Design Engineers in the house, How do you ensure that you get the right results from your model?

During my first interaction with engineering modelling software, there were a million questions on how and where to start. The process of perfecting one's interaction with software is quite a hustle. In engineering, it is important to follow a procedure so as to avoid issues such as misrepresentation of the real structure in the model and use of results riddled with errors in the designing portion.

Upon hearing what a client wants on ground and representing it on paper, it is important to;

1) Develop an engineering model

a) Determine the most suitable model (is it a RC building, AC road, steel building) - agree with your team and client based on structure use, material availability, economics, site conditions, etc. Ensure model isn’t complex than needed and that results can be extracted as easily as possible

b) Decide on what you want to achieve - aims

c) Then determine the behaviour that you want predicted

2) Develop an analysis model – Will it be a 2D/3D frame, Plate/Shell element

Ensure software in use has validation and verification capabilities for model and results

3) Check Solution – Are results valid? Has the model been implemented correctly? Do the results look right? How do they compare with the estimate results from the external checks?

Reference

Iain A MacLeod, & Andrew Weir. (2016). Essential Knowledge Text No. 14: Principles for Computer analysis of Structures. London: The Institution of Structural Engineers.