Is Revit suitable for big industial services projects?

[Anonymous]

Hi. I am a service technologist.

I have started learning Revit recently and have found out that the is no enough Families and setting for my work. I didn't manage to find even DN standard pipes. It looks like it is more suitable for piping rather than big service projects.  Is Revit good tool for works like this or I should try some other software?

Please find the example of my projects attached. Is it possible to create things like this in Revit?

[RobDraw]

Yes, you can do that in Revit. The content that comes with Revit does not cover all types of designs. You may have to find or build your own.

[HVAC-Novice]

ootb it doesn't have all the families, but this is true for a and MEP design as well. Many manufacturers make families, or you edit or create your own. 

The second detail you should you would create as a 2D detail, same or even better than you would in autoCAD. 

If you want to analyize industrial processes (i.e. fluid flow of compressed air, or lube, oils etc.) Revit won't be able to do that. it is limited to analyzing typical HVAC fluids (glycol, air, water)

But you should ask in an industrial design forum if there is a better software. a BIM software for industry. Maybe they all use Revit, or maybe something better. Revit is for Architecture and MEP. Obviously an industrial plant is a building as well, so it can work. 

[iainsavage]

I’m fairly sure that those kinds of families can be found out there somewhere - often though they will be on hosting sites like BIMstore, MEPcontent, BIMObject etc rather than on manufacturer’s own sites.

Victaulic, Grinnell, George Fisher have content, maybe Saint-Gobain. Durapipe have their PVC and ABS range as well as the Vulcathene chemical drainage range.

Here’s an iron duckfoot bend https://www.bimobject.com/en-us/bocciolone-antincendio/product/art-67-duck-foot-bend and this could be adapted to other materials, dimensions fairly easily.

Other fittings can be created, usually by modifying generic Revit fittings.

Any type of tube can be fairly easily created in Revit if you know the diameters and material.

You can create custom fluids if you know density and viscosity etc.

So yes, Revit could be used. Is it the best product for the application? - maybe not. I would have thought Plant 3D would be better(?) but I’ve never tried it https://www.autodesk.com/products/autocad/included-toolsets/autocad-plant-3d?plc=ACDIST&term=1-YEAR&...

I hope my comments might be of some assistance.

[s.borello]

You can make your own families or seek out manufacturer specific families... we all do this and is standard practice.  I would say yes, Revit would be a good option for you.  

[hmunsell]

I went thru this same thing when I converted my Process/WWW group to Revit 10yr ago. there wasn't any content out there they could use (pipe, equipment, fittings, etc...). Everything at that time was geared toward residential and office building type use. I had to make all new custom pipe segments, sizes & types along with equipment and other families.

There is a lot more content out there now and venders will sometimes have families you can use. You will still need to make content though, so your first couple projects will have some overhead for development. once your a couple projects in though you'll have a nice library started. 

if your referring to Large floor plans, Revit has ways of dealing with that as well. you can use divide the plans into areas, create dependent views, scope boxes, divide a large site into separate models.  there are many options....

https://www.autodesk.com/autodesk-university/au-online?query=Family+basics&facet_year[]=2020&facet_y...

https://www.autodesk.com/autodesk-university/class/Revit-Family-Creation-Step-Step-Introduction-Just...

https://www.autodesk.com/autodesk-university/class/Its-All-Process-2013