Structural Engineer, Topi Valtonen, works at the large technology consultant, Sitowise, in Finland. He is one of many who benefits from using FEM-Design’s global structural analysis in his projects. Why? Because it ensures the quality of the construction and saves time. Topi uses a methodology that he is happy to share with us.

Topi Valtonen achieves his project-goals with the help of FEM-design. He works in the department of Structural Engineering at Sitowise in Helsinki, Finland. Sitowise is a large engineering consultant with a turnover of 160 million Euros, 1,900 employees and operations in not just Finland but Sweden, Latvia and Estonia as well.

Doing everything correctly from the start is important to achieve a quality and reliable analysis result. But how does Topi ensure correct analysis results for an entire building? He uses a smart way of working that gives him answers as long as the right quality is achieved.

Topi goes through every floor separately, controls all data and information and checks that there are no geometric inaccuracies in the construction.

“When I model a floor plan, put on mesh, make a calculation of the load cases and control that the floor plan is correctly designed, Topi says. I then go on to the next floor and do the same thing until I have checked all the floors of the entire building. It provides a more efficient process…”, states Topi.

“I save time by working this way and avoid problems that might otherwise arise. If I model 16 floors and discover faults around the eighth floor, it is very difficult to find exactly what and where the error in the construction is. It takes time to analyse especially if it’s an advanced design”.

Finally, Topi conducts an overall global analysis of the entire building. The construction gets the right design and stability with FEM-Design as a useful tool.

Analysis of Connections between Elements

Recently Topi and his staff completed a project in Helsinki. A five-storey residential building built of precast concrete. The building has a basement of two floors and three floors above ground level. A rather complex design task with several challenges that the engineers solved with FEM-Design, so that the concrete elements got the right design for stability in the building.

“We analysed tensile stresses and how they effected the structure and how the loads were distributed. We also checked the forces in the horizontal concrete slabs and what they meant for the entire building. Special emphasis was placed on analysing how the forces were distributed in the connections between different types of elements and in the frame, for example hollow cores in relation to the foundation. That was all calculated in FEM-Design”.

Global Structural Analysis in Focus

According to Topi the biggest advantage of FEM-Design is that you get a holistic approach to designing the entire building.

“Even if we can make structural calculations by hand, we get a better picture with the results from the global analysis. We save so much time with FEM-Design, especially if the design is advanced and complex. But overall, the benefit with the global analysis is to ensure quality. Quality is necessary to succeed, this way, the engineers save time and resources and the building is designed correctly.”

By: Love Janson, ComWise

If you are interested in finding out more about FEM-Design and would like a free trial please click the Get a Free Trial Button.