There have been plenty of robust discussions recently with opinions and ideas on the topic of modern structural BIM workflows. While there have been plenty of opinions and ideas, there has been little to no evidence or demonstrations to back up these opinions, ideas and roadmaps theories.
Like many others, I have projects to deliver this week, next week, next month and next year, so I need a working solution for my clients today, tomorrow and next week.
My structural BIM workflow has taken years to develop, mainly due to the time it takes to navigate and build solutions around the limitations of proprietary software. With my solution, we start all our structural discipline models (Concrete, steelwork, timber, architectural metalwork, stairs/handrails, wall framing both steel & timber) in Advance Steel. We do not begin our models in Revit, nor would I recommend that to my clients, other than some very specific applications. That being said, it has to be noted that Revit still has a place in our workflow, it just does not align with the advice being offered by the software vendor and their reselling partners.
Below is a list of which applications we use for each of our documentation types. We do prefer to produce steelwork layouts and concrete layouts in Advance Steel, but there are certain cases when using Revit to document these types of drawings makes better sense.
Structural Engineering Set
Site Layouts = Revit
Earthwork Layouts = Revit
Structural Steelwork Layouts/Elevations/Sections = Revit
Structural Concrete Layouts/Elevations/Sections = Revit
Steelwork Design = Advance Steel
Timber Design = Advance Steel
Metalwork Design = Advance Steel
Stair & Handrails Design = Advance Steel
Structural Engineering & Construction Detailing Set
Structural Steelwork Layouts/Elevations/Sections = Advance Steel
Structural Concrete Layouts/Elevations/Sections = Advance Steel
Steelwork Design = Advance Steel
Timber Design = Advance Steel
Metalwork Design = Advance Steel
Stair & Handrails Design = Advance Steel
Steelwork Detailing = Advance Steel
Timber Detailing = Advance Steel
Metalwork Detailing = Advance Steel
Stair & Handrails Detailing = Advance Steel
Rebar Detailing = Revit
Wall Framing Detailing = Revit
In the attached PDF example drawing set, I have included a couple of Revit drawing types to show how your Advance Steel model can be used in Revit. In this example, all the heavy lifting for structural design and detailing was done by Advance Steel with Revit used as a discipline coordination tool, which in my opinion is how it should be used and not for detailing.
To provide some statistics around why we choose to do our projects in this way:-
1. 50 Engineering Drawings took around 7 minutes to produce in Advance Steel
2. 150 Fabrication Drawings took around 25 minutes to produce in Advance Steel
3. Modelling in Advance Steel is less restrictive
4. BIM data is more granular
Sure, these raw automated drawing outputs can't be immediately printed off and issued to the client, they require some tidying up of labels and dimensions, but it sure beats the heck out having to create these drawing sheets manually. To tidy up these raw drawing outputs, I estimate there would be approx. 6-8 man hours.
Below are 2 screen grabs of the Advance Steel model used to create the attached Engineering and Fabrication Drawing Sets and the Revit model created from the Advance Steel model used to create the Architectural Site Layout drawings.
Advance Steel Model
Revit Model
I am not suggesting my solution doesn't have flaws, it does and I can admit that it does, but I would suggest it is 10 times the solution that comes out of the box.
This is how I deliver my projects, I am keen to see and hear how others deliver their projects in the "Real the World".
