Creating a New Solution for

Parametric Bridge Design

Daniel Bittrich
Head of Product Management Allplan
\Topics

Nemetschek and Allplan

Bridges and other Civil Structures
Siemens Components
Agile Management

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\Nemetschek and Allplan
Nemetschek
› serving the architecture, engineering and construction industry
› founded as engineering consultancy in 1963
› 4 million users in 142 countries
› 16 brands

› 2.100 employees
› revenues 396 million €
› market capitalization 5 billion €

Allplan
› 190.000 users in 41 countries
› 400 employees
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Georg Nemetschek, Founder of Nemetschek Group
\Allplan Portfolio

Architecture Engineering for Buildings Engineering for Civil Structures

Elephant Park Zoo Zurich, Switzerland European Central Bank, Frankfurt, Germany Queensferry Crossing, Edinburgh, Great Britain

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\Stages of Software Development

Cowboy Coding
Waterfall
Agile

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\Alfred Spector, Former Vice President at Google

“Bridges are normally

built on-time, on-
budget, and do not fall
down.

On the other hand,

software never comes in
on-time or on-budget. In
Type of Project Successful Delayed Failed or canceled
addition, it always Traditional Development 11% 60% 29%
breaks down.” Agile Development 39% 52% 9%
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Source: Standish Group Chaos Report
\Bent Flyvbjerg, Professor at Oxford University

“Megaproject
development today is
not a field of what has
been called ‘honest
numbers’. It is a field
where you will see one
group of professionals
calling the work of
another not only
‘biased’ and ‘seriously
flawed’ but a ‘grave Type of Project Likelihood of Cost Overrun Average Cost Overrun
embarrassment’ to the Bridges 90% 32%
profession.” Tunnels 90% 36%
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Source: Flyvbjerg et al., “Underestimating Costs in Public Works Projects: Error or Lie?”
\Problem
Status Quo
› civil structures are huge
and complex

› design and detailing still

done with 2D drafting tools
› hundreds of drawings have
to be drafted and updated
manually
› quantities and costs
estimated by rule of thumb
› construction sites plagued
by design errors
› inconsistencies
› clashes
San Francisco – Oakland Bay Bridge - Eastern Replacement Span, USA8
\Solution
Digitization of the
Construction Industry
› BIM can reduce
› design time by up to 80%
› unbudgeted
supplemental costs by up
to 80%
› total project
implementation time by
20% and more

› BIM becomes mandated

around the world …
› no practical BIM solutions
for bridges yet
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Tamina Bridge, Pfäfers/Valens, Switzerland
\Blue Ocean Strategy

Infrastructure
Buildings

Low-end Lower middle Upper middle High-end

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\Blue Ocean Strategy

Infrastructure
Buildings

Low-end Lower middle Upper middle High-end

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\BIM Functionality for Infrastructure Projects

BIM Collaboration and CDE Section along curve Free-form modeling PythonParts
Bimplus 2012 Allplan 2015 Allplan 2016 Allplan 2017

Free-form reinforcement I Free-form reinforcement II Parametric Bridge Modeler Parametric Prestressing

Allplan 2017 Allplan 2018 Allplan 2018-1 Allplan 2019

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\The Bridge Team
Three Laws of Agile

© ALLPLAN GmbH, Munich, Germany | © iStock | © Photos: Richard Sharrocks| Project: Sheikh-Zayed-Bridge, Abu Dhabi
Law of the small team

Law of the customer

Law of the network

Marketing Product
Sales Owner

Consulting
Support

Development

Sheik Zayed Bridge, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates 13

 March 2017
\Time Line

Allplan
Bridge
parametric
model

August 2017
Allplan Bridge
model
transferred to
Allplan

November 2017

First Release
of Allplan Bridge
April 2018

Second Release
of Allplan Bridge
October 2018
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\Business Plan
First Release Second Release

Break-Even

Planned Monthly Revenues 2018

January February March April May June July August September October November December
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\Approaches to Parametric Modeling
1. conventional, hard-coded functionality
2. scripting (e.g. Python)
3. visual programming (e.g. Rhino/Grasshopper)
4. modeling with constraints (e.g. various MCAD solutions)

a1 b1 c1 x d1
a2 b2 c2 * y = d2
a3 b3 c3 z d3

5. modeling with parameters (Allplan Bridge)

B (p) = B ( A(x(s),y(s),z(s)), C(v=T(s)) )
Axis A(x(s),y(s),z(s)) Cross section: C(v) Functions of stationing v=T(s)
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\Approach to Parametric Modeling

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\

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\Tamina Bridge, Switzerland (2013 - 2017)
Project Information
› Leonhardt, Andrä und Partner,
Stuttgart (D)
› Allplan Engineering

› arch bridge over the Tamina

gorge, 265 m span
› close collaboration between
engineering consultancy,
contractors and authorities
› BIM Level 1 project with
exceptional level of detail

“Extensive visual representations

regarding the spatial arrangement
of prestressing tendons and
reinforcement became necessary to
convince the awarding authority and
the contractor of the constructability
of the design.”
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\Movie

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\Steve Denning, Author and Management Consultant

“If there were a Nobel

Prize for management,
which there isn’t and if
there were any justice in
the world, which there
isn’t, the creators of
Agile would be Nobel
laureates.”
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\

ALPLAN

Contact Daniel Bittrich

Position Head of Product Management Allplan

Phone +49 89 92793-1520

E-Mail dbittrich@allplan.com

© ALLPLAN GmbH, Munich