CIMdata PLM Industry Summary Online Archive
17 October 2005
Product News
Mathsoft and StructureWorks Offer Unique Design/Engineering/Analysis Solution For Precast Concrete Industry
Mathsoft ® and StructureWorks, LLC announced they have integrated their products to streamline design of buildings and other structures employing precast concrete.
The companies announced the integration at the Precast/Prestressed Concrete Institute's (PCI's) Annual Convention/Exhibition and The PCI National Bridge Conference taking place today through Wednesday here at the Wyndham Palm Springs Hotel and Palm Springs Convention Center.
By interoperating with Mathcad®, StructureWorks will for the first time offer equation-based analysis as part of the 3D design of precast components and connections. The integration will enable results of Mathcad-powered calculations to automate the creation of 3D computer-aided design models in StructureWorks Precast 2006, the industry's first 3D CAD system for creating manufactured concrete products. The integration will also enable designers working in StructureWorks to concurrently analyze their designs against engineering calculations developed in Mathcad, helping ensure successful and safe designs.
For example, project engineers working in StructureWorks can invoke a Mathcad "pass/fail" calculation worksheet to determine if a concrete plate design will support the applied loads. They could invoke another worksheet to design a structure from a given capacity, again without leaving the StructureWorks interface.
"Designing the building and engineering the structure are the same process conceptually," said Jason Lien, president of StructureWorks. "Mathsoft and StructureWorks are collaborating to make them a single process in our software."
The integration will be available by January with the release of StructureWorks Precast 2006 software, and will be demo-ed at The Precast/Prestressed Concrete Institute's National Bridge Conference, which is taking place today through Wednesday at the Wyndham Palm Springs Hotel & Convention Center in Palm Springs, California,
Built on the proven SolidWorks software 3D mechanical design platform, StructureWorks Precast accelerates development of building projects by automating the production of drawings, generating real time bills of materials, and vaulting the data for subsequent use in Microsoft's SQL server database. StructureWorks is intended for use by all manufacturers of engineered structural, architectural, utility, and site cast precast and prestressed products.
Mathcad is a comprehensive design environment that enables engineers to simultaneously explore, calculate and document all of their mathematical formulas and calculations during the design phase of a product. Engineers can combine formulas, text and interactive graphics in a single electronic worksheet via an intuitive "whiteboard" interface. Mathcad is ideal for experimenting with design parameters and analyzing measurement data.
"This integration further extends our commitment to streamlining the engineering process whether it's managing calculations across the enterprise, documenting a single engineering calculation, or enabling engineers to use one integrated tool instead of separate software packages," said Mathsoft vice president of services John Sheehan.
StructureWorks, developed by a consortium of three precast concrete industry leaders, is the culmination of more than three years of intensive research and development efforts led by Finfrock Industries of Orlando, FL, Rocky Mountain Prestress of Denver, CO and PTAC Consulting Engineers of Pensacola, FL. For more information, visit http://www.structureworks.net .
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