The factors which decide the performance of steel structure

The purpose to make the structure of any building is that the building can stand still for longest time. Building design as well as construction plan comes later, there are certain set of tasks which are performed even before the design and planning phase which determine the fate of the building. These tasks include diverse studies and analyses of the soil and surrounding factors.

Structure is quite essential discipline of building trade as it carries the load of natural and manmade loads while keeping the building stable. Outcomes of the analyses enable the engineers to take decision regarding certain things like whether the land is sustainable to construct building or not, how much storied building would be feasible etc. Apart from that, how to build a structure which endure the natural forces and other relevant decisions are made and construction plan is being prepare accordingly.

Gravitational force works vertically; hence it is also called vertical force. This kind of force creates dead load and live load. Dead load is the weight of the objects those are going to be settled there forever and live load is the weight of people or goods in a building.

Floor slabs, metal decking, mechanical equipment, etc are included in vertical force. The loads which are movable are live load which can be transferred from one place to another. Live load is made of furniture and occupancy loading.

Horizontal load is the load which gets produced from the turbulence of the air. Wind pressure imposes different forces on façade of the building. Separate codes are given to the wind pressure in order to calculate it perfectly.

The variation in the pressure of the wind creates the isolated concentrations over façade portions, thus structure must be designed in a way that redistribute this pressure equally on the surface.

All these factors decide the performance of steel structure. Thus it is made sure by the AEC professionals to consider the above factors before construction of the building to ensure the optimum load bearing construction of the building.

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HVAC Systems - The Indispensable Needs Of Every Building

HVAC or Heating, Ventilation and Air-Conditioning systems, which fall within the definition of mechanical building systems remain extremely crucial for all the residential and commercial buildings.

Heating, ventilation and air-conditioning form an important part of a unique technology which is meant for providing high level of indoor environmental comfort to people occupying the building. In other words, the reason behind developing mechanical building systems is to maintain thermal comfort  and to provide high-end indoor air quality to building occupiers.

This crucial sub-discipline of mechanical engineering, which remains accountable for developing advanced systems for the effective management of indoor air quality is based on the principles of fluid mechanics, thermodynamics and heat transfer.

Checkout below points for understanding the technicalities of HVAC systems

1.     Many a times, HVAC (heating, ventilation and air-conditioning)  is also referred as HVAC&R, which clearly stands for heating, ventilation and air-conditioning & Refrigeration.

2.     Apart from being a necessary part of building systems, HVAC also remain significant for  providing thermal comfort in vehicular environment.

3.     When it come to the development of energy efficient buildings, design development of heating, ventilation and air-conditioning systems can have a huge impact on building performance.

4.     But with the assistance of advanced 3D modeling applications like Revit MEP and Autodesk Inventor, both CAD modelers and BIM modelers can generate highly amazing design for HVAC systems.

5.     With the assistance of Revit MEP,parametric  modelers can swiftly generate energy efficient design for HVAC systems.

6.     It is quite easy for mechanical modelers to develop energy analytical models for HVAC systems, which can further assist them with the execution of energy analysis.

7.     That means in order to develop high performing HVAC systems, execution of energy modeling and energy analysis services is highly important, and it can be easily performed by building professionals with the assistance of cutting-edge software products.

8.     A large number of mechanical engineers across the world, love to work with Autodesk Inventors as it comes with both CAD and BIM compatibilities.

9.     That means it can easily support any type of DWG file and modelers can conveniently work with building professionals.

10.  This makes it easy for mechanical engineers to make use of a large number of data during design development which ultimately helps them with developing innovative HVAC system.

AutoCAD or Revit – both are Equally Important for the AEC Professionals

All the design and construction professionals from architectural, engineering and construction (AEC) industry are familiar with AutoCAD and Revit. AutoCAD has been in the AEC industry since 1980 and this software has a significant role in the evolution of the AEC industry. AutoCAD has notably become an integral part of day to day activities if the 2D and 3D design process.

Revit is a building modeling program and it has entered in the AEC industry after almost 20 years of the inception of AutoCAD. The adoption of Revit has increased sharply in recent years. Revit has many advantageous features that attract the design and construction professionals to use it in their construction projects. This blog will helps the professionals where to draw lines – AutoCAD, Revit or both?

Similarities

Both AutoCAD and Revit software helps its users to produce 2D drawings such as sections, floor plan drawings, elevations, detail drawings, construction drawings, etc. effectively. There may be little differences in the graphical presentations of the AutoCAD 2D drawings and Revit 2D drawings, but essentially the end outcome is same.

Thought AutoCAD and Revit both are also used for developing 3D models but Using Revit, users can only develop 3D models for buildings while using AutoCAD, users can develop 3D models for their architectural, civil, structural, mechanical, aeronautical, and other types of engineering projects.

Both of these software’s help users to make a 2D flat image or 3D model photorealistic by adding color, shade, texture, lighting effect, shadow effect, fixture, etc.

Differences

Though both AutoCAD and Revit helps the design and construction professionals to do similar types of works effectively, but Revit is specially Building Information Modeling (BIM) software that only helps in carrying out different types of BIM modeling process. Using AutoCAD, users only can create lines to develop basic geometry that represents the projected object.

Within a 3D Revit model, users can include real life information while AutoCAD does not allow users to add any type of information. In Revit, while users work on one particular view such as floor plan, other views such as elevation are also automatically generated at that time. If users make any change within the Revit design, the design automatically adjusts itself according to the change but AutoCAD does not have such facilities.

AutoCAD is very useful for creating 2D drawings where only accurate work in needed, for example elevation detail drawing. Revit is very useful for Architectural 3D Modeling that also helps its users to prepare construction schedule, generate cost schedule, perform collaboration and manage all types of changes efficiently.

In the AEC industry, AutoCAD and Revit both are significantly used for developing 2D and 3D designs for AEC projects. Both of these software’s have become right and left hand of the AEC industry professionals.

Standard Loadable Families: Contribution of Family Editor in Their Development

What are loadable families? 

Why are they required? And what makes them so significant for design and construction professionals are some of the questions which I would like to address in this article. Well standard loadable families can be defined as those building components which remain the integral part of the design of different building disciplines such as windows, doors, column and beams etc.

Revit has a very dynamic or sophisticated tool for developing standard component families which is Revit Family Creation and Editor. In Revit family editor two different types of families can be developed which are standard loadable families and in-place families.

Same procedure is implemented by Revit technicians for developing both loadable and in-place families, wherein first of all they have to choose a family template, after which they have to define family subcategories and then create family types.

For creating family types Revit technicians have to determine various parameters. Before creating family types it is mandatory for them to develop family skeleton. Family skeleton is nothing but the family framework, which is developed by Revit technicians by defining family origin, then laying out reference plane and reference lines.

Both reference plane and reference line are genuinely very crucial for technicians when they have to develop family geometry. When family framework is created Revit technicians have to level the dimensions so that they end up developing effective parameters for the family in question. For checking whether the framework created by them is effective or not, they have to flex the framework.

The visibility of the family can be easily managed by Revit users with the support of the tools contained in Revit Family Editor. So if the above mentioned procedure is followed with due care, high quality loadable families can be developed by Revit users.

Architectural Services: What kids of architectural solutions are provided through them?

With the emergence of CAD and Building Information Modeling in Architecture Engineering and Construction industry, the demand for architectural services is growing with a steady speed. Toady building owners have huge expectations from architects when it comes to the esthetic aspect of the design. Today be it the construction of commercial or residential buildings, design and construction of architecture remains at the heart of building construction. And that’s the reason demands for architectural CAD services and architectural BIM services are growing with an exponential rate.

Hence general contractors make it very sure that they hire architectural services from a highly reliable and distinguished architectural and engineering outsourcing company which can deliver them with extremely precise or error-free architectural CAD drafting services and BIM modeling services. All kinds of technical drawings are provided by outsourcing company to the clients with the help of the specifications or basic sketches which are given to them by contractors or architects.  Information rich site plans, floor plans, elevations and sections etc are delivered to the clients by the service providing company, which are developed by the CAD drafters on AutoCAD.  Apart from that high end 3D architectural design is developed by modelers with the help of Revit Architecture which is delivered to clients in the shape of 3D model. The 3D architectural model developed in the digital environment of Revit Architecture, provides all the intricate details about architectural elements which prove to be highly significant for architects.

With the assistance of detailed architectural model, design and construction professionals can perform clash detection by comparing its elements with structural and MEP elements in Navisworks Manage. Countless element collisions or overlapping conditions are identified by design and construction professionals when they perform clash detection in 3D project review software Navisworks Manage.

Apart from that 3D architectural model can be used in Architecture Engineering and Construction industry for performing 3D rendering services. When 3D rendering services are executed by AEC professionals they can generate high quality photorealistic images and models for representing interior and exterior part of the building. 

Impeccable 3D parametric models can be developed from point clouds

Over the last decade  point cloud modeling got enormous attention from design and construction professionals as it assists architects, multidiscipline engineers and BIM modelers to create outstanding 3D parametric models for renovation and retrofit etc. Point cloud modeling is adopted by design and construction professionals because 3D laser scanned data (point cloud data) provides extensive existing building information to them which makes it easy for them to develop 3D parametric Building Information Models.  Building Information Models are created by Architecture, Engineering and Construction industry professionals in 3D building design software Revit, which is launched by Autodesk the original developer of AutoCAD.

If architects and engineers do not have the accessibility of construction documents and drawings of the existing building which currently requires renovation then they are bound to generate drawings and models for it for the proper accomplishment of the project. And measuring an existing building is truly an uphill task, which demands high level of physical efforts if manual surveying is carried out by architects and engineers, and on top of that its accurate measurement is seriously doubtable. Architects and engineers cannot claim to provide accurate dimensions to BIM modelers as they have to face high level of complications during manual survey process.

Hence 3D laser scanning process is believed to be highly feasible when it comes to the measurement of dimensions and spatial relations between elements of an existing building. If highly potential 3D laser scanners are available to professionals performing the survey process, they can correctly measure the dimensions and geometry of the as-built building. Laser beams which reach out to every possible section of the building bring accurate building information with them and that information is captured into point clouds. When these point clouds are provide to architects, engineers and modelers they can execute point cloud modeling services from them and can develop immaculate 3D parametric BIM models for performing renovation. Parametric models can be developed for architecture, structure and MEP since point clouds contain adequate information about all these building disciplines which is necessary for developing 3D models.c

Role of Revit models in increasing the productivity of AEC professionals

Revit models which are created for various disciplines are very important for architects, engineers, contractors and fabricators when it comes to the effective construction of buildings. The 3D models which are created by highly expert teams are largely utilized by key building professionals such as architects, engineers and fabricators etc for showing and accomplishing their outputs.

Generally when a building project is carried out, architects play highly important roles as they have to start with the development of architectural design based on which designs for other building trades are developed. Architects are liable for releasing the initial sketches for the building which are utilized by the designers or engineers of other building trades for developing their own design. For example the initial sketches produced by architects are generally sent for the reference of structural engineers and MEP engineers so that they can have some idea about the architectural design of the building and which can help them in developing their own design.

So based on the preliminary sketches developed by architects, structural engineers and mechanical, electrical and plumbing engineers, Building Information Models are developed by design and construction professionals in Revit. The entire design development phase is mostly dominated by Revit Architecture, Revit Structure and Revit MEP apart from Navisworks and 3ds Max etc. Highly error-free and immaculate building design is developed by architects, engineers and modelers in Revit, since the software effectively helps in facilitating cooperation between modelers. All the crucial design information can be smoothly passed among the modelers during the design development process in Revit, which reinforces the development of immaculate models.

On top of that, clash detection services can also be performed for the sake of identifying design errors. The kind of design errors which cannot be directly identified by design and construction professionals are easily pointed out during clash detection by Clash Detective tool of Navisworks Manage. Design errors pointed out by Clash Detective tool, are properly sorted out by modelers after implementing changes in the design. Since any kind of alterations can be effectively done in BIM models, implementation of changes for resolving clashes becomes too easy for AEC professionals. Last but not least Revit models are highly important for developing high quality buildings.