StruSoftMagazineSoftware for the Building Industry - 2016/17

september 2016 • www.StruSoft.com

EDITORAnders Peterson

StruSoft ABstrusoftmagazine@strusoft.com

PUBLISHERPaul Rehn

paul.rehn@strusoft.com

CONTRIBUTORSAlexis Delatolas, Love Janson,

Christoffer Jonsson, Anders Peterson, Olof Peterson och Sam Shiltagh

LAYOUTDennis Theorin, ipraktiken

Cover: Blue ArchitecturePhoto artist:

Pia Hansson in cooperation with StruSoft in the project

Interaction Visual Art - Technologywww.piahansson.se

Dear reader, 2016/17 will be StruSoft AB’s fifteenth year of operation – and in this edition of the StruSoft Magazine we aim to illustrate the extent of the operations which the company has been involved in. We start with some questions to Paul Rehn, President of the company during all of these years.

StruSoft AB is in its fifteenth year as a company. In the Nordic region there aren’t many similar niche companies – how come there is only StruSoft left? – StruSoft has the sort of staff who truly want to do something special and we have the clients to guide us in developing effective robust software that is genuinely innovative.

A quick glance in the rear view mirror – what do you see as the particular milestones in the years since the beginning of Noughties? – We seldom look back, always try to evaluate and fix from the present onwards. What makes the difference is our staff and the customers that we have managed to attract along the way. I am convinced that it is having the right staff and our many excellent customers that sail with us on the StruSoft voyage.

If you turn around – what does the future look like for the company? – With the recent recruitment of new and promising staff together with a new liability di-vision in the company we are going to experience an exciting future. Widening the scope of the software we offer and with increased commitments in the form of services, will enhance the company’s capabilities and sharpen what we offer our clients even further.

To always have the relevant capabilities must be challenging – how does StruSoft insure itself against that?– An interesting and challenging workload is the most important thing for most of our employees. To solve difficult programming or technical problems and to produce useful tools is actually a big challenge. To sell a decent computer program when one knows that the col-league has put his or her whole soul into getting a satisfied customer is also extremely sti-mulating. So it is only a matter of creating this sort of environment to get the right people in.

Strusoft is an active partner in several joint venture projects some financed by the EU and SBUF (the Swedish construction industry’s organisation for research and deve-lopment) – how do you see this developing? – I think it is very important that, in parallel with our normal work, we add a little ex-tra spice with some development projects. It provides the scope to expand the capabilities and to think outside the box. At the same time it is important that each “Program” should stand on its own merits, this is to say that market forces will determine whether a program is viable or not.

Happy Reading! Paul RehnPresident

StruSoftMagazineSoftware for the Building Industry - 2016/17

september 2016 • www.StruSoft.com

StruSoft AB

www.strusoftmagazine.com

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This is StruSoft

StruSoft 3

The new version of FEM-Design takes further steps in development both in theory and in practical application.

The previous edition of StruSoftMagazine (September 2015) described FEM-De-sign’s then relatively new geotechnical module 3D Soil (called just 3D Soil hereaf-ter). This new module can simulate among other things the interaction between a building and the underlying soil using 3-dimensional finite element modelling. By departing from the traditional Winkler spring simulation to describe the soil char-acteristics and using 3-dimensional solid elements, the user gets a more accurate picture of, for example, the settlements induced.

FEM-Design, which is a standard tool for structural engineers in the design phase of the construction process, be-comes therefore a tool that can be used by geotechnical engineers as well. Based on Geo-BIM (Building Information Model/Modelling) several users can use the same model. As the construction of new build-ings all too often occurs in urban environ-ments, it also offers the opportunity to use the same tool to simulate the behaviour of surrounding buildings.

In a project together with Skanska, which amongst other things was financed by SBUF (the Swedish construction in-dustry’s organisation for research and development), StruSoft has continued to develop 3D Soil and particularly the structure-soil interaction analysis. With-in the team both national and interna-tional specialists worked together (on both the theory and practical aspects of structures and geotechnics). The devel-opment had two main tracks: modelling of the ground and supplementing the user interface.

The first version of the geotechnical module could handle shallow foundations such as raft foundations where soil char-acteristics were modelled with 3-dimen-sional solid elements. The material char-acteristics were based on a linear elastic model (constant relationship between the soil stiffness and its stress level). This simple model did not take into account the effective plastic deformations that can occur when the soil approaches its failure point. The calculations were also limited to stresses and strains in the vertical plane by using “fictitious” solid elements - fictitious in the sense that they are derived from 2-di-

mensional finite plate elements which are extruded to 3-dimensional solid elements - something that works well when analysing rafts and other shallow foundations which mainly interact with the ground vertically.

To analyze and design piles, basement foundations, slabs, as well as other deep foundations and retaining walls with horizontal interaction with the soil, 3D Soil in FEM-Design 15 has been devel-oped with 3-dimensional finite elements which consider the soil characteristics and behaviour in all directions.

In modelling the soil’s material prop-erties (which are a part of the finite el-ement’s characteristics) a linear elastic model was used as mentioned above (based on Hookes’ Law and defined by the Soil Young’s modulus and Poisson’s ratio from which one can derive the com-pression modulus). In the new version of 3D Soil a non-linear material model par-ticularly suited to the clay soils in Sweden is implemented. The model takes into account different strength characteris-tics (compression modulus) for different stress states (effective stresses). Also an elastic ideal-plastic model (described by the elastic parameters and by the an-gle of friction and the cohesion) with Mohr-Coulomb’s failure criteria can now be used.

The new models (geometrical and ma-

terial) mean that basement foundations can be analysed. This is because the new version takes into account the horizontal soil pressure acting on the structure and also because it takes into account how the soil stress and strain behaviour is in-fluenced by changes in the earth pressure from excavating the ground.

The program can also be used for ana-lysing a foundation where poor soil is ex-cavated away and replaced by lighter ma-terial such as insulation.

Extensive work has also been carried out with the user interface. Modelling tools for the foundation elements, input for modelling the earth and foundations as well as handling soil with different layers of subsoil were introduced so as to be able to model the new foundation types and to enable the creation of non-linear ground models. In future versions of FEM-De-sign the aim is to widen the scope to in-clude more foundation types, for example, piles using non-linear modelling which can then be used with many different soil types.

By Anders Peterson & Sam Shiltagh

FEM-Design goes deeper in the soil!

Input to define material models.

Distribution of vertical stresses in the analysis of a basement foundation.

Finite element model used for a non-linear calculation (approx-imately 60000 elements)

Results from the calculation above - displacements when failure occurs [mm].

Interaction between a bridge construction and the soil.

4 StruSoft

StruSoft is developing software tools which will change whole housing areas in the future. The aim of the EU project Ecodistr-ICT is to find innovative re-sults based tools for renovating housing areas taking into account the needs of residents, politicians and businesses.

“The software to be developed should be able to simulate the changes in different types of variables in a particular housing development. It can be about anything from energy use to the environment or even how long it takes to get to the bus stop” claims Andreas Rudenå from Stru-Soft, who is in charge of the Ecodistr-ICT platform.

“Initially one inputs all the data from an area of housing “as is” – how it looks now. Then the program calculates indicators that produce a result - does this corres-pond to reality? This allows one to set the wider aims “to be” where different intere-sted parties can decide their own targets”, he says.

Because architects, politicians and resi-dents can have completely different views on how the area should develop, everyone should be able to contribute their own vi-sion. The analysis in the program connects to open map data and in this way a visual picture is generated for the different variab-les in the development, in either 2D or 3D.

“Graphical solutions make Ecodistr-ICT a tool for communication. To illustrate on the current layout, how one sees the future and to generate a dialogue with interested parties” says Johnny Kronvall, Professor Emeritus in Building Technology and se-nior advisor at StruSoft.

The unique thing with Ecodistr-ICT is that one can link in lots of different mo-dules and analyse just the variables one is interested in. Then one can test different changes and calculate the consequences – while the program seamlessly fetches the data from the linked modules.

“Change one thing and it generates a lot of data and several modules can use this data. The thought is that one can, for ex-ample, go into the design module and add, say, a park, then using other modules to see what effect the park has had”, says An-dreas Rudenå.

The software should be able to show the costs and the profits in specific circum-stances including environmental and soci-al concerns.

“There is a massive need for effective tools to assist decision making. This is be-cause it is complicated to make changes to the housing area with so many aspects that are difficult to grasp all at once. Hopefully Ecodistr-ICT can find a niche as a system that can be used in such circumstances”, says Andreas Rudenå.

The EU project Ecodistr-ICT started in the winter of 2013 and finishes in Decem-ber 2016. Those involved are research or-ganizations such as the Belgian VITO, the Dutch TNO and Swedish SP and also the architectural practice White. The softwa-

re has been evaluated in a number of European cities, for instance in an urban development project in Södertälje and an area of mixed housing and indu-stry in Warsaw.

“In Warsaw they have a big problem with traffic congestion. Various pri-

vate organisations have built randomly without an overall plan. This has to be incorporated into the analysis”, says Andreas Ru-denå.

The software’s most im-portant focus point is on

energy efficiency. At the

same time as StruSoft determines the mo-dules for the whole platform, it adapts these modules to the boundary condi-tions- often with StruSoft’s own energy calculation platform.

The energy module is the most develo-ped module. StruSoft currently has a new software tool, BIM Energy, which is cloud based, extremely quick and has intensive graphics compared with the old VIP-Ener-gy. “A software program like Ecodistr-ICT can become StruSoft’s window to the out-side world”, says Johnny Kronvall.

Ecodistr-ICT is a three year project. The question is what is going to happen then?

“Most EU projects end with a huge sigh of relief. That is the honest truth. But, seen from Brussels, exploiting the results is an important part. “We think what we have produced is so important that there has to be a future”, says Johnny Kronvall.

The alternative is that the project part-ners with an interest in exploiting the results start some sort of company or consortium. This is under discussion at the moment. Everyone is extremely inte-rested in principle but the structure requi-res much discussion.

The FactsEcodistr-ICT is developing an innovative results based software tool for renovating whole housing areas integrating the needs of the different interested parties such as residents, politicians and businesses.

Even if energy efficiency is an overri-ding focus, it can easily include other mo-dels with important variables.

Amongst the other partners in the pro-ject are technical research organisations such as the Belgian VITO and the Dut-ch TNO. StruSoft also works with SP-Sweden’s technical research institute and the Swedish architectural practice White.

By Olof Peterson

Decision Support Tool for District Renovation

Johnny Kronvall (t.l.) and Andreas Rudenå.

“As-is” – the current situation identified early in the process.

BIM Energy Map – StruSoft’s own module for energy simulation which is connected to the platform.

StruSoft 5

European environmental standards for building construction (EN15978) and the respective standard for building products (EN15804) both emphasize the life cycle perspective. Environmental certification bodies like LEED and BREEAM require a life cycle analysis for the highest marks. Despite these circumstances few life cycle analyses are being performed today. There are a number of reasons that might be behind this. Now StruSoft investigates this question with a new conceptual module in IMPACT.

Integrat ion of environmental data in IMPACTToday the construction industry uses a gre-at deal of prefabricated concrete elements, for instance beams and wall panels. The housing sector has an increasing need for information about the industry’s environ-mental impact, not least in relation to cer-tification by various bodies (LEED, BRE-EAM, etc.).

In Sweden the focus has historically been to build with energy efficiency in mind and at the same time phasing out or reducing dangerous chemicals. This work is now of-ten combined with the reduction of the en-vironmental impact in the production and construction stages.

IMPACT has a unique function which links the designer to a specific factory pro-ducing prefabricated elements. In the pro-gram the user can determine the concrete elements´ delivery order to the building site which in turn leads to the factory being able to optimise its manufacturing processes.

Today, Life Cycle Assessments (LCA) often stem from generic life cycle data for concrete, steel and transportation. Environ-mental considerations with specific data are uncommon in the construction industry. With the development of IMPACT’s modu-

lar concept one will be able to demonstrate the difference between the use of generic data and using specific data for the particu-lar material and factory process.

Declared product or functional unit? One of many systems on the market for environmental requirements is the En-vironmental Product Declaration (EPD). The manufacturer makes an LCA study in relation to his product and has this stu-dy examined and verified by a third party. There are also program holders who do the administrative work of carrying out the ex-amination and handling the results.

There are two main uses for EPD: to de-termine whether it is a declared product or a functional unit. When a declared product is used one looks at the whole concrete ele-ment with all its constituent materials and resource usage. A functional unit requires functional demand classification, for ex-

ample, a floor with a certain strength and a particular design life. This makes it possible to compare floors from different factories with different materials to do a life cycle analysis and find the best alternative.

IMPACT helps users to automateIn IMPACT the aim is to relate the concre-te element to both a declared product and a functional unit. IMPACT possesses a unique information database with links to the desig-ner and the factory – digitally and constantly updated.

Environmental experts will be able to get a whole new view of the design decisions with the environmental module when needing to analyse the building. The material choices that have been made can be discussed and new alternatives put forward. The design engineer’s choice of materials and compo-nents is linked with the factory’s specific material selection. In this way the engineer can work as normal and IMPACT will look after the rest. Consequently the documenta-tion will be in the BIM model where all the parties in the project can see the environme-ntal effect of their selection.

Another advantage is that IMPACT al-ready contains a cost module, which means that in the future one could even get the rela-tionship between the environmental impact and the associated costs.

This project is carried out in partnership with Abetong and is part financed by SBUF (Swedish Construction Industry’s develop-ment Fund).

By Christoffer Jonsson

LCA – analysis in IMPACT- a development concept

An EPD is structured with modules that summarizes the impact on the environment throughout the life cycle. (Source: SS-EN 15804:2012+A1:2013)

The module shows the environmental effect in different colours so the user can see how the different concrete elements affect the building’s total environmental rating.

6 StruSoft

Currently underway in Stockholm is one of the tallest buildings that forms part of the Norra Tornen Project. It has an eye-popping architectural design and consists of four thousand concrete elements with complicated geome-try. To meet these challenges SCF Betongelement together with Sweco used IMPACT to automate the work process.

In central Stockholm a tall building – a tower - is being constructed which will be distinguished by its singular appearan-ce. In fact, there are two tall buildings to be built, with the second one still at the design stage. They are being built by the property company Oscar Properties in Va-sastad under the name of Norra Tornen. The one currently being built consists of 178 apartments. The key aim of the project was to come up with a creative architectu-ral design which was the absolute top pri-ority for the designers.

The tower façade has a very original ap-pearance. It consists of concrete elements infused with Danish marine aggregate and narrow recesses or channels. The small ag-gregate is brushed the day before to produce the finish on the façade that the architect wanted. It also involved the sandwich panels which are precisely joined on an aesthetical-

ly finished surface with millimetre tight to-lerances.

– Because each element is completely uni-que each one had to be templated. It would have been be very complicated to design each one separately, explains Stefan Lind-holm.

He is responsible for IT at SCF Beton-gelement who together with Sweco have the commission to design and produce the ele-ments. IMPACT was used in the production chain from design and clash control for the cast-in, to printing of the shop drawings and the manufacture itself.

Automated settings for reinforcementDigitalization increases quality and the pro-ject’s requirements for a complete 3D mo-del of the concrete element including all its cast-in materials. Stefan explains that their CAD system had previously not been able

to do this and they had to write instructions on the drawings as to where, for example, the rein-forcement was to be placed. But now all the information needed is in the same digital model.

– We can see if there are any conflicts and if so adjust the de-sign.

Around 4,000 concrete ele-ments were designed in the de-sign department with their speci-fic characteristics. Because of the complicated geometry we tried to automate the process as much as possible.

– It is a huge challenge to de-sign such complicated elements.

StruSoft together with SCF Betongelement has developed a module to automate the place-ment of reinforcement cages. A reinforcement cage contains a number of steel bars which IM-PACT is able to incorporate into the design and arrange them so

that they do not protrude the edges or other surfaces. Once

the cage is correctly positioned without any conflicts the program automatically dimen-sions it. Then dimensions and offsets from the corners are set without the engineer ha-ving to do it beforehand. If an adjustment of the cage is needed the measurements are automatically adjusted.

– We produce reinforcement details with exact dimensions which we can give to the reinforcement department.

This saves a lot of time, says Stefan. To reuse the same information by copying the dimensions would not be possible. This is because each element out of the four thou-sand is unique. If fewer elements were to be used it would lead to over-design which would be expensive.

Shop drawings generated by the programOnce the elements have been designed and are clear for manufacture the information is sent to the manufacturing department. The shop drawings are generated automa-tically from the program.

– The strength of IMPACT is that we can produce shop drawings for production which are clearly readable. Not only the measurements are shown for the element, but there are also other characteristics, for example, different kinds of insulation. We also get very exact detailing from the 3D model.

All the design data is used again for the information needed to produce each ele-ment. That ensures quality when trans-ferring from the design department to the manufacture.

– We also use the program’s modules for transportation and production planning.

In the model of the tower each element has a colour to indicate where it is in the production chain.

– It all happens smoothly and automati-cally in the program, says Stefan.

Each element cast in production can also be traced when it is sent to storage. Automation is the highest priority in this project. It is one of the requirements for an effective process, whereby the automation means that time and energy can be spent instead on working with the complicated geometries of the tower.

By Love Janson

Automation frees up resources on a project with stunning architecture

Model in IMPACT.

StruSoft 7

In the new version of FEM-Design there is now a direct link to the design of different steel joint solutions in accordance with the Eurocode.

The classic tool for steel design, the Swedish Institute of Steel Construction (SBI) De-tailing Handbook has been incorporated into an integrated module in FEM-Design 15. Designing joints and splices is in accor-dance with Eurocode 3. After the structural analysis the user can specify the nature of the joint or joints. There are currently fifty different types to use. After carrying out a validation, the required utilization for each joint, amongst other things, is shown. If re-quired one can manually modify the type of the respective steel joint.

Steel Joints is an integrated part of FEM-Design Steel design but it can also be used as a standalone program and one can then define the loading and steel profile. That’s different to the analysis in FEM-Design where the results from diffe-rent load cases are used.

By Anders Peterson

The program launches an updated version with a new user interface and new functions.

Good communication between actors in a building project is necessary for an effective and quality driven process. There is resear-ch, which shows that lack of communication can lead to extensive extra costs – potenti-ally worth several millions. In the building process nowadays all documentation is di-gital – from idea to facilities management. In order to coordinate all the digital infor-mation, and there can be several thousand

sources of information, a simple tool that can be used by all the parties in one and the same project is needed. BIMcontact offers, besides a secure way of handling various do-cuments, also the possibility of showing the 3D model of the actual project directly in the web browser. Besides the standardized IFC file format, many other formats can also be handled and viewed online.

As a document management solution, BIMcontact creates a logi-cal folder and file structure in which everything is sto-red. This can be meeting protocols, time planning, organization plans, do-cumentation about quality and environmental requi-rements, drawings, models and more. That is to say all documentation which is produced for use before, during and after the actual

project. One can work with an undistracted and continuous information flow. The pro-ject administrator gives authority to the re-levant actors on a folder, as well as file level. Version handling, which is built-in, makes it possible to follow historically both the document and user level.

Even if most of the information is cloud based, BIMcontact allows access to all files locally on your own computer with bi-direc-tional synchronization in the background between those files which are stored locally and those in the cloud. If one is not connec-ted to the internet then accessing and wor-king with the local files is still possible.

The relatively new format BCF (BIM Collaboration Format) can be used to fur-ther improve the collaboration between the actors by making comments without alte-ring the model. Small digital post-it notes which can be stuck to particular items in the model and which then can be shared between collaborators.

By Anders Peterson

FEM-Design and Steel Joints untie the knot

BIMcontact – with focus on user communication

Calculation results from FEM-Design – menu for steel joint design.

The utilization shown for each steel joint solution.

User chooses the type of steel joint solution for each intersection.

Manual modification of steel joint solution.

BIMcontact – left: document management and right: a 3D IFC model of Malmö Live.

“To nip in the bud” is an old saying. For Bruno Sundström it was impor-tant to get it right from the start – the earlier the better. He is a designer and project leader at the architectural firm Monarken, which has offices in Luleå and Piteå.

– We often get commissions to do a propo-sal for a building. After that we proceed to the calculation and design stages. When we start the proposal, we usually do a test ana-lysis of the building structure to obtain the basic parameters.

The test analysis consists of obtaining the dimensions of columns and walls, thicknes-ses of slabs and the span required. The ana-lysis is done by Bruno and his colleagues using FEM-Design.

– The better the result from the test ana-lysis the quicker the following stages of the project go. When we get further on we av-oid redoing the calculations and save time.

In the architectural office, it is not only

the building’s shape that is important during the project development. It is also obtaining the dimensions and defining the loads. Foremost of these the weight and the imposed loads depend on the building’s construction. Bruno points out that he isn’t doing an in-depth FEM analysis. That’s not the idea with a test analysis – it’s only to obtain those initial results that are needed to report to the client.

At Monarken they design a lot of diffe-rent building types - everything from villas and domestic houses to apartments, public buildings and larger industrial structures all over the country. When the construction is more extensive and contains some very

large elements it influences the calculation time in FEM-Design.

– This doesn’t take us particularly long, a few minutes only.

The results from the FEM analysis give useful information on both how the loads act and the project’s cost effectiveness. In the analysis it is common to change the dimensions and material is added or sub-tracted in order to produce the optimum load-bearing structure. Of course, when more material is added the cost increases, explains Bruno. But this knowledge with the help of the program gives the client an understanding of the cost of the project and not just the technical data such as di-mensions and thicknesses. This is natural-ly desirable in today’s changeable building industry.

By Love Janson

In Örnsköldsvik a particularly spectacular building is being built. A house in the clouds - in this case about thirty metres above ground. It will be a landmark that will be seen from far away.

In the old fire station’s fire hose tower, a building is being constructed in the form of a tower with three floors, lift and staircase. It is the initiative of a private person who aims to create a distinctively out-of-the-ordinary home.

– The tower section is in concrete and the floors are built in steel, explains Anny Hägglöf of the construction consultant Tecnicon. Anny is the designer and has done calculations and obtained the dimen-

sions needed to satisfy all the necessary re-quirements and tolerances.

– We took into account all the different loads, such as wind loads, own weight, snow loads and the tower’s natural frequ-ency in case the structure sways.

Anny first modelled all the geometry with FEM-Design. Then she added the loads and let the program determine the thicknesses and other data from the re-sults. This was repeated until the structu-

re had the correct dimensions. Since the three floors cantilevered outwards it was very important to check the deflection in the steel construction.

Anny usually designs the building in the program and then proceeds with the analy-sis. Then she also makes a rough estimation of the foundation dimensions. But not in this case - because of the tower’s very par-ticular design, she chose another method:

– Using the program gave us a range of different solutions for the dimensions. I then modelled the structure based on the suggestions I had chosen. It is a special structure with large trusses which makes it more difficult to estimate the dimensions.

So it was easier to let the program sug-gest the dimensions instead of Anny spen-ding time to do her own estimations. That is one way to streamline the development of a sustainable construction. She could then devote more time for the analysis in order to determine the optimal dimensi-ons for the beams and load bearing ele-ments so that the building can be truly up there in the sky among the clouds!

By Love Janson

Early FEM analysis on a project aids architectural office

Designing an apartment for the clouds

StruSoftMagazineSoftware for the Building Industry - 2016/17