Looking for feedback and testers for a side project (a structural loading software) 4

[tribby3d]

Hello Eng-tips community,
I'm new here, but I hope that I selected the right group for this post. My name is Emil and I'm a structural engineer.

When the corona shutdowns began back in march, I started developing a tool that I hope can help structural engineers to simplify the process of estimating tributary areas for column and wall elements. I call the application Tribby3d. It's running in the cloud and it's getting very close to a stage where it can be tested and evaluated:

Now I'm looking for some talented structural engineers to test the software. You will gain full access to the application once it's up and running during the testing phase.

What do you think? Is this an application that I should continue to develop, or do you have better methods for calculating tributary areas of elements? Let me know what you think, and if you’re interested, you are all very welcome to sign up for the early access beta on the home page:

https://tribby3d.com/

Many thanks,
Emil

 

[r13]

Very interesting. Is the trial for free?

 

[rb1957]

Very nice ! Soon some damned architect will think he (non gender specific) can do structural calcs. Then where'll we be ?

another day in paradise, or is paradise one day closer ?

 

[tribby3d]

@retired13
Thanks for your reply! Sorry, I should have clarified this in my post - signing up and getting beta access is 100% free. I basically just want to get some feedback at this stage to understand whether this is something worth pushing or not. In return, beta testers will gain full access to use Tribby3d however they want.

 

[tribby3d]

@rb1957,
Hah, I'm not too worried about that yet Tribby3d doesn't automate any structural design. For now the full focus has been on computing trib areas, which then can be used to calculate structural loading.

Thanks for your comment!

 

[r13]

Yeah, I would encourage my (young) fellow engineers to tryout. Visualization will be a key part of the future in structural design, I believe. Good work, and good luck!

 

[tribby3d]

@retired13
Thank you!

 

[MIStructE_IRE]

Looks impressive! I’d love a trial!

 

[tribby3d]

@MIStructE_IRE
Thanks, glad to hear that! Feel free to register at

https://tribby3d.com/sign-up

 

[STrctPono]

It's got some cool visuals! Nice job.

 

[tribby3d]

@STrctPono
Thanks! Yes, I've put alot of effort in making the visuals sensible and slick. Glad to hear you dig it.

 

[blihpandgeorge]

i looked at the website and it lists "Using geometric methods, Tribby3d makes it easy to define models and compute tributary areas without the need for detailed FE models."

does Tribby3d allow for elastic shear? or does it based on area only? (if it doesnt account for elastic shear i fear it is giving misleading, and incorrect, answers)

 

[1503-44]

Can it write the load file to Excel, or other popular analysis software?

 

[r13]

That would be great, a remote dream/goal maybe, if you can develop the program to demonstrate dynamic responses of structures.

 

[tribby3d]

@blihpandgeorge
Many thanks for your question. You bring up an excellent point I definitely have to document better. Currently, Tribby3d does not take into account any differences in stiffness of the supporting columns/walls. In other words, if you have 10 columns supporting a floor – let’s say 5 with high stiffness and 5 with low stiffness – the tributary area would still be divided equally (assuming the geometric layout is configured in that way). In reality, the stiffer columns would “attract” more area and get more loading as a consequence.

This is an important limitation of the method, and Tribby3d is not meant to replace a detailed FE model that usually gets built in later project phases. Instead, the hope is that Tribby3d can offer a way to quickly estimate loads in early design phases (before an FE model is available) to inform column layout and foundation system, along with other hand calcs. Does that make sense? Do you think these simplified methods can bring value to the design process? Would love to hear what you think.

Thanks again for your comment – this is exactly the type of feedback I’m looking for!

 

[tribby3d]

@-thirtynine
Yes! Check out the third item in the feature list here:

https://tribby3d.com/features/

Currently it's just a flat list of all areas and ids, but I'm working on to improve this. For instance better column naming potentially using grid intersections.

Thanks for your comment!

 

[tribby3d]

@r13
That's an interesting thought. This project is still very much in the early days and the development path will definitely be guided by what users find value in. That being said, nothing is impossible

 

[1503-44]

I do think grid intersections would definitely be helpful for convenience and avoiding translation errors, as that has long been a standard location reference. Nothing worse than being forced to use different reference systems on the same job. The grid system/floor level is the only one I've ever used for that.

 

[tribby3d]

@-thirtynine
Totally agree. The risk for translation errors is huge with the current system.

How would you prefer to define grid lines? Would that be another button to draw lines and subsequently name them? Or would it be better to generate them automatically based on where columns have been placed? And what happens if there are off-grid columns? How would you want these to be named? And what about walls that are potentially spanning multiple grid segments? Maybe walls are put in a different Excel sheet..

I'm now remembering why I've postponed this feature for so long, hehe..

Thanks

 

[1503-44]

Automatic would certainly be convenient, but might not suit all users' tastes.
Maybe you could have a default generation of automatic numbers and letters as shown in my little dwg, but then allow users to type over identifiers he/she wanted to change, or to add a new vertical or horizontal line into the auto-generated designators. Maybe somebody else has better ideas about that.