Save the date and join the Consteel Community on March 30. The International Consteel Meetup online event will shed light on various structural design topics with the help of Consteel software, focusing mainly on its unique and advanced solutions in steel structural design. In addition to experienced Consteel users, any interested engineers or companies open for new technologies are also welcome to join.
Be part of the Consteel Community for just one day
The event will be free, but registration will be required.
This year, we are organizing thematic afternoon so that everyone can listen to the presentation they really want to hear and learn about. In the morning session, there will be general topics with a guest speaker, after that you can join two sessions on different specific topics at the same time. We hope that the meetup will be a great opportunity to learn new techniques from experts in the field, get to know more of your peers’ projects, and build your professional community network. The presentations will be in English only.
This year’s winners of The Steel Lion Award for the best structural steel projects will be also announced at this event.
Don’t hesitate and register for our online event! See the detailed program under the ‚Events‘ tab!
RegisterThe Steel Lion Award is an international competition for steel structural engineers, but this year, students can also apply in a separate category. Our aim is to engage the Consteel community on a wider scale. This award recognizes creative parametric solutions in the field of steel structure design, promoting innovation, creativity, and excellence. This year the competition is open for submissions again until March 20 so don’t hesitate to apply! The winners will be announced at the International Consteel Meetup on March 30. This article provides an overview of the development of our incentive programs and their contribution to the cultural sector.
About the award
The award was launched last year with great success and 30 steel structure models from different industries were submitted in 2022. The Steel Lion Award is an innovative program designed to recognize and motivate skilled structural engineers from around the world to showcase their best projects at Consteel. Considering our extensive user base, which includes both local and international markets, we want to give all users the opportunity to enter their exceptional work into the competition. On February 1, we re-launched The Steel Lion Award, and from this year, students can enter their diplomas alongside Hungarian and international projects.
‚I started laying the foundations of the Consteel software about 40 years ago. At first, I worked alone, and then with the help of more and more students. I thought I would use my knowledge of steel structure and mechanics to create software that engineers could use as a simple tool. At the time, I had no idea that we would create a system that could even teach its creators. Today, I’m afraid that the software knows much more about the behavior and strength of steel structures than I do. Consteel is a true MASTER worth learning from, and The Steel Lion Award initiative is an excellent opportunity for all students and practicing engineers to showcase their achievements with this master.‚
– said Ferenc Papp PhD, jury member, the father of Consteel and DSc of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences.
How to apply with your project?
To apply with your project, it is free for everyone in 2023, with the prerequisite that the company must have a live Consteel license. A company can apply for the award with more than one project, and in that case, an application form must be completed for each project. The end of structural design (e.g., finished model) for all projects should be within the previous 5 years. The size of the project or the size of the Consteel model is not a key factor during the evaluation, so smaller projects with creative, unique solutions are warmly welcome. Applications will close on March 20 and will be reviewed by the professional jury.
An international Consteel team of structural engineering professionals and academic professors will evaluate the submitted projects. All projects that use scripting technologies (Pangolin or Descript) in their solution will be automatically evaluated for the Pangolin Award. We believe that this new technology is the future of structural steel design and that it is essential to promote its uptake and spread within the profession. The winners will be announced during the International Consteel Meetup on March 30. You can already see the detailed program of this event by clicking here.
How to apply with your diploma?
To apply with your diploma, your thesis should be written between January 2021 and February 2023. The new Steel Lion Award will include all ConSteel-related competitions and contests, including the Hungarian User Day contest or Diploma Competition, to create a high-level, internationally recognized professional or graduate award for the Consteel user community. If you are a student or have graduated in the last 2 years, you do not need to have a live Consteel license. The diplomas will not be evaluated together with the real projects submitted by experienced professionals. Applications will also close on March 20.
Celebrating community and excellence in structural engineering
The winner of each category will be announced at the International Consteel Meetup on March 30, 2023. We believe that the power of community multiplies the performance of individuals. That is why we consider community building important in the field of structural engineering, and an important step is to share our results with each other. This is perhaps the most important part of The Steel Lion Award, to show each other what and how we work in Consteel. That is why we have created a new website where the submitted and collected models can be viewed in a spectacular online viewer. For more details on this prestigious award, please visit the website.
We present one of the projects for the Steel Lion Award, which won this year’s Pangolin Award. In this article you can read a detailed case study from the Tiszaliget Revitalization project.
Project general data
The main task of the structural engineers was to carry out the design of a support structure for a new slide track. This was prescribed by the architectural design to have slightly different slopes and curvatures than the existing ones which have been considered obsolete. The goal was to reuse as many of the existing columns as possible and to optimize the positioning of support placement, therefore minimizing the number of required cantilevers.
The design team handled the global structural calculations, as well as the joint calculations, detailing, and drafting. The main purpose even at the very beginning was to create a centralized parametric model in order to dynamically generate all the necessary model objects and communicate efficiently between the softwares. From the structural point of view, this meant the full model with complex geometry, loads, supports, etc. While from the detailing side a completed model with definitive joints.
The versatile Grasshopper script
The script is capable to carry out the following tasks:
0. Input data processing
- Structural model parameter collecting
- Load definition according to the prescriptions (manufacturer, codes)
- Geometry creation via Grasshopper
- Tekla model generation
- Consteel model object generation
- Load assignment to Consteel beams
Input data processing
Two main input data were received: A 3D model of the assembled slide elements, and a geodetic survey of the existing structure. Both .dwg files were processed in Rhino 3D to prepare the centralized model which is directly linked to a Grasshopper script. The base model which contained the slide centrelines was distributed to separate layers and loaded into Grasshopper via the Elefront plugin, as well as the measured points of the existing columns. Using these points the centrelines of the columns were averaged.
Load evaluation
The slide manufacturers‘ data sheet and the related load evaluation methods from the standard were imported to Grasshopper. This allowed us to calculate automatically the particular user, water, centrifugal, and snow loads for the given slide sections and to directly forward the results to the Pangolin plugin.
Producing the Consteel model
After a quick correction of the centrelines in Grasshopper, a preliminary Tekla model was created by the script in order to create rudimentary joint configurations using custom components and scatter through the model in every position. This model ensured that the correct eccentricities could be calculated in Consteel at the slide receiving joints due to the real centrelines of the supporting beams.
The generated model contained all the necessary model objects (e.g. all the beams with specific releases, load cases & combinations, etc.) to directly run and analyze the model from Grasshopper, which made it possible to check different support placements in a relatively short time.
The final model
After the structural verification and dimensioning process the verification of typified joint models (using IDEA StatiCa) for specific positions was also performed, e.g. for cantilever end node, bracing nodes, and slide receiving plates. The preliminary custom components were updated in Tekla Structures, thus creating the complete model which is ready to prepare the drawings was a matter of hours.
Conclusion
The parametric model was capable to generate multiple configurations and to assist throughout the whole project. The project’s total design duration was 2 months and was carried out by one structural engineer and one detailer. The script development lasted about 1 month and it is fully reusable for similar future projects.
PROJECT FACTS
General Designer: Eleven Ltd.
Steel Designer: KÉSZ Constructii Romania Ltd.
Steel design team: 1 lead structural engineer, 1 structural engineer, 1 modeller
In the future, the new Steel Lion Award will include all ConSteel-related competitions and contests – including the Hungarian User Day contest or Diploma Competition – to create a high-level, internationally recognized professional or graduate award for the Consteel user community. It is an initiative that celebrates and inspires structural engineer talents all over the world to compete with their best projects made in Consteel. In this article, we have put together a summary of how our incentive programs have evolved and how it supports the cultural sector at the same time.
Why have we created an international award?
The idea of creating a high-level international award for the Consteel user community has been ripe for a long time. Consteel software is a unique and advanced solution for designing steel structures helping engineers to create many excellent projects around the world every year. We would like to show these to the wider engineering community, so you can see how many creative implementations there are and how much the software can be used for.
In Hungary, we have already launched a smaller, domestic version of this award, in which our users have submitted many great projects and we have rewarded them every year on the Hungarian User Day contest. You can see previous winners here.
The first international Steel Lion Award
The Steel Lion Award is an initiative that celebrates and inspires structural engineer talents all over the world to compete with their best projects made with Consteel. As we are not only in the domestic market but also have a significant number of international users, we wanted to give them the opportunity to enter the competition with their work. Therefore, we launched the first international Steel Lion Award on 1 February 2022, which is not only open to Hungarian projects but now also looking for international ones. More information about the award can be found here.
The trophy was put out to competition among Hungarian artists and from the entries received we chose a young sculptor, Mihály Ágoston Gyurcsovics. Just as the lion is considered the king of the animals, with this The Steel Lion Award we are highlighting the best projects from the submitted models. In addition to the sculpture’s clean and elegant design, it was also important that the structure of the lion’s interior symbolized the steel structure design and valuable global connections that the ConSteel team has. The material of the award is stainless steel, which in addition to its structural functionality, is also excellent design material.
How to apply?
Currently, we have made it free for everyone to enter the competition, with a prerequisite that the company must have a live Consteel license. A company can apply for the award with more than one project, in which case an application form must be completed for each project. The size of the project or the size of the Consteel model is not a key factor during the evaluation, so the smaller projects with creative, unique solutions are warmly welcome. Applications will close on 16 March 2022 and will be reviewed by the professional jury.
The submitted projects will be evaluated by an international Consteel team of structural engineering professionals, academic professors. All the projects where the solution includes the use of scripting technologies (Pangolin or Descript) will be automatically evaluated for the Pangolin award. We believe that this new technology is the future of structural steel design, which is why we believe it is important to promote its uptake and spread within the profession. The winners will be announced during the International Consteel Meetup on 24 March 2022. More information about the event will be coming soon.
Apply for submissionWhat happens with the Diploma Competition?
The launched Steel Lion Award will include all ConSteel-related competitions and contests. This means that the domestic competition will no longer be organized separately, but instead, projects will be assessed globally, and the Diploma Competition, which was announced in previous years, will be merged into it. In 2023, the next competition for civil engineering graduates will be launched under The Steel Lion Award umbrella. This will be a change of name, of course, and the diploma will not be evaluated together with the projects submitted by experienced professionals.
As we have received thesis from surrounding countries this year, which we consider to be a great step forward and see it as a good idea to expand this to an international competition, so that in the future young people from abroad will also have the opportunity to participate.