Building Information Modeling Techniques Research Articles

Use of BIM with Modular Construction in Future Construction Techniques

Modular construction technology and applications are rapidly evolving. Modular construction is a process in which entire rooms or sections of rooms are built in a factory setting along with electrical, mechanical, and plumbing work and then transported to a final site for assembly. With modular construction, a building is built off-site, under controlled facility conditions, with the same materials and to the same codes and standards as conventionally built facilities, but in half the time. The modular construction method is used to build various types of buildings (whether they are apartment houses, office buildings, or hotels). This construction method is used for both permanent and relocatable projects. These projects can be built with two types of modules. These are 2D panels or 3D modules. These can be combined to form a third type, hybrid modular construction. Each has its advantages. 2D panels offer easy logistics and flexibility in building design and are mounted on site. Factory productivity is increased by using 3D volumetric solutions. They only need to be installed once they are delivered. The hybrid modular structure has the advantages of the previous two. With the recent development of Building Information Modeling (BIM), the use of modular construction methods in conjunction with BIM becomes more common. As with any method, this one has advantages as well as disadvantages. Disadvantages of this method, such as a higher number of complex decisions, front-loaded design, etc., can be solved with BIM. Furthermore, the BIM platform can resolve the disadvantages of traditional construction methods, such as the difficulty of pre-project planning and coordination among members of interdisciplinary professions. With BIM and the modular construction method, physical conflicts between the structural system and its mechanical, electrical, and plumbing systems can be easily identified early in the design process, and resolution can be expedited. This article includes general information about the modular construction method, future application scenarios, use, and advantages of BIM. The document analysis method, one of the qualitative methods, was used, and in the light of the data obtained, comments and scenarios were tried to be created about the future of BIM and modular construction techniques. What distinguishes this study is that the concept of quality is examined in detail by using these two methods together.

SLOW ADOPTION OF BUILDING INFORMATION MODELING: COMPARING VIEWPOINTS OF DESIGNERS AND CONTRACTORS

The slow adoption of Building Information Modeling (BIM) technology poses significant problems for the construction industry in the Middle East. The root causes of this issue are purported to include a lack of understanding of its benefits and the existence of barriers to its adoption. This study investigates the slow adoption of BIM technology in the Middle East to identify solutions to facilitate BIM adoption and approaches by which stakeholders can transform to utilizing BIM. The main objectives of this research are to: (1) examine the attitudes and readiness of construction stakeholders for BIM, (2) investigate the extent to which there is a lack of understanding of BIM benefits, (3) explore the barriers that hinder BIM adoption, and (4) identify the solutions recommended by the industry experts to promote BIM utilization. The study also compares the viewpoints of designers and contractors to identify potential differences. A questionnaire survey has been devised to gather data from stakeholder firms and experienced BIM professionals. The results revealed that the viewpoints of designers and contractors generally align, except when it comes to recognizing a few benefits such as the generation of accurate and consistent 2D drawings, achieving greater predictability in project time, enhancing communication among project stakeholders, minimizing change orders, and mitigating redesign issues. Similarly, there was a difference in recognizing a few barriers, namely, the lack of skilled personnel and the cost of training existing staff. Furthermore, the analysis led to the conclusion that the most notable advantage of BIM is improved conflict detection, and the most significant barrier is the lack of BIM training. The research culminated in offering recommendations for addressing the industry's BIM-related challenges. These suggestions encompassed raising awareness of BIM as a robust design and construction tool, supporting construction firms for adopting BIM techniques, and identifying methods to streamline the implementation process within these firms.

Green buildings and maintenance planning practices in Malaysia

PurposeGreen building (GB) maintenance is increasingly accepted in the construction industry, so it can now be interpreted as an industry best practice for maintenance planning. However, the performance competency and design knowledge of the practice's building control instrument process can be affected by its evaluation and the information management of building information modelling (BIM)–based model checking (BMC). These maintenance-planning problems have not yet been investigated in instances such as the Grenfell Tower fire (14 June 2017, approximately 80 fatalities) in North Kensington, West London.Design/methodology/approachThis study proposes a theoretical framework for analysing the existing conceptualisation of BIM tools and techniques based on a critical review of GB maintenance environments. These are currently employed on GB maintenance ecosystems embedded in project teams that can affect BMC practices in the automation system process. In order to better understand how BMC is implemented in GB ecosystem projects, a quantitative case study is conducted in the Malaysian public works department (Jabatan Kerja Raya (JKR)).FindingsGB ecosystem projects were not as effective as planned due to safety awareness, design planning, inadequate track insulation, environmental (in) compatibility and inadequate building access management. Descriptive statistics and an ANOVA were applied to analyse the data. The study is reinforced by a process flow, which is transformed into a theoretical framework.Originality/valueIndustry practitioners can use the developed framework to diagnose BMC application issues and leverage the staff competency inherent in an ecosystem to plan GB maintenance environments successfully.

An integrated building information modelling-based environmental impact assessment framework

The application of Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) studies faces many challenges, especially in developing countries. This problem was investigated in the existing literature and via a designed questionnaire among local practitioners. The reasons were mainly attributed to the seclusion of the EIA process across the project’s phases, as well as the complexity of the EIA procedures. Hence, the research argues that Building Information Modelling (BIM) applications can be the key to resolve several associated problems to EIA either directly, or indirectly by streamlining Environmental Management System (EMS). Thus, a keyword-based scientometric analysis was used to define parameters and interrelations and establish network analysis for a proposed BIM-based EIA framework. The proposed framework presents scoring schemes to support three types of assessments: the efficiency of applying BIM techniques for an EIA process (Score A), proper integration of BIM techniques for different EIA steps (Score I) and proper integration of BIM techniques across project phases (Score B). It also shows the interplay of points between the three schemes via a Sankey diagram. The proposed framework was applied to compare three major construction projects in a developing country, the case of Egypt to pinpoint areas of drawbacks. The results pinpointed poor application of advanced BIM models to support sustainability analysis for EIA studies. This is in addition to imbalance of applying BIM applications across different project phases, it was notably less pronounced for the operation and maintenance stage as well as end of life scenarios. Also, poor integration of BIM tools could not support decisions related to the mitigation step. Hence, applying 6-dimensional BIM model shall enable developing mitigation measures and shall support design optimization during building operation and end of life phase. This novel approach presents the required level of verification and quality control procedure needed by decision-makers and environmental engineers to perform EIA studies and pave the way for further related research.Graphical

Integrated model for BIM and risk data in construction projects

The acceleration in the adoption of building information modelling (BIM) techniques in many countries around the world makes BIM technology a global research trend. A few studies have shown how risk information can be properly managed in a BIM environment. This research aims to improve the risk management process using BIM techniques and proposes a new methodology within a BIM system to manage risk information for construction projects. The risk register, which represents the final risk information, and the Revit program, which represents one of the BIM platforms, are integrated using the Dynamo program in this paper’s proposed new method for integrating risk information with the BIM system. Two types of information are automatically transferred from the risk register to the BIM model: first, data and numbers, such as ‘Risk score,’ ‘Risk status,’ etc; this allows integration of risk information with the rest of the project parameters in the BIM system to achieve BIM system integration. Second, colors, where the elements are coloured the same colour as the degree of risk in the risk register. The proposed methodology demonstrates how visualisation can be used to identify risks, as visualisation is one of the most important features of BIM, and how risk information can be linked to BIM, making risk management more effective and accurate than the traditional method.

Mobile phone indoor scene features recognition localization method based on semantic constraint of building map location anchor

Abstract Visual features play a key role in indoor positioning and navigation services as the main semantic information to help people understand the environment. However, insufficient semantic constraint information and mismatching localization without building map have hindered the ubiquitous application services. To address the problem, we propose a smartphone indoor scene features recognition localization method with building map semantic constraints. First, based on Geographic Information System and Building Information Modeling techniques, a geocoded entity library of building Map Location Anchor (MLA) is constructed, which is able to provide users with “immersive” meta-building-map and semantic anchor constraints for mobile phone positioning when map matching. Second, using the MYOLOv5s deep learning model improved on indoor location scenario, the nine types of ubiquitous anchor features in building scenes are recognized in real time by acquiring video frames from the smartphone camera. Lastly, the spatial locations of the ubiquitous indoor facilities obtained using smartphone video recognition are matched with the MLA P3P algorithm to achieve real-time positioning and navigation. The experimental results show that the MLA recognition accuracy of the improved MYOLOv5s is 97.2%, and the maximum localization error is within the range of 0.775 m and confined to the interval of 0.5 m after applying the Building Information Modeling based Positioning and Navigation road network step node constraint, which can effectively achieve high positioning accuracy in the building indoor scenarios with adequate MLA and road network constraint.

Building Schedule Risks Simulation by Using BIM with Monte Carlo Technique

Risk management in construction projects has great importance through its impact on the basic objectives of the construction projects, as controlling the risks of the construction projects helps reduce cost overruns and time overruns and improve the quality of the construction projects. This paper aims to highlight the role of BIM in risk management in construction projects by generating a predictive risk model using Monte Carlo simulation to analyze a number of risks and generating a 3D model and 4D model to show the effect of risks. The predictive risk model can help project managers control the risks that affect the construction projects and enhance communication between all stakeholders for the project. The methodology was applied to two risk scenarios, the optimistic scenario for risks, and the pessimistic scenario for risks in one of the construction projects in Iraqi through the use of four commercial programs working together. The study concluded that the building information modeling technique has great importance in reducing the risks affecting the construction project by showing the effect of these risks during the project’s construction phases and controlling them.

Building Energy Management in Airport Construction Projects Utilizing BIM Technique

Building Information Modeling (BIM) is one of the modern technologies that has become widely applied in many aspects of construction projects and energy management. This paper aims to use modern technologies in designing and constructing airports to control energy consumption, know the possible strategies to obtain the lowest consumption and the most appropriate cost, and compare simulated electrical energy outcomes with actual electrical energy consumption. By investigating the impact of sun path analysis on energy performance, analysis and evaluation of energy performance, and water usage. Analysis using BIM technology tools. As the airports are the largest part of buildings in energy consumption and due to the lack of research available in Iraq on how to obtain optimal use of the consumption of available electricity and water efficiency in Airport projects that can be used to obtain an environmentally and economically sustainable airport. Using BIM technology and the associated programs, it is possible to know the optimal strategies in terms of economic terms. The environment in the early stages of the life of the project. The idea of this study applied to one terminal of Baghdad international airport. The results illustrate that BIM is very useful to perform various analyses that help find different strategies for improving the project’s energy efficiency, such as sun path analysis and GBS tool based on BIM helpful technology tool to energy analysis. The result illustrates that most energy electricity consumption goes for cooling space with consumption around 63871 kWh in August month and most fuel consumption for the purpose space heat with consumption around 1409261 MJ in January month and where indoor water-saving around (23.7%). GBS tool based on BIM technology is an effective tool that can help designers and architects to energy performance assessment and calculate energy costs in the early design stage were help in finding the best solutions that contribute to improving energy efficiency in the early stages of the project life cycle.

BIM, machine learning and computer vision techniques in underground construction: Current status and future perspectives

The architecture, engineering and construction (AEC) industry is experiencing a technological revolution driven by booming digitisation and automation. Advances in research fields of information technology and computer science, such as building information modelling (BIM), machine learning and computer vision have attracted growing attention owing to their useful applications. At the same time, population-driven underground development has been accelerated with digital transformation as a strategic imperative. Urban underground infrastructures are valuable assets and thus demanding effective planning, construction and maintenance. While enabling greater visibility and reliability into the processes and subsystems of underground construction, applications of BIM, machine learning and computer vision in underground construction represent different sets of opportunities and challenges from their use in above-ground construction. Therefore, this paper aims to present the state-of-the-art development and future trends of BIM, machine learning, computer vision and their related technologies in facilitating the digital transition of tunnelling and underground construction. Section 1 presents the global demand for adopting these technologies. Section 2 introduces the related terminologies, standardisations and fundamentals. Section 3 reviews BIM in traditional and mechanised tunnelling and highlights the importance of integrating 3D geological modelling and geographic information system (GIS) databases with BIM. Section 4 examines the key applications of machine learning and computer vision at different stages of underground construction. Section 5 discusses the challenges and perspectives of existing research on leveraging these emerging technologies for escalating digitisation, automation and information integration throughout underground project lifecycle. Section 6 summarises the current state of development, identified gaps and future directions.

Time and Cost Planning of a Housing Construction Project Using Building Information Modelling

Conventional ways of building construction process lack proper task scheduling and planning of the project work at the site resulting in poor monitoring of the whole process. Building information modelling (BIM) creates a platform where all the information of every single element of the construction process can be virtually integrated. The integration of 3D elements of a building model with its scheduled time and cost parameters results in 5D BIM. This feature enables the visualization, scheduling, planning, and monitoring and clash detection of all pre- construction, construction and post-construction processes of a building. The present study used the information of a live project of a traditionally built residential building which was remodelled using 5D BIM technique. The purpose of this study was to compare and analyse the impact of 5D BIM on time and cost parameters of the live project.

Challenges Facing the Implementation of Building Information Modeling (BIM) Techniques in Iraq.

Building Information Modeling (BIM) technology is a modern technology in the construction industry that has seen widespread and implementation in construction projects around the world in recent years. Developing countries trying to follow up on the newly developed methods and technologies in terms of the architecture, engineering and construction (AEC) industry. Iraq is one of these countries that depends on the traditional methods for design and managing construction projects. This paper aims to review and analyze the most important constraints and challenges (barriers) that stand against the implementation of BIM technology in the AEC industry of Iraq. This paper is part of an ongoing master thesis that in dedicated to the application of BIM technology in the Iraqi AEC industry. A comprehensive literature review has been made beside a face-to-face interview with specialists in the AEC industry along with a questionnaire survey directed to the specialists involved in the process of building and construction and some expert academic parties. The reliability has been approved statically, and the analysis showed that the most influential barriers are lack of demand, lack of authority’s support, absence of a national standard for BIM, lack of experts, and the social and habitual resistance to change. The results gained were discussed and compared to the previous studies. More effort must be taken by authorities to overcome these barriers to improve the AEC industry and to take BIM techniques into implementation in Iraq.

Building Energy Management using BIM Technique: Iraq Construction Projects as A Case Study

Building Information Modeling (BIM) technique is one of the modern techniques that have become widely used in many areas of the construction sector, including energy management. This work aims to study the effect of sun path analysis in improving energy performance, analysis and evaluation of the energy performance based on the tools provided by BIM technique, and comparison of simulated electrical energy results with real electrical energy consumption. The criteria of this study applied on one Iraqi project at Diyala University. The results illustrate that BIM very useful to perform various analyses helped to find different strategies for improving the energy efficiency of the project such as sun path analysis and Green Building studio (GBS) tool based on BIM technique useful tool to energy analysis where the result illustrate most electricity consumption goes for cooling space with consumption around (63871) kWh in August month as well as most fuel consumption for the purpose of space heatind with consumption around(187846) MJ in December. GBS tool based on BIM technique is an effective tool that can help designers and architects in energy performance assessment as well as calculate energy costs in the early design stage, also it helps in finding the best solutions that contribute to improving energy efficiency in the early stages of the project life cycle.

Review of built heritage modelling: Integration of HBIM and other information techniques

Abstract Built heritage documentation involves the 3D modelling of the geometry (typically using 3D computer graphics, photogrammetry and laser scanning techniques) and information management of semantic knowledge (i.e., using Geographic Information System (GIS) and ontology tools). The recent developed Building Information Modelling (BIM) technique combines 3D modelling and information management. One of its modern application is heritage documentation and has generated a new concept of Historic/Heritage Building Information Modelling (HBIM). This paper summarises the applications of these information techniques on the built heritage documentation. We utilise Web of Science Collection to monitor the publications on built heritage documentation. We analyse the research trend in heritage modelling by comparing the attention paid by researchers before and during the 2010s. The results show that photogrammetry is always the most popular method in heritage modelling. More and more works in heritage modelling have begun to use laser scanning, computer science, GIS and especially BIM techniques. Ontologies and 3D computer graphics are traditional ways for heritage documentation. Moreover, we pay attention to the roles of BIM on heritage documentation and conduct a detailed discussion on how to extend the HBIM capabilities by integrating with other techniques. The integration provides possible enhanced functions in HBIM, including accurate parametric modelling from computer graphics, automatic semantic segmentation of 3D point cloud from reality-based modelling, spatial information management and analysis by GIS, and knowledge modelling by ontology.

Documentation of construction project using integration of BIM and GIS technique

Building Information Modeling (BIM) and Geographic Information System (GIS) are important technologies in spatial information management. Several efforts have been made to utilize BIM information and use it in the GIS, but there is no fixed or standard basis. The need to study the integration of BIM and GIS to solve various problems in the construction industry has emerged, include the Revit software as a BIM tool, can deal with specific building or project meanwhile, GIS can deal with an entire city as an environment for planning and designing. The process of exporting data from Revit to GIS or vice versa is not possible and the authors were forced to find external software. The purpose of this paper is to link GIS and BIM data using a smart platform called Autodesk InfraWorks for creating the digital representation of the real world. The study included modeling the case studies of 16 projects within the site of Diyala University campus in Revit software, creating a database in Arc GIS based on raster data, and collect data to document the case studies. The results showed the visualization process in the models (3D), as well as calling the files in different formats using the (tooltip) tool in InfraWorks to compile all these case studies within one environment.

Great Western railway electrification, UK: the key role of building information modelling

Building information modelling (BIM) transformed the delivery of Network Rail’s Greater West programme, which included electrification of the Great Western railway between London and south Wales in 2019. This paper provides an insight into how BIM was developed and implemented on this £5 billion multi-disciplinary railway programme. In addition to significant cost and time savings, the 5 year programme’s exemplary safety record can also be attributed to virtual design and construction, three-dimensional signal-sighting reviews and design reviews, all facilitated by BIM techniques and best practice.

Interactions between building information modelling and off-site manufacturing for productivity improvement

PurposeNew methods have been introduced as revolutionary approaches in the construction industry, such as off-site manufacturing (OSM) and building information modelling (BIM). Although these approaches can provide many benefits, there are still barriers to meeting the expectations of improved construction productivity via their implementation. Hence, the purpose of this paper is to critically review the capabilities of OSM and BIM techniques, as well as their potential interactions, in productivity improvement.Design/methodology/approachA scoping review approach was adopted, where 100 peer-reviewed journal articles were collected to analyse the capabilities of OSM and BIM, as well as their potential interactions, in productivity improvement as assessed by key productivity indicators (KPrIs).FindingsThe results reveal seven BIM-based capabilities and six OSM-based capabilities, as well as 12 potential OSM–BIM interactions that have significant potential for satisfying KPrIs.Originality/valueAn integrated framework has also been developed to clarify and conceptualise the roles of OSM–BIM interactions in their designated KPrIs. The research has developed insightful and practical references for strategic planning and management in OSM–BIM-based projects.

Integration of point cloud data and hyperspectral imaging as a data gathering methodology for refurbishment projects using building information modelling (BIM)

PurposeBuilding information modelling (BIM) is a digital representation of the physical and functional characteristics of a building. Its use offers a range of benefits in terms of achieving the efficient design, construction, operation and maintenance of buildings. Applying BIM at the outset of a new build project should be relatively easy. However, it is often problematic to apply BIM techniques to an existing building, for example, as part of a refurbishment project or as a tool supporting the facilities management strategy, because of inadequacies in the previous management of the dataset that characterises the facility in question. These inadequacies may include information on as built geometry and materials of construction. By the application of automated retrospective data gathering for use in BIM, such problems should be largely overcome and significant benefits in terms of efficiency gains and cost savings should be achieved.Design/methodology/approachLaser scanning can be used to collect geometrical and spatial information in the form of a 3D point cloud, and this technique is already used. However, as a point cloud representation does not contain any semantic information or geometrical context, such point cloud data must refer to external sources of data, such as building specification and construction materials, to be in used in BIM.FindingsHyperspectral imaging techniques can be applied to provide both spectral and spatial information of scenes as a set of high-resolution images. Integrating of a 3D point cloud into hyperspectral images would enable accurate identification and classification of surface materials and would also convert the 3D representation to BIM.Originality/valueThis integrated approach has been applied in other areas, for example, in crop management. The transfer of this approach to facilities management and construction would improve the efficiency and automation of the data transition from building pathology to BIM. In this study, the technological feasibility and advantages of the integration of laser scanning and hyperspectral imaging (the latter not having previously been used in the construction context in its own right) is discussed, and an example of the use of a new integration technique is presented, applied for the first time in the context of buildings.

Enhancing high-rise residential construction through design for manufacture and assembly – a UK case study

Buildings forms are often complex and a result of end user needs, local surroundings and aesthetic aspirations. The individuality of buildings has therefore posed challenges with respect to harnessing the desired mass production and standardisation linked with off-site manufacture. However, through design for manufacture and assembly (DfMA), construction can be linked with industrial processes and deliver projects that are safer, cleaner and more efficient. Furthermore, successful DfMA projects minimise disruption within the local environment while delivering not only improved quality, cost and programme certainty, but also a more sustainable form of construction. The Two Fifty One project is a 40-storey mixed-use development in central London, UK, that has successfully embraced the principles of DfMA across all engineering disciplines. As a result, the delivery team has developed effective off-site construction solutions for superstructure, facades, bathrooms and mechanical and electrical services. All have been designed, coordinated and facilitated through advanced digital engineering and building information modelling techniques. Overall, the project has been delivered with reduced programme and cost, while simultaneously improving safety, quality and reliability in a more sustainable way through reduced vehicle movements and greater efficiency in site logistics. This case study describes this exemplary project and the design delivery model.

Dynamic construction material layout planning optimization model by integrating 4D BIM

Construction material layout planning is a key project in temporary facility layouts. When allocating materials without effective resource consolidation and planning in advance, construction managers usually have difficulties in comprehensively determining resource demand to optimize material layout. This also leads to reduced efficiency, increased cost, and unnecessary loss of time. This study proposed the dynamic construction material layout planning optimization model to investigate the optimization of material layout from the perspective of dynamic task scheduling. In addition to the variables of schedule advancement and evolution, dynamic material requirements, and changes in storage sites and areas, task float times were analyzed to account for the changes in three-dimensional travel distances between material supply and demand sites concurrently with changes in task schedules and ensure that the observations conformed to real-time conditions. First, schedule and building information modeling techniques as well as the procedures for quantity take-off and construction materials and quantity analysis were consolidated to produce dynamic material requirements data for construction layout planning. Second, the symbiotic organisms search algorithm was applied to derive the optimized construction site material layout plan. Finally, the proposed model was applied to a construction project. The required total distance for the dynamic material layout plan was 954,736 m, which saved roughly half of the required distance compared with the fixed material layout plan of 1,659,457 m. This greatly reduced material transportation costs and validated the effectiveness of the proposed model.

Preliminary Evaluation of BIM-based Approaches for Schedule Delay Analysis

The problem of schedule delay commonly occurs in construction projects. The quality of delay analysis depends on the availability of schedule-related information and delay evidence. More information used in delay analysis usually produces more accurate and fair analytical results. How to use innovative techniques to improve the quality of schedule delay analysis results have received much attention recently. As Building Information Modeling (BIM) technique has been quickly developed, using BIM and 4D simulation techniques have been proposed and implemented. Obvious benefits have been achieved especially in identifying and solving construction consequence problems in advance of construction. This study preforms an intensive literature review to discuss the problems encountered in schedule delay analysis and the possibility of using BIM as a tool in developing a BIM-based approach for schedule delay analysis. This study believes that most of the identified problems can be dealt with by BIM technique. Research results could be a fundamental of developing new approaches for resolving schedule delay disputes.