Chennai Airport Expansion

Chennai Annadurai International Airport expansion and modernization project in Tirusulam, 7 km south of Chennai, India, is a design-to-fabrication steel project carried out completely within Tekla BIM software environment.

Engineering and model data were used at the earlier stages of the project to take full advantage of early procurement and optimized use of material. Rapidly producing shop drawings and managing the project timeline were both accomplished using Tekla Structures software, which proved to be highly productive.

Tekla BIM Awards steel winner

Chennai Airport Expansion project, modeled by Yugasoft, is the Tekla BIM Awards 2010 winner for the best steel project. The new modernized airport will have a departure lounge on the first floor and one for the arrivals on the ground floor. Dramatic, hovering free-span and winglike roof structures, which are over 300 meters long, fold downward to form garden walls.

The design of the terminal has a Finnish architect Saarinen-like quality to its sweeping rooflines, organizing passenger circulation around two sustainable gardens. Directly connected to the terminal is a new parking garage with a sculptural folding roof that welcomes travelers to the terminal with a green gateway. The new terminal buildings measures more than 140,000 meters. Its passenger capacity has increased from 10 to 30 million annually.

Time and cost savings

“I would estimate that using Tekla Structures software in the Chennai Airport Expansion project reduced the material wastage by 3.5 to 4% and increased our productivity by more than 30%,” says K. Mahadevan, head of Yugasoft.

“To make work faster, at peak times, two modelers worked on the same server using the software in multi-user-mode. We estimate a significant cost reduction by using and implementing BIM in this project. The multiuser mode worked very well and saved us a lot of time and money,” he concludes.

Fabrication benefits

Drawing details were derived from the Tekla model for fabrication and they were seamlessly used with Yugasoft’s in-house fabrication data package to produce NC files for use in CNC machines and to manipulate bill of material data. By using the center of gravity from the Tekla model, the jigs were prepared for each segment of trusses to ensure perfect alignment and geometry during assembly.

4% waste reduction by early material procurement

Tekla BIM software has been beneficial to Yugasoft for early material procurement and optimized material usage, reducing material wastage by 4%. As a group, Yugasoft has used Tekla software for the last three years. Complex geometry, both in concrete and steel structures, was the main challenge in the Chennai Airport Expansion project.