Before construction begins on a skyscraper, an office tower or a high rise, someone has to design the connections between each steel beam so that the concrete slabs, furnishings and people who will one day be inside these buildings are fully supported.
But the process of engineering the joints to create a perfect fit for each beam can be cumbersome, with an engineer taking significant time with stick architectural models to determine how best to bring these large pieces of steel together in a structurally sound way using bolts, plates and welds.
“That joint has to be designed by someone, and that’s where Qnect comes in,” said Henry Lederman, chief strategy officer and a co-founder of the four-year-old software and digital engineering company with headquarters on Route 9 in Hadley.
Qnect, said CEO and co-founder Jef Sharp, is aiming to deliver connections that are of better quality and at a lower cost, and which are done in a reduced amount of time.
“What we have automated is the part of engineering and designing and putting into a 3-D model the connection,” said Jeff Hausthor, Qnect’s chief operations officer and co-founder.
QuickQnect is the name of the software that has been developed using the more than 1,000 pages of the American Institute of Steel Construction’s Steel Construction Manual. This manual, which includes mathematical formulas, charts and other information about the standards that must be followed, including in the building codes of cities across the country.
“We can design connections on the fly following all the rules,” Hausthor said.
Companies interested in Qnect’s help will use Tekla software to create the architectural stick model of the project on which they are working. When this is ready, the model can then be input into the Qnect software, which extracts the data and is so fast that it spends about one second per joint to individually engineer each of these connections.
As Sharp explains, the computer iterates thousands upon thousands of possibilities for connections, seeking out the most efficient joint possible. Each joint is engineered separately.
When complete, an email is sent to the company that provides the detailed information about each connection, including the size and number of bolts that need to be used, the bolt, beam, angle and weld strengths, and all engineering formulas. Each connect is “popped in” to the original Tekla model.
Hausthor noted that what might be a six- to eight-week process for a large project, with the steel detailer designing the joint between two pieces of steel and then providing drawings to the steel fabricator, can be done in 30 minutes through the software.
“Tremendous computing power gives us efficient joints while simultaneously doing it very quickly,” Hausthor said.
The advent of cloud-based connections is critical to this, Sharp said. “This company couldn’t exist without massive computer power or the cloud,” he said.
Companies pay for each job they do, with the price calculated based on the weight of the building they are constructing.
Qnect estimates that it may save between $30 and $100 per ton on construction costs.
Hausthor noted that this occurs because each bolt that is not needed reduces the costs of labor and limits wear and tear on equipment, “which can save thousands of dollars.”
“We end up saving a lot more money than we cost,” Hausthor said.
In addition to the costs savings, Qnect brings efficiency to use of materials in a building project, potentially reducing the number of bolts used by 25 percent. One of the tenets of green construction is to be more efficient with materials, Hausthor said.
Sharp said some may be skeptical of Qnect, noting that new opportunities such as this can take a long time to adopt. But he sees it as another advance in an industry that has gone from designing in two dimensions with pencils to computer assisted design in three dimensions with Tekla.
Sharp noted that professional engineers must also stamp all plans after Qnect’s program has been used.
One project that has benefited is The Harper in Philadelphia, a 25-story mixed use building nearing completion.
The Harman Group of King of Prussia, Penn., was hired as the connection engineer.
Todd Campbell, an engineer with the company, offered a testimonial that using Qnect’s software helped to “rapidly iterate and optimize connections.”
Sharp said his company, which has 20 employees, has recently done work on a New York City tower, with more than 60 stories, for a large engineering company.
Lederman said new opportunities can take a long time for adoption. “Every new user who takes on our work tends to validate our company,” Lederman said.
As a startup company, Qnect recently got a $3.8 million infusion from Nucor, a large producer and recycler of steel.
“Nucor is looking forward to working with Qnect as it delivers on its vision of bringing significant efficiencies to the design, fabrication and erection of steel structures, and provides stewardship to the construction process,” John Hollatz, president of Nucor’s Vulcraft/Verco Group, said in statement.
“They are very highly respected and help to get us trusted that it really is as good as it sounds,” Sharp said. “It’s great to be so closely affiliated with a company that is so respected in your industry.”