Technological and Methodological Solutions for Integrated Wide Area Situation

Awareness and Survivor Localization to Support Search and Rescue Teams

Bullet Constraints Builder

Tutorial
1/3
BCB Installation & Simple Collapse Simulation

Laurea University of Applied Sciences

Kai Kostack & Oliver Walter
22.03.2018

Laurea-ammattikorkeakoulu Puhelin (09) 8868 7150 [email protected] Y-tunnus 1046216-1

Ratatie 22, 01300 Vantaa Faksi (09) 8868 7200 www.laurea.fi Kotipaikka Vantaa
 Technological and Methodological Solutions for Integrated Wide Area Situation
Awareness and Survivor Localization to Support Search and Rescue Teams

Contents
1. Introduction ........................................................................................................................................ 2
2. What is the BCB? ................................................................................................................................. 2
3. Installing the software ........................................................................................................................ 3
3.1. Installing Blender ......................................................................................................................... 3
3.2. Installing the BCB ......................................................................................................................... 4
4. Performing a simple collapse simulation ............................................................................................ 7
4.1. Loading the model ....................................................................................................................... 7
4.2. Prepare the model for simulation................................................................................................ 7
4.3. Create your own collapse scenario .............................................................................................. 9
4.4. Start the simulation ..................................................................................................................... 9
4.5. Change the collapse scenario .................................................................................................... 10
5. A general remark concerning simulation precision .......................................................................... 10
6. References ........................................................................................................................................ 10

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 Technological and Methodological Solutions for Integrated Wide Area Situation
Awareness and Survivor Localization to Support Search and Rescue Teams

1. Introduction

The Bullet Constraints Builder (BCB) was developed from scratch during the three yearlong R&D
project INACHUS (1) at LAUREA, University of Applied Sciences (2). The focus during this time was on
improving the software, its accuracy and speed, therefore tutorials were time and again postponed.
Due to the growing interest and requests from universities and engineers around the world, tutorials
became indispensable. This tutorial is the first of three that have been written to gradually introduce
the BCB basics:

BCB Tutorials:

1. Guide for BCB Installation & Simple Collapse Simulation

- installation instruction and introduction into a simple collapse simulation
2. Guide to Simulate a Multi-Family House with Standard Blender
- Introduction of the BCB fundamentals with standard Blender
3. Guide to Simulate a Multi-Family House with Fracture Modifier
- Introduction into a speed optimized variant with the FM

To follow this tutorial no Blender knowledge is required.

2. What is the BCB?

The BCB is a software that is installed as an add-on from within Blender. It extends Blender´s basic
physics functionality with a sophisticated toolset to simulate load dynamics in building structures. It
establishes constraining connections between loose rigid bodies that incorporate real world
parameters.

At this stage the BCB is first and foremost suitable to simulate the effects of major structural deficiency
in composite reinforced concrete structures such as incapacitated load bearing elements e.g. beams
or pillars. While the BCB´s formulas for the strength evaluation of reinforced concrete (RC) elements
have been approved by civil engineers the formulas for the strength of steel members are not yet
approved.

It has been validated by comparison in a few collapse cases (3; 4) in which the simulation results
showed a good affinity with the real-world collapse shapes. However, virtual collapse simulations in
general can't claim absolute authenticity and the BCB results should be used with careful
consideration in critical applications.

The BCB has a rich set of functionalities that allow specialists to setup building models, define the
interdependencies between the structural elements or define collapse scenarios. Nevertheless, the
tool can also be used by amateurs. With a few simple steps the user can load predefined models, setup
collapse scenarios and start the simulation to observe the effects.

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 Technological and Methodological Solutions for Integrated Wide Area Situation
Awareness and Survivor Localization to Support Search and Rescue Teams

3. Installing the software

The BCB is a set of scripts that needs to be installed as an add-on from within Blender. After the
installation the full functionality of the BCB becomes available in Blender´s user interface. It is strongly
recommended to use the software versions that are specifically named in this guide to avoid
incompatibility or error messages. The software is open source and can be used for free.

The installation is only necessary once and it is done in the two following steps:
1. download and install Blender 2.79a
2. download and install the BCB from within Blender

3.1. Installing Blender

Blender is available for the following operating systems:

- Windows Vista, 7, 8, 10 32-bit/64-bit
- Mac OS X 10.6+ 64-bit only
- GNU Linux 32-bit/64-bit
This guide will walk you through the Windows installation. You can find descriptions for the installation
on other operating systems on the internet.

1. Download the Blender software version 2.79a here: https://www.blender.org/download/

see Figure 1.

Figure 1

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 Technological and Methodological Solutions for Integrated Wide Area Situation
Awareness and Survivor Localization to Support Search and Rescue Teams

2. On your computer navigate to the blender-2.79a-windows(..).msi file that you just

downloaded and double click it. Confirm all the following installation notifications, Figure 2.
Blender is now installed on your system.

Figure 2

3.2. Installing the BCB

1. Download the BCB from this site: https://github.com/KaiKostack/bullet-constraints-builder

Localize the file “kk bullet constraints builder.zip”, click on it, Figure 3.

Figure 3

On the next page, Figure 4, click “Download” and save the file on your computer.

Figure 4

Note: The zipped file should not be unzipped! Blender will do this instead!

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 Technological and Methodological Solutions for Integrated Wide Area Situation
Awareness and Survivor Localization to Support Search and Rescue Teams

2. Start Blender and click “File” (Figure 4) (1.) on the left upper corner of the Blender interface,
in the fly-out menu find “User Preferences” (2.) and click that as well.

Figure 5

3. In the User Preferences window (Figure 5) activate “Add-ons” (1.) and then click on “Install
from File” (2.)

Figure 6

4. Browse to the file “kk bullet constraints builder.zip” (1.) that you just downloaded mark it
and then click “Install from File” (2.), Figure 7.

Figure 7

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 Technological and Methodological Solutions for Integrated Wide Area Situation
Awareness and Survivor Localization to Support Search and Rescue Teams

5. You can bring the script to the forefront by typing “Bullet” to the search field. Activate the
script by checking the check box (1) and then click “Save User Settings” (2). Close the User
Preferences window, Figure 8.

Figure 8

6. If there is now a tab named “BCB” on the left-hand side of Blender´s user interface, the
installation was successful and you are ready to go. Activate the “BCB” tab and the BCB
interface will open, Figure 9. From now on the BCB will automatically be loaded when starting
Blender.

Figure 9

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 Technological and Methodological Solutions for Integrated Wide Area Situation
Awareness and Survivor Localization to Support Search and Rescue Teams

4. Performing a simple collapse simulation

4.1. Loading the model

- Download the sample model from here: Sample model 1. It is a simple two storey concrete structure,
the Dom-Ino house by the architect Le Corbusier. Open this model in Blender.

- Make sure the “BCB” tab is selected by clicking on it (red arrow in Figure 9), the BCB user interface
will then show up, Figure 10. The time line displays the total length of the simulation of 250 frames.
Once the simulation has been finished and by adjusting the time line slider the different stages of the
simulation can be tuned into, Figure 10.

Figure 10

4.2. Prepare the model for simulation

- In the BCB- user interface load configuration settings (1. in Figure 11), this will load the material
settings for the element groups.

- Now, make sure that all elements in the scene are selected by pressing “A” on your keypad. The
elements will be marked with a green outline.

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https://github.com/KaiKostack/bullet-constraints-builder/blob/master/examples/example_dom-ino_house.blend

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 Technological and Methodological Solutions for Integrated Wide Area Situation
Awareness and Survivor Localization to Support Search and Rescue Teams

- Press “Build” (2. in Figure 11), this will connect the building elements in the scene with each other.
This process may take around 10 seconds.

Figure 11

- Your model should look as shown in Figure 12. The connections between the building elements are
represented as constraints (1. in Figure 12) which are placed on the next available free layer.

- Switch this layer off since the constraints do not concern us. To switch this layer off click on the first
layer field (2. in Figure 12).

- Save this Blender model and use it for any subsequent simulation.

Figure 12

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 Technological and Methodological Solutions for Integrated Wide Area Situation
Awareness and Survivor Localization to Support Search and Rescue Teams

4.3. Create your own collapse scenario

- Press the right mouse button repeatedly while you move the cursor over the model. You will notice
that elements will be selected one by one which is indicated by a green outline around the selected
element.

- Now select any of the pillar segments, press “delete” on your keypad, Figure 13. You can repeat this
process and delete more elements if you like.

Figure 13

4.4. Start the simulation

- When you are curious to see how your structural changes affect the stability of the structure, start
the simulation by pressing “Simulate” in the BCB user interface, Figure 14.

- The simulation progress can now be followed in real time. The program calculates a total time span
of 250 frames by default, but the calculation can be shortened at any time by pressing “esc” on your
keyboard. By moving the slider on the timeline the simulation can be scrolled back and forth.

Figure 14

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 Technological and Methodological Solutions for Integrated Wide Area Situation
Awareness and Survivor Localization to Support Search and Rescue Teams

4.5. Change the collapse scenario

- To change the collapse scenario it is recommended to reload the previously saved model (with the
ready built constraints setup). Please don´t forget to reload the configuration settings, Figure 15. Then
define a new collapse scenario and start the simulation.

Figure 15

- Another option to restore the original condition by pressing “CTRL+Z” repeatedly on your keyboard
until the constraints setup is deleted, continue by re- building the constraints and define a new
collapse scenario afterwards.

5. A general remark concerning simulation precision

Coherent looking simulations cannot be expected from coarse building models such as presented in
this exercise. We have to bear in mind that single rigid body elements are not breakable! Imagine a
column in the middle of a rather large ceiling slab, this column will not be able to punch through that
slab element. Breaks are only possible at the joint of two elements. To evaluate forces as authentically
as possible object edges must be available close to the occurrence of the highest forces, this is
increasingly the case in building models with higher discretization.

6. References
1. INACHUS. [Online] Institute of Communication and Computer Systems. [Cited: 02 02 2018.]
https://www.inachus.eu/.
2. Laurea University of Applied Sciences. Inachus. Wordpress. [Online] [Cited: 9 1 2018.]
https://inachuslaurea.wordpress.com/.
3. Laurea U. of Applied Sciences. Collapse simulation Pyne Gould building. [Online] Laurea University
of Applied Sciences, 2016. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9RN3IhAZSHc.
4. Virtual Validation Corporation. Collapse Simulation 11-Storey Building. Youtube. [Online] Virtual
Validation Corporation. [Cited: 18 01 2018.] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yu2bQtIS69g.

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