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Revit 2019: Essentials for MEP Engineers

Getting started with Revit can feel daunting. It’s an unfamiliar program that may not work like your current software. But, like anything new as you become more familiar with it you will start to see the benefits of the basic modifying tools – Copy, Move, Align, Offset, Mirror, Array – as well as the special tools it offers like Systems, Analyze, and Collaborate all within a 3D environment. Layers, often an irritation, don’t even need to be thought about in Revit. Revit will place every object in the correct layer. You do not need to switch Ortho on/off or change Snaps. Revit will show alignment lines, angles, snap points on the go. If you are just starting out in Revit, here is some basics that you should know: Model Revit creates a virtual 3D representation of the model with the established relationships between elements.You can create as many views as required by the project. Every view of the model is a live view of the parametric elements. If an element is moved in one view, the position of that element in all of the views is instantly updated. Therefore, changing the elements will change the model instantly and all changes will be reflected on each view and plot sheets. Model elements All of the elements in Revit are Families and represent real objects. Families are grouped and sorted by category in the content libraries and in the Project Browser. The families, such as air terminals, plumbing fixtures, and mechanical equipment, are loaded into the template of the project or into the model from the Revit library or an external source. For example, from the manufacturer’s website or Autodesk Seek. All Families in Revit are parametric. Instance and Type properties Model elements in Revit represent physical instances in a model. When placed in a model they are visible in all views. Type properties for the family are common for all types of the same family and contain information that applies to all instances of the same family type in the model. For example, type properties for an air terminal will be size – length x width. Changes made to type properties affect all instances of the family created from that type.Revit allows to change the family with a different type using the Type Selector. It is easy to create a new type within the family using the Duplicate function in the Type Properties dialog. Instance properties contain information related to a specific placed instance of the family element in the model. For example, instance properties for an Air Terminal will be Air Flow. Changes made to instance properties affect only that instance of the family. Annotation elements Annotation elements are also families that are used to add dimensions, notes, and tags to a view. The first Revit project can be a frustrating one. You will be learning the program while you are working on your project. Even if you had some training, you’ll quickly find that not everything will work like it did in your training sessions in a real project. All the elements are drawn to real size and you need to be attentive to clashes while working on your model. There are some little things you’ll want to remember: Remember to place Air terminals or Electrical fixtures at the right elevation. Default for Air terminals is 0.000 and needs to be changed to match ceiling height. You also need to assign Flow to Air terminals. As soon as you start a layout of the ductwork, Flow will be calculated through the system. You do not need to insert fittings working on ductwork or piping layout, Revit will do that for you. Keep the section or 3D view of the area you are working on open. Don’t create sections just because you can; create one vertical and one horizontal, move them around as needed; create a new one when necessary and delete it once you are done. When you have placed MEP elements into a model, you can generate a duct or pipe layout manually, or Revit can generate it automatically from different layout solutions. A parameter that defines the system is the Connector that is located within model elements and has pre-defined classifications within Revit. If you cross two ducts or two pipes with the same system classification on the same elevation, Revit will join those systems by creating a fitting. If this is not what you intended, place the systems on different elevations. One Model element can have a number of different connectors with pre-set system classification, so elements can be assigned to a number of systems. A set of logically connected elements creates a system. All components and systems can be seen in the System Browser – a tool that displays a hierarchical list of all system components in each discipline in the model. Annotations are view-specific; they appear only in the view in which they were placed. Annotations can be copied from view to view, but any changes made to them in one view will not be transferred to any other views. Now open Revit, select the System tool, drop some Air Terminals, place some ducts and now you can see the system you created in 3D. Wow! It looks impressive. But more impressive is the fact that you have not only created a system, and sized the ductwork with one click, you have also produced a section and a schedule which will be updated as you are working on the model. Revit has the ability to perform calculations such as pressure loss and static pressure, size ducts and pipes, and perform energy analysis on the design. Contact us to find out more about Revit for MEP and how we can help you get the most from it. Source : http://summitaec.com/revit-2019-essentials-for-mep-engineers/ Read the full article

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SHEET PILE WALL OF RETAINING STRUCTURE

INTRODUCTION A retaining wall is a constructed wall that restrains soil or other material at locations having an abrupt change in elevation. There are many types of structures used to retain soil and other materials. Steel sheet piling (SSP) is a hot-rolled structural shape with interlocks on the flange tips. The interlocks permit individual sections to be connected to form a continuous steel wall which is earth-tight and water resistant. Sheet pile is used to build continuous walls for waterfront structures and for temporary construction wall heights > 6 m if used with anchors. Can be made of steel, plastics, wood, pre-cast concrete. These are generally waterfront structures such as at docks and wharves, but steel sheet piling is also used for temporary shoring on construction sites.

Fig.1: Schematic diagram and example of clearances between sheet piling and buildings, without groundwater                          (temporary construction wall)

Fig. 2: Schematic diagram and example of clearances between sheet piling and buildings, with groundwater (water                 front structure) (right)   The post SHEET PILE WALL OF RETAINING STRUCTURE appeared first on Basic Civil Engineering. Read the full article

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Types of Estimate – Types of estimates that prepared on various stages of a project.

What is an estimate or estimation in construction industry? Estimate is a rough calculation on quantities of various works & their expenditure, done by the experts of the relevant field before the execution of a project. Accuracy of an estimate depends on the experience, ability and judgement power of the estimator. Anyone who willing to engage them on constructing something, they’ll surely bother about the quality & money/cost. To feel free from them a solution called “estimate / estimation” was derived…! An estimator should be very careful of the quantity takeoff, using the given documents such as drawings, specifications and other documents regarding the project. Other than these, every estimate should prepare with the consideration of other 2 factors, which influence a project namely, direct & indirect cost. (Direct cost – cost of materials, equipment, labour & subcontracted cost,    Indirect cost – overheads, contingency).

Types of estimate

Type1: Approximate estimate – It is also called budget, preliminary estimate. This type of estimate is prepared in the initial stage of a project. To give a clear idea to the owner (client) about the amount of cost needed for the project and to get the approval from necessary sanctioning bodies (eg: from banks to get loan). Documents such as project drawing plans, details about the land including electricity & water supply and a full clear report are necessary to carry out the estimate. Commonly the approximate estimate is calculated with relevant to the previous experience.eg: To calculate the estimate for a house, a previously (& also recently) completed similar house will be considered. Here the estimator already knows the rate for 1m2 area & with that he/she calculates the cost estimate for the newly proposed area (of similar house). Approximate estimate = Rate of 1m2 (already known value) X proposed area (m2) Type 2: Plinth area estimate – Plinth area estimate can be achieved by multiplying the values of plinth length, plinth width & plinth area rate. Here the plinth area is referred as, external plinth area of the building at floor level. Simply it can be also stated as the roof covered area of a building. Plinth area rate is derived by dividing the total cost of a previously constructed building by plinth area of the previously constructed building. Plinth area estimate = Plinth area X plinth area rate. Plinth area = plinth length X plinth width Plinth area rate = Total cost of a previously built building / Total plinth area of that building. There are some restrictions in calculating the plinth area of a building and some area have to include or exclude when calculating. Among that, areas which can include are, Floor area with area of walls at floor level excluding the offsets of the building, internal shafts of sanitary fittings within 2m2, lifts, air conditioning ducts, area of porch at floor level (cantilever part can’t be included), area of barsati – a room on the terrace or roof top with veranda outside. Areas which can’t include are, Area of lofts, open balconies / un enclosed balconies, fascia, towers which project above terrace level, louvers & vertical sun breakers. Documents such as line plan with complete specifications & costs for services such as water, electricity should be attached with estimate. Type 3: Cubic content estimate – This type of estimate done by multiplying the volume of the building by the unit cubic rate achieved from the previously (also recent) estimate. This type of estimate is a little bit more accurate than above mentioned methods and mostly suitable for multi storied buildings. Here the cost of corbelling (corbel – a piece of stone, wood, brick, or other building material, projecting from the face of a wall and generally used to support a cornice or arch), cornice and other works like that are neglected. Cubic content estimate = Volume of the building X unit cubic rate (known value) volume of the building = plinth area (length X breadth of the proposed building) X height of the building  (floor to roof top) unit cubic rate = total cost of the previously built building / total volume of that building. Type 4: Annual repair estimate and special repair estimate – These estimates are prepared in order to maintain the constructed element in good condition.  Works that attached when consider repair works, white washing, painting, plastering works, patching works & etc. Special repair estimate is prepared in situations where the costs of materials increased when compare to annual repair estimate cost. Type 5: Revised estimate- This estimate is prepared when the rate of previously submitted estimate increases by 5% or more than that. But here the reason for the preparation of estimate must have a strong & valid reason like sudden increase in cost of materials. The reason and comparative statement between 2 estimates should be annexed with the revised estimate. Type 6: Supplementary estimate – This type of estimate is prepared when there is a necessary situation of supplementary work, to progress out the original work. The annexure of originally prepared estimate & supplementary estimated amount of the originally prepared estimate when submitting for requesting approve. Type 7: Detailed estimate- Detail estimate is prepared with the help of complete set of contract documents. The preparation of detailed estimate can do under 2 phases such as work out with quantities of different works and calculate the cost of each work. 1) work out with quantities of different works – The whole construction work procedure is divided into categories such as excavation and earthwork, concrete work, formwork, reinforcement, masonry work, roof covering and roof plumbing, carpentry, painting and decorating, plumbing, electrical installation and etc. The measurement takeoff procedure is done with the help of drawings/plans and then they are entered in measurement. Measurement sheet is a prescribed form which contains number of columns to enter the respective measurements and descriptions about the works. Finally the measurement columns are multiplied to get the necessary quantity. 2) Calculation of the cost of each work – The already obtained quantities are used to obtain the cost of each work. Calculated costs of each work item are summarized in order and that document is called as abstract sheet. A detailed estimate should have documents such as report, specifications, drawings/plans, design charts and schedule of rates. Factors such as, material quantity, transportation of materials, location of site, labour charges, cost of equipment (commonly allowed:- 2% of the estimated cost), overhead charges (commonly allowed:- 2% of the estimated cost), contingencies & unforeseen (commonly allowed:- 4% of the estimated cost) items are needed to consider well while preparing the detailed estimate. Note:  The rate used to estimate should check with current standard schedule of rates & in case of quantity, it should check with standard data book.   The post Types of Estimate – Types of estimates that prepared on various stages of a project. appeared first on Basic Civil Engineering. Read the full article

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TestFit and Automated Modelling

BuildingForge, a Dallas-based start-up, recently offered a 14 days trial to their solution, TestFit. I was quite impressed by their tool and use the opportunity to present it here. TestFit is a solution to automate massing and capabilities studies. Based on a site, it quickly create residential building based on your specifications. I start by typing an address in my hometown and display a map of the corresponding neighbourhood. I then click on aerial to get an aerial picture of the land. I then click on “Define” to draw the outline of the site. As soon as the site is defined, a first version of your building appears.

You can immediately see a lot of information about your project in the output window: site surface, number of units, distribution in studios, 1 bedroom apartments, 2 bedrooms apartments, garage area…

You can click on level to switch between levels and see the layout of each level. If you edit your site boundaries or setback, the entire project is updated in real time, showing impressive performance.

But this is only a first draft, you can edit it and see the results in real time. I started by adding a garage on the ground floor. I set up the few parameters of my garage, click on Enable, and my garage appear. I then click on Define to set up precisely its position. The resulting surface, area and number of stalls appear in the output windows.

The same principle can be applied to create specific spaces, like common area on the ground floor. You select Space, click on “Add” and set up its area.

Even if the layout of some units seems a bit odd to my French eyes, TestFit is a powerful solution to quickly design residential building. However, this power came at a cost. 3D modelling software solutions fall somewhere on the following graph:

They allow more or less freedom over the creation of geometry and the modelling process can be more or less automated. Generally, a great modelling freedom come at the cost of a less automated modelling process. For example, Rhino allows pretty much any shape, but the modelling process is more manual than Revit. On the other hand, Revit is not really made to model something else than a building. Automation can be extremely useful (modelling an average building with Revit or ArchiCAD is more efficient than doing it in Rhino), but it can also be a drawback when you want to model something that the solution didn’t plan (modelling a bridge with Revit). In that case, you generally better off with a more “geometrically free” solution. TestFit is a great solution but lean too much on the automation side for its own good. It ends up being great when it comes to create the building TestFit had in mind but not so good if you want to do anything else. However, they keep on improving their solution and I will keep a close eye on them. Read the full article

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2017: The Year of the Skyscrapers

According to the annual report from the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat (CTBUH), 2017 is the year that the most number of skyscrapers (buildings measuring over 200 meters) was completed. Overall, 144 high-rise buildings were completed around the world in a total of 28 countries. More than 75% of the 144 towers built in 2017 were in the East while 10% were in North America. Middle East projects contributed a 6.3%. Europe ranked fourth with 2.8% buildings completed being on par with Latin America’s construction of 2.8% as well. Oceania reached 1.4% of the total with Africa 0.7%. 2017 beat previous records including 2016’s 127 completions. This increased the world’s 200-meter-plus buildings to 1,319 structures, a 12.3% increase from 2016. Fifteen supertall buildings (300 meters or higher) were completed in 2017 bring the total number of supertalls worldwide to 126 from 11 in 2016. The 2017 data represents an increase of 66% in just four years.

Number of Tall Building Completed Compared by Year courtesy of CTBUH

Asia Dominates

Most of the 144 structures were built in China — a specific 53% of the 144 towers are all found in China. In fact, the Ping An Finance Center in Shenzhen made it as 2017’s highest skyscraper at 600 meters and now ranks 4th overall in the tallest building records. Another tower from the same city made it to the top 10 list as well — Hon Kwok City Center in Shenzhen at 329 meters. Three more towers from China made it to the top 10 tallest towers to be completed in 2017 — the Yuexiu Fortune Center in Wuhan at 330 meters, Yantai Shimao n°1 The Harbour in Yantai at 323 meters, and Zhuhai Saint Regis Tower in Zhuhai at 323 meters.

The Ping An Financial Center towering over Shenzhen, China as 2017’s tallest skyscraper built. Image courtesy of KPF. Dubai places three of their high-rises in the ranking of the ten tallest buildings (2017) — Marina 101 places as last year’s 3rd at 425 meters, The Address Boulevard as 4th at 370 meters, and Ahmed Abdul Rahim al Attar Tower as 5th at 342 meters. Marina 101 gets the honorary title, world’s tallest residential building. The Burj Khalifa still holds the record for the tallest skyscraper in the world. However, this record will be beaten soon by the Kingdom Tower of Jeddah whose completion will be in 2019. Seoul wins a beautiful 2nd place with its Lotte World Tower that is reminiscent of London’s The Shard. It towers at 555 meters with 123 floors. The only building from the West that made it to the list is the Wilshire Grand Center in Los Angeles placing 6th place at 335 meters. Europe did not make the cut at all.

List and image courtesy of CTBUH

2017 Building Statistics

Based on the same report by CTBUH (Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat), of the total skyscrapers in the world, 38.9% of these buildings are purely tertiary towers — meaning they’re all purely service sector buildings. Housing towers account for 34% while mixed-use towers including hotels account for 27.1%. More than half (51.4%) of these structures were all designed mainly in concrete. While 47.2% were made with composite or hybrid solutions, mixed concrete and steel. 1.4% were 100% metal turns, which is pretty rare.

2018 Forecast

As indicated by the CTBUH, they project between 130 and 160 buildings of 200-meters-plus to be completed in 2018. Between 12 to 20 of these buildings are expected to be supertall structures (300-meters-plus). However, with the increasing volatility in an interconnected economy and global industry, reality can deviate from the forecast. But with evolving construction technology and the digitalisation of processes and workflows advancing the construction industry, it seems that digitalisation will balance out the economic volatility. Embracing new technologies is creating better and stronger construction. When it comes to tall and supertall buildings, digitalisation and building information modelling (BIM) creates better quality structures while avoiding cost and time overruns. More adoption of these technologies in 2018 indicates a better year for skyscrapers. The post 2017: The Year of the Skyscrapers appeared first on APROPLAN. Read the full article