Research project

Title:

Concept and development of a standardised example database for software-supported structural analysis based on VDI 6201 for the use of structural analysis software in BIM-based process chains

Funding body:

Federal Institute for Research on Building, Urban Affairs and Spatial Development (BBSR) as part of the Zukunft Bau research initiative

Project duration:

07/2016 - 03/2019

Short summary:

Planning processes in the construction sector will in future be carried out almost exclusively with software support. Digitalisation requires clear standardisation of the software used with regard to its reliable application in an automated BIM process chain. To date, the development and application of software for structural design have barely been regulated. In Germany, structural analysis software can be placed on the market by anyone and can likewise be used by anyone. There are no specific requirements or binding rules for quality assurance on either the manufacturer or user side. The complex data flows involved in comprehensive, integrated building models, which are unavoidable in continuous BIM planning, will make the assessment and verification of software-supported structural analyses considerably more difficult in the future.

The research project “Concept and development of a standardised example database for software-supported structural analysis based on VDI 6201 for the use of structural analysis software in BIM-based process chains”, funded as part of the Zukunft Bau research initiative, is intended to enable future quality assurance of structural analysis software using evaluation examples. Nineteen project participants from research and industry contributed to the development of a practice-oriented example database.

VDI 6201 Part 2 provides guidance on the design of evaluation examples. Examples should be selected “for which error bounds can be specified for the solution, the exceeding of which suggests faulty software, or which are intended to show whether a specific performance feature, for example consideration of shear deformations, is included in a software product”.

Reference solutions must comply with generally accepted engineering practice. This means that the best possible scientific theory, and therefore the solution closest to reality, does not necessarily have to be used; rather, the calculation method corresponding to the accepted state of the art is decisive. The verification examples are intended to help software manufacturers and developers identify conceptual errors in their own software. For software users, they are intended to make it possible to determine the suitability of a software product for their specific problem.