Get on the Fast Track in technology Structural Design The Evolution of an Automated Engineering Process By Dale E. Brasuell, P.E., S.E. When a large multi-national corporation pier concrete foundation. The interior struc- sign requirements, fi t within the budget, and found themselves with design and budget ture was dictated by process considerations, meet the required deadline for completion. problems on a large industrial project, and was a complex and non-repetitive layout After the review, Nabholtz Construction Burrough — Brasuell Corporation was with no similarities between any two bays or of Conway, Arkansas was engaged as the contacted because of their unique approach levels. In addition, the facility was to be erected contractor and with Burrough – Brasuell to structural engineering projects. Burrough next to an existing facility and space for Corporation undertook to provide a Design- - Brasuell Corporation (BBC) is a structural erection and storage was at a premium. Build proposal. engineering fi rm that specializes in forensic Finally, the process equipment had to be Beginning in May of 2004, Dale Brasuell engineering and large industrial commercial installed into the structure as an integral part of BBC began preliminary design by creating facility design. of the erection process. a 3D model of the proposed structure,© draw- Structural engineers have many softwareCopyright The workfl ow for a typical project of this ing lines and 3D faces in AutoCAD and choices, but the key to effi ciency and speed type is: assigning member or plate element proper- is that project information is only entered • Initial concept drawings and ties to them through the Interface program. into the computer once. This article explains preliminary process design The interface model was exported directly to how BBC has integrated such software • Preliminary structural design an analytical program for three dimensional throughout the structural design process. • Interactive collaboration with analysis. A full analysis of the entire structure This approach centers on a systematic pro- other disciplines in 3D permitted the structure to be redesign- cedure for the use of structural engineering • Budget & Scheduling ed with only 700 tons of structural steel, but computer programs, such as SAP2000, • Final structural design with the process layout unchanged and the STAAD.Pro, GT STRUDL, RISA 3D, • Develop structural design drawings same volume for the building. Importing and many others. These programs are well and foundation drawings the modifi ed analytical fi le back into the known individually, but what distinguishes • Submission to the contractor for interface software provided the Contractor the procedure used by BBC is the use of an permitting and purchasing with a complete Bill of Materials for steel interface program and the CIS/2 interface • Submission to fabricator to create and concrete for pricing purposes. This re- developed by A.I.S.C. The interface program, shop drawings sulted in the award of a contract for the Structural Desktop, ties these applications • Shop drawing review design and construction of the project on the together running inside AutoCAD or Arch- • Fabrication fi rst of June, 2004. itectural Desktop. • Erection The next step was evaluation of the pro- The design of the industrial facility Originally, this project was designed and cess layout with the client to create a more mentionedSTRUCTURE above will be used to illustrate bid using conventional procedures. The pro- effi cient structure. As the process layout this integrated process. In this design, the cess took over a year, and resulted in a bid was revised, the new structure began to take interface software was used to translate in- that was twice the budget and would not shape as a 3D line model in AutoCAD. A formation from AutoCADmagazine to analytical pack- meet the required deadline for completion. new interface model was created directly ages. The information was imported back to The projected steel order was approximate- from the AutoCAD line model during AutoCAD for creation of contract documents. ly 1,200 tons of steel and the project could the second week in June. Three different To collaborate with other engineering dis- not be completed within the eight months analytical tools were employed to perform ciplines, AutoCAD and Architectural Desk- allotted. BBC was engaged to examine the cross-checking of the analysis. These were top were used. The CIS/2 interface provided contract documents and to determine if the STAAD.Pro, GT STRUDL, and RISA 3D. translation from analytical fi les to steel structure could be redesigned to fulfi ll the de- All analytical fi les were created through detailing software. Many engineers are unaware of just how effective sharing fi les between software can be The Software with the software that they have in their offi ces today. The desired goal is a seamless fl ow of • AutoCAD • GT STRUDL information between all software packages Autodesk, Inc. C.A.S.E. Center, Georgia Tech and human users involved in a structural project. Often this goal can be approached by • Structural Desktop • RISA 3D examining the options that are available in the Structural Desktop, Inc. RISA Technologies software that the engineer is using. • Architectural Desktop • Tekla Structures Putting the Procedure to Use Autodesk, Inc. Tekla Corporation This project was a Design-Build industrial • STAAD.Pro facility and consisted of a steel superstructure Research Engineers, Inc. and a cast-in-place grade beam and drilled- 42 STRUCTURE magazine • September 2005 "ILLOF 3CHEDULING 3!0 34!!$0RO -ATERIALS 0ROJECT !NALYTICAL '4 %STIMATE )NTERFACE3OFT 3425$, $ATA WARE 3OFTWARE OF#OST )NTERFACE3OFTWARE !UTO#!$ )NTERFACE3OFTWARE 0URCHASING 2)3!$ #)3 © Copyright)NTERFACE3OFTWARE $ETAIL 3OFTWARE $ 0ROCESS !RCHITECTURAL -ODELS ,AYOUT $ESKTOP $ /THER $RAWINGS $ISCIPLINES Figure 1 interface software from the same 3D model. The next step was the creation of an the building model in its proper position The model included all concrete grade Architectural Desktop model automatically and orientation. This complete model fi le beams and piers, so that the foundation from the Structural Desktop 3D model. The was e-mailed to MBM Steel Fabricators of could be designed and checked in the overall structural elements in Architectural Desktop Russellville, Arkansas. The CIS/2 fi le was analysis.STRUCTURE These analytical efforts permitted were checked against the process layout 3D imported directly into Tekla Structures for reduction of the required steel to 500 tons model for interference and collisions, and steel detailing. This fi le was sent the second with improved functionality. the process layout was fi nalized. week in July, 2004, six weeks after the con- While the engineermagazine was refi ning the While the engineering intern was working tract was awarded. structure, an engineering intern was creating with the process layout, the engineer was run- At this time, the handrails, stair towers, wall 3D models of the equipment for the process ning the analysis of baseplates and designing girts, door frames, and all other miscellaneous layout, and 2D layout drawings. These typical connection details. Connection details steel items were designed and added to a an models were created using a combination of for joist girders, beams, and bracing were thus analytical fi le based on the fi nal analysis fi le AutoCAD solids and Architectural Desktop ready to provide for the steel detailer so that for the structure. Exporting this fi le to a massing elements. his software could detail all connections. CIS/2 format permitted the steel detailer to A fi nal, approved analytical model was During this same period of time, the have a complete and accurate basis for all reimported into AutoCAD. The members designer was using the interface program detailing of all steel in the structure. The were adjusted using the interface software to extract drawings of the foundation plan, CIS/2 fi le for stairs and miscellaneous steel to their true length, and a fi nal detailed Bill plans and details for the purpose of creating detailing was sent by the end of July, 2004. of Materials was created. The structural steel a foundation permit application. All of this When the structural steel CIS/2 fi le was mill purchase order was placed in the third information was available from the fi nal completed and sent to the steel detailer, the week of June, 2004, three weeks after the adjusted analytical model. Approximately model was complete for extraction of all the contract was awarded. 95% of the required 2D drawings for the 2D drawings for plans and elevations required AutoCAD drawings consisting of plans, foundation were created automatically from for structural steel in the building permit elevations, and a 3D model were sent at this the interface model. process. The architect had also worked with time to the other engineering disciplines for Next, using the fi nal analytical model, a GT the models and drawings provided and had their use. The 2D equipment layouts created STRUDL fi le was created that included the completed his work as well. The project by the engineering intern during the creation physical members (refl ecting the true lengths had proceeded so rapidly that the only areas of the 3D models were incorporated into of the members) and member eccentricities, prepared to proceed to the permit stage the drawings so that all services and facility or offsets. The CIS/2 fi le that was created were the structural and the architectural. requirements could be designed. from this data represented each member in The contractor took the unusual step of 44 STRUCTURE magazine • September 2005 applying for a permit solely for the erection the required schedule. This allowed steel to process does not guarantee that the design is of the structural steel in order to maintain the be delivered and erection to begin as soon as correct or complete, but it provides an absolute project schedule.