Keywords: integration, structural design, virtual reality, interactive, OOP.

The design of a multi-storey steel framed structure is a collaborative effort involving input from several organisations. The analysis of the flow of information between these organisations, shows that assumptions are often made regarding information that cannot be verified until a later stage in the design process. This paradoxical nature of design, means that iteration is a fundamental part of the design process, requiring work to be redone or compromises to be made which causes inefficiency.

As an example, the structural designer is often forced into making decisions that have a far reaching effect on the layout of services within the building, but in the environment in which these decisions are made, it is not clear where a decision made concerning the steelwork design, will have a detrimental effect to the services (or vice-versa). As a result of this, work may have to be carried out later on in the design process in redesigning part of the steel structure to accommodate the services, or alternatively, services may be forced into assuming a less effective or economical design.

Ideally, it should be possible for all parties involved in the design process to be involved in the design of the steel structure from it's inception, and so limit the amount of iteration required, but this is often not possible due to contractual and arrangement matters. Careful management of a project helps to reduce the amount that this occurs, and an in depth understanding of the sequence in which events must be conducted helps alleviate this problem by reducing the amount of assumptions that are made, but these measures do not tackle the problem fundamentally.

This paper will show how a software tool can be implemented that will help alleviate these problems, by providing the designer with the appropriate tools to help make informed decision regarding areas outside of the structural designers control, but which may be effected by, and have an effect on, the design of the steel structure.

For the development of a system that will tackle this problem, it is proposed that several technologies are implemented in the form of the "3D Virtual Building Software", to provide a more informed working environment for the structural designer.

Firstly, the integration of information regarding the steel structure, services, floor systems, and other areas that impact the structural design, are integrated into a single unified object orientated model, to provide a basis for the software. By using an integrated object model for the software, it is possible to for the design of one aspect of the building (the steel structure) to give appropriate consideration to other aspects of the buildings design. The CIMSteel standards are used to form the basis of the object model – providing information regarding the steel structure itself, and then further expansions to this object model are proposed, to provide a full description of all relevant information to the steel structure. This object model is then developed with the addition of metadata, to provide the objects with a degree of "self awareness", and to provide the object model with added functionality.

Secondly, an open ended modular design is proposed, to allow the addition of tools and systems to the software, to allow a truly integrated design tool. By providing this integrated environment, it is possible for several tasks such as costing, connection design, and structural analysis to be conducted with due respect to each other, which promotes more efficient work, and increases the flexibility of the tool in comparison to the monolithic software design approach.

An inference engine is to be included in the software, which is able to provide support to the structural designer by way of modeless commenting, which is generated real-time in response to changes made to the structure.

A 3D virtual model of the building is used as the primary interface for all interactions with the software model. This interface is developed in OpenGL, and uses advanced graphical techniques more often associated with video games. The limitations of current 3D interface implementations are overcome by providing a more flexible approach to the manner in which the 3D model can be both viewed, and more significantly, interacted with.

The paper will expand on the computing technology used in the development of the "3D Virtual Building" software, along with how these technologies are able to promote better working practices at the conceptual design stage for the structural designer.

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