Arup and PKPM jointly release first commercial intelligent structural design software in China

The software was formally released in Beijing with a technical forum on 16 February. More than 10,000 engineers and industry practitioner from across the country joined the event and were impressed with the tool’s key features, application and performance in real project cases.

PKPM-AID combines Arup’s industry-leading structural optimisation expertise with the mature analysis and design capacity of PKPM, resulting in a powerful tool that identifies the ‘fittest’ design efficiently with the criteria defined by engineers. It uses AI-enhanced computational algorithms that Arup has developed over the past 20 years with applications in hundreds of projects including long-span structures and iconic tall buildings of different shapes and types.

From structural irregularities to cost-effectiveness of structural stiffness and optimal strength design of members, PKPM-AID solves time-consuming design problems for engineers in a short time. It finds out the best solution to realise the design intent while ensuring safety and functionality of the development. 

Compared with the traditional, manual trial-and-error procedure and other time-consuming general algorithms, this integrated computational intelligent design workflow significantly enhances the design quality and efficiency and reduces the total material usage, thus reducing both embedded and operational carbon emissions.