Now on its fifth release, Revit Structure is finally catering for the design of more complex structures with a whole range of new advanced modelling tools. Greg Corke reports

Revit Structure has been gaining more traction in the structural engineering sector since its UK launch last year. The product is based on RevitÝs parametric change management system, which means a change anywhere will be reflected across the whole project. This means elevations, plans, sections, details and schedules, and not just changes to the 3D view.

With links to Revit Building, AutoCAD Architecture (previously known as Architectural Desktop) and AutoCAD MEP (Mechanical, Electrical, and Plumbing), Revit Structural can also be used to co-ordinate project information between structural engineers, architects, and building services engineers. Interference checking can be carried out between the various models to flag up potential problems before the construction phase. And when Revit Structure is used in conjunction with Revit Architecture a co-ordination monitor can be used to automatically notify engineers and architects of any changes made during the design process.

In addition to providing better co-ordination between architects and engineers, Revit Structure can be used as a central repository for a wide range of structural analysis data. Dynamic links can be established with a number of analysis applications and Revit Structure can co-ordinate any design changes.

This is made possible by the fact that Revit Structure builds two models concurrently. One, a physical model which represents the exact structure as it would appear on site, which is used for layout, drawing production and documentation; and two, an analytical model, which is a simplified nodal model which can be used inside their dedicated structural analysis package. This analytical model can be edited and simplified by the engineer so it can work more effectively with their chosen analysis application.

The new release

The first two releases of Revit Structure were for the US market only and the product only came to the UK last year at Release 3. It now appears to be on a six monthly release cycle and the fifth release (2008) was rolled out to customers this Spring.

The main focus for the new release has been in the area of advanced modelling, with the system now able to model curved beams, more complex openings in structural beams and columns, parametric trusses and warped concrete slabs. WeÝll look at each of these in turn.

Curved beams: These are becoming increasingly popular in Northern Europe and Revit Structure now has the ability to create horizontally or vertically curved sections. Beams can be based on arcs, ellipses and splines, so you can pretty much generate any shape you want. While many analysis applications wonÝt understand or be able to analyse such complex geometry, users can overcome this by simplifying the analytical model ± by splitting curved sections into multiple straight lengths, for example.