on the right, click once on variant „V02“.
  • Now, activate the option „Use Variant“.

Variant V02 active for usage

  • For variant V02, enter the short name „w bar“ and the name „with barrier“.
  • Switch to variant V01 by click on it in the left column.
  • For variant V02, enter the short name „w/o bar“ and the name „without barrier“.
  • Close the dialog Variants.

Thus, variant V01 is defined not considering the barrier, while variant V02 is considering the barrier. The list box on the CadnaA-main window lists - instead of „V01“ and „V02“ - the options „w/o bar“ and „w bar“.

List box for switching of variants

Now, a group and its activation status must be defined with respect to the two variants. This occurs on the dialog Groups (menu Tables|Group).

  • Open the dialog Groups on the Tables menu.
  • Click with the right mouse button into the table and select the command Insert after.
  • In table Groups, enter in column „Expression“ the following string using the keyboard: bar*
  • Move to column „w/o bar“ using the mouse (single click) or the arrow keys and enter a minus sign (-).
  • Move to column „w bar“ and enter a plus sign (+).

The minus sign means that all objects which correspond to the ID-expression „bar*“ are deactivated in variant „without barrier“ while all objects which correspond to that expression are, however, activated in variant „with barrier“.

A group assigned to two variants

  • Close the table Groups by OK.

With the variant V01 („without barrier“) selected it can be seen from the CadnaA-main window that the barrier is deactivated: The barrier is displayed as a gray hatched line.

  • Select from the list box for variants the variant „w bar“ (with barrier).

The active barrier (i.e. providing a screening effect) is displayed as a full line on the graphics.

  • Toggle between both variants.
Variant V01 „without barrier“(barrier deactivated) Variant V02 „with barrier“(barrier activated)

Entering a Receiver Point

Now, enter a receiver point prior to calculation.

  • Select the object „Receiver“ from the toolbox and place it to the left side of the road where it is screened by the barrier.
  • Select from the receiver’s context menu the command Generate Label and select from the subsequent dialog the attribute LP1 (evaluation parameter 1 on dialog Configuration|Eval. Parameter).

Display the evaluation parameter 1 (LP1) in a label

Calculation of Variants

There are two possibilities to perform the calculation:

  1. Calculation of each variant separately: To this end, select the respective variant and click the pocket calculator symbol on the tool bar.

  2. Calculation of all variants: Select from the Calculation menu the command Calc and mark „All Variants“ on the dialog.

  • Select the command Calc on the Calculation menu.
  • Activate the option „All Variants“ and click OK.

Calculate all variants

  • Now, toggle between both variants.

The calculated level for the selected variant is displayed in the label close to the receiver point.
Receiving level for variant V01„without barrier“ Receiving level for variant V02 „with barrier“

Alternatively, the barrier could have been deactivated by unchecking the mark () in front of the ID on the barrier’s dialog. The possibility of toggling variants using groups is, however, much quicker and is by all means more comfortable in cases where a numerous objects are to be activated and deactivated.

Save Grid per Variant

This option on the Variant dialog offers - in addition to the calculation results at receivers and facade points (via the building evaluation symbols) - to calculate the grid for each active variant and to save all those to the CadnaA file. With this option is inactive, the grid is calculated and saved just for the active variant.