AUTOMATED DESIGN OF STEEL BUILDINGS

MAJOR BENEFITS

• High accuracy & speed is assured by the AMECO-17 precise 3-D modeling, the 3-D nonlinear and segmental structural analysis. In addition, the execution is extremely fast--a 115 storey steel skyscraper of 23,000 members is analyzed and designed for 16,000 load cases and 100,000+ load combinations in 3 minutes on a 1.8 GHz PC.

• Highly reliable and safe designs are assured since all design activities are computerized: calculation of loads, loading case selection, investigation of all possible loading combinations and member design in full compliance with the applicable building code.
  
  Since the structural analysis and member design are integrated, any change in member stiffness causes automatic re-analysis of the structure until convergence is reached.
  
  Moreover, the building is analyzed as a whole 3-D unit for gravity and lateral loads. Thus every member is designed for gravity dead and live loads and lateral load effects.

• Great savings in engineering time are achieved as the entire design process is computerized, including bills of materials and cost estimates. For example, a 23,000 member skyscraper can be designed in 1 man-month as opposed to 5 man-year effort.
  
  With concise commands, the engineer defines the building layout, enters loading parameters and design criteria from which AMECO-17 generates all the necessary data to design the building. Such bulk input data as joint coordinates, member properties, loads and loading cases need not be input.

• Fast response to project revisions: Whenever project revisions necessitate re-design of the structure in whole or in part, the existing structural model of the building can be retrieved from the data base, quickly modified and re-designed in a matter of minutes.

• Optimization of construction costs: Optimization can be carried out quickly by investigating a dozen alternate framing schemes, each with construction costs computed by AMECO-17. The optimum solution can be readily available in a matter of days.