Steel Structure Design
How BIM Reinforces Efficient Steel Structure Design From Start to End
If you think that your 2D drawings are the most comprehensive set of details you have ever seen, wait until you see the wealth of knowledge that you can get with BIM. This data-rich process causes all sorts of paradigm shift in the AEC industry, where each industry specialist have their own BIM tool curated to their own expertise.
Together with New York Engineers, let's take a look on how the flow of steel structure design efficiently move from design to construction and operation through a BIM-integrated platform:
- Design
We take matters into our own hands by overlaying the architectural master model with steel structural model. Through BIM-based Revit, our civil engineers optimize the structural integrity of your building by performing structural analysis on your steel components and connections. What we can do as your trusted experts is to design and specify the minimum load requirement for your steel columns and beams based as per the stringent 2018 International Building Code to get your steel structure design up-to-code.
- Construction
Entering this phase means you have your construction documents ready in a digital collaborative platform, where detailed design can range from cutting lists to bar bending schedule, and just about any other steel details needed to mobilize your steel structure design. Best to know that you have BIM as your design point of reference anytime there are clash trade interferences in-situ, such as building services taking up the geometric space for your steel components.
- Operation
Backed with data from design and construction, you can utilize this information reference for future renovation, addition, alterations or structural retrofitting. As such, you can better prepare your steel structure design for disaster resiliency in any such cases that earthquake, hurricane, seismic or wind loads hit your building facility more than the specified structural load. Proactive planning of operations and maintenance (O&M) is possible with BIM.
Have a Question? Want to Discuss a Project?
An Innovative Spin on Fabrication for Your Steel Structure Design
Here's where you can make a critical turning point in your steel structure design: integrate 4D BIM and 5D BIM right at the very start with fabrication. As experienced engineers, we know the inclination of steel components on the long-lead spectrum, hence we act with proactivity in cutting the great divide between the long waiting time from design to fabrication through efficient generation of shop drawings and bill of materials—all thanks to the data extraction and automation features of BIM.
To be more specific, we split the macro process into shorter intervals for batch procurement orders on priority steel items.
Below, our skilled civil engineers show you how BIM revolutionizes the fabrication industry in light of steel structure design production:
- 4D BIM helps you visualize which steel components belong to the priority items, optimizing the design-fabrication workflow by stacking up planned versus actual dates for steel production ahead of time
- 5D BIM puts a spin on steel production through cost integration—giving you scope-specific quantity take-offs to level-by-level construction cost estimation until all financial data acquisition collate for overall project development costs
How Long-Lead Items of Steel Structure Design Pan Out in Site Logistics
For better optimization on your cost, schedule and quality constraints, much better to stick with a parallel design-bid-build workflow than a linear one. This way, priority areas in need of prefabricated items for critical path management can mobilize for start date on-site, all while non-priority steel items located above grade or in superstructure can revel in longer lead times.
Whether your steel structure design leans onto the macro steel framing or composite type such as reinforced concrete, one thing's for sure: New York Engineers orchestrate the site logistics scene in much the same way as a conductor-choir analogy.
Through digital facilitation, we disrupt the industry by challenging conventional logistics with live features in the on-site BIM modelling, such as:
- Cross-referencing inventory management with shop drawings of structural steel and reinforcing steel bars, specifically bar bending schedule, splicing and cutting lists for structural and temperature steel
- Safety planning for deployed construction workers during the erection, assembly and installation of prefabricated structural steel framing
- Real-time monitoring of construction vehicles such as excavators and cranes for progress of reinforced concrete on-site
Have a Question? Want to Discuss a Project?
Revolutionize Steel Structure Design with Virtual Design and Construction
Through virtual design and construction, it's easy to visualize your steel structure design from early planning to as-built phase. Move away from old-school paper and pen sketching and 2D blueprints where you have a limited axis. Open up for more opportunities on innovation through sensor-equipped construction sites and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) powered by Internet of Things (IoT). As such, point-cloud modeling from laser scanning and reality capture excels on efficiency by replacing intensive manual labor tasks with intelligent algorithms for survey inputs.
Stepping inside into the virtual world can offer you immersive visualization experience, while virtual trade coordination among project stakeholders may be in place to reduce field rework and change orders—garnering you a holistic success on the aesthetic, functional and structural scale of your steel structure design.
