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Oct 28, 2021
This article explores the interoperability between Autodesk Revit and Autodesk Robot Structural Analysis Professional software—including recommended workflows, analytical modeling best practices, and the details of data exchange between the solutions.
Send the Revit model to Robot Structural Analysis Professional
Autodesk Revit supports the Building Information Modeling (BIM) process for structural engineering using a physical model of the structure for documentation and an associated analytical model for structural analysis and design. You can work on both types of models concurrently. This has the potential to simplify your design process—and save you time—by enabling you to enter all model data in one place.
The link between Revit and Autodesk Robot Structural Analysis Professional enables Revit users to send a model directly to Robot for structural analysis and design. Once the analysis has been completed and the design has been updated in Robot, you can send these results back to Revit, where the model is updated automatically.
Watch and learn how to send the Revit model to Robot Structural Analysis Professional software:
Adjust the analytical model in Robot Structural Analysis Professional
Once the analytical model has been transferred from Revit to Robot, you will review the model and make any necessary adjustments before proceeding with structural analysis. For example, if you assigned a temporary section shape when transferring the model from Revit to Robot, now is the time to define the correct cross-section in Robot.
In the second video you will see how you can adjust the analytical model in Robot Structural Analysis Professional that was sent from Revit.
Create additional structural loads and generate load case combinations
During a building project, designers and engineers must consider the impact of wind. The Wind Loads Simulation feature enables you to simulate airflow around your structures and generate wind loads automatically. The Wind Loads Simulation feature acts as a virtual wind tunnel, displaying colorized pressure maps on the model to visualize wind effects.
Robot allows you to define load combinations manually or generate them automatically in accordance with specific codes.
Watch and learn how to create additional structural loads and generate load case combinations in Robot Structural Analysis Professional.
Generate finite element mesh and perform analysis
Once the entire structure has been modeled and all boundary conditions and loads are configured, you can generate a finite element mesh, verify the model, and perform structural analysis. Robot is a robust structural analysis software application with powerful mesh generation techniques that enables you to effortlessly work with even the most complex models.Many different types of analyses are available within Robot Structural Analysis Professional, including linear static, modal, non-linear, seismic, footfall, time history analysis, and more. These capabilities cover nearly every analysis requirement that you may need on a project.
In the next view you will see how to generate the finite element mesh and perform structural analysis.
Explore results of structural analysis
Robot Structural Analysis Professional provides wide flexibility in obtaining analysis results. You can view results on individual members, portions of the structure, or the entire structure as diagrams and maps—providing a visual snapshot of the structure’s behavior. You can quickly and easily filter tabular results and export them to spreadsheets for post-processing.
This flexibility in viewing and managing both graphical and non-graphical results will help you quickly document your design for review and input by your project team.
Watch and learn how to explore the results of structural analysis in Robot.
Perform member verification and code group design
The elements comprising a building’s structural system must be designed to resist applied loads and internal forces experienced under specified conditions. Member verification and code group design are utilized to select the most efficient sections and materials meeting applicable country-specific building code requirements.
You can use Robot to verify and design steel, concrete, and timber elements in accordance with many building codes around the world, ensuring that your design will withstand expected forces and meet your performance criteria.
In the next video you will see you can perform member verification and code group design in Robot.
Send the updated model with analysis results back to Revit
Once you have completed the structural analysis and design in Robot, you can return this information to Revit, where your designer can review any changes and update the physical model accordingly.
Analysis results can be stored and explored in the Revit environment, enabling a Revit user to visualize a structure’s behavior, understand detailed analysis results, make appropriate design decisions, and properly document the process.
In the last video of this video series, you will learn how to send the updated model with analysis results from Robot back to Revit.
As you have seen, Robot Structural Analysis Professional provides interoperability with Revit to extend the BIM process, enabling you to streamline your structural engineering workflow by quickly performing comprehensive analysis for a broad range of structures.
Revit helps to extend BIM to analysis through interoperability with Robot. Structural designers can create detailed steel, concrete, and timber models in Revit for coordination and documentation, and they can send these models directly to Robot. Likewise, the latest design codes can be employed in Robot to perform advanced structural analysis and design, the results of which can be returned directly to Revit.
To view all workflow tutorials in this series, please visit this post on the Revit Blog. The videos are also available on YouTube as "1-minute snippets" and "3-minute demos". Thank you for taking the time to explore these workflows for buildings enabled by the Autodesk AEC Collection!
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