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R+C Saves Time and Improves Project Coordination

Read how leading design firm Rutherford + Chekene utilizes Visicon to save time and improve project coordination for a university's new science building.

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Model view of the university project

Project Team:

  • Architect: Smith Group
  • General Contactor: DPR Construction
  • MEP + AV/IT/Security: Affiliated Engineers, Inc.
  • Civil + Infrastructure: Sherwood Engineers

Rutherford + Chekene (R+C) is a leading structural and geotechnical engineering firm based in San Francisco, California that is committed to continual innovation and looks for ways to improve efficiency, reduce errors, and ultimately, deliver better engineering solutions.

For their most recent work at a nearby university, they chose Visicon to do just that.

 

“Visicon saves us several hours per week on average when used to coordinate between trades and during shop drawing review. It is especially useful in coordinating between our BIM and analytical models.”

- Erik Okstad, Associate

 

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View into auditorium showing special transfer truss.

When completed in 2024, the 150,000 sf new university science building will house a variety of laboratory, classroom, and office spaces. The 5-story structure consists of a special moment resisting steel frame with spans ranging 20 to 30 feet on top of cast-in-place spread footings and grade beams. Design challenges include working with an irregular configuration and using a specially-designed truss to transfer the load of 4 stories resting directly above a large ground-floor auditorium. Structural design software included RAM® from Bentley Systems for design of the gravity system and ETABS® from Computer & Structures, Inc. (CSI) for the lateral design. Revit® from Autodesk was used to create the structural model for drawing production.

R+C benefited by using Visicon in four different ways on this project:

1.  Modeling Quality Assurance

Designers used Visicon’s Component Matching algorithm to confirm that structural members in each version of their production model matched their latest design model based on size and location. In this way, they were able to ensure that their contract documents continued to accurately account for any ongoing changes. “In the case of this project for example, lateral beams had gone from W18x35 to W18x50 to account for changes to the mechanical units on the roof,” according to project structural designer, Carlos Rangel. “By running the automated check in Visicon whenever we worked with a new production model, we remained confident we were staying on top of any changes that conflicted with our structural design. Any inconsistent members would be highlighted in the model and listed in a report.”

“Visicon saves us several hours per week on average when used to coordinate between trades and during shop drawing review. It is especially useful in coordinating between our BIM and analytical models,” according to Erik Okstad, project associate.

Revit_vs_ETABS

Members that no longer match between the structural design model (ETABS) and the production drawing model (Revit) are colorized for easy identification and quick resolution

2.  Quantity Variance Checking

In order to mitigate the growing backlog and increasing price of steel, the project team ordered structural members based on the 50% construction document phase; therefore, subsequent changes to steel members created additional risk and cost to the project. R+C used Visicon’s Variance Report to report out detailed tonnage between the original submittal and later submittals (75% and 100% construction documents). This allowed designers to stay on top of each submittal and easily identify where changes occurred and quickly measure the material impact of each change.

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An example of a report that identified material change to each member that resulted in a calculated increase/decrease in weight.

3.  Construction Administration: Review of Steel Fabrication Model

R+C significantly sped up their steel fabrication shop drawing review by using Visicon’s unique Component Matching algorithms to compare each steel fabrication model (Tekla® from Trimble) they received from the steel subcontractor against their production model (Revit). The building was broken into eight sequenced sections for structural approval.  “Visicon was really useful for performing rapid checks on size, configuration, and location for all columns and beam,” according to Rangel. “On projects prior to using Visicon, we would receive shop drawings in pdf and export them as CAD files in order to overlap them with our Revit plan views. This way, we could visualize the beam locations and size, but this is a very inefficient and not very accurate process.”

Utilizing the cross-model comparison capabilities of Visicon, R+C was able to configure multiple tests to automatically match and check for specific component properties between the merged Revit and Tekla models. For instance, the "Name" property in the Revit model that contained the section member designation could be checked against the "Description" field in Tekla. Visicon’s flexible testing rules could also be configured to account for differences in nomenclature between sets of properties.

On this project, not only was Visicon used to rapidly review each steel sequence, the whole model was subsequentially reviewed upon each related request-for-information (RFI) or any late change to ensure accuracy and completion. Rangel continues, “We can identify ahead of time where members are going to change so we don’t need to look for every single item in the drawings. We know in advance what we’re going to mark-up – saving a lot of time.”

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Each version of the fabrication model (Tekla®) is compared to the production model (Revit®) to provide a rapid check on size, configuration, and location for all columns and beam – saving time and increasing accuracy.

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Example of a note sent from R+C to the contactor using images and information captured by Visicon.

4.  Design Coordination: Clash Detection

Even though R+C isn’t responsible for multi-disciplinary project design coordination, they have started to use Visicon’s Clash Detection operation to proactively identify conflicts between the structure and other building systems. Rather than wait for the architect to create something similar in Navisworks® (from Autodesk) that may take weeks and require a large meeting to coordinate issues, they can easily import the central model in Visicon and visualize conflicts and anticipate issues that may impact them down the road.

“Visicon helps us be a more proactive partner with the architect and the rest of the design team.”

- Carlos Rangel, Structural Designer

“If we identify the need for a design change, like increasing the depth of a beam, we are able to use Visicon to understand what other disciplines might be affected by the change,” said Rangel. “Visicon helps us be a more proactive partner with the architect and the rest of the design team.”

Clash_check

Images above show examples of design conflicts between the structure and piping that R+C found by running Clash Detection in Visicon. This operation allows designers to proactively identify and communicate issues rather than later having to address potentially costly changes requests from the contractor.

How R+C has Applied Visicon’s Unique Model Comparison Capabilities:

R+C specifically chose Visicon for its steel shop drawing review and coordination tasks because of its unique model comparison capabilities. Unlike other commercially available model authoring and review solutions, Visicon has developed a set of component matching and comparison algorithms that work across a broad range of model types and show clear variances in 3D geometry and any meta data.

Examples of Visicon's features include:

  • Boolean Difference - graphically displays exact 3D model changes or differences.
  • Variance Check - graphically shows changes in any user-selected meta data.
  • Component Matching - checks physical or property compliance between models.
  • Variance Report - generates tabular report listing model changes.

Visicon lets its customers tackle a wider range of model comparisons than any other solution and presents the results with greater graphical and tabular clarity, saving time and improving project quality.

“We can do some of this in Revit, but it isn’t nearly as helpful to identify and present differences between models,” comments another staff engineer Zonglin Li. “Visicon is really powerful for not only speeding up the process, but also for creating powerful visual representations to share with fabricators, architects, and clients.” Li continues, “Our clients and team members have found it extremely helpful to be able to see the changes and exactly where they are taking place in the building.”

“Visicon is really powerful for not only speeding up the process, but also for creating powerful visual representations to share with fabricators, architects, and clients.”

- Zonglin Li, Structural Designer

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Image above shows two iterations of the Revit model analyzed using the Boolean Difference algorithm. Graphical changes to the model, regardless of how subtle, are identified and color coded for easier coordination, quality control and communication.

R+C’s Perspective on Visicon Implementation:

R+C is expanding usage of Visicon across the firm. To allow other members of their team to take full advantage of the power of Visicon, they have created a library of templates for various filters and operations that can be easily retrieved by all R+C engineers.

“As structural engineers, we benefit from freeing our minds and hands from repetitive tasks. Using Visicon has improved our project outcomes and has allowed us to shift more of our staff’s time toward value-added activities,” according to project principal and CEO of Rutherford + Chekene, Dave Bleiman. “We look forward to continuing to work with Visicon to realize even greater benefits to our firm and our partners in the years to come.”

"As structural engineers, we benefit from freeing our minds and hands from repetitive tasks. Using Visicon has improved our project outcomes and allowed us to shift more of our staff’s time toward value-added activities.”

- David Bleiman, Principal / CEO

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Carlos V. Rangel, Structural Designer

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Zonglin Li, Structural Designer

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Erik Okstad, Associate

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David Bleiman, Principal / CEO

Rutherford + Chekene

About Rutherford + Chekene

Rutherford + Chekene (R+C) is one of California’s leading structural and geotechnical engineering firms. In business for over sixty years, their 50-person practice takes pride in our ability to offer effective solutions that optimize value and address each project’s unique challenges. R+C provides new design, advanced structural analysis, seismic evaluations and retrofits, peer review and plan review, and full geotechnical services.

Notable projects include:

Exploratorium, Ferry Building Renovation, Monterey Bay Aquarium, de Young Museum, Pixar Animation Studios (The Steve Jobs Building), LBNL Integrative Genomics Building, UCSF Medical Center at Mission Bay, San Francisco international Airport New Boarding Area B, and the UC Berkeley Lower Sproul Redevelopment Project.

Learn more at: https://ruthchek.com/

 

About Visicon

Visicon is a 3D model review solution used by AEC firms worldwide as a fast and powerful way to view, query and compare their project models. Beyond providing a robust suite of model viewing and comparison functionalities, Visicon is also used by customers to automate their model checking and management tasks, saving them time and increasing project quality.

Visit Visicon.com or contact us at info@visicon.com to learn more about how Visicon can improve your project outcomes.