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Advertising supplement provided by American Institute of Steel Construction

By Larry Flynn

Steel Industry: A Model for Success

While most architects and other members of the building team are only beginning to apply BIM to projects, the structural steel industry is using 3-D modeling and interoperability–the use of software systems that are able to communicate and exchange data and information through a neutral file format–to integrate the design and construction process and speed the delivery of the structural steel package. Structural engineers are collaborating with steel detailers, fabricators, and erectors to share and exchange 3-D model information to create detailed designs for steel-framed buildings with tight tolerances. On numerous projects, this allowed mill orders to be placed earlier and steel to be delivered and erected on site more quickly, with few, if any field changes required. Fewer field changes enable the steel teams to provide a quality product, with less waste, and greater safety.

T3-D modeling and team integration enabled steel erection of the Denver Art Museum expansion to be completed two months ahead of schedule. Photo credit: Structural Consultants Inc. Design Architect: Studio Daniel Libeskind The 3-D visualization model used on the Denver Art Museum expansion by local architect Davis Partnership, Studio Daniel Libeskind’s joint venture design partner, became a BIM model during the project. Photo credit: Miller Hare

Using BIM on General Motors’ new $300–million V6 engine plant in Flint, Mich., enabled the steel mill order to be placed eight weeks earlier than typically would be possible and steel erection began eight days early, says Lawrence F. Kruth, P.E., engineering and safety manager for Douglas Steel Fabricating Corp., Lansing, Mich. Construction of the plant was completed five weeks ahead of schedule with no change orders, says Samir Emdanat, manager of advanced technologies for the architectural/engineering firm Ghafari Associates, Dearborn, Mich. BIM enabled the project’s integrated building team to shave 24 weeks off what typically would have been an 85-week design and construction schedule. In benchmarking previous projects, GM estimates that three to five percent of total construction costs would have been saved by implementing BIM on those projects, according to Laird Landis, GM’s senior technological engineer.

Modeling the steel and mechanical, electrical, and plumbing (MEP) with tight tolerances meant that the steel frame, sheet metal, and piping all fit into place in the field like an erector set, reducing construction waste. Less waste and field work resulted in a safer construction site, with only one injury recorded on the project, which was unrelated to construction activity.

In Denver, the need to understand, document, and coordinate the complex design by Studio Daniel Libeskind for the Denver Art Museum expansion, scheduled to open in Fall 2006, dictated sharing of the 3-D model between Denver architect Davis Partnership and the project’s structural engineer, steel connection designer, and steel delivery team. “It’s difficult to believe the project could have been done without BIM,” says Davis Partnership’s Maria Cole, AIA. Working with general contractor M.A. Mortenson, the integrated design-build steel team completed the project’s steel erection two months ahead of schedule, after starting the design process two months behind schedule and returning $400,000 to the owner in the process.