Trimble has joined ResponsibleSteel, an independent, non-profit organisation designed to drive the socially and environmentally responsible production of net-zero steel, globally.

The steel industry is one of the largest industrial emitters of CO2. With owners and operators of both building and infrastructure assets increasingly expecting their construction partners to choose sustainably sourced materials, there is a growing opportunity and urgency for the steel industry to minimise its environmental impact

Trimble is the first BIM software technology provider to join the ResponsibleSteel initiative. The company’s Tekla software is used for the design, engineering, fabrication and detailing of steel structures.

Tekla’s Embodied Carbon Calculator enables designers and detailers to assess the potential environmental implications of designs to quickly compare various structural options’ carbon impact. Additionally, a plug-in to Tekla Structures enables the upload of material quantities in a design to One Click LCA, a lifecycle assessment software that helps users calculate and reduce the environmental impacts of their designs.

“Thanks to its industry-wide nature, ResponsibleSteel has the ability to bring about impactful change to the way steel is created, sold, sourced and applied,” said Päivi Puntila, director, business development and sustainability lead for the structures division at Trimble.

“As one of the key players in design software for steel structures, Trimble solutions have contributed to making construction more sustainable by raising efficiencies, helping avoid waste during construction and enabling data reporting on the climate impact of projects.

“Our membership of ResponsibleSteel is further proof of our commitment to helping protect and build a better world to drive a sustainable future.”

Annie Heaton, ResponsibleSteel’s CEO, said, “As the only global multi-stakeholder initiative for the responsible production of steel, we have created a platform where companies from across the steel value chain can come together to learn and work together to shape the future of the industry.

“Buildings and construction make up around 39 percent of global carbon emissions, 11 percent of which is from construction and the manufacture of building materials such as steel. Tekla software allows engineers to measure and compare the carbon footprint of different structural designs, helping to reduce their environmental impact.”

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Trimble has launched 2023 versions of its ‘constructible BIM’, structural engineering and steel fabrication management solutions, Tekla Structures, Tekla Structural Designer, Tekla Tedds and Tekla PowerFab. The new releases are also said to raise the bar for automated and connected workflows, with tighter integration between Tekla products and third party tools.

Structural BIM tool Tekla Structures 2023 features several improvements in software performance, and an upgraded drawing editing user experience that is said to make the software easier to learn and use.

There are also improvements in detailing for fabrication workflows and project communication. In rebar detailing, complex bar shape designs are now said to be easier to share with procurement, manufacturing and the construction site.

Customers in steel fabrication are given ‘greater flexibility’ by being able to cover more detailing options related to bolts and holes for specialised industries. The software also features updated outputs and exports in the field of detailing for fabrication of multiple types of projects and materials.

3D design and analysis software Tekla Structural Designer 2023 introduces a ‘rigorous analytical approach’ to footfall assessment that, according to Trimble, can bring substantial cost savings benefits as well as a reduction in risk through accurate quantification of performance. The engineer can run multiple footfall scenarios in a single model. The software also features a strengthened design-to-detail workflow with Tekla Structures and a new integrator for Autodesk Revit 2023.

Structural design software Tekla Tedds 2023 now offers ‘seamless integration’ of structural design information and documentation with Tekla Structures to improve collaborative design-to-detailing workflows.

Particularly for steel connection design, the improved integration with Tekla Structures now enables linking Tedds calculations to Tekla Structures components. With this added functionality, Trimble explains that this provides a ‘seamless workflow’ for end-to-end connection-checking between the engineer and steel detailers.

In addition, the Tekla Tedds calculations help support multi-material design in Tekla Structural Designer with a specific focus on timber/wood design.

Steel fabrication management software suite Tekla PowerFab 2023 offers new functionalities designed to help fabricators manage changes in their projects efficiently to minimize errors. Features includes quick and easy access to the visual production dashboards and a shipping calendar.

Meanwhile, to support sustainable material sourcing, Tekla PowerFab now features improvements for tracking the origin of raw materials.

Find this article plus many more in the March / April 2023 Edition of AEC Magazine

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Hexagon‘s Asset Lifecycle Intelligence division has launched GT Strudl 41, the latest release of the structural engineering software for a range of industries, including power, civil engineering, marine, and infrastructure.

According to the company, the new version allows engineers to build, assess and report on structural systems of ‘any size’ in accordance with more than 25 international structural code standards.

This includes ASCE-7, allowing for the generation of wind loads on open and enclosed structures (including sloped roofs); AISC Code, with the possibility of using of multiple editions and for the same file to be reused for rework; and Nuclear code support, including N690.

GT Strudl 4 ‘fully integrates’ with Smart 3D, ISIP, CAESAR II, CADWorx Structure, Dimensional Solutions MAT 3D, and SDS/2.

The software’s capabilities include: linear and nonlinear static and dynamic analysis; base plate modelling and analysis; multi-material beam and FEA analysis; specification-driven design; reinforced concrete design and more.

“This new release of GT Strudl has been designed to help engineers deliver unparalleled safety across a range of critical industries. It will help them improve the accuracy and reliability of structural systems and ensure compliance with all codes and regulations while enhancing collaboration between structural engineers, designers, and pipe stress engineers,” says Ravindra Ozarker, senior product owner at Hexagon.

“The new version also includes updated internal tools, greater integration with popular design software, and expanded functionality, making it more user-friendly than ever.”

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The space to the north of London’s King’s Cross railway station has been undergoing an urban transformation for more than 15 years. Residential apartments, offices, a shopping complex and more have been built in and around the area’s historical buildings, drawing Londoners to a part of the city that people used to avoid.

Global engineering firm Arup has been involved in much of the work, including designing the structural elements for one of the final development projects: King’s Cross R8. The project consists of two 13-storey buildings joined by a podium, combining affordable social housing with rental space for small business owners.

A key challenge on the project was the location, with the development running immediately adjacent to three brick tunnels constructed in the 1700s. All the trains going in and out of King’s Cross station run through these tunnels, which are sensitive to movement. As a result, every design milestone for anything constructed within a certain proximity to the station had to first go through an approval process with London’s rail-network operator.

Such approvals can understandably take time and potentially knock a project off schedule. But thanks to the use of parametric design and BIM – specifically through the Tekla-Grasshopper Live Link – the team from Arup was able to keep the work moving.

Parametric design, or data-driven design, is guided by a set of interconnected parameters and roles, defined and inputted by the engineer, with these parameters then generating or controlling the design output into a parametric BIM modelling tool. Through the use of tools such as Grasshopper, engineers can benefit from the ability to quickly run various design iterations to optimise the structural design, as well as aiding the creation of the geometrically complex. What’s more, with all parameters and data interconnected, the change management process is also automated and simplified.

Arup senior structural engineer and project lead, Gordon Clannachan, explained: “We had to produce a number of drawings for the network-rail approval process. Although these needed to be done at an earlier stage than we would typically do on projects, they allowed the client to fast-track the approvals process prior to the main contractor starting on site. Using Tekla to automate the BIM model was essential for this work. As the design scheme evolved, we were able to respond very quickly thanks to Tekla’s automation-enabling tools.”

The team put parametric design at the heart of all the project’s workflows, pushing or pulling data and geometry to and from Tekla Structures to improve the efficiency of everyday tasks. The engineers also created a script that automated the calculation of the loads bearing down on the concrete columns and walls. This helped to further optimise the design and reduce the amount of concrete in the building’s foundations.

Arup also used the Tekla-Grasshopper integration to develop their own scripts for calculating the embodied carbon footprint of all structural elements. The Tekla Organizer tool was then used to set up templates to export the embodied carbon of every element by material, and for different embodied-carbon stages. These calculations were reported against targets that have been set for 2030 and beyond.

“We have a responsibility to take ownership of the embodied carbon in the structures we design and to use our influence to reduce the carbon impact of our projects,” said Gordon. “If you really want to influence carbon-related decisions, then you need to automate these calculations. The live-link integration between Tekla and Grasshopper is great for this too. We built the carbon factors into the Grasshopper script and parametrically linked the data.”

“I always try to look for ways to do each project better than the one before, rather than just defaulting to repeating the same methods. Pushing automation into our workflows makes us more efficient in how we deliver projects and respond to changes. The structural team believed in what we were doing and put a lot of hard work into developing these tools, which we can now use on the next project too.”

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Bentley is starting to carve out real niches in the AECO sector apply ing its broad portfolio of technol ogies to solve specific problems. – – In recent years, monitoring and inspection has become a big focus – assessing the health of a wide range of infrastructure assets from telecommunication towers and bridges to rail and dams.

Early solutions focused solely on photogrammetry, applying machine learning (ML) and object recognition to 3D reality meshes captured by drones. But through acquisition and investment, Bentley has been expanding the technologies that can contribute to the ‘digital twin’ from design to construction.

In 2021 Bentley acquired sensemetrics and Vista Data Vision, providers of software for Internet of Things (IoT) applications that allow digital twins to incorporate real-time sensor data. The tools support interfaces to hundreds of different sensors and related data types, including inclinometers, piezometers, strain gauges, crack meters, and many more.

These tools have now been integrated into Bentley’s iTwin platform in the form of a new product – iTwin IoT – that can be used to monitor, in real time, a range of environmental changes, such displacements, vibrations, deterioration, settlements and more; the idea being that any change on the condition of an asset can prompt interventions when necessary.

Bentley is now marrying iTwin IoT with iTwin Capture (a new product for capturing, analysing, and sharing reality data) to create two new solutions designed for real-time health monitoring – AssetWise Bridge Monitoring and AssetWise Dam Monitoring.

These solutions are not necessarily designed to eliminate in situ rope access inspections, but help consultants keep a close eye on the asset and develop a more informed inspection plan from the comfort of the office.

Monitoring dams

AssetWise Dam Monitoring employs a particularly diverse range of technologies, starting with the obligatory reality model captured by all manner of drones to create the foundation for a digital twin.

Early iterations of the product were able to use sensors to provide specific feedback about the dam, such as how much settlement was happening in a certain place or how much flow was causing pitting on the concrete. But, according to Santanu Das, chief acceleration officer, Bentley Systems, it was missing one big element, “We couldn’t predict where these cracks were, how deep the cracks were and what kind of crack propagation would cause problems in the future – the insights.”

Bentley looked to Niricson, a Canadian startup that had developed an AI-based predictive analytics SaaS platform designed to verify the structural integrity of concrete structures. The company has several hydro dam owners and engineering consulting firms as clients.

Rather than pursuing an acquisition, Bentley made an investment in Niricson through Bentley iTwin Ventures, a $100m corporate venture capital fund specifically set up to invest into AEC startups.

Niricson’s technology uses acoustic sensors on drones to go deep behind the concrete where the rebar is, then applies AI and ML to the reality model to figure out exactly where the spalling is happening. This is in stark contrast to traditional on-site methods, which leave a lot to interpretation, as Das explains, “Today, inspectors use a hammer, they listen for that void to see exactly where a lot of this delamination or cracking is happening.”

Armed with this information, engineering consultants can then precisely locate IoT sensors to monitor the dam moving more effectively forward.

With the open nature of the iTwin platform, data from Niricson’s Autospex software can then be fed into Bentley’s AssetWise Dam Monitoring product, then married with the reality model and sensemetric IoT data to see cracking analysis superimposed with temperature, displacement, vibrations and other metrics.

“An operator of a dam now has the ability to get information from disparate different repositories and sources under a single pane to look at some insights – exactly what’s happening to their asset,” says Das, adding that alerts can be set up to nofify operators if data from any monitoring source reaches a certain level.

Closing the loop

The story doesn’t end there. Bentley is also exploring how simulation can be used more effectively to study the future impact of cracks and other forms of degradation on dams and other concrete structures.

Bentley recently acquired Finite Element Analysis (FEA) software developer Adina, whose non-linear technology is well suited to analysing existing structures. “[Adina] shines when you have an asset, and this is how it really is – it’s degraded, it’s spalled, it’s cracked, it’s corroded. It can answer the question – what is the strength that remains?” said Raoul Karp, VP engineering simulation, Bentley Systems.

Results from simulations could be married up against data from sensors that have recorded the response of the structure over time. This allows the model to be calibrated more precisely so it can more accurately predict future events, and what needs to be done to minimise their impact, further closing the loop on the digital twin.

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Unveiled in February of this year, the Tower of Light structure in Manchester was designed to support the five exhaust flues of a new Combined Heat and Power energy centre. Manchester City Council and main contractor Vital Energi awarded the project to architects Tonkin Liu and built environment consultancy Arup in Autumn 2017. The central purpose of the project was to design and develop the tower which would house an energy centre supplying surrounding buildings with low carbon energy. This is part of Manchester’s Civic Quarter Heat Network project, and will serve heating to a district spanning two kilometres including several iconic buildings such as Manchester Town Hall and The Bridgewater Hall.

Expanding the client brief to combine the façade and structure, the tower celebrates architecture and design excellence. The 40-metre-tall tower was inspired by the natural world, with the vision of creating a solid structure with minimal material. Making this a reality required the latest advanced digital modelling, analysis and fabrication techniques.

The approach

At the heart of the tower’s design is its unusual perimeter shell, which acts as both the primary structure of the tower and as its façade. This is achieved by employing the unique ‘Shell Lace’ structural technique; a method pioneered by Arup and Tonkin Liu together for over a decade, inspired by geometries in the natural world. The Tower of Light is the largest built structure using this method to date.

This technique helps to create a lightweight, elegant structure using thin steel plates. Doing so required a multifaceted approach to the design, with parametric modelling at the centre. For example, the geometry of the shell corrugations and perforations was developed collaboratively between Tonkin Liu and Arup, via the use of digital workflows to identify the best form structure.

Parametric tools, such as Rhino, Grasshopper and Karamba, were used to quickly generate and analyse several variations of the geometry. This allowed the design team to study the individual form’s structure and performance, and select the optimal version, before arriving on site.

Furthermore, programming enabled parametric optimisation of the façade’s geometry, and detailed buckling dynamic assessments to ensure the nine-storey structure was sound. Not only that, but through careful development of the façade’s geometric shell, it could be fabricated and assembled in a timely and cost efficient manner, on site. The parameters of the geometry were manually adjusted, and the resulting structure analysed at each iteration.

These structural principles paired with tailoring, led to the creation of a strong 3-dimensional structure, generating maximum strength from the minimum of resources.

Achieving the Shell Lace structure

Arup undertook several forms of analysis and tests to confirm structural integrity and to better assess which process would lead to a better use of resources. For example, the structural performance of the tower needed to be assessed and justified through a combination of detailed finite element models (using Oasys GSA and LS-DYNA software), simplified beam element models, and hand calculations.

The buckling of the thin shell was tested, again using Oasys GSA and LS-DYNA software, through eigen-buckling analysis of FE models, the load amplification, ‘Dallard method’, and hand calculations. A detailed non-linear material model was used to confirm the buckling capacity in one critical location. The dynamic performance of the tower was also assessed, and several of the details were influenced by the wind-induced fatigue performance requirements.

In addition, based on analysis of the high number of edges and corners in the tower shell, there was a risk that a painted corrosion protection system would not be sufficiently reliable. Therefore, stainless steel was selected for the tower shell to ensure greater durability. While the tower is painted white for architectural reasons, this also allowed a lower grade of stainless steel to be used and avoided expensive surface treatments, reducing the project costs without lowering the level of durability.

The Tower of Light pushes the boundaries of what is possible in steel design and fabrication, with methods grounded in the latest advanced digital modelling, analysis and fabrication techniques to achieve the curved rigid surface

Additionally, the tower’s performance was further factored into its design, which consists of a series of modules, with bolted L-flange connections at the top and bottom of each module. These flanges acted as templates during fabrication of the shells, and also during installation on site. This proved invaluable in ensuring that the modules fitted together within tight tolerances. And this connection detail also served to minimise stress concentrations for optimal fatigue performance.

Advanced fabrication techniques

The building may look complex, but the fundamental geometric principles of the shell structure are deceptively simple. It was vital that the project was developed in a timely and efficient manner, taking into account building costs and labour.

The construction of the tower needed a high level of skill and workmanship from the steelwork contractor. The shell panels consist of singly-curved surfaces which fit together to form the folded geometry of the structure. This was essential to ensure that works were practical, as double curved steel plates would have significantly increased the complexity and, by default, cost. Tight tolerances were required, and the structure was fabricated to Execution Class 3 due to fatigue requirements.

The design team issued a Rhino model of the tower to the steelwork contractors, who then used Rhino and Tekla to devise the cutting patterns for each of the 432 shell panels. They were then rolled to the correct curvature, before being welded together to form the nine high shell modules that the tower consists of.

Looking ahead

The Tower of Light pushes the boundaries of what is possible in steel design and fabrication, with methods grounded in the latest advanced digital modelling, analysis and fabrication techniques to achieve the curved rigid surface. This building is set to inspire engineers paving new ways to minimise material usage and ultimately striving for a more sustainable future.

Main image courtesy of David Valinksky

The post The light fantastic – Tower of Light appeared first on AEC Magazine.

Trimble (UK), in partnership with Lindapter, has launched a new Tekla plug-in to help to facilitate the ‘efficient and accurate’ detailing of the Hollo-Bolt system into structural steel models.

Available to download within Tekla Warehouse, the plug-in enables Lindapter’s Hollo-Bolt system to be incorporated directly into a Tekla Structures model.

The Hollo-Bolt system is Lindapter’s range of CE UKCA marked expansion bolts that only require installation access to one side of the steel. Suitable for both end-plate and profile-to-profile connections and with three bolt heads available (Hexagonal, Countersunk and Flush Fit), the products are said to provide a faster alternative to welding or through-bolting, enabling steelwork contractors to reduce construction time and labour costs.

Prior to the launch of the tool, Tekla and Lindapter customers would have had to manually model a generic steel bolt connection with no specific attributes. Generic connections are not linked to any manufacturer, which Trimble says makes it impossible to generate precise take-offs. Now, using the new plug-in, users can automatically detail the Hollo-Bolt connection, with the associated product-specific information and data (including product codes and attributes). According to Trimble, this leads to more accurate quantity take-offs and estimates.

Furthermore, rather than detailing a bolt connection in isolation, the tool creates a parametric component. This automatically prevents users from going outside of the set parameters – for example, the positioning of the Hollo-Bolt products has to allow for a pre-stated distance between both the bolts and the inside edge of the steel section. The tool’s intelligent parametric capabilities help to ensure a correct first-time steelwork connection design.

The post New expansion bolts plug-in for Tekla Structures appeared first on AEC Magazine.

Bentley Systems has acquired Adina, a developer of finite element analysis (FEA) software used by civil, structural, and mechanical engineers on a variety of projects including buildings, bridges, stadiums, pressure vessels, dams, and tunnels.

According to Bentley, the company’s software offers ‘robustness’ across disciplines, materials, and simulation domains (structures, mechanical, fluids, thermal, electromagnetic, and multi-physics), to allow engineers to perform ‘comprehensive’ safety and performance studies where reliability and resilience are of critical importance.

Adina’s technology will also be applied within digital twins of existing infrastructure assets, through Bentley’s iTwin platform. According to Bentley, it can help simulate responses and vulnerabilities to stresses so extreme that nonlinear effects must be considered—caused (for instance) by seismic, wind, flood, pressure, thermal, collision, or blast forces.

Bentley says the software’s nonlinear simulation capabilities will complement its existing physical simulation applications — currently spanning STAAD, RAM, SACS, Moses, AutoPipe, Plaxis, Leap, RM, LARS, SPIDA, and PLS.

“Incorporating Adina and its creators is very exciting for all of our engineering simulation teams, as it will also be for existing and new users,” said Raoul Karp, vice president, engineering simulation at Bentley Systems.

“Dr. Bathe literally wrote the book on advancing finite element simulations, and the Adina System provides the reference for benchmarking all other disparate analysis approaches. We will now be able to extend nonlinear realism across all of our infrastructure digital twin simulation offerings.”

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Inspired by large sculptures in the countryside and the rocky outcrops of the nearby Dartmoor moors, The Hux Shard – as seen on Channel 4’s Grand Designs – offers a striking, geometric appearance.

The exterior walls are formed of 34 shard-shaped sculptural panels, set in a jagged 70 metre line following the contours of the hill on which the property stands. It is the combination of these immense-sized shards and the exposed rural landscape that was perhaps one of the key challenges behind the project, with TWP Consulting Engineers appointed as the structural engineers on the project.

Based in Exeter, TWP, a structural and civil engineering consultancy, was tasked with engineering both the property’s superstructure and substructure, from the foundations and floor plates to the primary timber frame, supporting steel connections and exterior shards.

Speaking about the project, Nick Drew, Director at TWP said, “At TWP, we work on a wide range of projects, from simple extensions to multi-million pound commercial and industrial projects, as well as even a few art sculptures, with Tekla’s range of engineering software at the core of their delivery. This project, The Hux Shard, was certainly a fascinating and an ambitious one, with a significant reliance on the engineering principle to create and bring the vision to life.”

Timber skeleton

The building design required a series of large concrete pad foundations and steel short columns, which in turn supported the gigantic timber frame’s floor structure and roof. The primary building frame consisted of 282 glulam timbers, which were bolted together with steel brackets to form a wooden skeleton reaching over seven metres into the air. The Hux Shard’s exterior walls were then formed from 34 insulated timber shards, each around 600mm thick and clad in zinc, and interspersed with 46 equally complex glazed panels.

As if that wasn’t enough of a challenge, the whole structure was also partially suspended, raised between 0.5 and 1.5 metres off the ground.

“Perhaps the main challenge on this project was the shard-shaped panels that formed the building exterior, and which served to create the dramatic geometric impact of the overall building,” explained Drew. “Due to the intended architectural aesthetic, there was no uniformity to the panels, no parallel elements and no true-90 degrees. Each of the shards was wholly individual and unique, all at different angles to one another, and the whole property was also slightly curved on plan.

“As if those design complexities weren’t challenging enough, the shards were also incredibly large – some as tall as a two-storey house. Given the exposed and elevated hill-top location, the concern was that the shards would effectively act as wind sails, capturing a lot of wind and putting more stress into the primary structure itself. As engineers, we had to ensure that this wind loading was accounted for in the engineered design and that the shards wouldn’t place unnecessary strain and deflection on the primary structure and glazing.

“Fortunately for us, Tekla Structural Designer has an automated wind loading feature, meaning that we were able to quickly and automatically model and calculate full building wind loads. In turn, this gave us a far better economy for an optimised design – rather than the alternative of manually considering the loads, which is often based off the worst-case scenarios and doesn’t necessarily provide the whole picture.”

"Exeter, and indeed the UK, has probably never seen a building quite like this".

Take a look around Joe and Claire’s futuristic new home #GrandDesigns pic.twitter.com/ABhLYUNCgw

— granddesigns (@granddesigns) September 4, 2021

Clear thinking

Given that every timber shard was unique, with different heights, raking lengths and angles, each panel had to be modelled and constructed individually within the Tekla modelling environment.

“This, combined with the jagged layout of the shards and the uneven ground level, provided us with another challenge – mainly how to create clear layers in the software,” said Drew. “It was imperative that we were able to create clear layers and gridlines, as well as ensuring that the gridlines were named correctly, as this information then referenced back to the gridline’s respective shard. Without the ability to clearly and concisely complete and model this in the software, it would have presented some serious difficulties and confusion that would have affected the whole project delivery.”

In addition to the timber panels, there was also 46 equally large glass panels interspersed throughout the Hux Shard’s exterior walls and roof, designed to help draw natural light into the property.

“A priority for us as engineers was of course stability, ensuring that the overall building was stiff enough. Given the combination of glass and timber, it was vital that there were no differential differences between the frames, as this then ran the risk of the glass shards cracking or shattering,” said Drew. “Again, we were able to efficiently model and analyse all of this in Tekla Structural Designer, viewing all of the loads, deflections and stresses present in the building design.”

While Tekla Structural Designer is perhaps predominantly renowned for its use with concrete and steel design, the software is also continuing to expand its capabilities for timber design. Indeed, as the emphasis on sustainability and a building’s embodied carbon value continues, timber will inevitably become a more popular building material amongst clients, engineers and contractors.

“For us, we are seeing more and more timber being used on construction projects, such as this, as people become more focused on the importance of sustainability,” said Drew. “With Tekla’s portfolio of software, we are able to analyse the timber building design in Tekla Structural Designer and understand all forces and potential stresses. Then, as a result of the software’s emphasis on integration and interoperability, we are then able to export the data and timber beams directly into Tekla Tedds, saving us considerable time. If it wasn’t for this, we would have had to interrogate every individual beam and do it all by hand – a process that becomes incredibly time consuming when dealing with design changes on a daily basis.

“When you’re working on a project of this complexity, the ability to spin the 3D model around and interact with it, really understanding how it all relates, fits and connects together, is invaluable. Thanks to the software and the 3D environment that it provides, we were able to finish our engineering work within a three-month period – without Tekla Structural Designer, I can only imagine how long it would have taken.”

The Hux Shard was completed in 2021.

The post Engineering the Hux Shard from Grand Designs appeared first on AEC Magazine.

As we edge closer to the 2050 Net Zero deadline and the world becomes more environmentally conscious, increasing attention is being paid to how the construction industry can build greener. Embodied carbon may be an important part of the sustainability puzzle.

The current spotlight on construction isn’t without just cause; it’s a shocking statistic that the built environment and construction currently accounts for around 40% of global energy-related CO2 emissions, according to the World Green Building Council (WGBC). As such, we are all under pressure to reduce carbon footprints and improve sustainability, from manufacturers and suppliers to contractors and engineers.

Already, we have seen a number of initiatives that aim to encourage change within the construction industry. For example, 2019 saw UK structural engineering consultancies declare a ‘climate and biodiversity emergency’. In 2020, the UK government published The Construction Playbook, outlining green initiatives for the sector; and earlier that year, Institution of Civil Engineers president Rachel Skinner launched her ‘Shaping Zero’ campaign.

According to RIBA, clients in all sectors are increasingly commissioning whole life carbon (WLC) assessments as part of project requirements, driven by both environmental and economic considerations. We are also increasingly seeing more contractors instigate positive change too, with many of the UK’s largest construction companies pledging targets around carbon emissions, including Willmott Dixon, Kier, Mace and Balfour Beatty.

Explaining embodied carbon

There are many factors that feed into this greener, more sustainable future of construction, with embodied carbon being just one of them. The embodied carbon of a building is defined as the greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) generated from the building’s construction lifecycle. This can include carbon emissions associated with all materials, products and systems, from raw material extraction, manufacturing and transportation, the construction process itself and right through the building’s entire lifespan.

Conversations around embodied carbon are becoming increasingly common, with clients and developers asking the right questions and showing a desire to build greener, whether they’re driven by a ‘moral’ change in mindset or a genuine interest in understanding the environmental and carbon impact of their building

Embodied carbon assessments are not yet a legislative requirement, although that’s not to say there won’t be some form of regulation or carbon tax in the future. Either way, conversations around embodied carbon are becoming increasingly common, with clients and developers asking the right questions and showing a desire to build greener, whether they’re driven by a ‘moral’ change in mindset or a genuine interest in understanding the environmental and carbon impact of their building.

With a significant portion of a building’s final embodied carbon value often determined as early on in the construction sequence as the initial design stage, it’s clear that the sooner action is taken, the better. With that in mind, carbon modelling and assessments can be invaluable, helping engineers and contractors to reduce the level of embodied carbon within their structures and, ultimately, build greener.

Of course, in order to design smarter and greener, you need to have an understanding of the carbon levels that you are dealing with from the outset. By calculating the embodied carbon present early on in the construction sequence, engineers and other project stakeholders can have a detailed understanding of the level of carbon that the proposed structure contains.

And thanks to advances in digital technology, it is also possible to take this further, drilling down deeper, measuring intelligently and providing a live overview of the carbon contained within a structure’s individual components.

Having access to such detailed data early on can be invaluable, providing the information and, most importantly, the time savings necessary to consider, assess and evaluate how this carbon figure can be minimised, in order to reduce building’s environmental impact.

Design optimisation

In many ways, the task of reducing a structure’s embodied carbon boils down to design optimisation. This, of course, is a challenge that engineers already face on every project, and it’s typically associated with decisions around materials and resources used, the type of foundation or column support grid chosen, and the delivery of the architect’s brief – all without impacting overall structural stability. The same is true for carbon. In many ways, it’s just one more factor to consider in this balancing act.

In other words, along with building strength, structural performance, design efficiency and cost, engineers must also take into account the amount of embodied carbon present. And to reach the most efficient and optimised design, they will need to compare different designs, materials and approaches.

Now engineers must balance the building’s strength and structural performance with the amount of embodied carbon present too, as well as the design efficiency and cost. By comparing different designs, different materials, different approaches and calculating and contrasting the carbon within each design iteration, engineers can work to settle upon the most efficient and optimised design from all points of view.

Reducing waste

Of course, in addition to being smarter when it comes to embodied carbon, there are other things that can be done. First, rather than building new, we should look to reuse and repurpose existing buildings, structures and infrastructure where we can. Where that isn’t feasible, we should work to design and build multiuse, multipurpose developments that are adaptable for the future, as well as reducing the amount of raw materials required for their construction. While this all stems from the efficiency of design, as already discussed, material wastage can be another big contributor to the carbon problem within construction.

Here, it’s all about the importance of accuracy and correct first-time fabrications and assemblies. We all know that an unresolved issue at the design stage of a project can have a snowball effect as the construction sequence progresses, leading to errors at the fabrication stage, the component not fitting correctly once it reaches site and then requiring subsequent rework or refabrication.

Incorrect quantities and over-ordering can be another issue, again leading to material wastage and unnecessary CO2 being pumped into the atmosphere. With a 3D digital environment, material wastage can be avoided. Thanks to the high levels of detail and visualisation offered by a 3D model, and the digital rehearsal that it offers, project teams are able to really see design issues and clashes and resolve any potential issues before a project progresses to the fabrication stage.

What’s more, thanks to the data integration that BIM software supports, teams can benefit from the automatic generation of accurate material quantity take-offs, as well as data from the model automatically being transferred to the fabrication shop floor, minimising the potential for human error.

It’s clear that there is much still to be done if we are to hit the Net Zero 2050 target and slow down the effects of global warming. As we continue to create the buildings and infrastructure of the future, working to reduce the embodied carbon they contain could make a big difference in the global fight against climate change. It’s a big opportunity for the sector’s engineers to make a noticeable positive impact.

Stuart Campbell is business development manager for engineering at Trimble (UK).

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