Ponti stradali sostenibili: come progettarli nell’era dell’industria 4.0 | Articoli

La digitalizzazione e l’industria 4.0 stanno trasformando l’ingegneria civile con tecnologie come BIM e intelligenza artificiale, sollevando interrogativi su vantaggi e metodi di implementazione. Per affrontare questa sfida, è fondamentale comprendere il “perché” del cambiamento e definire il “come” per integrarlo in modo efficace e sostenibile.

Negli ultimi anni, i concetti di digitalizzazione e industria 4.0 stanno diventando sempre più popolari nel campo dell’ingegneria civile, influenzando il nostro modo di progettare e costruire edifici ed opere infrastrutturali. Parole come BIM, progettazione parametrica, intelligenza artificiale e reti neurali si stanno rapidamente diffondendo nelle conferenze, nei corridoi delle società d’ingegneria, tra i Clienti e in molti documenti legati in via più o meno diretta ad attività di tipo commerciale.
Può essere quindi più che ragionevole domandarci come ci stiamo preparando a gestire questo orizzonte tecnologico nel futuro prossimo. Essendo ingegneri, ci è sembrato che un modo efficace per affrontare questa nuova sfida possa essere quello di schematizzarla in un approccio che potremmo definire del “perché e come”. Più precisamente, abbiamo cercato di trovare una buona risposta per le seguenti domande:
Perché: per quale ragione dovremmo introdurre un cambiamento nel nostro modo di lavorare? Quale potrebbe essere il beneficio associato? Queste nuove tecnologie possono essere veramente utili per aumentare la qualità e l’efficienza dei nostri tradizionali processi produttivi?
Come: assumendo delle risposte positive al tema “perché” … quale potrebbe essere il modo più efficace per implementare questo cambiamento? Come introdurre queste nuove tecnologie in maniera sostenibile? Come persuadere i nostri colleghi della necessità di una evoluzione? Quali sono i limiti pratici dell’interoperabilità tra differenti piattaforme software e come possiamo gestire il maniera efficiente la condivisione delle informazioni?

In the last few years, the concepts of digitalization and industry 4.0 are getting more and more popular in the field of civil engineering, influencing our traditional way of designing and building civil works. Words like BIM, Parametric Design, AI and Neural Networks are spreading in scientific conferences, in the corridors of Design Companies, between Clients and in many directly or indirectly marketing-related documents.
Considering these boundary conditions, it can be more than reasonable to ask ourselves how we are planning to deal with this technological horizon in the near future. Being engineers, we like to believe that a successful approach in addressing new challenges can be to use a “WHY & HOW” scheme, trying to find a good answer for the following questions:
WHY: for which reason should we introduce a change in our way of working? Which is the asso- ciated benefit (if any)? Can these new technologies be really useful to improve the quality and efficiency of our traditional conception and production processes?
HOW: assuming a positive outcome for “WHY”… which is the most effective way to implement the change? How the transition to these new technologies can be introduced in a sustainable way in our Companies? How can we persuade our colleagues that an evolution is required? Which are the limits associated with interoperability between different tools and how can we deal with an effective data exchange?

At first glance, answering “WHY” can appear trivial, but it’s not! Even though we’re continuously told that progress is coming, whether we want it or not, it is also evident that in human history almost no technological change was introduced if not leading to tangible benefits. Leaving AI and Neural Networks aside for the moment, we’d like to use the first part of this paper to show how digital design technologies, at least in our way of seeing the future of our profession, can play a major role in the fields of optimization, effective handling of complex geometries, 3D and 4D clash detection, construction planning and information management in wide terms.
Afterwords, we’ll use the project of a bridge that we recently designed to explain our way of dealing with “HOW”. To be said that in this field, there is no “perfect recipe” or “magic wand” applicable to every situation. Different working environments, different types of projects, different people and different Companies require custom-made approaches.

Explaining Why

According to our experience, there can be several good reasons to make use of digital transfor- mation tools in our Companies, with the final goal of providing “Better structures for satisfied Clients”. Between them:

Quick evaluation of Design Alternatives

When designing a structure that, as in the case of a road bridge, will have a permanent impact on the environment, it’s the responsibility of both Designer and Client to evaluate several options. This “optioneering” phase requires to consider different combinations of geometrical shapes, layout of supports, materials and colors, generating a set of configurations that have to be analyzed in what can become an extremely time consuming exercise (at least if addressed using traditional design techniques).
In this context, digital design tools can be an extremely powerful resource to guarantee a safe trip in the jungle of alternative solutions. The initial investment done for the proper parametrization of the problem can be quickly recovered in projects where several options have to be investigated. Once the tool has been set, in fact, analyses that may take structural designers weeks to generate, adapt to, or calculate can be accomplished in a few minutes.

Dealing with Complexity & Automation

When speaking of parametric design, the first images that jump in our minds are typically associ- ated with free forms and fluid organic geometries characterized by a remarkable level of com- plexity (see, as a reference, the Heydar Aliyev Center of ZHA). This design method can find its application also in the case of bridges, not only when the design solution requires the implementation of cables, but even for trusses, arches, or where hyperstaticity and/or variability in girder’s depth are used to achieve a “clever” distribution of bending moments and/or optimize material use. If pushing and flexing the limits of design innovation is one of your main targets, a parametric approach to the conception of the structural system can be very useful to feel much more confident that the unique form of your bridge is properly managed and that your calculation is able to provide a good approximation of the ”real” the behavior of the structural system. This data-driven design approach thus lays a solid foundation for decision making in the often difficult balance between structural soundness, aesthetic integrity and environmental sustainability.

On the other hand, we truly believe that parametric design can also have a humbler but equally useful application. As a matter of facts, we have to consider that our everyday life requires to deal with a certain number of simple and repetitive structures, that are certainty less poetic than the previous ones (being typical and not unique masterpieces) but absolutely necessary to guarantee the correct functioning of our infrastructural network. Just to give some concrete examples, we are speaking of culverts, retaining walls, abutments, simple piers, channels, etc… Parametrization can be a powerful ally also in these cases.

Once defined a proper set of master models and the associated parameters, in fact, the designer will be able to use them to deal with all the recurrent elements of his projects. All the time that engineers will save avoiding the mechanical execution of repetitive tasks (now automated thanks to parametric modelling), will be available to be rein- vested in a progressive improvement of master models, in developing a perception of the bigger picture and in avoiding potential lack of detail or coordination.

…Continua a leggere nel PDF in allegato.

(L’intera memoria è in lingua inglese).

La presente relazione è stata presentata in occasione del XXIX Congresso CTA, svoltosi a Milano il 26 e 27 settembre 2024.