AEC Industry Research Articles

Assessment of AEC Students’ Performance Using BIM-into-VR

Building Information Modeling (BIM) and Virtual reality (VR) have attracted growing attention within the architecture, engineering, and construction (AEC) industry in recent years. Integration of BIM and VR technology can develop workflow efficiency through enhanced common understanding and prepare students in architecture and engineering programs to become leaders of the AEC industry. However, the current shortage of AEC professionals trained in BIM and VR is still a barrier to collaborative working practice in this industry. This paper reviews previous work on the BIM, VR, and BIM-into-VR in AEC education/training to bridge this gap. It also presents an advanced framework to clarify creating and using the BIM model into VR workflow in the AEC industry through the integrated definition function (IDEF0) model. The authors further evaluated the BIM-into-VR applications in literature and real-life by surveying students’ learning performance in terms of eight characteristics relevant to the VR environment and students’ performance within two projects, one involving the “NASA Mars Habitat Project” and the other involving the “Norris Center Project” at Northwestern University. The results confirmed that BIM-into-VR usability and efficiency in improving students’ main learning performance characteristics: Learnability, Interoperability, Visualization, Real-world, Interaction, Creativity, Motivation, and Comfort. This study addresses the advantages of using BIM-into-VR in AEC programs. It also offers suggestions to AEC educators and students in implementing BIM-into-VR in different courses and creating a roadmap for their future as professionals in the AEC industry.

The role of interoperability dimensions in building information modelling

Building Information Modelling (BIM) is a paradigm shift from the traditional Architecture, Engineering, and Construction (AEC) industry practices to digital construction delivery processes. BIM provides the capabilities of cost reduction, increase quality, enhanced productivity, and on-time delivery. Despite the numerous advantages of BIM, its adoption in AEC is vulnerable to confrontation. Data interoperability is often cited as a significant barrier to BIM adoption; there is a limited focus on other dimensions of interoperability. In other research areas, such as information systems and electronic government, the evolution of interoperability construct is debated beyond data interoperability. These dimensions of interoperability have yet to be explored in the AEC industry. This research article aims to introduce the BIM Interoperability Adoption Model (BIAM). For this purpose, we investigate the interoperability in multiple dimensions according to the European Interoperability framework and develop BIM Interoperability Model with factors affecting each interoperability dimension. BIAM offers a comprehensive assessment of technical, organizational, semantic, and legal interoperability in intra –organizational AEC units, inter-organizational AEC, and BIM partner organizations and assists as a model in assessing the level of compliance and maturity interoperability. BIAM is proposed to work as a link between the organizational, semantic, legal, and technical factors to determine the interoperability issues in the early stages of BIM adoption. The BIAM model addresses interoperability factors and provides recommendations and specifications to help AEC firms to collaborate more effectively by improving interoperability activities, organizational mapping processes, and improving legal coordination. Furthermore, opportunities for future research related to BIM interoperability are discussed, and addressing these aspects of interoperability will make collaborative project delivery well informed, more structured, and effective.

Employee Reactions to Adoption of Alternative Project Delivery Methods within the AEC Industry

ABSTRACT The implementation of alternative project delivery methods (APDMs) in the architecture, engineering, and construction (AEC) industry has increased in recent years. Yet implementation of these methods requires an organizational change effort. One of the challenges facing organizations that are implementing organizational change initiatives is employee resistance to change. The aim of this study was to investigate AEC employees’ reactions to the adoption of APDMs and to examine the methods used to communicate the APDM adoption to employees. To achieve the aim, survey responses were collected from 140 respondents across AEC owner organizations in the United States. Results indicate that employees in AEC owner organizations react favorably to adopting a change in their project delivery systems. Results further reveal that increasing the use of organizational change management (OCM) practices is related to decreased employee resistance to change. Surprisingly, employee reactions do not mediate the relationship between OCM practices and APDM adoption. The findings also indicate that the most effective ways to disseminate change messages to employees are presentations, on-the-job support, and meetings. The findings of this study may be useful for change practitioners in which employees’ reactions toward the changes in project delivery methods are more supportive than resistive to change.

Safety Barriers Identification, Classification, and Ways to Improve Safety Performance in the Architecture, Engineering, and Construction (AEC) Industry: Review Study

The Architecture, Engineering, and Construction (AEC) industry is one of the most dangerous industries due to its unique nature. Safety is a critical issue in developed and developing countries. The main objective of this paper was to identify and classify the barriers that hinder the implementation of safety in projects and ways to improve safety performance. The method used in this paper includes a heavy review of many sources related to the safety barriers in the AEC industry, including a process of identification and classification of these barriers, after which we discuss the most popular methods between them, based on the appearance of it in the sources which were reviewed. Then, the ways to improve safety performance were viewed in AEC industry. Based on that, it was found that there are the following 4 categories associated with safety barriers: (1) Behavior Barriers; (2) Management Barriers; (3) Awareness Barriers; and (4) Culture Barriers. At the same time, the most popular barriers are based on appearance in sources: lack of safety training, lack of commitment, work pressure is high when deadlines are approaching, and low level education, lack of experience, and lack of knowledge. The many ways to improve safety performance are illustrated in the end of this paper. The results of this paper show the importance of safety and that the actual safety of the projects should be focused on in order to reduce injuries, accidents, and reduce barriers of applying safety, which will enhance the sustainability and development of safe environments within in AEC industry.

Structural Optimization in Civil Engineering: A Literature Review

Since tremendous resources are consumed in the architecture, engineering, and construction (AEC) industry, the sustainability and efficiency in this field have received increasing concern in the past few decades. With the advent and development of computational tools and information technologies, structural optimization based on mathematical computation has become one of the most commonly used methods for the sustainable and efficient design in the field of civil engineering. However, despite the wide attention of researchers, there has not been a critical review of the recent research progresses on structural optimization yet. Therefore, the main objective of this paper is to comprehensively review the previous research on structural optimization, provide a thorough analysis on the optimization objectives and their temporal and spatial trends, optimization process, and summarize the current research limitations and recommendations of future work. The paper first introduces the significance of sustainability and efficiency in the AEC industry as well as the background of this review work. Then, relevant articles are retrieved and selected, followed by a statistical analysis of the selected articles. Thereafter, the selected articles are analyzed regarding the optimization objectives and their temporal and spatial trends. The four major steps in the structural optimization process, including structural analysis and modelling, formulation of optimization problems, optimization techniques, and computational tools and design platforms, are also reviewed and discussed in detail based on the collected articles. Finally, research gaps of the current works and potential directions of future works are proposed. This paper critically reviews the achievements and limitations of the current research on structural optimization, which provide guidelines for future research on structural optimization in the field of civil engineering.

Towards an AEC-AI Industry Optimization Algorithmic Knowledge Mapping: An Adaptive Methodology for Macroscopic Conceptual Analysis

The Architecture, Engineering, and Construction (AEC) Industry is one of the most important productive sectors, hence also produce a high impact on the economic balances, societal stability, and global challenges in climate change. Regarding its adoption of technologies, applications and processes is also recognized by its status-quo, its slow innovation pace, and the conservative approaches. However, a new technological era - Industry 4.0 fueled by AI- is driving productive sectors in a highly pressurized global technological competition and sociopolitical landscape. In this paper, we develop an adaptive approach to mining text content in the literature research corpus related to the AEC and AI (AEC-AI) industries, in particular on its relation to technological processes and applications. We present a first stage approach to an adaptive assessment of AI algorithms, to form an integrative AI platform in the AEC industry, the AEC-AI industry 4.0. At this stage, a macroscopic adaptive method is deployed to characterize “Optimization,” a key term in AEC-AI industry, using a mixed methodology incorporating machine learning and classical evaluation process. Our results show that effective use of metadata, constrained search queries, and domain knowledge allows getting a macroscopic assessment of the target concept. This allows the extraction of a high-level mapping and conceptual structure characterization of the literature corpus. The results are comparable, at this level, to classical methodologies for the literature review. In addition, our method is designed for an adaptive assessment to incorporate further stages.

COMPARING BIM ADOPTION AROUND THE WORLD, SYRIA’S CURRENT STATUS AND FURTURE

BIM (Building Information Modeling) is an old-new and ever evolving concept, technology, and method of construction, it’s been a while since BIM obligated itself as a necessity not just a luxury, due to the massive benefits it had brought to the AEC industry. BIM is in a constant phase of evolvement and maturity with new ideas and elements being brought up to the table each day, and thus; the BIM level in each project and/or country is in a different level depending on specific factors. In this research we will take a closer look on various countries’ experiences in BIM and what maturity level each one of them have reached, what are the major obstacles standing in the way of Adopting BIM Technology and how to avoid them, with some examples and statistics to enrich the content, and at the end, and after exploring the most possible number of examples around the globe, we will be looking exclusively on the Middle Eastern region’s experience in implementing BIM and then dive deeper to the Syrian current BIM Status, and why Syria is still falling behind in this criteria, how to develop this technology in the future within the nation, what had been done so far to encourage the usage of this technology, and what benefits would it bring to the Syrian Construction and Financial Industry especially under the current circumstances and during the upcoming phase of reconstructing the devastated areas.

Cyber security threat modeling in the AEC industry: An example for the commissioning of the built environment

Digitalization and automation are making the architecture, engineering, and construction (AEC) industry more vulnerable to cyberattacks. Existing literature suggests that industry-specific studies need to be conducted. The work presented in this study shows a preliminary cybersecurity threat model relevant to the AEC industry. To that end, threat models for each of the life cycle phases are proposed. The feasibility of the proposed approach is illustrated with an example from the commissioning phase of a building, which includes an autonomous robotic system to collect data as a possible countermeasure. The suggested countermeasure shows promise to address some of the cybersecurity challenges faced in the building certification and commissioning process. The results show that the likelihood of detecting rogue sensors increases with additional constraints in the monitoring robot, such as minimum and maximum distance. The illustrative models suggest that the proposed framework will help to address the safety and cyber security of stakeholders and systems during crucial phases of construction projects.

An integrated Linked Building Data system: AEC industry case

Environmental assessment is a critical activity for ensuring buildings are performing according to specified requirements, and efficient, seamless exchange of building information is crucial for environmental assessment. Therefore, all those involved in built environment issues should be able to access and share not only building information but also data about products, especially environmental assessment results for the products used in building projects. Of the several approaches that have been proposed to achieve efficient information exchange, semantic web technologies are amongst the most promising due to their capability to share data and enhance interoperability between the most heterogeneous systems. This study proposes an approach that can be used to make environmental data available in the early phases of the building lifecycle. It relies on Semantic Web techniques, especially Linked Data principles, while building on emerging Building Information Modelling (BIM) technology to propose an approach that facilitates information exchange to enhance the sustainability assessment of buildings. The paper ends with an illustration of how lifecycle inventory databases can be integrated, linked to BIM software and used in exchanging environmental building data.

The effect of commitment differentiation on integrated project delivery team dynamics: The critical roles of goal alignment, communication behaviors, and decision quality

Recently, architecture, engineering, and construction (AEC) project teams have begun to adopt the integrated project delivery (IPD) method with increased frequency. This adoption has been made on the assumption that IPD will lead to beneficial project team dynamics and outcomes. Although novel and potentially useful, we contend that the mere implementation of the IPD method does not in and of itself guarantee successful project team dynamics and outcomes. In specific, in this manuscript we argue that commitment disparities between project team members are problematic for numerous project team dynamics and outcomes: goal alignment, communication behaviors, and decision-quality. Using data from 21 IPD project teams, we show this to be the case. Results from this investigation suggest that when members’ commitment levels vary within project teams, goal misalignment, poor communication behaviors, and reduced decision quality are expected to follow. Moreover, results suggest that this is especially likely to occur when members’ commitment levels are low as opposed to high. This work contributes substantially to our understanding of project team dynamics in the AEC industry, especially as they relate to those delivered under contractually followed IPD. Although the IPD method holds the potential to be beneficial, these results suggest that such benefits accrue only if team members’ commitment levels are both high and uniform. In the absence of such conditions, problematic team-level dynamics and outcomes are expected to ensue.

Estándares y trabajo colaborativo como parte de la enseñanza BIM en educación superior

El documento se propone determinar la importancia de los espacios de colaboración en entornos BIM (Building Information Modeling) como fundamento del cambio de paradigma que vive hoy la educación superior, frente a la formación de profesionales con las competencias necesarias para responder a los requerimientos actuales y futuros de la industria AEC (Architecture, Engineering and Construction). Para lograrlo, se revisarán los aspectos más relevantes a considerar para generar un cambio en la forma de enseñar, enfocándose en incentivar el uso de espacios de colaboración como parte de un proceso de trabajo multidisciplinario. En este sentido, la importancia de potenciar la enseñanza de la metodología BIM radica en su base de procesos y tecnologías colaborativas para aumentar la eficiencia en la ejecución de proyectos de la industria de la construcción. De esta forma se buscar fortalecer la respuesta académica a la disponibilidad de profesionales con las competencias exigidas en el mercado actual y presentar nuevas formas de hacer educación frente a una acelerada transformación digital. Además, se abordan los distintos estándares de la industria de la construcción, y en especial los que dan sustento a la metodología BIM, y que posibilitan mantener consistencia y trazabilidad de la información en todo el ciclo de vida de un proyecto, sin importar en número de participantes de distintas disciplinas que se involucren en él. Detalles del artículo

Prioritization of risks related to BIM implementation in brazilian public agencies using fuzzy logic

BIM (Building Information Modeling) is a disruptive technology that has changed the AEC industry (Architecture, Engineering and Construction) scenario, which has been growing worldwide, generating very effective solutions for the sector. In Brazil, this growth has been driven mainly by government actions through decrees and measures aimed at spreading BIM throughout the national territory. Thus, the market share that has not yet implemented this process is in a hurry to do so, and it is exactly at this point that many professionals, companies and agencies make mistakes, as they implement other processes without knowing its bases and prescriptions. It is in this context that carrying out studies such as this one becomes necessary. The main goal of this work is to generate a prioritization list of the main risks associated to BIM implementation in Brazilian public agencies. Such prioritization is based on the literature, on account of it seeking the most representative risks in the international context through a systematic mapping of the literature. These risks are submitted to a team involved with implementation processes in a representative body responsible for implementing this process in Brazil. Thus, a risk characterization is generated according to two aspects: likelihood of occurrence and impact. These data are submitted to the fuzzy rule-based inference system. Hence, through fuzzy logic, the list of prioritizations of the main risks linked to BIM adoption in the context of public agencies is generated. Using fuzzy modeling through subsystems to assess the criticality of risks related to BIM implementation is considered an innovation, which marks the originality of this article. The first three risks of the generated prioritization list are inadequate relevant knowledge and experience, interoperability issues and cultural resistance, all strongly interconnected. As a scientific contribution, this study demonstrates the themes to be initially solved in the Brazilian context for the elimination of its main obstacles. It also serves as a reference to countries that are in the same stage and context of implementation. Data like this tend to scientifically support the AEC industry and make BIM development, combined with public policies, able to reach maturity levels already presented by developed countries.

Minimizing Time and Cost in The Iraqi AEC industry by Adopting Building Information Modeling (BIM) Technique.

Minimizing Time and Cost in The Iraqi AEC industry by Adopting Building Information Modeling (BIM) Technique.

Digital Traceability for Planning Processes

The increasing complexity of communication and collaboration processes due to the use of build-ing data models and object-based change management, create the need for efficient ways of transparency and traceability within planning processes. The growing presence of BIM (Building Information Modelling) digi-talises the AEC industry and produces numerous assets in digital form, but their added value is not completely exploited. Blockchain (BC) and Smart Contracts (SC) might deliver improvement to communication and col-laboration in the design phase. Based on a framework for assessing BIM based workflows, processes are ana-lysed according to three sub-categories: project-stakeholder involvement, data-flow and single actions, which form a process-flow. The information gained with the application of this framework, grounded in a use case, is further explored in a conceptual model for SCs in the design phase of a building project. The focus hereby lies on existing processes which can be translated into a SC, and not on the alternation of currently applied work-flows. SCs will be used as a tool, for supporting mandatory actions by each project stakeholder and to create a digital reference of changes in a BIM model on a BC.

Holistic green BIM: a scientometrics and mixed review

PurposeDespite the construction industry's significant impact on high energy use and a growing carbon footprint, technologies like Green BIM help to optimize natural resources, reduce pollution, use sustainable space and work on human comfort and health. But the trend in a holistic approach is minimal. Thus, the paper aimed to systematically investigate Green BIM research and implementation trends using a mixed-method and also show the prospects of holistic Green BIM implementation.Design/methodology/approachFirst, we conducted a Scientometrics analysis on the topic using the Scopus database for the time interval of (2013–present). Secondly, the Qualitative Content Review method asserted the Scientometrics analysis result. Lastly, exploratory research was done on secondary data to compare the AEC industry trend for a comprehensive view.FindingsThe merged findings confirmed the partial implementation of Green BIM and of which 43% of research focused only on energy analysis. Despite the potential of BIM and the interrelationship among green building parameters, the result showed other aspects of green building and sustainable design parameters as green material selection, sustainable site, waste management and water-use efficiency not comprised.Originality/valueThe authors propose a new conceptual framework for integrating green building parameters, BIM tools and green building assessment tools in a life cycle of a project that adds into the sustainability of the Architectural, Engineering and Construction sector. The study would help to provoke researchers, software developers and practitioners for further innovative effort in holistic Green BIM implementation.

Assessment of the cybersecurity vulnerability of construction networks

PurposeThe aim of this study is o examine the advantages and disadvantages of different existing scoring systems in the cybersecurity domain and their applicability to the AEC industry and to systematically apply a scoring system to determine scores for some of the most significant construction participants.Design/methodology/approachThis study proposes a methodology that uses the Common Vulnerability Scoring System (CVSS) to calculate scores and the likelihood of occurrence based on communication frequencies to ultimately determine risk categories for different paths in a construction network. As a proof of concept, the proposed methodology is implemented in a construction network from a real project found in the literature.FindingsResults show that the proposed methodology could provide valuable information to assist project participants to assess the overall cybersecurity vulnerability of construction and assist during the vulnerability-management processes. For example, a project owner can use this information to get a better understanding of what to do to limit its vulnerability, which will lead to the overall improvement of the security of the construction network.Research limitations/implicationsIt has to be noted that the scoring systems, the scores and categories adopted in the study need not necessarily be an exact representation of all the construction participants or networks. Therefore, caution should be exercised to avoid generalizing the results of this study.Practical implicationsThe proposed methodology can provide valuable information and assist project participants to assess the overall cyber-vulnerability of construction projects and support the vulnerability-management processes. For example, a project owner can use this approach to get a better understanding of what to do to limit its cyber-vulnerability exposure, which will ultimately lead to the overall improvement of the construction network's security. This study will also help raise more awareness about the cybersecurity implications of the digitalization and automation of the AEC industry among practitioners and construction researchers.Social implicationsGiven the amount of digitized services and tools used in the AEC industry, cybersecurity is increasingly becoming critical for society in general. In some cases, (e.g. critical infrastructure) incidents could have significant economic and societal or public safety implications. Therefore, proper consideration and action from the AEC research community and industry are needed.Originality/valueTo the authors' knowledge, this is the first attempt to measure and assess the cybersecurity of individual participants and the construction network as a whole by using the Common Vulnerability Scoring System.

IFC Classification for FOSS HBIM: Open Issues and a Schema Proposal for Cultural Heritage Assets

The IFC (Industry Foundation Classes) open format has been developed by BuildingSMART and regularized through ISO standards. It has been implemented into a BIM (Building Information Modeling) informative system for the AEC industry (Architecture Engineering and Construction). The IFC format has changed interoperability processes concerning architectural and technical entities in a semantic way. However, because this standard open format was specifically designed for the modern AEC industry, it may not cater to the demands of cultural heritage assets. Since IFC classification is fundamental for informative systems, it should become a standard also concerning heritage assets, even if nowadays there is no regularized IFC classification for historical existing buildings. Specific cultural heritage peculiarities therefore need semantic classification based on historical asset families. For this reason, this work is based on a proposal and experimental IFC classification implemented inside an HBIM open source software (FreeCAD), whereby limitations of IFC standards can be overcome thanks to the freedom of access to libraries and codes. Moreover, this work is based on IFC objects management outside the platform for interoperability purposes.

An empirical analysis of barriers to building information modelling (BIM) implementation in construction projects: evidence from the Chinese context

Although building information modelling (BIM) applies widely in the architecture, engineering, and construction (AEC) industry, its systematic implementation in AEC projects still experiences challenges. While most previous studies have investigated general BIM implementation, the present study precisely focuses on the barriers to BIM implementation at the AEC project level and explores their sources in the Chinese project context. Based on a questionnaire survey with 166 valid responses from experienced BIM practitioners as empirical evidence from the Chinese construction context, the data were processed using descriptive statistical analysis, non-parametric analysis and principal component analysis. The results of the descriptive analysis classified 14 critical barriers. The international comparison of the top five barriers indicated that the most critical barriers were similar but ranked differently in different countries. The following principal component analysis revealed six underlying factors for all the barriers, which were experience and capabilities, technical conditions, system inertia, extra input, change of work routines, and implementation risks. The findings of this study may help the practitioners to understand BIM implementation barriers, allocate resources, and prioritize efforts in project practices. This study can also provide implications for BIM deployment and governance in the AEC industry.

Using XML schemas to structure information models of capital construction facilities

Introduction. Building Information Modeling (BIM) is an auspicious approach that supports management and exchange of semantically rich 3D models across design disciplines. Recently, BIM has gained widespread acceptance in the AEC industry, and it improves the efficiency and quality of the process by facilitating the early exchange of 3D building models. At different stages of the life cycle, a building information model is gradually refined from rough conceptual design to detailed individual components. The task is to develop mechanisms for machine verification (authentication) of data transmitted to/from different systems (for example, from a customer to an expert evaluation authority, from a contractor to the urban planning management information system or any other state information system) in the form of an information model of capital construction facilities or certain components of an information model.
 Materials and methods. To substantiate the choice of the language employed to describe machine-readable documents, various use cases of XML schemas were analyzed, including the use of the Google Trends tool. Information systems, implemented in the Russian Federation, were also considered. Most of them use the W3C XML Schema language to describe XSD schemas.
 Results. A consolidated list of XML schemas, necessary and sufficient to maintain stages of the life cycle of a capital construction facility in terms of interaction with the Urban Planning Management Information System is presented. To ensure interaction between the life cycle participants and state information systems, it is necessary to have the list of XML schemas approved at the federal level. The paper presents matrixes of scenarios for the application of XML schemas in the following coordinates: participants, life cycle stages.
 Conclusions. XML schemas can be supplemented in respect of various stages of a life cycle of a capital construction faci-lity to be verified with due regard for further methodological approaches and changes in regulatory and technical acts; new approaches and the need for this supplementation must be substantiated.

Leveraging the Potential of BIM towards Sustainable Construction

The need to recognize the importance of sustainable construction is becoming a major concern. The innovative technologies around the construction industry can be of major help to achieve the aim of sustainable construction. There are various diverse sustainability rating frameworks around the world, everyone with the same aim of improving the performance of whole building to achieve the goals of creating a healthy built environment. Integration of data is key to sustainable construction which needs a shift from traditional methods of sharing information among various stakeholders. Nowadays, BIM is emerging as more dominant technology by progressively integrating more and more people of the AEC industry. However, the uninterrupted use of digital data information along the complete process sequence falls notably behind other industry sectors. For a successful construction project, an uninterrupted understanding and widespread exchange of information among these stakeholders is essential. Main role of BIM is to improve the collaboration and communication between various people and phases of construction by integration of exchange of information. BIM process, implemented successfully is able to improve the delivery of information in a project and reduce extra cost incurred due to design changes during subsequent construction phases. In this paper to achieve a sustainable BIM model, the capability to share the information using most popular open source, vendor neutral platform IFC, between two of the most accepted BIM software was investigated. Round trip tests were performed for the IFC models produced in two software and an evaluation is made in terms of geometric distortion, information loss and misrepresentation. Several issues were found in exchanging both object geometry information and other semantically significant data. Complete exchange of geometry was not observed in any of the exchanges. The reason for these imperfections is due to the fact that different software prefer to use methods to generate the information in their internal data schemas.