Procedures for BIM modeling of reinforced concrete ribbed slabs in buildings

It is impossible not to admit that commercial computational tools for structural analysis and detailing have become indispensable in the various applications of Structural Engineering today. The importance of these tools equipped with graphical interfaces based on the BIM ( Building Information Modeling ) environment is seen, above all, due to the flexibility and ease in making common corrections and changes during the elaboration stage, as well as the proposition of different structural concepts, not always innovative, but almost always bold, as in the case of ribbed slabs in reinforced concrete. The use of reinforced concrete ribbed slabs is an old practice in Structural Engineering, which has encouraged the adaptation of commercial computational tools, both in the development of structurally consistent mathematical formulations, as well as in the development of specific databases, equipped with information from mold and material manufacturers intended for the execution of this type of slabs. It is highly efficient in building structures where there are numerous problems of interference between structural elements and installation elements, such as large diameter pipes for wastewater, sewage, gas, fire, and even air conditioning ducts, exhaust and architectural elements. This efficiency is mainly due to the fact that it does not consider high beams in its supports, making the lower face of the slab practically free of obstacles to building pipes, and is also due to the low average thickness of concrete used in the pavement compared to conventional rectangularly supported slabs and flat mushroom slabs. However, it is not always possible to obtain an optimal final result, even with all the adaptations previously described, mainly due to executive and computational modeling problems. This work intends to present a possible structural modeling methodology, which provides results within the limits of the slab's feasibility, both in the aspect of construction of the computational structural model, as well as the possibility of using materials from manufacturers and labor, using a commercial computational tool for structural analysis and detailing.