BIM-based model for quantifying the design change time ripple effect

Abstract

Design changes by owners are common to many construction projects and can cause severe delays if owners do not consider that a change in one part of the project may cause a series of changes in other parts of that project. The impact of a changed component on other unchanged components is known as the “change ripple effect”. To efficiently manage design changes, the ripple effect should be quantified and impact evaluated. This paper presents a building information modeling (BIM)-based quantification model to quantify the ripple effect of owner-requested design changes. The developed model calculates the impact of design changes and their ripple effect on a project’s total duration. After analyzing the ripple effect over time, the model updates the project schedule accordingly. To demonstrate its usefulness and illustrate its essential features, the model is applied to a case study.