Rhee, D.
, Yeo, D.
, Gorton, T.
and Clay, C.
(2025),
User's Manual of DAD_PBD: 3D Viewer Graphical User Interface, Technical Note (NIST TN), National Institute of Standards and Technology, Gaithersburg, MD, [online], https://doi.org/10.6028/NIST.TN.2345, https://tsapps.nist.gov/publication/get_pdf.cfm?pub_id=960144 (Accessed May 22, 2026)
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User's Manual of DAD_PBD: 3D Viewer Graphical User Interface
Published
Author(s)
, , Tyler Gorton, Charys Clay
Abstract
The DAD_PBD is a user-friendly structural design tool for mid- and high-rise buildings. It incorporates commercial software ETABS for structural and dynamic analysis and applies the Database-Assisted Design (DAD) approach, utilizing time-domain analysis, directional aerodynamic pressure data, and site-specific wind climatological data to advance the structural design under wind loads. Over the past years, the DAD_PBD has continuously improved by expanding both its applications and capabilities. In previous versions, however, only text-based results were available, as the design parameters were calculated independently from ETABS and the results could not be integrated into the ETABS interface. This lack of visualization capability made interpreting the DAD results particularly challenging for high-rise structures with numerous structural elements. To address the visualization limitation, DAD_PBD version 2.1 included a three-dimensional (3D) viewer designed to improve user comprehension of the DAD results. The 3D viewer and structural member modeling were developed using Helix-Toolkit, an open-source library for 3D components within the .NET framework. The 3D viewer features 3D building modeling, structural member filtering, and color-coding based on design results. Additionally, a view cube facilitates navigation and viewing from various angles. This NIST Technical Note provides a User's Manual for the DAD_PBD software (version 2.1) and outlines its most recent enhancements. To demonstrate the software's versatility, three design examples of buildings with diverse structural systems and shapes are included. The scope of this report is limited to the 3D viewer manual. Users are advised to consult other NIST Technical Notes for information regarding DAD analysis.Citation
Technical Note (NIST TN) - 2345
Report Number
2345
NIST Pub Series
Pub Type
NIST Pubs
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Created August 5, 2025, Updated May 21, 2026