StruSoft Magazine 2015/16 (English)

Sof tware f or the Building Indus try - 2015 /16

StruSoftMagazine september 2015 • www.StruSoft.com

We Now Call it Digitalization An interesting development is going on at the moment in the building industry and it’s called “digitalization”. After a number of years with the focus on BIM and 3D models this has developed and broadened the understanding of digitalization.

– The beauty of digitalization lies in the fact that an unbroken chain of digital information is created, from sketch to finished building, says Paul Rehn who is MD of StruSoft. That includes all the phases where design is only one of them. When the information flows between different systems many skills can contribute and are needed in the exchanges.

– Mobile telephones, sensors and the new concept “Internet of Things” all contribute to the industry’s development and efficiency in some form or other; so let’s call the whole thing “digitalization”. Paul explains that StruSoft’s programs link together in different ways with software produced in the digitized information chain. The frame together with the ground is modelled and analysed in FEM-Design, energy flows are studied in VIP-Energy, production information, manufacture and supply of precast elements are processed in IMPACT, overarching IFC-models, document flow and resources are handled in BIMcontact and, with the help of SyncroSite, all the work on the building site is coordinated.

– Together these programs give the project team the insight and a basis to make the crucial decisions. The quantity of information produced can be used in later stages in the management of the finished building, appropriately with the help of BIMcontact.

Digitalization thus gets a total grip on the information flow in the project. Everyone that has access to the project not only has access to the model but to data in all other aspects. With this coordination the project is more easily managed and in this perspective IFC has an important role because the open format enables cooperation between related skill areas and work places.

– Openness is important for us so that the project data can be streamed freely.

Indus t r ia liz a t io n in t h e Wo rl d At the same time as these thoughts on how

digitalization is spreading and is being implemented, the focus is being directed more and more towards industrialized buildings in an international perspective.

– Factory manufacture is gaining ground, maintains Paul. This is the result of the fact that countries are changing their building methods and seeing gains of, for example, constructing with prefabricated concrete elements. In this way increased urbanization and shorter build times are progressed together aided by new technology and better knowledge.

– Using pre-stressed Hollowcore units one can arrange the building plan in a much more flexible way, explains Paul, and gives an example.

– A building built using Hollowcore units has long spans. That means that one can easily create rooms using internal walls and change them when there are new requirements or when demands for different space develop. That means not locking up the building frame in an unreasonable manner.

– Today StruSoft has customers in more than 20 countries. Besides Sweden and Denmark, sales offices are located in Estonia, England, Turkey, Dubai, India and Australia.

Development centres are in Malmö, Hungary and India. Since the company started 13 years ago it has rapidly become more international.

With this expansion we have chosen to identify the traditions related to the specific country and try to tailor these programs to these principles so far as possible.

– To a large extent the future will be built on good cooperation within our home markets where mature development of industrialized building already exists.

N ew ways t o u s e m od els Constant development is the company’s hallmark. New user areas seeing the light of day bear witness to this creativity.

Paul Rehn.

– Our innovations group Next Generation is currently working on a very exciting project together with the Danish company BIM Equity. In a virtual environment and in full size a project team can walk round a building and understand the things that they are trying to produce in a very tang­ ible way.

It is like an enormous cavern of large screens that have come together. Information from existing 3D models is used to create a digital environment in the cavern with techniques borrowed from the games world. Mistakes and defects can then be uncovered which would never have been found on the computer in the office. When a children’s hospital was visualized in this way it was discovered that all the taps had been put at adult height which directly lead to it being changed.

The idea behind this is to use the product model in new user environments. A project currently being planned will calculate the release of CO2 during the manufacture of an element based on data from the model. The drive for innovation has not diminished in Paul and his co-workers.

– We are driven by the ambition to find improvements so that building projects can be made even more rational and cost effective while at the same time providing our customers with the best possible tools for the job.

By Love Janson

/16 Indus try - 2015 the Buildin g Sof tware for september 2015

www.strusoftmagazine.com

EDITOR

CONTRIBUTERS

Lars Bergqvist StruSoft AB editor@strusoftmagazine.com

Love Janson, Dennis Kristensen, Johnny Kronvall, Kim Hall, Mats Knutsson, Sam Shiltagh, Jacob Andersen

PUBLISHER

Paul Rehn paul.rehn@strusoft.com

ine

StruSof tMagaz

COVER:

Malmö Live Photo artist: Pia Hansson in cooperation with StruSoft in the project ”lnteraction Visual Art -Technology” www.piahansson.se

• www.StruSoft.com

Without FEM and IMPACT the timetable for Malmö Live would have slipped Malmö’s big cultural and music venue, Malmö Live, opened on the 4th June 2015 - A building project where SWECO’s building designers undertook all the documentation on three buildings and they were responsible for the building design of the concert hall itself.

– We used StruSoft’s program FEM-Design to carry out the calculations. The advantage was that we could build a 3D-model. In this way we got a structure with an overview of the design. With the help of IMPACT we obtained a more detailed 3D-model and from this produced manufacturing, assembly, and detailed drawings. Besides which IMPACT has an excellent link to the production process where, within the 3D-model, one can plan the drawing production, fabrication in the factory and erection, says Jesper Ahlquist, group chief at SWECO. D esign C a lc ula t io n s It was in 2012 when Jesper and a handful of colleagues undertook design calculations and produced the drawings. In September 2013 the work was completed and was followed up on site. The big challenge lay in shielding the concert house from external noise, both from the surrounding areas and from the trains that travel under the building. This meant that the concert hall part was designed with its own frame i.e. a building within the building.

– The concert hall consists of two seThe concert hall at Malmö Live is a complex building. With StruSoft’s FEM-Design SWECO could determine the forces and stresses in the frame.

parate frames where the hall itself is the inner frame sitting on rubber pads to eliminate vibrations from trains and sound from the basement and the surrounding areas of the concert hall. This is where it is sensitive, says Jesper.

SWECO used FEM-Design for both the load and the stability calculations.

The detailed calculations were not done by the program rather the relevant forces and stresses were extracted and saved in a separate program for subsequent use in hand calculation.

– In this way we got a more detailed result and as well as saving time with the calculations that were going to be done by hand.

Tra n s f er to IMPACT They began by making a model in Autodesk Revit which was then loaded into IMPACT where a more detailed model of the building was produced. All the elements were divided into eleven steps.

Considering the fact that the concert hall is such a complex building SWECO got great benefit out being able to plan

Jasper Ahlquist, group chief for SWECO, could model the building’s geometry, do the loading and stability calculations with StruSoft’s FEM Design. With StruSoft’s IMPACT he was able to make a more detailed 3D model of the concert hall at Malmö Live.

the assembly in a 3D-model linked to a database. Managing the erection becomes more specific and easy to review. If they had not had it, it would have been more time consuming to do the production and assembly planning. The system determined in which order the erection should be done. It steered the manufacture which in its turn steered the drawing production.

– A building as large as the concert hall at Malmö Live made it necessary that the different steps be carried out in the right order, explains Jesper.

Even if the concert hall looks square from the outside, it is a complex building with large balconies and many levels. If we had not used 3D to do the geometry the project would have been largely impossible to accomplish.

Galler y Con s t r u ct ion The galleries were hung from the wall construction which consisted of concrete/steel with concrete columns. The construction of the gallery accommodates the lighting and sound installation for the stage. Over the orchestra pit that can be lifted and sunk down to be hidden from public view, there is a control platform.

The whole development is 90,000 sq.m in total with the concert section accommodating about 1600 spectators. Great importance has been put on the need to build for energy efficiency and the aim is environmental certification to LEED. The acoustics in the concert hall will be world class, with among others, the Malmö Symphony Orchestra as tenants.

By Kim Hall

StruSof t 3

EcoDesigner STAR – Energy calculation integrated into BIM Early energy analysis produces the best buildings The principal part of a design relating to the building’s energy requirements occurs early in the process. Optimising a building’s energy requirements should also be done as early as possible. Getting the right result from the beginning yields faster construction processes, lower building costs and lower building management costs.

Traditional energy calculation Traditionally the data the energy consultant needs for the energy calculations is produced more or less manually. He uses this information to build his own calculation model. It takes time to put together and check the information needed which means that he often has to carry out a few preliminary calculations to estimate an answer leaving the proper calculations to be done at a later stage only to find that expensive and time consuming inputs are needed to “get it right in hindsight”.

does not need to be an energy expert to be able to do the relevant energy calculations. It is also easy to show the client how different design values affect the building’s energy demands.

EcoDesigner STAR is supplemented with a workflow based guide that contains all the information needed to run the program and to interpret the results together with a work flow using ordinary values for the different adjustments in the program which is well suited to producing quick sketches. For the architect who is interested in learning more about the sustainability of the design EcoDesigner STAR is an intuitive tool with a graphical layout and educative report diagrams.

Workflow EcoDesigner STAR is wholly model based and integrated into the BIM program Graphisoft ArchiCAD. It uses the 3D-model with the relevant locations and orientations to generate the internal data for the energy analysis. EcoDesigner STAR scans the building’s overall layout, room volumes (climate zones) plus the internal structures which affects mainly the energy storage.

Visual feedback.

BIM-Integrated energy calculations By integrating the energy calculations into the architect’s BIM-tools one can avoid several steps in the traditional process between architect and energy consultant.

The architect can work on several parallel design activities which with today’s BIM-methodology produces 3D-models early in the process which are very suitable for energy calculations. Many design alternatives can be tested in a shorter time to a higher quality.

EcoDesigner STAR is a very good example of just such integration. EcoDesigner STAR is a unique tool which gives the architect the opportunity early in the process to do advanced simulations and analyses of a building’s energy balance.

BIM allows the means by which sustainable design can become more proactive.

A unique solution for architects EcoDesigner STAR creates an early graphical indication suitable for the architect who 4 StruSof t

Room temperature profile.

Sunshine time values – diagram.

in the building. Hourly values for the sunshine through windows and doors are shown in diagrammatic form. Graphical illustrations make this easy to see, analyse and communicate.

An extensive database with the necessary properties of building materials is built into the system which means that U-values for all types of construction are calculated automatically.

With preliminary design when the architect is using bare walls, beams, etc., the U-values are set manually to rapidly find

Climate zones in 3D.

Inbuilt material database.

Cold bridges at the connections are calculated and visualised at an early stage by the use of heat loss diagrams.

EcoDesigner STAR uses dynamic hourby-hour calculations and multi-zone simulation of the different climate zones

the appropriate value and then determine the appropriate construction types.

The architect decides for himself how detailed the model should be and the calculations are appropriate for these actual circumstances.

Climate data is obtained from StruSoft’s climate server or from external climate databases.

EcoDesigner STAR can also compute costs for different alternatives. All energy sources have a cost per unit which means that the architect ultimately provides more value for his client.

Temperature variation – diagram.

fit the design concept. With EcoDesigner STAR it is right first time. The architect can add value for his client and his own commission is strengthened and expanded. New business opportunities open up. A sustainable design is important for all parties and above all for the environment. Early solutions which can help the client to choose a green alternative are one of the keys to the future.

Sustainable designs are about choice.

EcoDesigner STAR gives the architect and his clients assistance in making the most important choices right from the start without restricting the design process.

Energy sources – diagram.

By Mats Knutsson Air humidity - diagram.

Projects can be saved as templates to enable him to get started on similar buildings more quickly or they can be used as reference projects for comparison purposes.

Presentation of results The data produced and the results from the energy calculations are shown with key figures and diagrams in a report where the user himself chooses which result the report will display.

Validating the calculations EcoDesigner STAR uses StruSoft’s valida-

Energy balance - diagram.

tion calculations from VIP-Energy which are certified by both Breeam and LEED. EcoDesigner STAR can export the project for further calculation in another system, for example, VIP-Energy, phpp, gbXMLmm. New business opportunities The design process becomes proactive rather than reactive which means that building design is soundly based. There should be no expensive post-rationalizations with cooling or heating systems etc which don’t

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For more information: WWW.STRUSOFT.COM StruSof t 5

Structural BIM is the preferred working method at NIRAS Aarhus The impressive high-rise project Ceres Panorama rises 68 meters above the ground in city of Aarhus. The experience from this project has significantly improved the BIM skills in NIRAS and lifted them to another level.

Dennis Kristensen, VP at StruSoft DK, met with Jacob Andersen, civil engineer at NIRAS DK, to talk about computational tools and the implementation status for structural BIM at NIRAS Aarhus.

In 2012 NIRAS decided to invest in StruSoft FEM-Design and it was the direct link with Revit that was decisive. In NIRAS, Autodesk Revit is used as the primary drawing tool. AutoCAD is used only if it is a specific requirement of each project. The reason for this is simple: NIRAS wants BIM. Dennis asked Jacob, why did they choose to use StruSoft FEM-Design?

– We also have other FEM programs, but I see StruSoft FEM-Design as an essential part of our future software package.

It has unique functions that you will not find elsewhere. We often work with shell structures, and this is a strong point of FEM-Design. The aim is to automate the design process in one place.

On the Ceres Panorama project we used FEM-Design for the concrete cores and all of our documentation comes from FEM-Design. One of the major benefits of using FEM-Design on the project was that we avoided using the post-tensioning because we could prove that we had compression at the bottom of each wall.

The biggest advantage of FEM-Design for us is in the design of concrete plates and shells. It is simple to control the edge connection properties and that is crucial in prefab structures.”

What work flow do you prefer for larger projects?

– Personally, I always aim to export the model to FEM-Design from Revit. We do this primarily because we want to carry out the structural analysis and design of the complete building. It is a huge advantage that we can transfer everything - including all door and window openings!

We wanted to activate as many structural walls as possible and not only 5 or 6 anchored walls. Consequently it is a great advantage to import the model from Revit.

6 StruSof t

At Ceres Panorama, StruSoft FEM-Design was used for dimensioning of the building’s concrete cores. Were results translated directly into practical reinforcement drawings?

– Yes. Reinforcement for vertical forces was never difficult. Reinforcement for shear walls was a challenge but FEM-Design handled that really well.

NIRAS has used the StruSoft’s Revit Add-On since 2013 and they have participated in its further development. When Dennis asked Jacob if he would like to share a few tips, he smiles: – You must understand that you will not get it right first time and that it is in Revit that the battle is fought. The first thing we did was to take a course at StruSoft on the Revit Add-On. On this course we learned how to use all the basic tools we needed. In Revit we use both vertical and horizontal reference planes so we can layer the analytical model for walls regardless of modification to the wall thicknesses. The easiest way to be successful is for the design engineer to work directly with the analytical model. He

must be sure that the geometry fits. This is the alpha and omega.

– We made decisions on how to draw our analytical models. The Revit model also includes plumbing and electric wiring so by exporting the analytical model alone we get all the installation holes in our model without any extra work.

– We try to develop the Revit model as much as possible before starting the structural calculations. The Revit designers do not need to take into consideration that the model will be used for structural design. The engineers do that. Placing of all analytical lines is decided by us alone.

– We obtain all the shear forces in the wall connections directly from FEM Design together with spring stiffness determined by Aarhus University test projects. We use these forces to design our connections.

Besides the Ceres Panorama project, NIRAS has also used StruSoft FEM-Design for the “Havnehusene” project and for the extension of the school at Horsens. These models were also imported directly from Revit with the help of the StruSoft Revit Add-On.

By Jacob Andersen and Dennis Kristensen

FEM-Design’s Geo Module - 3D Soil FEM-Design 3D Soil gives a more accurate picture of how settlements affect the load distribution in the structure.

Superstructure stresses and deformations are often analysed in detail while the subsoil is modelled with discrete springs (Winkler raft model). Using this sort of foundation model for determining the below ground construction is a simplification that affects the analysis results. The so-called Winkler spring often gives erroneous bearing pressures and consequently affects the internal forces in the foundation and the superstructure above. Even if the spring stiffness k, is defined as a range to reflect variations in the subsoil’s characteristics k(x,y), it could give unsafe results. It ignores for example interaction between adjacent points in the ground which the Winkler model does not take into account. The springs cannot transfer shear forces because each spring’s response to load is not dependant on one another.

re model. The ground is analysed together with the overlying structure, for which a linear elastic model is used. This gives a more accurate picture of the stresses and deformations in the ground compared with modelling based on raft models and the distribution of the building’s stiffness is used in the interaction calculations.

A linked soil-structure model and its settlements influences the internal force distribution and hence the sizing of the structure as well as the reinforcement in the foundations.

FEM-Design 3D Soil developed further on the SBUF project togetherwith Skanska The response from structural and geotechnical engineers who have used or have learnt about the program has been overwhelmingly positive. In addition, as 3D Soil has begun to be used and the new way of treating the ground has begun to be established amongst designers, the need to further develop the program has grown with a demand for more foundation types and more soil models.

StruSoft consequently continues to target geotechnical engineering and is now developing useful new functions: • Basement foundations • Compensating foundations • Non-linear soil analysis • Piles (both end bearing and friction piles)

By Sam Shiltagh

Interaction between soil and structure above.

The spring’s response to loading….

….gives an unsatisfactory settlement profile with the raft module.

Automatically generated reinforcement drawings for the bottom slabs which sit at to different foundation levels.

Example of a pile analysis.

A more realistic settlement profile using volume elements.

3D Soi l use s in t e ra c t i o n b e t we en structur e a n d t h e u n d erl yi n g s o i l In the analysis of a building – and specially its foundations, attention must be paid to interaction between the structure and the underlying soil. With this in mind – and for optimum design work, StruSoft has written a program module that combines the geotechnical and structural modelling.

In FEM-Designs Geo-module 3D Soil the subsoil is defined as different layers and is modelled as a volume with 3-dimensional finite elements. The sub-soil like the building is treated as a single construction, which results in a linked ground-structu-

Basement foundations. Photo: Örjan Svensson, ibyrån.

StruSof t 7

Monte Carlo-simulation is a statistical technique allowing the influence of a large number of factors to be studied, e.g. factors affecting the simulated energy use of a building.

FEM-Design

Contributing companies in this issue:

Tredimensionell analys, stabili och dimensionering av stomm Eurocode. www.equa.se

IMPACT Precast

BIM system för modellering o www.lu.se av prefabricerade betongelem

www.ncc.se

PRE-Stress

Analys och dimensionering av balkar över hela livslängden. www.niras.dk

StruSoft in a new research project into statistical methods in energy simulations StruSoft has, in collaboration with NCC Construction Sweden, EQUA Simulation and the division of Mathematical Statistics at Lund University, received a research grant of more than 150 000 EUR from the Swedish Energy Agency and SBUF (Development Fund of the Swedish Construction Industry) to develop statistical methods to make energy simulations for residential buildings more reliable. NCC is leading the project that started in the spring of 2015 and will run until the summer of 2017.

It is well known that the energy use of buildings based on computer simulation often differs from the actual energy use during operation. The reason is that the assumptions made in the simulation seldom hold in practice. The assumptions about the technical characteristics of the building with its equipment differ from how it is actually used. Developers must therefore compensate for this difference by applying a safety margin. Opinions in the industry differ considerably, however, when it comes to defining how big this margin of safety should be - something that not only creates uncertainty in general but also leads to unnecessarily high construction costs.

This research will clarify how large the uncertainties normally can be in the input used for energy simulations and will identify the factors that are most important.

By using a statistical method called Mon-

www.skanska.se

WIN-Statik

Programsamling för vanliga ko som balkar, pelare, ramar och www.sweco.se

VIP-Energy

Software for more efficient Dynamisk simulering av bygg building construction. energibalans. www.strusoft.com

BIMcontact

If the risk of exceeding 100 kWh/sq.m per year for a building under actual conditions is less than 5% then the simulated energy should possibly be no higher than 85 kWh/sq.m per year.

te Carlo simulation technique, the size of the uncertainties in simulated energy use will be determined. Once the size of the uncertainties is known, appropriate safety margins can be established for the benefit of contractors, consultants, architects, developers and others.

By Johnny Kronvall

Project collaboration and document management tool for the building industry. www.bimcontact.com

Projektsamarbets- och dokum verktyg för byggindustrin.

SyncroSite

Effektivt molnbaserat produkt Efficient cloud based system förcontrol byggindustrin. production system for the building industry. www.syncrosite.com

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