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How to quickly master the geotechnical design report

Work effectively from home without drafter

The coronavirus pandemic has forced millions of employees to work from home and it has transformed the way many of us live and work. Making the transition to working from home comes with its share of challenges. Since engineers are an essential part of our society, however, many have been asked to continue working during these stressful times. I am writing this post in order to share my ideas to help work efficiently in pandemic situations. 

My team has released the freeware for excavation (ERSS) drawing, called Midas GeoXD. I was one of the main engineers who planned this freeware project. When I worked in the design firm, I had to have an intimate relationship with the drafters. Because my work starts from CAD files. Thus it was necessary for me to explain the project plan to the drafters in detail and to get the final drawing files on time. If there were no available drafters, from time to time, I had to make the drawings by myself.

1. Tips for saving time and reducing errors

Basically, Midas GeoXD is CAD-based software. It means if you are an engineer and are familiar with CAD software, you can use Midas GeoXD without training. And you can import the site plan with dwg. file format. 

There are special wizards which help you drastically save modeling time. For instance, if you update some support system, the program automatically updates the longitudinal view and the section view at the same time. And if you want to assign the retaining wall or strut, you just need to "Drag & Drop" from the work tree menu. The strut auto-alignment function is also useful to avoid modeling errors. 

After the simple modeling, GeoXD automatically generates all necessary drawings in dwg. format with just one click. 

Geo XD shows me a magical 3D model from 2D drawing. It helps easily check the interference error in the 3D view. The auto-check function also enables to easily check overlapping strut/waler,  review the pile spacing and interface checking of building structure. This is my special know-how to make the excavation drawings even without drafters. 

Many experts forecast that the number of engineers and drafters who work from home will be increasing in the "Post-corona era". It is obvious that it is getting more important to secure effective communication with co-workers. I believe that GeoXD could be a good solution to enable work smart for both engineers and drafters. 

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Project-based Training: Box Culvert Excavation Drawing | LR2J Consulting Engineers