Entrant details
Role or Job Title on the Project
Assistant Designer
Employer
Employer Role
Design-Builder Company
Are you or your employer a member of buildingSMART?
Yes - Chapter Member
Submission details
Submitting Party Company Name
Warbud SA
Submitting Party Company Location
Warsaw, Poland
Submitting Party Role on Project
Designing Team in Technical Office (part of General Contractor)
Submitting Party Company Website
Full Project Name
Structural designing supported by openBIM
Project Location (Country)
Poland
Project Objectives
The project's main objective was to create a standarized design process in order to design structure of building based on federated BIM (.ifc) model that is usefull for all stakeholders of the project. There is no available software allowing Structural and Geotechnical Designers to create, modify, calculate structural elements and soil-structure interaction in one software package. We created one standarized and consistent workflow to share design and calculation data with no loss and no need of creation models from sketch.
openBIM Achievements
With aid of openBIM we have the same model in different applications that are not created to be connected. We reduced time of designing process because we found safe way to transfer all the data (model) between various calculation software used in designing. OpenBIM allows us not only to easily transfer models in calculation software but also coordinate projects in consistent and standarized way.
openBIM used
IFC 2x3, BCF, IDM, MVD
openBIM or open standards used other than those listed above
Software used
ARCHICAD, Rhino with Grasshopper, Revit, Dynamo, Solibri Model Checker, Dlubal, Robot, ZSoil, Plaxis, BimVision, BIMcollab, Navisworks
Strategic Alignment
Reduction of model creation and soil-structure interaction calculations.
Highlights
Co-operation between Strucutral and Geotechnical Designers
Optimal structure design due to iterative calculation process and output data convergence
One constistent federated FEM model based on (.ifc) model with whole history of design
Manual errors in model creation and calculation data transfer reduced to complete minimum
High-rise buildings models already transfered
Model creation and calculation process being semi-automated
40% time reduction in construction design process
Willingness to create an IDM for structural analysis
Project Website
Project and Stakeholder Logos (compiled into one .ppt/pptx file for upload)
Project Address
Our workflow was tested on several buildings models, all of then are planned to build in Warsaw, Poland.
Project Type
Mixed-Use
Size of Project
The algorithms developed by us have been successfully tested on several large buildings.
The average project size is:
- 4 underground levels
- 35 overground storeys
- 60000 square meters of usable space
Detailed description of the project
Due to the tender stages of building process, we cannot provide the address or investments data.
But we can share information about models than were transfered from IFC files to structural calculation software.
In colculation models we had in avarange:
- 500 reinforced beams
- 500 structural columns
- 400 floor (slabs) panels - this number is higher than number of storeys because of various slabs thickness
- 2000 reinforced concrete walls
- 700 openings in floors and walls (the smallest were omitted)
- 20 to 40 structural loads cases depend on type and size of building
- 200 structural loads combinations (based on European Standard with National Annex PN-EN 1990)
- 1300 area loads, such as floors finishing layers, MEP instalations, snow and live loads
- 5000 linear structural loads, this loads are for example brick walls,
Standarized information about soil conditions are the basis for the correct and effective flow of geotechnical information in various computational environments used in our daily work. Information about soil conditions saved in the AGS format or obtained from another geological database program is imported into a standardized XLS file template. Then, using a Python-based programming language tool, all key information is used to generate a computational soil model in the Plaxis environment. The information saved in this way not only enables the calculation of geotechnical problems in the program, but also the export the soil model to other BIM environment programs. In this way, we get not only the results of calculations, but also a standarized flow of geological information used for visualization in the OpenBIM environment of existing soil and water conditions at the investment site.
Geotechnical data is standarized and collected by PIGPIB (Polish Geological Institute National Research Institute) in database. We plan to standarize geotechnical data and extend (.ifc) file with soil layers and parameters within the frames of buildingSmart Polska and it's 'GeotechROOM'.
We have developed two different ways of interoperability in designing process. Depending on the stage of the project, we can decide which algorithm to use:
- 1st APPROACH is used to perform iterative soil-structure interaction process in order to acquire optimal design solution with best accuracy. Federated FEM model based on (.ifc) file is calculated in two environments simultaneously and as accurate as possible solution is given.
- 2nd APPROACH allows us to create parametric model based on (.ifc) in order to find optimal solution from many available variants at the conceptual stage of design. Model for calculation is as simplified as possible in order to calculate many variants.
Created worklfow allows us to easily transfer model into different calculation software in any stage of designing process in order to compare calulation results and be equitable.
With openBIM everyone can build their own workflow, depending on the software they have. The whole process is easy to modify and further develop.
This idea is intended to improve cooperation between structural and geotechnical engineers in a foundation design process as well as for the optimal and safe design of the building structure. The complexity of the interaction between structure and soil makes the process complicated and time-consuming. Also, when modeling large shallow foundations, it is not clear how to determine the soil stiffness and how exactly it should be used in the structural software program. Substructure is modelled in Plaxis and superstructure in Robot. Robot model is based on (.ifc) model transfered through Revit. According to the complexity of structure, whole geometry, loads and forces can be transfered from Robot into Plaxis. Due to iterative approach we can model Substructure in Plaxis with nonlinear soil conditions and superstructure with global structure stiffness and loads combinations. It saves valuable time - spent on modelling from the scratch.
Detailed description of openBIM on the project
OpenBIM has brought a lot of opportunities into our daily work, above all :
- geotechnical and geology data sharing and easy utilization,
- easy model-data sharing using open file formats (.ifc)
- and standarized calculation data workflow for structural design.
Standarized information about soil conditions are the basis for the correct and effective flow of geotechnical information in various computational environments used in our daily work. Information about soil conditions saved in the AGS format or obtained from another geological database program is imported into a standardized XLS file template. Then, using a Python-based programming language tool, all key information is used to generate a computational soil model in the Plaxis environment. The information saved in this way not only enables the calculation of geotechnical problems in the program, but also the export the soil model to other BIM environment programs. In this way, we get not only the results of calculations, but also a standarized flow of geological information used for visualization in the OpenBIM environment of existing soil and water conditions at the investment site.
Geotechnical data is standarized and collected by PIGPIB (Polish Geological Institute National Research Institute) in database. We plan to standarize geotechnical data and extend (.ifc) file with soil layers and parameters within the frames of buildingSmart Polska and it's 'GeotechROOM'.
We have developed two different ways of interoperability in designing process. Depending on the stage of the project, we can decide which algorithm to use:
- 1st APPROACH is used to perform iterative soil-structure interaction process in order to acquire optimal design solution with best accuracy. Federated FEM model based on (.ifc) file is calculated in two environments simultaneously and as accurate as possible solution is given.
- 2nd APPROACH allows us to create parametric model based on (.ifc) in order to find optimal solution from many available variants at the conceptual stage of design. Model for calculation is as simplified as possible in order to calculate many variants.
Created worklfow allows us to easily transfer model into different calculation software in any stage of designing process in order to compare calulation results and be equitable.
With openBIM everyone can build their own workflow, depending on the software they have. The whole process is easy to modify and further develop.
This idea is intended to improve cooperation between structural and geotechnical engineers in a foundation design process as well as for the optimal and safe design of the building structure. The complexity of the interaction between structure and soil makes the process complicated and time-consuming. Also, when modeling large shallow foundations, it is not clear how to determine the soil stiffness and how exactly it should be used in the structural software program. Substructure is modelled in Plaxis and superstructure in Robot. Robot model is based on (.ifc) model transfered through Revit. According to the complexity of structure, whole geometry, loads and forces can be transfered from Robot into Plaxis. Due to iterative approach we can model Substructure in Plaxis with nonlinear soil conditions and superstructure with global structure stiffness and loads combinations. It saves valuable time - spent on modelling from the scratch.
Software ecosystem map
openBIM Supporting Evidence
Benefits from using openBIM
Applying openBIM in design process we have the same model in different applications that are not meant to be connected. We reduced time of designing process because we transfered model between used calculation software. OpenBIM allows us not only to easily transfer Finite Element Method (FEM) models in calculation software but also coordinate projects in consistent and standarized way.
- It is not necessary to create whole structure in both computational environments.
- There is need for model information flow between computational environments – export from Revit/Robot (BIM software) to Plaxis/ZSoil
"We were able to innovate using openBIM."
Over standard workflow of data in designing process we transformed IFC model into FEM model for structural analysis.
GeotechBIM connects (.ifc) federated model with structure forces and standarized geotechnical data about soil layers and parameters.
"We were able to identify where we need openBIM to develop further."
The idea is to create IDM for structural analysis and share it.
Our goal is to extend IFC format with:
- soil layers and parameters
- structural loads and loads combinations
- results from calculated FEM (Finite Element Method) model
Stakeholders
Warbud SA, Warsaw, Poland, General Contractor, Grzegorz Kacprzak
Warbud SA, Warsaw, Poland, General Contractor, Rafał Bagiński
Warbud SA, Warsaw, Poland, General Contractor, Adam Zakrzewski
