Parametric design
What does parametric design even mean in our industry? For the first blink: strange, out of this world buildings, with unique shapes. In reality, parametric design holds much more than that with proper tools.
Our in-built solution, Descript facilitates parametric design inside Consteel, while our plugin, Pangolin helps to exploit the possibilities of Rhino-Grasshopper.
Explore how to shift during design from the actual geometry to the underlying logic!
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Specific Feature Solutions for Parametric design in Consteel
Parametric model building in Grasshopper – Pangolin
In the dynamicly evolving landscape of structural design, Consteel’s Pangolin plugin for Grasshopper revolutionizes parametric model building, analysis and design. By seamlessly integrating Consteel’s powerful capabilities within Grasshopper’s intuitive visual programming environment, Pangolin empowers engineers to create complex structural models with unprecedented flexibility and efficiency.
Model optimization by in-built scripting environment
Optimizing structural models is never a simple task—it demands well-defined criteria and a purposeful, iterative algorithm. One common approach is cross-section optimization, and for this, Consteel provides practical solutions through easily accessible and user-friendly Descript scripts. What’s more, these scripts can also be utilized within the Grasshopper environment thanks to Pangolin.
OUR PARTNERS
How can Consteel enhance your work?
Hungexpo Project, Arrival Hall
A real case study on advanced parametric BIM workflow.
The Hungexpo Budapest Fair is going through a massive revitalization. This project includes the new Arrival Hall Building, an attractive propeller-shaped building. A building with such geometric complexity requires advanced design methods and multi-platform collaboration. In this article, we aim to give an insight into the open BIM environment and parametric design methods used in the design process.
The design processes of a multi-story industrial structure using a central parametric model
Discover an in-depth case study detailing the expansion of a Turda, Romania plasterboard factory, which shows how the expansion led to the construction of nine new structures. This project, which uses a central parametric model, won third place in this year’s The Steel Lion Award 2023 competiton, thanks to its innovative use of Consteel software for steel structural design and Pangolin, the Rhino-Grasshopper plugin for Consteel.
A complete structural parametric design workflow of a slide support structure
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.
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.
Innovative formwork design with Pangolin
Introducing the one of the winners of The Steel Lion Award 2024. The article includes a detailed case study of Pangolin design for the creation and design of formwork structure.
Control throughout the design process is crucial, and even more so when it comes to structures whose loads change throughout the design process, as they are the result of a phased analysis that aims for an optimum.The field of special formwork is one of these areas.
Structures that: must support large loads (weight of fresh concrete) without showing large deformations to obtain the required concrete geometry…
Parametric design of an office building
Introducing the student prize winner of The Steel Lion Award 2024. The project introduces the parametric design and was created by Darius Dumitraşcu, a final year student from Romania.
For Darius Dumitraşcu, the winner of the Student Award, the task was the design of an office building, based on a steel structural system. He proposed to create a fictional building, giving him the freedom of creating any kind of geometry for the structure, which provided him an opportunity to approach the design with parametrization more freely. The final structure was inspired by The Gherkin from London, and it’s diagrid structure.
The next step was to build a parametric model which could help him build up and analyze several models with slightly different geometries by only changing a few parameters, and could be used to generate the final model.
The development of a user-friendly, parametric structural design tool for cold-formed steel modular buildings
Since we entered in the world of parametric design with our Grasshopper plugin Pangolin, we have observed numerous remarkable projects characterized by significant geometrical and structural intricacy. However, these projects are so unique that it is hard to effectively transfer the experiences and standardize certain parts of the parametric design workflow, particularly within design firms employing numerous structural engineers. But what happens in the case of modular or pre-engineered buildings? One of our customers has the answer. Let us delve into the details and then watch the accompanying video for a practical demonstration.
WHY CHOOSE CONSTEEL?
TRUSTED EXPERIENCE
ConSteel Solutions Ltd. is a software developer company specialized in structural analysis and design for steel, composite structures with more than 25 years of experience in steel design.
Pioneer innovations
We continuously research and implement the most modern ways of steel design based on high-level, integrated numerical analysis. We are also seriously dealing with design issues outside of the standard methods in order to offer practical solutions for the engineers in these complex fields as well.
Unparalleled support
With Consteel, you benefit from expert local support and valuable guidance at every stage, provided by our highly regarded and experienced support team. We’re proud that our users are satisfied with the support they receive.
WHO RECOMMENDS US?
‚Consteel is a great asset for Arambol Ingeniería S.L. Thanks to its workflow we can design, calculate and present a project in record time. The program is very intuitive and easy to use. Technically, the seventh degree of freedom is an enormously useful tool to check structures with the general method, and even obtain reliable results thanks to the use of buckling shapes together with the imperfections to obtain utilization ratios that, physically, are more realistic than the reduction coefficients. Consteel has very specialized features such as the shear field or the frame corner wizard that add an extra degree of professionalism to the calculation, which translates into greater efficiency in the use of steel and, therefore, money.‘
‚The Alba Arena project highlighted the extraordinary potential of the Consteel software and Pangolin. It is a pioneering technology that enables the parametric design of complex geometry and large-scale structures through the Grasshopper system. The Pangolin award is an exceptional recognition for me and the bim.GROUP, as it is a positive feedback on the quality of our work and an opportunity to showcase our expertise on an international level.‘ said Dávid Lewandowski, Steel Structure Designer, regarding the award.‘
‚Consteel’s technical support team is very professional. Especially Mr. Balint Vaszilievits-Sömjén, he has been a great help to us! We were impressed by his professionalism and dedication. We are satisfied with the use of Consteel, which has proven its worth in our international projects.‘
‚I started using the Consteel design software during my university studies, when it was Consteel version 6. Even then I was impressed by the simplicity, transparency, and speed of the program. Since then, I have had the pleasure of designing many structures with the program, from small to large: industrial halls, office buildings, large opening roof structures, staircases, flying garages, pipe bridges, canopies, secondary closure elements, or the transmission line poles on which my doctoral thesis was based.
The bottom line is that it allows a structural engineer to model any structure in 3D in a structurally correct way, yet quickly and with a low risk of error. The most complex geometric type includes, for example, a lattice structure, where stability loss shapes can be efficiently calculated and sections optimised. One of my favourite features is the interpretability of the results, and the fact that the program receives significant updates year after year, which is the most user-oriented.‘
‚From the very beginning, I really like Consteel because it can be used to perform global steel structure tests in a complex and compact way, efficiently. In addition, the software integrates well with automated parameter-driven design algorithms – so I can heartily recommend it.‘
The approach of the Consteel team to software development also deserves praise, which shows a well-thought-out path of software development in terms of suitability for practical applications (and not only in terms of changing the graphic interface as is the case in other developers).
We recommend Consteel to all experienced engineers.‘
knowledge behind consteel
Utilizing Pangolin in a „Consteel first workflow“
Get to know Pangolin
Model definition with Pangolin
Integrate structural model and analysis in Grasshopper
Example ModelS
Script Library
Scripting is a powerful tool to enhance your workflow. We have developed a curated library of Descript examples, Grasshopper scripts, and solutions using the Consteel API to meet various needs and help to speed up your workflow.
SIMPLIFY YOUR DESIGN PROCESS
