A Master Model Approach for Design and Analysis of Roof Trusses

Apartment housebuilding takes too long time and optimal solutions are seldom found. In housebuilding projects, there is an increased popularity of using virtual models for analyses of structural integrity and floor layout. However, these analyses are seldom coordinated since the models rarely are linked and the designers are not working close enough. As such, optimal designs are hard to find and time flies since even small changes turn into many iterations between design and structural analysis. General building information modeling and virtual design and construction methodologies suggest the use of interoperability and automation to bridge these gaps. There are examples of design tools that link different models using off -the -shelf tools or programming. However, most of the housebuilding companies seldom have these advanced tools or have the competence to do advanced programming. In this paper, we suggest an approach of using visual programming in a common BIM-software to explore the linking of different models. As an example, we study design of roof trusses since for many different roof shapes the same rules usually apply to the design of the truss. This project connects a BIM-software and a FEM -program with a master model. The model automatically generates a roof with the designed truss, draws the representation in a BIM-software and analyze it in a FEM -program. The early evaluations of this visual programming based approach are promising as there are possibilities to connect other domain models and create an even richer evaluation bases for early apartment housebuilding design.