Learn how modern software automation reduces structural engineering task-time, aids design accuracy, and boosts analytical capabilities.
When driving through any modern developing city – or even just viewing it from the air – one is struck by the incredible variety in the buildings’ shapes, sizes, and the materials used to construct them. It’s often much the same with bridges, which range in design from the traditional to the futuristic.
Despite this outward appearance of diversity, most structures are built around certain core elements required for functionality and safety. A deep enough foundation is a given, concrete supports are reinforced with steel, and pillars are designed to withstand loads calculated in a standardized manner. These elements may often be similar from one project to another, with the same number of beams, columns, and plates needed for a specific floor area or bridge span.
This repetitive nature of the construction industry lends itself well to automating certain parts of the design process, including many of the tasks of the structural engineer. From a designing perspective, adding identical components one by one is hugely repetitive, tedious, and time-consuming. Automating these tasks – as well as many others – makes much more efficient use of engineers’ expertise.
The power of parametric design
Many Computer-Aided Design (CAD) tools already have some element of automation, but parametric design really takes CAD functionality to the next level. For decades architects have been using parametric design to create complex geometries. What is less well known are the automation benefits that the technology can bring to the work of structural engineers.
