Autodesk Revit

Hi All, Has anyone carried out scaffolding work to a building for which a Revit model was available? If so, were plans/building sections from the model used? How did it all go? Any problems?

See the attached image of a Revit model from a tutorial I went through a couple of years ago. Say the curtain walling needs some kind of repair (replacing sealant, facia caps etc). As a scaffolding contractor what plans/building sections would be ideal for you to receive and what annotations and dimensions would be required.

Dont you need a design sutcliw?

normall y lenght is x amount with is x amount and its so many lifts that normally does the job

Hi Marra, Thanks for the reply. I'm talking about prior to a brief being drawn up and before the pre-contract site inspection. Let's say the building owner phones you up and says work is required on the curtain wall (or maybe the soffits need replacing). He says he has a Revit model and can email you any drawings you require to make an initial assessment. Are you saying that you would require just the elevations with the major dimensions marked?

Looks good but any good for scaffold dwgs?

Sutcliw,

I've been working with a Revit & AutoCAD 3D model for the last year on a large Balfour Beatty Project. The model is massive and is part of their overall BIM project and has team of CAD tech's working on all aspects of it.

Anyway, when we have a design to produce, we would typically work with their technicians to get cut sections of the 3D model to use as background or XREF files for the 2D scaffold design drawing. We would use specific gridlines and levels to ensure we get the details we need. The system works really nicely.

The BIM model has everything on it: Concrete, steel, pipework, ducting, finishes, M&E etc but we can isolate the layers we need and just take the bits of info relevant to us. Fpr example, if the ductwork has gone into an area we are putting a scaffold, we will include it in the cut section, it it hasn't, we won't.

So to answer your question as best I can, scaffold drawings are generally produced in 2D. or at least, all the scaffolders that work with us prefer a 2D plan, section & elevation with maybe a 3D detail of complex sections or tie mechanisms. So take 2D cut sections of the area of the building you need scaffolding, considering the drawing the scaffold designer is likely to produce.

On another note, we have found that most 3D modeling or BIM work has been done in AutoCAD so far.. basically because the REVIT software has not been developed as much yet and so AutoCAD is generally the better package. Its inevitable that REVIT will catch up at some point, so we have been looking into getting, and using both software packages, especially as they've just brought out the LT version for MAC.

Hope that helps.

B.

Hi BMB,

Sorry for the delay in getting back to you. First of all can I say a great thank you for such a thorough and informative reply.

I'm looking into the same workflow as you refer to but taking it a step further with Autodesk Inventor.

I'm not a scaffolding designer, just a guy who has been on a few scaffolds (for asbestos works) and have read up on TG20 and the British Standards etc.
However, I do know Autodesk Revit but especially I know Autodesk Inventor very well.

From my limited knowledge of scaffolding, scaffold structures scream out for a layout model, the ideal modeling technique within Autodesk Inventor.

Here's the workflow I have in mind.

We have a building for which scaffolding is required for some particular works to be carried out. A Revit model of the building is available. We transfer a shell
of the Revit model (together with any relevant details as you note) into Inventor. In Inventor we create a virtual model of the scaffold structure
(with Content Centre parts and Frame Generator etc).
After completion we import the Inventor model of the scaffold structure back into the original Revit model.

What's the advantages of such a workflow.

1. Animations of walk-throughs (maybe even better than the examples by jaztekdesign.com - don't know what package they've used - maybe SketchUp)
and photo-realistic renderings (so the building owner/manager can envisage how the scaffold will impact on his building).

2. Use of Inventor's Bill of Materials for scaffold estimation purposes.

3. Use of Inventor' Dynamic Simulation environment to calculate loads.

4. Animations of the erection and dismantling of scaffold (especially as you say of particularly complex sections or tie mechanisms).

5. 2D drawings as currently used can be produced from the Inventor model but can certainly be made "more attractive/appealing" from within Inventor's
drawing environment.

(Note, if no Revit model available then create the scaffold structure directly in Inventor).

What I may do for illustrative purposes is to post a Revit model on this site and pretend we have a specific scaffolding job and see
if I can follow the workflow as I've envisaged above (hopefully with the assistance of such experienced scaffolding designers such as your good self).

Once again,thank you for your very helpful reply.