Technical Computing Magazine - Issue 38

Uni-Systems Scores Big with Mathcad®

Find out how Mathcad helped Uni-Systems LLC document, manage and share the calculations accumulated during the design and build process of the first fully retractable, natural-grass, multipurpose stadium in the US.

Uni-Systems, LLC (Minneapolis, Minnesota) specialises in developing moveable structures for aerospace, the military, construction, entertainment and the sports industry. It’s a creator and advocate of “kinetic architecture” - transformative, mechanised structures that can change to fit the climate, need or purpose of the venue. Perfect examples of this are playing fields that can easily switch from turf to concrete for trade shows, and retractable roofs that can open and close to shield fans from the elements.

Uni-Systems landed the contract to design and build the first fully retractable, natural grass multipurpose stadium in the US for the National Football League’s Arizona Cardinals at the University of Phoenix in Glendale, Arizona. The design team needed to devise a way to move an 18.9 million-pound playing field in and out of the stadium at the touch of a button, so that the venue could be used for sporting events, concerts or conventions. To accomplish this feat, Uni-Systems would need to work with various teams of structural, mechanical and electrical engineers. That meant finding a way to share engineering data across different disciplines, but with the deadline looming, there was no time for a long learning curve or costly rework.

Thankfully, Uni-Systems was already using Mathcad from PTC, enabling simultaneous design and documenting of engineering calculations, with comprehensive applied maths functionality and dynamic, unit-aware calculations. Consequently there was very little downtime getting up to speed with the software.

Engineers had no problems capturing the knowledge they needed for this complex project. They used Mathcad’s unique visual format and scratchpad interface, to integrate calculations, text and graphs in a single worksheet. Throughout the design process, the Uni-Systems team kept all the critical calculations, from concept to completion, in Mathcad. This resulted in knowledge that could be shared and understood by all the architecture, construction and engineering teams involved in the project. Mathcad’s easy integration with other 3D CAD systems also meant there were no problems documenting, validating, verifying or sharing relevant calculations between contractors.

Mathcad increased the productivity of engineers and helped to ensure the stadium was completed on schedule. What’s more, calculations created with Mathcad during the University of Phoenix design process saved valuable calculation rework time on their next stadium project.

This is part of a larger case study. Click here to download the full case study.

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