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A world in which the structural engineer writes all his calculations on draft pads and sits bent over the drawing board together with the draftsman seems to be gradually moving further into the background. Also at consulting and engineering firm Lievense, digitization is in full swing. Not only the young generation, but also very experienced experts are curious about the new possibilities and challenges that digitization brings and are enthusiastically biting into this.
Wichard Bron, structural engineer at Lievense: "A development that plays an important role here is parametric design. This involves generating a design based on relationships between data. The design process is drastically accelerated and much more flexibility is possible. More importantly, we can support our clients even better with complex (structural) issues. Now the question arises: Will the structural engineer eventually become redundant? Can design processes be automated in such a way that the structural engineer is no longer necessary? At Lievense, we think not."
The Harselaart Tunnel has an optimal structural design.
"We believe that parametric design is actually a good extension of the structural engineer since he is indispensable in assessing the correctness of a solution. Because several variants can be considered in a shorter time, it is even more possible to provide the customer with the optimal solution to his problem. Moreover, a much better picture can be formed about the behavior of the structure. Which parameters have influence can be properly examined. Partly because of this, risks can be assessed earlier," says Bron.
A good example is an application developed by Lievense for designing the entrances of underpasses. In this model, a consideration of a U-bay can be done in which both structural and geotechnical considerations can be performed integrally. By feeding the results back to a cost model afterwards, an optimal search direction can be determined at an early stage. For example, by comparing different pile systems. This is particularly interesting in the preliminary phase. In a short time it is possible to investigate what is feasible and interesting in terms of costs. Not only for underpasses, but also for bridges, Lievense has developed applications.
An expert structural engineer combined with a good parametric model leads to an optimal structural design and thus a satisfied client!
