Measure load-bearing capacity in SU

I tend to agree. Trying to solve the structural engineering or construction challenges is best left to experts in those fields, attempting to demonstrate a plan developed without expertise often can backfire by showcasing the mistakes and giving the impression that the project is not well thought through.

For example there are quite a few grave errors and impossibilities with the construction plan that is outlined in the PDF, this is the work I do. I don’t want to pick it apart as that advice was not solicited and would be rude, but any serious SE or GC or tower crane contractor or maritime contractor would do just that.

Sometimes it’s better to concentrate on the big picture, rather than rushing to present details that are incorrect. Just a thought.

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The engineering firm was not concerned with the size or design of the building, though of course it’ll be a heavy lift to get approvals. We also know the cranes, barges and safety issues have to be worked out. We all know that. But it has to span the river, so that is that. There’s laws of physics to consider, also hurricanes and stability issues and yes, Earthquakes too.
But anyway, they envisioned building it up level by level, which, I was told would take a counter-weight tower the size of the Williamsburg Bridge (not shown but as large as the ones that are) tower to accomplish. I believe I answered that criticism or I would not have been invited back.
But at some point, the load factors have to be calculated. I guess that will not be done with SU, however.

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I think at the scale you are building the physical forces will be enormous. You are certainly looking at custom software and multi machine clusters for calculating stress, load, aerodynamics etc.

Maybe you can do it in Catia, I will check for you tomorrow.

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Wikipedia’s list of possible software options. Some indicate bridge design.

This is not an attack. But a few months ago you had problems getting your floors in the same plane. While I admire your vision, you need structural engineers. Not some program like Struct Calc. Just being honest. Have you calculated the weight of your structure? It’s time consuming, but can be done in SketchUp.

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Everything should be in sections, only to be used in totality when needed.

I asked in work and was told that you can measure load and weight calculation and more in Catia for sure.

Although you can try and export the model into Catia, for the best results I would make some plans and have an engineer rebuild the parts for you again nativity for accurate results.

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Well, that certainly is an exhaustive list! But I am not sure which of the hundreds of software I should use, if any. On SU, it says “BIM & 3D modeling software applied for civil & structural engineering” which doesn’t tell me much I didn’t already know, nor how to get what I need out of SU, if it can be done at all.

How would I use something like Catia to measure the weight and determine if the column size, placement and numbers are sufficient?

Catia has features built in to calculate load and stress etc on the materials. You can enter in the material properties and then the software will calculate certain things. It’s quite a complicated piece of software, in work it used to design complete vehicles and all of the load bearing that goes with that! However I know it’s also used in many areas of industrial design, engineering and architecture too. You may have to split up your model I doubt it can be calculated in one simple model.

I have watched it used in work and won’t kid myself that I will be able to learn it. You need to undertake a rather exhaustive course.

Therefore I would recommend having an engineer qualified in Catia rebuild it for you if thats the route you want to go down. However the scale of this just seems to big, not sure how you can crunch the numbers accurately without a big team making accurate models for stress testing?

It would be cheaper than doing a course yourself and purchasing a single seat.

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What is the most current cost estimate?

$19.7b - including Hard/Soft and Financing costs projected.


I’ve been mostly pitching the project lately, with possible architect approval letter in a few days - a great Xmas present!!! Working on getting the extensive political support we, in the growing team, will need too. It’s so much slower than development in SU. But Developers with far more experience tell me that is normal, and once we get initial approvals, it’ll snowball, then everyone will want to get on the train…
Still like to know if the columns are sufficiently load-bearing.

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One type of analysis software I use in my work flow is called CYPE. I create wireframes in sketchup which are then imported to CYPE. All my section defining etc is done within CYPE. Once the analysis is complete, I can then import a 3-D model with sections and detailing back into SketchUp. In terms of work flow I find it to be really quite efficient. CYPE deals with all material properties data and I can produce reports detailing as such from within the CYPE user interface.

That sounds interesting, do you need to export via IFC or plain geometry without information?

I export the wireframe as a 3d .DWG . The wireframe is just representational geometry which I then define in the other software. Eg, a single straight line for a UB but at the required length.