Precast Concrete in Revit: BIM Fast in Production

MASSIMO SPEZIANI: Good afternoon, everyone, and welcome to this class, precast concrete in Revit BIM fast in production.

I'm Massimo Speziani, owner of Precast Designer for Revit, a single tool to design and analyze breaker precast. I was taught engineering background, and I work as a software developer, providing Revit, Robot, and Forge development.

I hold a master's degree in structural engineering from the University of Brescia, Italy. And helping me with this presentation, there is Ilaria Lagazio.

ILARIA LAGAZIO: Good afternoon, everyone, and welcome to this session from my side. I'm Ilaria Lagazio. I'm an Autodesk employee, and I have a background in structural engineering. I joined Autodesk more than 15 years ago, and I have been in contact with Massimo during all these years. And I know him very well, and the level of professional skill, I can say it's a real honor for me to be here as a speaker.

I hope in the next minutes that we will spend together, we will be able to transmit you the power of this tool, precast designer for Revit. Let's have a look at what we will cover during this session. We will start with an introduction related to the current challenges of prefabrication in general. And we will have a look at precast industry market penetration.

Then Massimo will show you some key features of precast designer for Revit plugin related to modeling, documentation, and analysis. We will understand how it will allow a lot of time saving through a very deep integration of software.

Finally, we will have a look at the possibility to extend this tool to lateral industries, such as steel prefab, good prefab, and we will have a look at the current development projects Massimo is working on relative to the possibility of, not only to calculate, but to optimize the solution, bringing additional saving to the construction industry.

Let's start with this industry overview. First of all, let's see why structure is so important. Well, I think most of you here are coming from an engineering background, or they work in precast, so it's probably obvious for all of us why structure is so important, so we'll go fast on this slide. But structure is the skeleton of the building. It transfers all the loads to the earth.

And because of that, it's very important and takes a consistent part of money and effort. It is the first part of the building that is built. So it's in the critical path. And last but not least, prefabrication, industrialized construction, AC and digital manufacturing convergence are becoming more and more important at worldwide level. So this is becoming a very interesting area to dig in.

Now, let's focus a bit on concrete as a construction material. As we can see here from this slide, if we look at precast and cast in place together, they are really a dominant type of realization if we look specifically outside of USA. I know, again, we are working here in USA with USA professionals, most of all. But we are having now a worldwide view of the topic.

So concrete is the dominant material for construction. And in many parts of the world, in this time, the cost of steel is rising higher and higher day after day. And this can also increase this trend. Let's have a look at the personas, or probably more the roles of the workflow that is typical of structural precast engineering.

In one side, we have a designer that could be a structural engineer with one or even more structural designers. They are in charge of defining how the structure should be created in order to support the loads and how this structure should be built in a general, very general, way. On the other side, we have what we call the detailers.

For steel, they are the ones which create the details of the structure, the way that rebar's components, steel elements, and wood elements should be fabricated. And sometimes, these details work for the fabrication company. This is a theoretical scheme. We know very well that these roles sometimes are not covered by different people, but one person can cover more than one role.

And this also depends a lot from country or region-specific cases. Anyway, having these people or not does not change the fact that these roles need to exchange information and data and set up and follow a workflow to exchange this kind of information through all the processes.

So traditionally, we have challenges that are quite recurring in different areas and subindustries. These are the challenges that we will try to face with this plugin and this presentation. Let us see them in more detail. Jobs site are, of course, subject to delays and material waste. This happens everywhere, every time, and everywhere because all things are not going the way it should go.

Lack of communication, manual errors, delays in transport, in delivery-- there are a lot of reasons why we create waste and delays. But we know for sure that at least 30% of global waste is coming from AEC industry, and therefore, reducing cost and waste will increase dramatically sustainability of construction.

Projects are even becoming more and more complex. Today, one does not fit all. And this is a challenge for standardized production. Retaining people is today a big problem everywhere, and for sure, having people doing repetitive tasks, error-prone activities, will not help them to stay on their job.

Companies need to optimize and standardize processes. This, together with the need of more flexible projects and ways of working is a challenge, as well. Also, when we speak about precast components, we are probably all of us thinking about different components in the world. There are regional differences related to different ways of fabrication, and this makes very difficult to use standard solution an out-of-the-box solution.

Also, we are speaking about structure, and structure is subject to regulation, rules, and local laws. Last but not least, we spoke about the tailors, engineers, and fabricators. The solution they use, they are often disconnected. And we will see better in the next slide. Whatever is the kind of structure, as we just saw, we have a modeling phase, a documentation phase, and an analysis phase.

Of course, if they use Autodesk solution, there is a workflow and the possibility to connect this data, at least for standard elements like beams, columns, walls, and slab. For example, we have data connection between Revit and Robot, bidirectional links between the two, also, allowing to bring back information for BIM elements, and we have a lot of automation added through Dynamo, helping to design even more flexible structures.

We also have the possibility to use other analysis software like structural bridge design, even if we can notice here that we don't have a direct connection between Revit and structural bridge design. What is the scope of precast designer for Revit? Precast designer for Revit allows this work not to be disconnected anymore.

We will see the solution in a few seconds. And please note, this is a very important thing. Precast designer for Revit is not a traditional link. It doesn't bring data from one software to the other, but it's a unique interface. Through Revit, all the other activities-- calculation, analysis-- are integrated and running in background.

So the user has one single interface, which is Revit, where it can have all the information needed, all the flexibility needed. Using Revit as a single platform, the user can design, analyze, and produce precast components from modeling to fabrication with the integration of all analysis tools. This is a huge differentiator.

It makes a difference from what we can do out of the box, exchanging data between Robot and Revit for standard components, for example. But also, it's a strong differentiator from the competition. Also, this unique interface can be adapted for very different kind of structures because it is based on Revit generic families.

And then, a new precast component does not need the software developer to add the production library. Now, I will leave you to Massimo Speziani that will show you all this in detail.

MASSIMO SPEZIANI: Thank you, Ilaria. Let me introduce some of the key features of precast designer for Revit. Precast designer was design in the last three years with in mind flexibility and simplicity. We can talk of the three main groups of functionality-- modeling, documentation, and analysis. About modeling, this is a very important part of the process.

There are at least five features to speed up the modeling and reduce errors. The first is about the creation of automatic connection between precast statement using rule. We can place under the connection in minutes. When you draw beams or panels, you need to manage construction tolerance. This is done in real time with the user rules.

Creating a panel is also a problem because a construction model can be a complex task and time-consuming task. There is a party dedicated to the creation of panels. Rebars and strain could be defined tightly in families, making faster the process of creation of rebars in the project. Marking or numbering of elements could be also drawn automatically.

The second part is about documentation. We have a party dedicated to the automatic creation of shop drawings, some tool for general view, and a bi-directional link to Excel, and one link to Word for report creation using some data management tools inside the software. Another comment is for the creation of section for any alignment.

This is particularly interested for infrastructure project. The third part is about analysis. This software can drive Robot in the background and bridge design to perform the calculation of the structure, and the code checking of concrete element using [? reinforcement ?] inside Revit. The result of the analysis are saved in Revit, and the custom calculation report can be also created.

Let's see the software in action with some real project. The first part is about modeling feature. Now we will see the automatic creation of connection between precast concrete element. The first thing is to start [INAUDIBLE] for the creation of connection and set it from [INAUDIBLE] the type of connection that we want to create.

The user can define inside the software some rules inside the database, and the software can set it automatically, which type of connection can be used, considering the properties of the connected element. In this case, the user has created a database of about 600 rules, and the rules can be activated also manually or filtered inside the user interface based on some keywords.

Then you can set the element for which you want the connection. If the element are connected or are near data tolerance and there is at least one valid active rule, the software created a connection. Parameter of the element of the connection can be set by the software. For example, their connection can be different based on the support depth or width.

And here you can see, for example, a simple connection between [INAUDIBLE] and beams. For the creation of automatic connection, there are no limits to the families can be hosted or not hosted of any types. Sometimes if you are facing big project, we need to split the model in part, or lots, because it will be a big file.

The software is able to create a connection of elements as a linked model, and the logic of application of one type of connection can be a function of the geometry of the element or the data of connected element. And here you can see an example of [? common ?] with different type of connection.

Creation of rebars and strands could be a repetitive task for pre-cast components. We can define some parametic rules inside family using symbolic family inside the beams or the columns driven by parameters. Precast designer is able to draw the reinforcement in the project. There is also the possibility of doing a preliminary calculation of the rebars with the axle link.

For strains, as you can see in the video, adaptive components are used. When you do a beam, the software can adjust the BIM length to take into account the right tolerance and the correct length. When in Revit you try to change the beam, for example, they start and offset the beam will be rejected by the software to take into account the correct length and the tolerance.

This is the same for panels. In the same model, we have the architectural panel with our tolerance and reconstruction panel created with parts that can behave with differing tolerance for every edge of the panel. This simple tool allows splitting straight or covered [INAUDIBLE] with different rules. Spitting could be performed automatically based on division settings and near columns, levels, or grid.

For the external material of a wall, you can apply different material like a grid in one click. Different types of walls can be created, like double walls, concrete walls, panels with insulation, and other types. Panels with complex section can be used with external family. There are also some functions for nesting of family inside the contour of the panel.

The [? hooks ?] of the panels are automatically positioned by the tools for the connection. Another point is the marking of element. With the softer marking element will be an easy task. Different type of rules can be defined inside the software. There are three levels of comparison. With the geometric comparison, we can define which solid can be compared with the tolerance.

With the parameter compiler, we can choose which parameter are important for the numbering, and the total level of comparison is about the number and the type of element and their position in the assembly. The second big chapter is the documentation. We will see now some tools for the creation of the documentation.

The creation of the shop drawings is a simple task. You need only to select which element you want and then input in the tool the configuration for the drawings. Then the software will create the drawings based on that configuration. Drawings can be created for assembly or a single element. And on the left, you can see also a panel for the precast elements.

If an element is green, there is at least one drawing. An element can be also located when it's built. And in this case, if the user tried to change this element, it will be in format because it's already built. And from here, you can see a simple image of a sheet of a beam. And from the left panel, you can also open the sheet related to every element.

In this case, another sheet of example is this precast column. Here's another example of complex shop drawings for a column. Inside the software, it's possible to define rules for dimension labels, rescaling, define all the parameters for title blocks, and the sheet. For example, on the right, you can see columns.

And in this sheet, the number of sections for the corpus is automatically calculated by the software. So this means that the number of view can be different for every sheet. So the software is inside a lot of logic for the view creation based on the type of the element. Another sheet the example, in this case, is for panel. On the sheet, you can see [INAUDIBLE] that automatically placed by the software.

On the right, there is the panel with geometry, with both visibility on. And you can see also the design by the software and all the dimension. In case of general drawings, [INAUDIBLE] allow to speed up with the creation of a dimension for elements. For example, you can create a dimension of all the beams on the roof by clicking only the original point inside the dimension rule, as you can see in the top of the view.

Another important task is really data elements of assembly. For example, do you want to know ratio of the volume of concrete, or the volume of a single material, or the maximum resistance of the element to attraction? User can define a list of parameters that can be set by the software using other formulas.

When you create, for example, the assembly, this parameter are set and the user can customize this list of parameters. The third point is about analysis and co-checking. When we draw the structure, we can have the associated analytical model in Revit. With precast designer, we can define some additional parameters for the analysis, like seismic or wind parameter, or different type of load, and also geotechnical information.

The software can send directly the model from Revit to Robot without viewing Robot, create all the loads and the combination necessary for the code from the Revit data, then can return all the action in Revit as a result package. These actions will be then available for the code checking of concrete element, and they are robust in Revit using structural design.

SPD is driven by the software, and code checking off element are stored in Revit as map or tables. This process is general and can be applied to different types of structure, as we can see in the next slide. Let's see. These are linked with an example. In this case, we have a concrete tank with different compartment.

And as you can see, in the outside there is also the topography for the technical verification. When we click on the RSC button, we can enable such an option like calculate the start to save action, check rebar, check steel members, creating one or more reports. When you press the create button, the software check the Revit model, check the Revit loads, create a robot model, and run the calculation.

As you can see, this is the finished Robot model, and the software also store all the action of Robot outbreak inside Revit. In this example, some complex calculation of seismic load, according to your code data, are performed. With the same command, you can create a Word or Excel report.

So we have only one single command to send model from Revit to the robot to generate the load, the combination, reload the results in Revit, and perform code checking. The calculation report can be customized. We can use robot image, Revit image, Revit schedule, and all the information coming from Revit or SBT.

Every user can customize their world report for the calculation part. All the seismic and wind parameter can be stored in Revit. There is a control panel for ARC and SBT settings. . As you can see here the spectrum, the wind are calculated inside Revit with the software.

Different code are supported and can be increased. In Revit, you can also draw their topography. This can be used for the generation of the soil load. Soil load could be static or dynamic. Burrows can be used to define different layers for the geotechnical verification.

And you can define as another topography for the definition of the water level. Based on this data, all the geotechnical verification are performed automatically by the software. Automatic code checking of concrete element or panels can be confirmed in Revit using the SBT connection.

By reading results from robot are already stored in Revit, the software can dry bridge design automatically to execute the checking of rebars inside the Revit. According to the revocation parameter already defined. As the verification is completed, the results are stored in Revit as map of resistance, like tension, like cracking result, and other information necessary to decode.

Excel and Word report can be also generated from SBT verification.

So the last chapter is about looking at the next step. We have extended this tool to support steel and wood start to end. We have integrated this tool with some artificial intelligence tools. We can see this point in the next two slide.

The first point is that precut designer could be used for different types of structure. Not only precast concrete structure. In this case, we have a simple example for telecommunication towers, where the software can read all the information coming from private information.

For example, the antenna position, the weight of the antenna, the dynamic wind coefficient for the antenna. Then create the robot model can find for wind because wind is the worst case for this type of structure. Find the worst direction for wind automatically and then check all the steel elements using the robot engine.

And all the live action are then saved in Revit as a map. So the user can see from data or from the maps all the result of code checking inside Revit. This is performance only with one comma and one click.

The next big point is about artificial intelligence, because the first question is about how to reduce the cost of a starter with artificial intelligence. We have seen from until now that from one Revit model we can obtain ultimately the documentation and the code checking of every element.

We can do automatically the rebars. We can check the rebars on the Revit model. The next thing is to iterate this process in order, for example, to find the solution with less cost, or the best performance, or a middle solution. This is possible with the integration of some argument derived from the artificial intelligence file.

What we can see now is a better version of a tool that can help to optimize data. We can define different objective, like reducing the weight of concrete, reducing the maximum rate of resistance, reducing the maximum displacement system condition, or wind condition, or other objective defined by the user.

The design space could be asked to customize from the user using Revit parameter. For example, if you want automatically to change the column-- the base of the column from 50 to 70 with a step of five centimeters, you can define this rule inside the software. When we run a study, the software create various Revit models with the rebars inside the model.

And also, the robot model with all the calculation and SBT analysis and checking of concrete element. As you can see, if the software is performing different iteration in real time, you can see a chart. In this case, it's a two-dimensional graph because we have two objectives, the maximum displacement and the total weight of the strata.

And real time, the software can send the Revit model to robot change. For example, the dimension of the column get the result and the code checking and put all this result in the chart. At the finish of this process, you have different solution. This is a simple test because we want to show only small solution.

And when the user click to one point, it can see the real model of this solution that is uploaded automatically in the cloud with Forge. And here, the user can check all the elements. For example, the dimension of the column.

OK, this is the last step of the new possible future.

ILARIA LAGAZIO: Thank you, Massimo. I think this is a really amazing result, and even more if we think about the flexibility and the development that you are bringing on.

Now let's see some customer examples that are implementing your solution, and they cover different aspects. We already saw this customer through the presentation because their name were under the videos that you showed, but let's see in detail what they are trying to reach.

What system is one of the first adopter of the solution? They already use RSA, but they wanted more flexibility. And they produce concrete thanks as we saw they deal with curved walls. And that was a bit challenging to define detailing in [INAUDIBLE] for curved wall. So their focus was getting more flexibility in drawings.

And connecting with Revit, this was an excellent solution for them. They are very advanced, so they do automatic loads and report out. So their next step is to add additional artificial intelligence to the process.

The second one is Nico Velo. He's a podcast producer. They are instead in an implementation phase. They are moving from a traditional manual solution with Strauss and AutoCAD to Revit and precast designers. Their main objective, of course, is getting this connection between calculation and modeling.

The third one is A2F Igegneria We already saw before, they are steel prefabricated. They cooperate with telco companies for antenna realization. And as Massimo said, their business driver is getting connection between calculation and modeling. They have a special focus on steel connection integration, and they are focusing on optimizing the connection part.

So due to specific antenna calculation, they have already implemented load calculation of robot in an automatic identification of [INAUDIBLE] wind direction. And all these implementations are allowing customers to save a big amount of time. And in particular, as our customer wall said, they confirm they can save up to 70% of time, which is a huge amount of space.

Finally, we have a quote from another of the mentioned customer during the presentation. Magnetti Building is the pre-cast company part of Brooklyn group. They worked already on a competitor solution called the vertical based on AutoCAD solution. By the way, it is a very good solution, but their solution lacking flexibility.

And as every new component needed new development from the software point of view. So this challenge needed to be solved to give more flexibility to their solution, and this flexibility was offered by Revit families. And you can see in the quote, flexibility is one of the main drivers of their choice, helping them to save time, money, and improve quality.

Next step for them is to improve more and more the solution at documentation level, focusing on rebar details.

And then, before closing the session, I want to thank you all of you, but also all the customer mentioned in the presentation. And last but not least, Massimo for the incredible level of development quality he's adding to our Autodesk solution. Thank you.