Analysis of the Interoperability from BIM to FEM
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Analysis of the interoperability from BIM to FEM Febe Beirnaert Alice Lippens Master’s thesis May 2018 Construction Engineering 2 ABSTRACT Tampereen ammattikorkeakoulu Tampere University of Applied Sciences Construction Engineering BEIRNAERT FEBE & LIPPENS ALICE: Analysis of the interoperability from BIM to FEM Supervised by Jaakko Aumala and Tytti Kaitala Master's thesis 147 pages, appendices 13 pages May 2018 The aim of this study is to investigate the efficiency of a conversion from BIM-software to FEM-software. With this information, the engineer can save time, because he or she knows which conversions can be properly executed and which data losses will occur during each conversion when a BIM-model is being transferred. In the first part of the thesis, the different possibilities to exchange the models between BIM-software and FEM-software are theoretically investigated and explained. Next, a simple model was created to examine the conversion practically. We did this by modelling a simple steel and concrete beam where, if possible in the BIM-software, boundary conditions were assigned to the nodes, loads were applied and for the concrete beam, reinforcement was designed. The possible conversions were reviewed and the properties of the sections, materials, geometry, boundary conditions and loads were compared. To investigate the conversion of node connections, their positions and the transfer of the slabs, an advanced model was designed and transferred for links where good results were obtained in the simple model. The conversions are performed using an IFC data format, a direct link or another intermediate file. Due to the IFC data format being promoted as an exchange format that is sufficient for a lot of software, it will be the focus of the authors to examine these conversions. The results did not support the expectations that using an IFC file format is the ideal manner to exchange information between BIM-software and FEM-software. If a direct link is available between two programs, this is still recommended. Even an intermediate file, developed to be used between two specific programs, had better results for most of the conversions than using an IFC file format. However, IFC is a file format that can be used as long as the engineer knows which data is imported correctly from the BIM-model. 3 Foreword After several years of study to obtain a master’s degree in construction engineering, we, students at KU Leuven, have finally built up a solid understanding of the mathematical and constructional basics which enable us to do what we love the most: creating things. Some will let constructions come to life behind their desk by performing calculations, while others will see them grow every day on the site. We were able to explore both options thanks to an internship and two site surveys. In our field, the learning process never stops, however our time as students is coming to an end. It is important that in the future we are able to search and process information and develop this ability to its maximum. All our acquired knowledge and skills will be combined in one final project, our master’s thesis. In the second semester of our master, we had the opportunity to study at Tampere University of Applied Sciences in Finland thanks to the Erasmus+ programme. These last few months were a journey; apart from writing our thesis with trial and error, we were submerged in many international cultures, which made our stay in Finland even more interesting. We would like to show our appreciation and gratitude for the involvement in our thesis to the people who helped us along the way. A special acknowledgement goes to our supervisors Jaakko Aumala and Tytti Kaitala, who helped us through every step of the process. They introduced us to the Finnish education system, helped us to find an interesting subject and were the first persons we could go to when we had questions. Writing our thesis abroad would not have been possible without Guido Kips, Hilde Lauwereys and Ilse Roelandt. They provided us with the necessary information about studying at a foreign university and helped us with all the administration for the exchange programme. Last but certainly not least, we would like to thank our family and friends for their endless support and motivation. Beirnaert Febe and Alice Lippens May, 2018 4 CONTENTS ABBREVIATIONS AND TERMS .................................................................................. 6 1 INTRODUCTION .................................................................................................... 8 1.1. CAD .................................................................................................................... 8 1.2. BIM .................................................................................................................... 9 1.3. FEM .................................................................................................................. 11 1.4. Problem definition ............................................................................................ 13 2 BIM ......................................................................................................................... 15 2.1. Building process ............................................................................................... 15 2.2. Level of maturity .............................................................................................. 18 2.3. Parametric design ............................................................................................. 20 2.4. Dimensions ....................................................................................................... 20 2.5. Level of detail ................................................................................................... 22 2.6. OpenBIM .......................................................................................................... 24 3 FEM ........................................................................................................................ 28 3.1. Analyses ........................................................................................................... 28 3.2. Basic principles ................................................................................................ 29 4 Interoperability ........................................................................................................ 32 4.1. Definition .......................................................................................................... 32 4.2. Connections ...................................................................................................... 33 4.3. Conversions ...................................................................................................... 37 4.4. Implementation problems ................................................................................. 38 5 Software .................................................................................................................. 46 5.1. BIM-software ................................................................................................... 47 5.2. FEM-software ................................................................................................... 49 5.3. Overview .......................................................................................................... 51 6 Data formats ............................................................................................................ 52 6.1. Direct link between Revit and Robot Structural Analysis ............................... 52 5 6.2. Direct link between Revit and SCIA Engineer ................................................ 53 6.3. Direct link between Revit and RFEM .............................................................. 54 6.4. Direct link between Tekla Structures and SCIA Engineer ............................... 55 6.5. Direct link between Tekla Structures and STAAD.Pro ................................... 56 6.6. Direct link between Tekla Structures and RFEM ............................................ 56 6.7. CSiXRevit ........................................................................................................ 56 6.8. Integrated Structural Modelling ....................................................................... 57 6.9. StruXML .......................................................................................................... 57 6.10. Standardized solution: IFC ........................................................................... 59 7 Method .................................................................................................................... 81 8 Case study ............................................................................................................... 84 8.1. Model properties ............................................................................................... 84 8.2. Robot Structural Analysis: links and results .................................................... 87 8.3. Scia Engineer: links and results ...................................................................... 100 8.4. STAAD.Pro: links and results ........................................................................ 114 8.5. RFEM: links and results ................................................................................. 125 8.6. ETABS: links and results ............................................................................... 131 8.7. FEM-Design: links and