BIM Approach for Sustainable Design of Flat Slab Buildings: A Review

Abstract

Building Information System (BIM) is a potential digital tool with the Architecture, Engineering, and Construction (AEC) industry that is used to represent the projects in three-dimensional models. It provides a central unified database that can be queried, filtered, manipulated and/or changed for analysis, thus providing a collaborative tool for all the stakeholders in the project throughout the life cycle of the project. Positive returns on investments are acceded by the contractors adopting BIM while it helps detect clashes of intersecting building components early in the design stages. BIM is proving of utmost importance while focusing on the development of sustainable buildings and to develop the cities smarter and intelligent. Environmental concerns warrant more and more sustainable buildings to be designed and implemented. BIM has an intrinsic role to play in building design to address the growing environmental concerns such as to reduce carbon footprint, to cut construction and demolition waste, selection of green material, quality of the indoor environment, water conservation, and health factors of inhabitants, etc. In the current practices, the simulation and environmental performance analysis follow the design phase of the project, thus not getting incorporated into the decision making at this stage. Some models of flat slab buildings are generated by some studies where required parameters were assigned to different elements of the building. This paper makes an effort to review the literature regarding the BIM approach to sustainable construction of buildings considering the flat slab models.