Structural and discipline software
What each tool does
Section titled “What each tool does”The global structural model
Section titled “The global structural model”The whole structure together: load path, bracing, stability, foundation reactions. It tells you what action each member receives.
Member-by-member checking
Section titled “Member-by-member checking”Detailed verification of the thin-walled sections with the effective cross-section and the stability modes. Often done by the LGS design software, which also produces the layout and the manufacturing output.
The disciplines’ models
Section titled “The disciplines’ models”Architectural, mechanical and electrical models, against which the structural model has to be compared.
The manufacturing output
Section titled “The manufacturing output”The machine program derived from the model. The machine does not get a drawing.
What is in use in Hungary
Section titled “What is in use in Hungary”By name, because the category alone says little:
- Global structural model: AxisVM and ConSteel are the two established systems in Hungarian practice.
- Structural modelling: Tekla for steelwork, Revit and ArchiCAD in the BIM environment.
- LGS frame: Vertex BD and FRAMECAD’s own software. The role of LGS design software.
Neither replaces the other: the global model looks at the system, the LGS software at the members and the manufacturing output.
The real question: the handover
Section titled “The real question: the handover”What matters is not which software is better but whether data is lost between the tools.
Typical points of loss:
- from the global model to the member checking: what the action is, with what restraint conditions,
- from the structural model into coordination: what the real geometry is,
- from design into manufacture: whether the output is accurate,
- from the disciplines’ changes back into the structure.
What to know from the client’s side
Section titled “What to know from the client’s side”Good practice is for the designer to fit the client’s and the other disciplines’ formats, not the other way round. The aim is not for everyone to use the same tool but for the data to travel.
That takes open formats: IFC for the model, a standard format for manufacture. IFC and data exchange.
Responsibility
Section titled “Responsibility”The software calculates the model it was given. Whether that model describes reality is the designer’s decision, and the responsibility stays there. What structural software is for.
The point
Section titled “The point”The quality of a design is not decided by the choice of software but by whether the data gets from one tool to the next without loss.