Proposed Tool
Creates timber frames with adjustable configurations from floor to floor to assist structural engineers in the design of buildings, such as the one shown below.
Intended users
- Structural engineers
- Architects
- Any other parties involved in building design that may need to reference a structural model
Need you’re trying to provide a solution or support for
Engineers often need to iterate through multiple design configurations to find the optimal structural frame layout. Existing software only allows engineers to manually adjust the member layout and sizes, which is time-consuming and prone to errors.
This tool ensures structural integrity is maintained while optimizing for material usage and cost efficiency. It automates the creation of frame configurations with the ability to easily modify the number of bays, bay dimensions, frame height, material height, and material sizes for each floor. Visual feedback is provided via a model in Revit for design visualization so that optimal configurations may be quickly identified.
Inputs
Design Variables
- Number of floors
- Number of bays in X and Y directions per floor
- Bay width and depth per floor
- Frame height
- Member size
- Material type (timber, steel)
Constants
- Structural family types for columns and beams
- Default material properties for timber and steel
Underlying logic of the model you’ll implement
- Grid Generation: For each floor, a grid of points will be generated based on the number of bays and bay dimensions.
- Element Placement: Columns will be placed at each grid intersection for each floor, and beams will be created between columns in the X and Y directions for each floor.
- Parametric Design: The number of floors, number of bays, bay dimensions, frame height, and member sizes of the beams and columns may be adjusted using sliders in Dynamo. The material type may also be changed using a dropdown in Dynamo.
Outputs
A detailed Revit model with the structural frame of the material of choice, including columns and beams for each floor, configured according to the input parameters will be provided.