Benefits of Structural 3D modeling in Industrial structure design
Benefits of Structural 3D modeling in Industrial structure design
3D structural modeling systems greatly enhance the design schedule and quality of industrial facilities. With proper 3D models engineers can effectively address the complexity and delivery schedules for projects while incorporating mechanical and structural systems.
The major challenge for the designer of industrial structures is the coordination of structural design with the manufacturing process due to changes that may occur during design development. Due to demanding design and construction schedules, engineers often initiate structural design early in the project when the manufacturing process is still primary. This may lead to an incompetent design and costly errors at the time of construction.
With 3D modeling the engineer can clearly visualize relation between equipment and structural members in 3D. For most assignments construction documents are drawn as 2D plans and elevations which pose a challenge for the designer to understand the design and possible interference among members.
For example an industrial facility may house a series of boiler vessels and storage tanks attached to a material handling system. The mechanical engineers would start by drawing the primary equipment sizes based on the system capacity along with descriptions of access needs. At this point the mechanical engineers may provide primary layout drawings to the structural engineers who will then prepare a rough layout to start structure design. Since the size of the vessels may still change during the timeline of project, the exact mounting locations might be unknown until later in the project or the location and size of the vessels may change as designers develop the process details.
The structural engineer may offer approximate sizes of beams and columns but then need to modify them frequently depending on the occurrence of changes and more details become available.
As a design and communication tool, the 3D model allows seamless coordination and smooth communication flow among the architect, structural engineer and mechanical engineer. Since the 3D model can be shared across various disciplines and platforms each change is visible to all which in turn reduce errors and cost.
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