Computational & Technology Resources
an online resource for computational,
engineering & technology publications
Civil-Comp Proceedings
ISSN 1759-3433
CCP: 96
PROCEEDINGS OF THE THIRTEENTH INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON CIVIL, STRUCTURAL AND ENVIRONMENTAL ENGINEERING COMPUTING
Edited by: B.H.V. Topping and Y. Tsompanakis
Paper 111

An Industrial Knowledge Collaborative CAD System for Scaffolding Structures

S. O'Neill1, H. Zhang2 and M. Pawelak1

1Action Scaffolding Limited, Edinburgh, United Kingdom
2School of Engineering and the Built Environment, Edinburgh Napier University, United Kingdom

Full Bibliographic Reference for this paper
S. O'Neill, H. Zhang, M. Pawelak, "An Industrial Knowledge Collaborative CAD System for Scaffolding Structures", in B.H.V. Topping, Y. Tsompanakis, (Editors), "Proceedings of the Thirteenth International Conference on Civil, Structural and Environmental Engineering Computing", Civil-Comp Press, Stirlingshire, UK, Paper 111, 2011. doi:10.4203/ccp.96.111
Keywords: CAD system, scaffolding design, knowledge servers, Autodesk ObjectARX, integrated design and analysis, collaborative design.

Summary
Scaffolds are a form of temporary structure widely used throughout the construction industry for various purposes. Some common uses are to provide access, for storage of materials or as temporary support. The design of such structures is governed by European Standard EN12811-1 [1] which came into practice in January 2011. In the UK, tube and fitting scaffolds are the most prevalent type of scaffolds which are in use. However, there has been an increase in the use of system scaffolds such as the Cuplok or Layer systems in recent years.

Modelling and design of scaffolding and temporary work embodies significant levels of complexity, which make it very inconvenient and, sometimes not possible to utilise a general structural finite element package. Moreover, industrial expertise plays an important role in the modelling and design process which makes it unlikely that a single engineer can work alone on a complex problem. Knowledge-intensive collaboration has emerged as a promising discipline for dealing with the modelling and decision-making processes in a distributed design system. In this paper we first review the previous and current research on the development of scaffolding CAD systems. Then, we develop an industrial knowledge collaborative CAD system based on the AutoDESK objectARX platform [2] for collaborative design modelling and decision support. A comprehensive component database is developed incorporating industrial expertise and acting as the knowledge servers. Based on the component-based modelling-design approach, a full software package has been developed that includes, pre-processor, analysis engine, post-processor, design module, report and drawing generator. Finally, as an illustration, a practical project is modelled using the CAD system developed. The analysis and design results are demonstrated. Additionally a practical project is designed using the software and the results compared to the traditional two-dimensional analysis methods.

References
1
EN 12811-1, "Temporary works equipment, Part 1: Scaffolds-Performance requirements and general design", European committee for standardisation, Brussels, 2003.
2
Autodesk, "AutoCAD 2000 ObjectARX Developer's Guide", 1999.

purchase the full-text of this paper (price £20)

go to the previous paper
go to the next paper
return to the table of contents
return to the book description
purchase this book (price £130 +P&P)