When asked about COP26, Gogan says she noticed a couple of major changes at the event this past year, which stood out from previous conferences.
The aim of this project was to produce an automated design tool for a structural building system comprised of a small number of truss assemblies, that could then be mass produced in an automated factory..The truss system design is an automated, digital workflow which takes client requirements including geometrical constraints and preferred materials, and uses iterative parametric 3D modelling to develop individual truss designs.
Structural optimisation and validation are included as part of this process to ensure that the truss meets the required specification.Once complete, these 3D models become a suite of outputs which can drive further analysis of the wider system.This includes detailed analysis of parts of the assembly process, such as robotic welding cells..
In addition, the mathematical modelling and simulation tools (including process simulation models) can then be used to test the proposed manufacturing process and production options, providing stakeholders with more information to make better informed decisions.. Construction automation case study: the fabrication process.The factory takes square hollow section steel and plate steel as raw materials and fabricates different types of painted trusses.
Using expected market demand as well as the ongoing truss system designs, a process flow for fabrication was developed with initial layouts for arrangement and quantities of equipment.
Most of this process is to be automated with some manual intervention for transport, quality assurance and painting; processes where automated stations are unnecessary or significantly expensive against provided benefit.. To provide a better understanding of the system, we built a time-based discrete event model to represent the process and provide key outputs for various sets of input parameters.• innovation and invention.
• trying things and failing fast.These processes act as a tool bag: one is never sure at the start of a project the necessary order of things – although dialogue always comes first..
Many clients might expect a roadmap that they can follow, but part of Design to Value is the capacity to live with a bit of uncertainty.Clients need to understand that their project team members might feel uncomfortable about a new and unfamiliar process and we encourage the senior client representative to reassure their team that this is expected and it’s okay.