Integrative Structural Design

Abstract

Current processes for design and detailing in structural engineering are often broken up into a sequence of partial processes because of the complexity of the problem. But sequential additions of separate solutions rarely lead to an optimal design. For example, the basic structural system is often developed with its geometry and topology but without consideration of important aspects of structural performance, like robustness, redundancy, ductility. Decisions on performance are left for later design stages, when it is still possible to change details but too late to improve the structural system. A design that takes into account multiple objectives, such as safety, functionality, and aesthetics, requires a complete reconsideration of the authors’ conventional sequential structural design process. Most engineering tools were developed many years ago as technology was much more limited, resulting in separate tools for separate objectives to be used in succession. In this paper, a new approach is presented as integrative structural design (ISD), where separate state-of-the-art solutions are synchronized in such a way that designers are not confined to predetermined solution paths but rather are enabled to consider different objectives concurrently including interactions between objectives. The resulting design tool for the conceptual, interactive modeling, simulation, and visualization of structural design or integrative design is presented under the term integrative structural design system (ISDS).