IfcStructuralItem

Natural language names
Tragelement / Tragverbindung / Auflager (allgemein)
Structural Item
Semantic definitions at the entity
Entity definition

The abstract entity IfcStructuralItem is the generalization of structural members and structural connections, that is, analysis idealizations of elements in the building model. It defines the relation between structural members and connections with structural activities (actions and reactions).

Relationships between elements in the building model and structural items as their idealizations can be expressed by instances of IfcRelAssignsToProduct.

HISTORY  New entity in IFC2x2.

IFC4 CHANGE  Use definitions and informal proposition added.

Coordinate Systems:

The following coordinate systems are distinguished:

Representation items in topology representations are always given within the ObjectPlacement, i.e. in so-called global coordinates (global with respect to the IfcStructuralAnalysisModel to which this item belongs).

The usage of local coordinate systems is further defined in subtypes.

Topology Use Definitions:

Instances of IfcStructuralItem shall have a topology representation. It includes a placement and a product representation. The IfcProductRepresentation shall be given by an item in a Representation of type IfcTopologyRepresentation.

Local Placement

The local placement for IfcStructuralItem is defined in its supertype IfcProduct. It is defined by the IfcLocalPlacement, which establishes a global coordinate system which shall be common to all items and activities in an IfcStructuralAnalysisModel.

Topology Representation

Instances of IfcStructuralItem shall have a topology representation given by an instance of a subtype of IfcTopologicalRepresentationItem, which should be the single item of IfcTopologyRepresentation.Items. Depending on the dimensionality of the structural item, one of the following types of toplogical representation items shall be used:

NOTE  While an IfcEdge (or IfcOrientedEdge with underlying IfcEdge) does not provide an explicit underlying curve geometry, it may be used to imply an underlying straight line as reference curve with the origin of the curve parameter at the start vertex point.

The reference point, reference curve, or reference surface partially or completely defines the local coordinate system of the represented structural item according to the following rules. In all cases, The local x,y,z directions form a right-handed Cartesian coordinate system.

Structural point items

Structural curve items

Structural surface items

Informal Propositions:

  1. The _ObjectPlacement_s of all structural items which are grouped into the same instance of IfcStructuralAnalysisModel shall refer to the same instance of IfcObjectPlacement.

NOTE  This rule is necessary to achieve consistent topology representations. The topology representations of structural items in an analysis model are meant to share vertices and edges und must therefore have the same object placement.

NOTE  A structural item may be grouped into more than one analysis model. In this case, all these models must use the same instance of IfcObjectPlacement.

Attribute definitions
#AttributeTypeCardinalityDescription G
AssignedStructuralActivityIfcRelConnectsStructuralActivity
@RelatingElement
S[0:?]Inverse relationship to all structural activities (i.e. to actions or reactions) which are assigned to this structural member. X
Inherited definitions from supertypes
Entity inheritance IfcStructuralConnection IfcStructuralMember IfcProduct IfcObject IfcObjectDefinition IfcRoot
Attribute inheritance
#AttributeTypeCardinalityDescriptionG
IfcRoot
1GlobalIdIfcGloballyUniqueId Assignment of a globally unique identifier within the entire software world. X
2OwnerHistoryIfcOwnerHistory? Assignment of the information about the current ownership of that object, including owning actor, application, local identification and information captured about the recent changes of the object,
NOTE  only the last modification in stored - either as addition, deletion or modification.
IFC4 CHANGE  The attribute has been changed to be OPTIONAL.
X
3NameIfcLabel? Optional name for use by the participating software systems or users. For some subtypes of IfcRoot the insertion of the Name attribute may be required. This would be enforced by a where rule. X
4DescriptionIfcText? Optional description, provided for exchanging informative comments. X
IfcObjectDefinition
HasAssignmentsIfcRelAssigns
@RelatedObjects
S[0:?]Reference to the relationship objects, that assign (by an association relationship) other subtypes of IfcObject to this object instance. Examples are the association to products, processes, controls, resources or groups. X
NestsIfcRelNests
@RelatedObjects
S[0:1]References to the decomposition relationship being a nesting. It determines that this object definition is a part within an ordered whole/part decomposition relationship. An object occurrence or type can only be part of a single decomposition (to allow hierarchical strutures only).
IFC4 CHANGE  The inverse attribute datatype has been added and separated from Decomposes defined at IfcObjectDefinition.
X
IsNestedByIfcRelNests
@RelatingObject
S[0:?]References to the decomposition relationship being a nesting. It determines that this object definition is the whole within an ordered whole/part decomposition relationship. An object or object type can be nested by several other objects (occurrences or types).
IFC4 CHANGE  The inverse attribute datatype has been added and separated from IsDecomposedBy defined at IfcObjectDefinition.
X
HasContextIfcRelDeclares
@RelatedDefinitions
S[0:1]References to the context providing context information such as project unit or representation context. It should only be asserted for the uppermost non-spatial object.
IFC4 CHANGE  The inverse attribute datatype has been added.
X
IsDecomposedByIfcRelAggregates
@RelatingObject
S[0:?]References to the decomposition relationship being an aggregation. It determines that this object definition is whole within an unordered whole/part decomposition relationship. An object definitions can be aggregated by several other objects (occurrences or parts).
IFC4 CHANGE  The inverse attribute datatype has been changed from the supertype IfcRelDecomposes to subtype IfcRelAggregates.
X
DecomposesIfcRelAggregates
@RelatedObjects
S[0:1]References to the decomposition relationship being an aggregation. It determines that this object definition is a part within an unordered whole/part decomposition relationship. An object definitions can only be part of a single decomposition (to allow hierarchical strutures only).
IFC4 CHANGE  The inverse attribute datatype has been changed from the supertype IfcRelDecomposes to subtype IfcRelAggregates.
X
HasAssociationsIfcRelAssociates
@RelatedObjects
S[0:?]Reference to the relationship objects, that associates external references or other resource definitions to the object.. Examples are the association to library, documentation or classification. X
IfcObject
5ObjectTypeIfcLabel? The type denotes a particular type that indicates the object further. The use has to be established at the level of instantiable subtypes. In particular it holds the user defined type, if the enumeration of the attribute PredefinedType is set to USERDEFINED. X
IsDeclaredByIfcRelDefinesByObject
@RelatedObjects
S[0:1]Link to the relationship object pointing to the declaring object that provides the object definitions for this object occurrence. The declaring object has to be part of an object type decomposition. The associated IfcObject, or its subtypes, contains the specific information (as part of a type, or style, definition), that is common to all reflected instances of the declaring IfcObject, or its subtypes.
IFC4 CHANGE  New inverse relationship, change made with upward compatibility for file based exchange.
X
DeclaresIfcRelDefinesByObject
@RelatingObject
S[0:?]Link to the relationship object pointing to the reflected object(s) that receives the object definitions. The reflected object has to be part of an object occurrence decomposition. The associated IfcObject, or its subtypes, provides the specific information (as part of a type, or style, definition), that is common to all reflected instances of the declaring IfcObject, or its subtypes.
IFC4 CHANGE  New inverse relationship, change made with upward compatibility for file based exchange.
X
IsTypedByIfcRelDefinesByType
@RelatedObjects
S[0:1]Set of relationships to the object type that provides the type definitions for this object occurrence. The then associated IfcTypeObject, or its subtypes, contains the specific information (or type, or style), that is common to all instances of IfcObject, or its subtypes, referring to the same type.
IFC4 CHANGE  New inverse relationship, the link to IfcRelDefinesByType had previously be included in the inverse relationship IfcRelDefines. Change made with upward compatibility for file based exchange.
X
IsDefinedByIfcRelDefinesByProperties
@RelatedObjects
S[0:?]Set of relationships to property set definitions attached to this object. Those statically or dynamically defined properties contain alphanumeric information content that further defines the object.
IFC4 CHANGE  The data type has been changed from IfcRelDefines to IfcRelDefinesByProperties with upward compatibility for file based exchange.
X
IfcProduct
6ObjectPlacementIfcObjectPlacement? Placement of the product in space, the placement can either be absolute (relative to the world coordinate system), relative (relative to the object placement of another product), or constraint (e.g. relative to grid axes). It is determined by the various subtypes of IfcObjectPlacement, which includes the axis placement information to determine the transformation for the object coordinate system. X
7RepresentationIfcProductRepresentation? Reference to the representations of the product, being either a representation (IfcProductRepresentation) or as a special case a shape representations (IfcProductDefinitionShape). The product definition shape provides for multiple geometric representations of the shape property of the object within the same object coordinate system, defined by the object placement. X
ReferencedByIfcRelAssignsToProduct
@RelatingProduct
S[0:?]Reference to the IfcRelAssignsToProduct relationship, by which other products, processes, controls, resources or actors (as subtypes of IfcObjectDefinition) can be related to this product. X
PositionedRelativeToIfcRelPositions
@RelatedProducts
S[0:1]X
ReferencedInStructuresIfcRelReferencedInSpatialStructure
@RelatedElements
S[0:?]X
IfcStructuralItem
AssignedStructuralActivityIfcRelConnectsStructuralActivity
@RelatingElement
S[0:?]Inverse relationship to all structural activities (i.e. to actions or reactions) which are assigned to this structural member. X
Definitions applying to General Usage

Concept inheritance

#ConceptTemplateModel View
IfcRoot
IdentitySoftware IdentityGeneral Usage
Revision ControlRevision ControlGeneral Usage
IfcObjectDefinition
Classification AssociationClassification AssociationGeneral Usage
IfcObject
Object User IdentityObject User IdentityGeneral Usage
Object Predefined TypeObject Predefined TypeGeneral Usage
Object TypingObject TypingGeneral Usage
Property Sets for ObjectsProperty Sets for ObjectsGeneral Usage
Property Sets with OverrideProperty Sets with OverrideGeneral Usage
IfcProduct
Product PlacementProduct PlacementGeneral Usage
Product Geometric RepresentationProduct Geometric RepresentationGeneral Usage
Formal representations
XML Specification
 <xs:element name="IfcStructuralItem" type="ifc:IfcStructuralItem" abstract="true" substitutionGroup="ifc:IfcProduct" nillable="true"/>
 <xs:complexType name="IfcStructuralItem" abstract="true">
  <xs:complexContent>
   <xs:extension base="ifc:IfcProduct"/>
  </xs:complexContent>
 </xs:complexType>
EXPRESS Specification
ENTITY IfcStructuralItem
 ABSTRACT SUPERTYPE OF(ONEOF(IfcStructuralConnection, IfcStructuralMember))
 SUBTYPE OF (IfcProduct);
 INVERSE
  AssignedStructuralActivity : SET [0:?] OF IfcRelConnectsStructuralActivity FOR RelatingElement;
END_ENTITY;

Link to EXPRESS-G diagram EXPRESS-G diagram

References  References: IfcStructuralActivityAssignmentSelect

Link to this page  Link to this page