Multi-dimensional data fitting for the structural design of a simple timber connection

Livingstone, Andrew; Patlakas, Panagiotis; Milne, Mark; Smith, Sean; Hairstans, Robert

Abstract

This paper presents a novel method of automating the structural design of timber connections and ensuring code compliance within a Building Information Modelling (BIM) context. The mathematical method of Multi Dimensional Data Fitting (MDDF) is presented and applied in a proof-of-concept example of a simple timber connection. The requirements of MDDF for this example are presented, together with a custom software environment built within Matlab to generate the fitting equation. Issues of dataset selection and high dimensionality are discussed and the fitting process is described in detail. The validation and verification of the resulting equation are presented, drawing on existing laboratory work. A proof-of-concept integration in a BIM environment is presented, demonstrating the benefits MDDF can have for Automatic Code Compliance (ACC). The paper closes by discussing the future potential of MDDF/BIM integration.

Citation

Livingstone, A., Patlakas, P., Milne, M., Smith, S., & Hairstans, R. (2016). Multi-dimensional data fitting for the structural design of a simple timber connection. In J. Eberhardsteiner, W. Winter, A. Fadai, & M. Pöll (Eds.), WCTE 2016 e-book : containing all full papers submitted to the World Conference on Timber Engineering (WCTE 2016) (2037-2044)

• Conference Name: World Conference on Timber Engineering
• Conference Location: Vienna, Austria
• Start Date: Aug 22, 2016
• End Date: Aug 25, 2016
• Acceptance Date: Aug 31, 2016
• Publication Date: 2016-08
• Deposit Date: May 13, 2016
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Pages: 2037-2044
• Book Title: WCTE 2016 e-book : containing all full papers submitted to the World Conference on Timber Engineering (WCTE 2016)
• ISBN: 978-3-903024-35-9
• Keywords: Timber engineering; structural design
• Public URL: http://researchrepository.napier.ac.uk/id/eprint/10194
• Publisher URL: http://shop.tuverlag.at/de/the-world-conference-on-timber-engineering
• Related Public URLs: http://repositum.tuwien.ac.at/obvutwoa/content/titleinfo/1528439