Revit Structure Scheduling: The Basics and Beyond
The Basics
Most Autodesk® Revit® users reading this article will by now be familiar with the basic scheduling tools within the software. The ability to automate the scheduling process for elements such as columns, beams, and foundations; tagging the elements and scheduling the mark, type, count, and so on, considerably speeds up the traditional draughting process.
Figure 1
Using the parameters that are already embedded in the system, additional information can be added to schedules to further add value to your documents (when using Revit for information production). Concrete volumes can be added to foundation, column, beam, and floor schedules.
This information can be further broken down within the schedule using the Sorting/Grouping tab of the Schedule properties, enabling the user to easily schedule concrete volumes by floor level within a building, for example, or the concrete volume of columns by storey, rather than providing just an overall total.
Figure 2
Concrete Volume Schedule Cautions
There are some basic modeling principles that users need to be aware of when scheduling concrete volumes within Revit. It is easy for the inexperienced to model elements in a “lazy” manner that causes them to intersect each other as opposed to forming neat geometric joints.
Figure 3
On paper, this method of assembly may appear to be satisfactory; however, when you start to interrogate the reported volumes within the schedule, discrepancies are found if the model has been constructed in this manner. The concrete volumes reported in Figure 4 are incorrect, and should actually be showing the values displayed in Figure 5.
Figure 4
Figure 5
The reason for this is because the concrete wall is intersecting the column and the geometry has automatically joined. This has resulted in a miscalculation of concrete volume for the individual elements. Whilst the reported overall concrete volume of the structure will be the same, the breakdown of the various elements to show different grades of concrete is where the problem will arise. The solution sounds simple: model each element correctly! However, in practice this might prove to be harder than it seems.
Figure 6
Beyond the Basics - Parameters
There are two types of parameters that can be added to schedules. Project parameters can be added within the project environment and appear in schedules but cannot be tagged, and shared parameters are built into the families and can be scheduled and tagged.
In the example below, project parameters have been added to the family allowing the column schedule to show the various loads on each column: Dead, Imposed, Wind, Shear Major and Shear Minor. Using an external plug-in programme, Microsoft Excel files can be imported and exported. This enables the user to easily update the loads in the Revit schedule, using values exported from the analysis package, resulting in all the information being stored within the Revit database.
Figure 7
Shared parameters could be considered to be the backbone of the Revit platform and the key to producing data-rich Building Information Models. Shared parameters are stored independent of the family or project environment, and can be used in all families (standardizing the naming of parameters within your library). Once added to families, these can be called up in tags and schedules (speeding up the information production process).
In the example below, shared parameters have been built into a parametric base plate family. These parameters have been scheduled to call out the base plate dimensions, number of bolts, bolt size, and dry pack thickness. Additional parameters could be added to the bolt family and shared to the base plate family to include additional data such as bolt lengths.
Figure 8
Beyond the Basics – Reinforcement Estimates
The default fields available within the Revit schedules (for concrete) allow for the scheduling of estimated reinforcement volumes, assuming the reinforcement has been modeled in the project. This figure can be converted into an estimated reinforcement weight by using a calculated value in the schedule.
Figure 9
The idea of using Revit to provide accurate reinforcement estimates could be viewed by the user as quite a labor-intensive process, requiring all elements within the model to have the reinforcement modeled to suit the preliminary reinforcement design.
However, the use of the reinforcement extensions provided by Autodesk as part of the Subscription Advantage Pack will speed up this whole process. Using this extension, columns, beams, foundations, and walls can be quickly and accurately detailed with the designed reinforcement, producing accurate schedules to assist with pricing.
Figure 10
Beyond the Basics – Steel Tonnage
The ability to calculate steel tonnages from a Building Information Model not only assists the tender process, but in such a competitive market can prove invaluable when undertaking value engineering on a scheme.
By adding a shared parameter into the steelwork families to allow the W value (Mass per metre kg/m) to be scheduled, the member’s tonnage can be easily calculated using the basic formula; Mass per metre * Cut Length / 1000 (for metric tonnes)
Figure 11
This method is applicable to all steelwork, although it is worth noting with column schedules there is no “cut length” field, so the parameter to use in this instance is length.
Tonnage schedules can be broken down by element, by floor level, and so on, using the Sorting/Grouping tab in the Schedules dialogue box. It is often worth sorting the elements by type mark and having this field set as a hidden field under the Formatting tab of the Schedule properties.
Figure 12
Custom framing members such as cell beams with different top and bottom web and flange sizes can also be scheduled, providing you have the relevant information relating to its mass and add that information into the family as a shared parameter.
Being able to accurately schedule the steel weights alongside the member utilisation ratios can help to identify inefficiencies in the frame design and provide an opportunity to refine the design and make savings. In today’s highly competitive market, innovative use of the software in this manner may just provide the cutting edge that results in a winning tender for the team.
Moving Forward
Structural analysis and design packages have the ability to export plans, elevations, sections, and 3D views showing the utilization of members such as framing. Traditionally, any members with a utilisation ratio greater than 1.0 would be shown red, whilst members with utilisations less than or equal to 1.0 would be coloured according to their actual utilisation based on a graduated color chart typically turning deeper shades of blue as the members become increasingly redundant. These colours are usually set within the program and cannot be changed.
In order to promote efficiency in design, clients are beginning to request graphical confirmation of the structural utilisation of the design detailed on the construction issue drawings. Through the application of colours to the individual members (based on their level of structural usage), any areas of excessive structural redundancy in the frame will be apparent and allow clients to consider design modifications to improve efficiency of use.
Through the intelligent use of schedules and filters within Revit, structural members can be highlighted using any chosen colour scheme based on their levels of utilisation stored as parameters within the families.
Using an external plug-in program to manipulate data transfer between the design package and Revit, utilisation parameters in the member families can be populated at the click of a button based on the results of the structural design. Thus, construction drawings can be easily and quickly “converted” into structural efficiency drawings following each design revision, until such time as the client is satisfied and the design frozen.
This method provides clients with a means of checking that they are not paying for an inefficient design, and because they are able to visualize this in a 3D environment, they can gain a better understanding compared with traditional 2D.
Summary
In summary, schedules should be considered as:
- an extremely valuable and powerful feature of Revit.
- a way of providing additional (quantitative) information with little extra effort.
- an opportunity to gain a competitive advantage to tendering and value engineering.
To gain most benefit from scheduling, careful consideration needs to be given to:
- the information required and parameters added to families accordingly.
- sorting / grouping data in a logical way.
- the way your Revit model is constructed
Finally, not only are schedules useful for quantification purposes, they provide a powerful way of linking Revit to external software packages.
Glenn Jowett is the UK Revit Structure Leader for Opus International Consultants, based in Manchester, England. Glenn’s role is to facilitate the growth and development of Revit Structure and BIM in the UK, as well as the global business. Opus is a leading international multidisciplinary consultancy, with a network of offices in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the UK, and the USA. Before returning to the UK, Glenn spent over three years working in the New Zealand business, Glenn can be contacted at Glenn.Jowett@opusinternational.co.uk, and also authors a Revit blog: Revit ST at http://revitst.blogspot.com
