Automate your workflow from Wood Building to concrete.
In structural design, getting loads from one analysis program into another can sometimes take almost as much effort as the analysis itself.
For engineers using LAVA for wood design and ADAPT Builder for podium or foundation design, LAVA already makes it easy to export reactions from the wood structure. But getting those reactions into the exact format required by ADAPT Builder still required some manual Excel cleanup.
We built a tool to eliminate that step.
The new LAVA → ADAPT Conversion Tool takes the reaction output directly from LAVA and automatically creates ADAPT-ready load files. No manually rearranging columns. No sorting through reactions. No rebuilding spreadsheets just to move loads from one program to another.
Connecting Wood Design to Podium and Foundation Design
LAVA performs full-building gravity and lateral analysis for wood-framed structures and calculates reactions from:
- Beams
- Bearing Walls
- Shear Walls
Those reactions are often the starting point for the next stage of design, whether that’s a concrete podium, mat foundation, slab-on-grade foundation, or individual footings.
LAVA’s Export Reactions command provides the reaction forces and their coordinates directly from the analyzed model.
The new conversion tool takes it from there.
How the LAVA → ADAPT Workflow Works
The process is simple:
- Analyze your model in LAVA
- Go to File > Export Reactions
- Select the reactions you want to export
- Open the LAVA → ADAPT Conversion Tool
- Select your LAVA reaction file and conversion options
- Generate your ADAPT-ready files
- Import the loads directly into ADAPT Builder
What previously required opening the reaction file in Excel, filtering data, rearranging columns, mapping coordinates, and saving separate files can now be handled automatically.
The Tool Does More Than Reformat Columns
The conversion tool was built specifically around the way LAVA reactions are used downstream, so it does more than simply move data from one spreadsheet format to another.
Depending on your workflow, the tool can:
- Combine Dead Load and Self Weight
- Create ADAPT-ready point and line load files
- Convert LAVA reaction units to the appropriate ADAPT load format
- Include gravity and lateral reactions
- Consolidate matching lateral load directions
- Handle Flexible, Rigid, and Envelope diaphragm results
- Automatically select the governing reaction when both Flexible and Rigid results are available
The result is a much cleaner path from the wood superstructure model to the concrete model.
Why This Matters
Reaction transfer is a perfect example of a task that engineers shouldn’t have to spend much time on.
The engineering has already been done. LAVA has already calculated the loads, identified their locations, and organized the reactions. Manually manipulating that information in Excel doesn’t add engineering value. It just adds another opportunity for mistakes.
The LAVA → ADAPT Conversion Tool helps preserve the reaction data while removing the repetitive work required to get it into the next analysis program.
That means less manual data entry, fewer opportunities for transcription errors, and more time spent on actual design.
Built to Extend the LAVA Workflow
This tool is part of a larger effort to make LAVA useful beyond just the analysis and design happening inside the program.
LAVA development can stay focused on larger, powerful engineering features, while supporting tools like this can solve specific workflow problems around the software.
And this one came directly from looking at a real engineering workflow and asking a pretty simple question:
Why are we still doing this part by hand?
If you’re using LAVA for wood design and ADAPT Builder for your podium or foundation system, check out the video above to see the complete workflow in action.
For full details on the tool, see here: Exporting Loads: LAVA into ADAPT Builder