Smart construction with lightweight steel

Between October 30 and November 1, the Steel Frame Experience 2024 took place, a intensive training meeting and business rounds organized by SICLA Steel Alliance. The “Intelligent Steel Frame” factory network is presented as the “largest in Latin America.”

Based in San Martín de los Andes, headquarters of the event that brought together some 120 participants and 19 speakers, SICLA brings together a dozen companies distributed in various parts of the country (and just expanded to Brazil), which manufactures light steel structures with technology from Scottsdale Construction Systems.

The companies that make up this alliance – which promotes a collaborative synergy in which they share experiences and exchange knowledge – They manufacture panels in an automated way, with minimal waste and in just a few steps.

Once the structure is defined in the design software, the information is shared with the Scottsdale forming machine, which folds and perforates the material to form all the necessary profiles from a galvanized steel coil. The panels are assembled at the foot of the machine with a riveting machine as the only tool.

It is possible to manufacture up to 3000 linear meters of profiles in 8 hoursdepending on the complexity of the panels. Which is equivalent to one home every three days.

“In the first contact with an architecture or construction studio we ask where the work is. In the network we work together, we lower logistics costs By being able to manufacture in the closest place and we eliminate freight as an incident,” explains Andrés Tilkin, Regional Manager of Scottsdale, founding partner of Nova Fusión SRL and SICLA.

Engineering, on the other hand, is developed by the technical department of San Martín de los Andes. A team of ten people is in charge of adapt the projects and adjust the structural system without affecting the architecture.

From the 2D plans they create a “digital twin” of the actual construction in which even the smallest details are defined. “It is a virtual version of a live project to simulate their behavior in real time. An intelligent, very strong database, loaded with content to make decisions,” describes Andrea Fuks, architect specialized in BIM.

Facilitator of change processes in digital transformationFuks defines BIM as “a concept that organizes people, processes and tools in a collaborative and traceable way.” In that sense, he advised SICLA to systematize all processes.

“A Poor communication leads to data loss and costly mistakes”says Oliver Roth, head of the technical department that has made 10,900 m2 of panels (about 67,500 linear meters of profiles) for a complex of cabins in Las Pendientes, an exclusive gated community in Chapelco.

Los residential complexes of horizontal and repetitive developmentwith around 50 units, significantly optimize the performance of the system from an economic point of view, as highlighted by Pablo Arce, head of Eco Hybrid, with works in the United States. Where appropriate, transport the forming machine on a chassis to produce panels on the job site.

The people responsible for Scottsdale, Derek McSpadden and JR Mujagic – special guests at the event – explained that the software allows design, in addition to wall panels, slab and floor beams, trusses and roof panels, expanding services that firms associated with works of all types and mixed systems can offer.

In fact, SICLA Brazil Manager, Juan Castillo, commented that to open the steel frame market in that country they are offering Non-load-bearing enclosure panels for buildings of 30 to 50 floorswith very good results.

In this case, in order to make the millimeter precision of the panels compatible with the concrete of these structures, They designed a system in which the uprights are extendablethey can be moved to take a false square during assembly.

Projecting with a steel frame means making a mental change to get the most out of it. “It can take an architect who has no experience in steel design two projects to understand the mechanics, 80% in the first,” says Tilkin. understand where are the strengths of the systemwhere the weaknesses and how to manage the lights between supports so that it is efficient. Then you start to think more finely and you can make decisions to achieve economies: for example, detecting that if I take 40 centimeters out of a light, I am saving 10% of steel.”

In that sense, it provides two basic tips: provide structural continuity between floors and preserve spans no greater than 4 meters.

For Tilkin, “there are not many restrictions, just understanding that sometimes we ask construction systems for demands without realizing that we are making the parallel with concrete.”

So when light is important, what we recommend is combine the steel frame with a structural steel pipe: “It behaves in the same way and is totally compatible, it continues to be industrialized and we remain within what is time savings and budget certainty,” he notes.

Federico Zabala, also a founding partner of SICLA, highlights the system strengths as answers to these basic questions: “How much will the work cost? How long is it going to take? and How will it turn out?, questions that are simple to ask but quite complex to answer,” he considers.

He recalled that in 2015 the company went from building the first building in Añelo with a conventional steel frame (buying standard profiles and filling that structure with ultralight cellular concrete), to manufacturing panels with a forming machine and putting together a network of strategic partners that provide solutions. to achieve interior comfort in the most efficient and competitive way, and to continue proposing and improving these processes.

The cost of a steel frame structure for a home is around 850 dollars per m2which includes project adaptation, engineering, panel manufacturing and assembly.

“The already panelized structures are delivered directly to the construction site. This way we ensure that all parts are finished, complete and ready for your assembly, without delays or surprises“, highlights from SICLA. Depending on the location and the size of the work, Assembly takes between 4 and 5 days (including St. Andrew’s crosses, reinforcements and anchors).

For all that to happen, the digital twin must be built with quality information.

“Sometimes architects state that it is difficult for them to have clients define everything at the beginning. Professionals who have no experience also arrive and we give them that support to explain to the client. What are the advantages of taking the trouble to solve everything beforeTilkin shares.

And he lists: “Time is saved and all the hassle is removed. uncertainty regarding the construction processwhich is reflected in money. Everything we know in advance, and consequently we do it correctly, implies that we do not have to do it again later.”

Without variables to define, there is a certain cost and time regarding the project. For Tilkin, then, the most important question to ask when comparing the costs of different systems “is not about the budget, but about the actual cost of the work.” There, the steel frame does not give surprises.