How to calculate Structural Member’s weight in Revit
Introduction
We recently received a request on how to calculate the weight of structural members in Revit.
Research
According to the info in the link below Revit cannot provide weight info as the parameters are not added currently.
So, you will have to calculate it. There might be other methods but the one I used is according to the formula in the link below which is that you’ll need to know the Density of the steel used ( Kg/m3) and multiply it by the Volume of the member.
https://sciencing.com/calculate-weight-steel-5127389.html
Revit Calculations
The Volume field is a standard one found as a parameter in the Structural Framing Schedule.
To add the Structural Material Density you’ll have to change the Available Field at the top of the dialogue box to “Structural Material” and then add it.
If these members do not have a Density listed you need to attach a Material to them that contains a Physical Asset. In the process below we have (1) selected the element and then in its Properties the (2) Material selection. The Material dialogue will appear and you’d select the appropriate material. In this case we selected Steel 43-265 and then click the Physical asset tab on the right panel. It will list the Density of the Steel.
Also it seems that if the Density is not listed in the schedule you need to just go through the steps as above and select the Physical Tab again to ‘wake’ up the Material and when you open the schedule the Densities wil be shown.
If the material does not have a Physical Asset Tab in the Materials dialogue Box then it means that an Asset is not assigned to selected material and you would have to assign the Physical asset as shown in the example below.
A dialogue box will appear listing all the Assets and you can then add the appropriate steel assets as shown in the example.
This will then add the Physical asset to the Material and will show in the Schedule.
Calculation
Then we use the Calculated Value option in the Revit Schedules to calculate the Weight. In the formula area your add the formula as follows: (Density/1)*(Volume/1)
We divide each of the parameters by 1 so as to render them unitless. Then the answer will be in KGs.
Conclusion
Using these calculated values, it allows you to calculate various useful deliverable from costs to weights as shown.
If you need any further training or have any question wrt the topic, please reach out to us at: https://www.mgfx.co.za/contact
