Building Information Modeling Tools Research Articles

Life cycle energy analysis of a glazed commercial building using building information modelling (BIM) tools

Buildings play a major role in increasing energy consumption and bulk atmospheric emissions. Energy analysis must be taken into consideration because of increased global warming. In the present scenario, Glazed walls with gas infills are preferred for their aesthetic appearance by AEC designers (Architecture, Engineering and Construction) in commercial buildings. The environmental impact must be considered in the selection of glazing panels and framing materials of a building. In this work, a fully glazed commercial building (FGCB) is chosen and modelled using Autodesk-Revit (BIM software) and then simulated using Green Building Studio Software. The life cycle energy analysis (LCEA) and life cycle cost analysis (LCCA) results are compared to come out with energy-efficient and cost-effective material. The optimized energy usage of Double low-E glazing and Double reverse glazing with glass infill were compared with the existing single clear glass for their performance over its entire life cycle based on both energy usage, cost, and greenhouse gas emission by analysing its embodied and operating energy.

BIM-Based Design for Road Infrastructure: A Critical Focus on Modeling Guardrails and Retaining Walls

Although building information modeling (BIM) has been widely adopted in the building industry for several decades, the use of BIM in the context of transportation infrastructure has been slow in terms of both adoption and application. Industry and academia are increasingly making efforts to adopt BIM for other non-building civil infrastructure but, so far, there has not been a comprehensive review of these efforts specifically regarding transportation. This paper explores BIM implementation in an infrastructure design project. An Autodesk ® BIM-based tool, Civil 3D, is proposed as a potential BIM tool platform. This paper also focuses on modeling specific road elements not editable from the standard library, such as guardrails and retaining walls, as well as proposing different solutions using Revit and Subassembly Composer and analyzing the interoperability among BIM-based tools.

Generative BIM workspace for AEC conceptual design automation: prototype development

PurposeThe integration and automation of the whole design and implementation process have become a pivotal factor in construction projects. Problems of process integration, particularly at the conceptual design stage, often manifest through a number of significant areas, from design representation, cognition and translation to process fragmentation and loss of design integrity. Whilst building information modelling (BIM) applications can be used to support design automation, particularly through the modelling, amendment and management stages, they do not explicitly provide whole design integration. This is a significant challenge. However, advances in generative design now offer significant potential for enhancing the design experience to mitigate this challenge.Design/methodology/approachThe approach outlined in this paper specifically addresses BIM deficiencies at the conceptual design stage, where the core drivers and indicators of BIM and generative design are identified and mapped into a generative BIM (G-BIM) framework and subsequently embedded into a G-BIM prototype. This actively engages generative design methods into a single dynamic BIM environment to support the early conceptual design process. The developed prototype followed the CIFE “horseshoe” methodology of aligning theoretical research with scientific methods to procure architecture, construction and engineering (AEC)-based solutions. This G-BIM prototype was also tested and validated through a focus group workshop engaging five AEC domain experts.FindingsThe G-BIM prototype presents a valuable set of rubrics to support the conceptual design stage using generative design. It benefits from the advanced features of BIM tools in relation to illustration and collaboration (coupled with BIM's parametric change management features).Research limitations/implicationsThis prototype has been evaluated through multiple projects and scenarios. However, additional test data is needed to further improve system veracity using conventional and non-standard real-life design settings (and contexts). This will be reported in later works.Originality/valueOriginality and value rest with addressing the shortcomings of previous research on automation during the design process. It also addresses novel computational issues relating to the implementation of generative design systems, where, for example, instead of engaging static and formal description of the domain concepts, G-BIM actively enhances the applicability of BIM during the early design stages to generate optimised (and more purposeful) design solutions.

Effect of Contraction Joints on Structural Behavior of Double Curvature Concrete Dam Subject to Dynamic Loading

A double curvature arch dam considers as complex mega structure built for the hydropower or agriculture national goals. Arch dam cost effective is less compared to other types of dams, construction a safe and stable of arch dam depending on intelligent formation of dam layouts. This work conducted to explore the structural behavior of the double curvature arch concrete dam under the variation effect of the distance in between the contraction joints. The dam blocks divided and distributed as seven intervals of the distance between the blocks of the dam as 15,17.5,20,22.5,25, 27.5, and 30 m. Stresses analysis of arch dam conducted to study the effects of these intervals on the structural behavior of double curvature concrete dam when the water in the reservoir at the operation level. Arch dam data input considered the Nonlinearity in both of dam shape and concrete materials properties to evaluate the maximum and minimum principal stresses at the top of the crown cantilever, and the maximum principal stresses along the crest path of the upstream face. Finite element and building information modeling tools (Revit – Abaqus6.13) were considered during the modeling and analysis process. The results show that the dam must be simulated for a specific interval of distance between each two contraction joints are 20 to 22.5 meter and the optimum selection to this interval of contractions joints leads to increase the structural stability status of the arch dam.

Integrating daylight simulation in the design process: comparative analysis between two computational platforms

Daylighting presents an important role for high performance buildings. Currently, Building Information Modeling (BIM) has excelled in the Architecture and Engineering (A&E) industry as a collaboration and information exchange methodology that generates integrated computational models. Simulation plug-ins for BIM tools capable of performing daylighting simulations in a semi-automated way have been developed, thus presenting a more simplified simulation process and favoring the adoption of performance analysis since initial design stages; being a little explored subject. This article aims to investigate the Insight plug-in for Revit, focusing on its daylighting features. The workflow, input-output structure and results of Insight dynamic (sDA) and static (illuminance levels) daylighting metrics were analyzed, comparatively to the plug-in DIVA-for-Rhino, which simulation engines were considered validated by literature. Simulations on both software used the same model of a reference office space for the city of Belo Horizonte. Results indicate that Insight’s favors the daylighting analysis in the initial phases of the design process and allows the verification of code compliances, however determining materials optical properties presents some degree of complexity. Low sensitivity to glasses with low and medium values of light transmittance was noticed in the case study. Evidence of consideration of internal reflections of light rays (ambient bounces) close to 7 may leed to overestimated results in the case of low complexity models. This study intends to contribute to the understanding of the potentials and limitations of both analyzed tools, especially in regard to the specificities of BIM daylight simulation with Insight.

Exploring and verifying BIM-based energy simulation for building operations

PurposeThe operational phase of a building's lifecycle is receiving increasing attention, as it consumes an enormous amount of energy and results in tremendous detrimental impacts on the environment. While energy simulation can be applied as a tool to evaluate the energy performance of a building in operation, the emergence of Building Information Modeling (BIM) technology is expected to facilitate the evaluation process with predefined and enriched building information. However, such an approach has been confronted by the challenge of interoperability issues among the related application software, including the BIM tools and energy simulation tools, and the results of simulation have been seldom verified due to the unavailability of corresponding experimental data. This study aims to explore the interoperability between the commonly used energy simulation and BIM tools and verifies the simulation approach by undertaking a case study.Design/methodology/approachWith Autodesk Revit and EnergyPlus selected as the commonly used BIM and energy simulation tools, respectively, a valid technical framework of transferring building information between two tools is proposed, and the interoperability issues that occur during the data transfer are studied. The proposed framework is then employed to simulate the energy consumption of a single-family house, and sensitivity analysis and analysis on such parameters as schedule are conducted for building operations to showcase its applicability.FindingsThe simulation results are compared with monitored data and the results from another simulation tool, HOT2000; the comparison reveals that EnergyPlus and HOT2000 predict the total energy consumption with a difference from the monitoring data of 8.0 and 7.1%, respectively.Practical implicationsThis research shows how to efficiently use BIM to support building energy simulation. Relevant stakeholders can learn from this research to avoid data loss during BIM model transformation.Originality/valueThis research explores the application of BIM for building energy simulation, compares the simulation results among different tools and validates simulation results using monitored data.

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.

Utilizing BIM technology to improve sustainability analyses for Iraqi Construction Projects

The construction sector has a major contribution to resource depletion, high energy consumption and a high negative impact on the environment; hence, the need to improve sustainability in the construction sector has appeared. In this study, Building Information Modeling (BIM) technology is adopted as one of the modern techniques that contribute significantly in improve sustainability. This research aims to investigate around the impact of design parameter alternatives (orientation, window-to-wall ratio, window glass type) on electric energy performance and electric energy cost, study the role of BIM tools in water usage analysis and increase water efficiency and investigate the capabilities provided by BIM tools to improve natural ventilation. Educational project (Deanship building) of Agriculture College at Diyala University is considered as a case study. The result that illustrates the most effective alternatives is window-to-wall ratio with energy-saving around (21,439 kWh/year) and cost-saving around (1929$/year) as well as illustrates water usage indoor around (1,530,385 L/year) and outdoor around (1,063,385 L/year) and indoor water saving around (17.7%) based on fixture efficiency. Also, the results show BIM tools very useful in improving natural ventilation.

Integration of BIM and Archibus for Facility Management (FM) in FKAAS, UTHM Building

Building Information Modelling (BIM) can play a great role in improving the operation and maintenance (O&M) of building and facility management (FM) through the use of construction technology. BIM can be implemented in design, construction and facility management which provide a digital database of information management that can be easily shared between stakeholders. However, the use of BIM in O&M for FM is still limited in Malaysian construction. The aim of this study is to explore the integration of using BIM tools and FM software for space management as the primary key to facility management. FKAAS building located in UTHM has been used as the case study for this research. The main objective is to develop a 3D BIM model by using Revit Autodesk and integrate into ARCHIBUS software to manage spaces based on Sistem Kod Aset Tak Alih Kerajaan (SKATA). As a result, the data of the building can be used by the facility management to manage the building spaces in a more efficient way and enhance the building performance in future. This result can help the facility management of FKAAS building to manage spaces, space inventory and better performance and maintenance for FKAAS and other UTHM Buildings.

Using BIM for Assessing Buildings Life Cycle Impacts

Facing the recent implementation of the Building Information Modelling (BIM) process in the construction industry, several potentialities have not been fully explored yet. Among them, is the integration of BIM in Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) analysis in order to automate the assessment of the potential environmental impacts. To date, despite the existing studies on the subject, there is still a need to define and establish a recommended assessment framework and software tool for LCA purposes when BIM methodology is used. This research analyses the current state of the implementation of the LCA analysis in the BIM process. Additionally, it compares the results from the use of two LCA software. For this purpose, a case study was modelled in the Autodesk Revit BIM platform and exported to two LCA specific BIM tools: Athena Impact Estimator and Tally. The life cycle impact results from both BIM tools, as well as the required workflows, are discussed and compared in order to validate results and identify the advantages and disadvantages of each. The results show that the implementation of the LCA method can be optimized in time and reliability by using the BIM process. Concerning the selected software, Tally has a better interoperability capability, user-friendly interface and a wider range of possible locations for the building. On the other hand, Athena Impact Estimator requires a detailed building characterisation to perform a comprehensive environmental impact assessment and has a broader materials database.

Potential Review on Energy Analysis Attributes for in 6 Dimension Application in Building Information Modelling (BIM)

Rapid advancement on digitalisation is changing the way buildings are planned, designed, built and managed nowadays. A collaborative computer-based environment known as Building Information Modelling (BIM) is one of the advancements introduced as a platform to boost up the efficiency of the construction industry. However, poorly designed, constructed and managed building or infrastructure contribute to environmental issues such as CO2 emissions and energy consumption. Thus, attachment of sustainability element in BIM not only increase the efficiency of the project but also can help to plan, design and construct in a more environmentally friendly way. A study on the overall energy use throughout the construction life cycle is needed to identify the most critical stages and to develop energy-reduction strategies via BIM. Thus, this paper provides an intensive review of BIM understanding, its energy analysis practices in the construction phase and existing building environmental assessment tools in BIM. To achieve this, an in-depth review was carried out focusing on the content analysis of a few journal articles related to BIM, energy analysis and sustainability assessment tool. Hence, this paper contributes by discussing the wide variety of building environmental assessment instruments and categorising existing tools to be used in the BIM.

Building information modelling applications in smart buildings: From design to commissioning and beyond A critical review

Building Information Modelling (BIM) constitutes the state of the art in the digital design techniques, and represents one of the main streams of the Industry 4.0 era. The integration of BIM into processes related to buildings design, construction and operation is a practice in line with the sustainability aspects of the built environment, and which gains more interest in the recent years in the field of research development. This study aspires to present the main advancements in the field of building integration modelling in the field of smart buildings. Emphasis is given on the integration of IoT applications into buildings smart operations. The study is structured in four sections, concerning the use of BIM in pre-, during- and post-construction life cycles of the project, as well as for other significant aspects. In the pre-construction stage, research trends in the field of building design and optimization, as well as for the environmental assessment of buildings’ design with the use of BIM and LCA tools is presented. Issues related to the use of BIM for monitoring and coordination during construction, as well as for health and safety topics in the construction site are also analysed. An overview of recent studies in the area of applications for buildings smart operation with the use of IoT technologies, as well as for renovation projects, are considered in the analysis of the post-construction applications of BIM. Interoperability issues concerning data sharing between BIM related applications is presented, according to the recent advancements in standardization processes.

A Survey on Integration of Optimization and Project Management Tools for Sustainable Construction Scheduling

Construction scheduling, in practice, commonly relies on the usage of commercial project management tools (PMT) without specific optimization features. To obtain optimal schedules, planners often need to develop separate optimization models with special tools, which, however, demand further processing and editing of optimization results by PMT into forms expected for project management. In this regard, separation of optimization and PMT also requires considerable additional work for complete and harmonized updating of schedules during construction execution. Mentioned drawbacks and lack of available time may take to deficient construction scheduling during the implementation phase resulting in poor or even insufficient realization of project goals. Therefore, this paper presents an achievements survey on the integration of optimization and PMT that allow sustainable construction scheduling, particularly in terms of continuous optimal time and resource allocation throughout the project life cycle. Such work has not yet been comprehensively done up to now and the present contribution intends to fill a literature gap in the aforesaid area. Following a brief introduction, the optimization platform for construction scheduling is given in the article. Focusing on construction scheduling, an in-depth achievements survey on the integration of heuristics methods, mathematical programming and special solving methods with conventional PMT as well as optimization-based building information modeling (BIM) tools is then performed and findings are reported. The paper ends with conclusions and recommendations for further research.

Integration of BIM and Procedural Modeling Tools for Road Design

Building Information Modeling (BIM) is a design and management methodology strongly used in the Industry of Architecture, Engineering, and Construction (AEC). It allows the creation of a 3D model through parametric modelling in a workflow that updates data, geometry and semantics using the Industry Foundation Classes (IFC) standard. The purpose of this paper is to develop and apply a BIM method for road infrastructures. The creation of the BIM 3D models was carried out using different visual programming software and BIM tools, designing the spatial and parametric representation of the roadway. This way, it has been possible to discover the advantages of using procedural modelling to design road infrastructure through software that are usually used in the mechanical and architectural field. Finally, the interoperability of the software to extract and exchange information between these BIM tools was assessed.

Implementation of Building Information Modeling for Construction Clash Detection Process in the Design Stage: A Case Study of Malaysian Police Headquarter Building

The Malaysian government motivates constructor companies to use Building Information Modeling (BIM) on their projects because it can dominate problems such as design error, delay, and construction-overrun costs. This research also assesses the effect of BIM in the design phase of the construction process and how this technology can detect all existing clash in construction plans during the design phase. The research was carried out through a case study that contains an architectural, structural, and Mechanical, Electrical and Plumbing (MEP) BIM models and their following clash detection. The current study implemented Autodesk Revit and Autodesk Navisworks Manage as BIM tools to develop features to simplify and automatically clash detection process. The result from the case study analysis revealed that BIM is an appropriate tool for detecting clashes among the building elements. Therefore, constructability issues can be determined earlier during the design phase before the construction phase begins, controlling project cost, time, and having a seamless design to produce a better building.

Selection of Organizational and Technological Solutions for Construction

The article describes methods and techniques of selecting the most efficient solutions for construction. Selection of the best organizational, technological and cost-effective selection for construction of buildings and related structures is one of the key issues of constructions operations studied by virtually all the leading universities in the Russian Federation. This issue becomes relevant when new construction processes are introduced and when minor quantitative changes, which in the majority of cases result in a change in the technology and organization of works, are made to a project. Currently, there is an issue of formalization of the problem on all stages, as well as of the more precise definition of direct and inverse connections between separate stages of selecting an organizational and technological solution (OTS) for construction of buildings and related structures. Having analyzed research papers and building information modeling tools for developing an OTS, we may assert that the selection of organizational and technological solutions is insufficiently elaborated in the sphere of automation and still requires a large amount of manual labor regarding, particularly, selection of a model flow chart of CP. Results of multiple studies in the sphere of virtual reality support implementation of the “direct design” concept. Architectural and construction visualization as one of the spheres of 3D graphics helps to evaluate whether a building or any architectural form fits the existing construction site to a high degree of accuracy.

BIM-Based End-of-Lifecycle Decision Making and Digital Deconstruction: Literature Review

This article is the second part of a two-part study, which explored the extent to which Building Information Modelling (BIM) is used for End-of-Lifecycle (EoL) scenario selection to minimise the Construction and Demolition Waste (CDW). The conventional literature review presented here is based on the conceptual landscape that was obtained from the bibliometric and scientometric analysis in the first part of the study. Seven main academic research directions concerning the BIM-based EoL domain were found, including social and cultural factors, BIM-based Design for Deconstruction (DfD), BIM-based deconstruction, BIM-based EoL within LCA, BIM-aided waste management, Material and Component Banks (M/C Banks), off-site construction, interoperability and Industry Foundation Classes (IFC). The analysis highlights research gaps in the path of raw materials to reusable materials, i.e., from the deconstruction to M/C banks to DfD-based designs and then again to deconstruction. BIM-based EoL is suffering from a lack of a global framework. The existing solutions are based on local waste management policies and case-specific sustainability criteria selection. Another drawback of these ad hoc but well-developed BIM-based EoL prototypes is their use of specific proprietary BIM tools to support their framework. This disconnection between BIM tools and EoL tools is reportedly hindering the BIM-based EoL, while no IFC classes support the EoL phase information exchange.

Structural Applications of Thermal Insulation Alkali Activated Materials with Reduced Graphene Oxide.

Development of low thermal conductivity and high strength building materials is an emerging strategy to solve the heavy energy consumption of buildings. This study develops sustainable alkali activated materials (AAMs) for structural members from waste expanded polystyrene (EPS) beads and reduced graphene oxide (rGO) to simultaneously meet the thermal insulation and mechanical requirements of building energy conservation. It was found that the thermal conductivity of AAMs with 80 vol.% EPS and 0.04 wt.% rGO (E8–G4) decreased by 74% compared to the AAMs without EPS and rGO (E0). The 28-day compressive and flexural strengths of E8–G4 increased by 29.8% and 26.5% with the addition of 80 vol.% EPS and 0.04 wt.% rGO, compared to the sample with 80 vol.% EPS without rGO (E8). In terms of compressive strength, thermal conductivity, and cost, the efficiency index of E8–G4 was higher than those of other materials. A building model made from AAMs was designed using building information modeling (BIM) tools to simulate energy consumption, and 31.78% of total energy consumption (including heating and cooling) was saved in the building operation period in Harbin City, China. Hence, AAMs made of waste EPS beads and rGO can realize the structural and functional integrated application in the future.

State of Building Information Modelling (BIM) adoption in Iraq

Building Information Modelling (BIM) is one of the most promising technologies in the Architecture, Engineering and Construction (AEC) industry. However, while a number of studies have shown the benefits of BIM, especially in infrastructure projects, barriers exist to actualising these benefits through implementation. In Iraq, there is a lack of BIM adoption among construction firms because industry practitioners are not interested in BIM and the firms do not have the adequate experience in this technology. The focus of this study is to investigate the current state of BIM adoption in construction industry in Iraq and determine the barriers that prevent its widespread. The key findings of this study are; first habitual resistance to change has the most adverse effect to BIM implementation in the country, second AutoCAD, STAAD Pro and Revit are the most common BIM tools used by BIM adopters in Iraq and finally the results indicate that BIM adoption is not satisfactory because the majority of respondents had only 3 to 6 years’ experience working with BIM Introduction.

A review of Building Information Modeling research for green building design through building performance analysis

The strength of Building Information Modeling (BIM) in achieving sustainable buildings is well recognized by the global construction industry. However, current understanding of the state-of-the-art green BIM research is still limited. In particular, a focus study on how BIM contribute to green building design through building performance analysis (BPA) is not available. This paper aims to provide systematic and comprehensive insights on current trends and future potentials of green BIM research by analyzing the existing literature with their research features (i.e. research backgrounds, goals, methods and outputs). In total, 80 publications have been collected, analyzed and discussed. The results show that among ten main BPA types, energy & thermal analysis, green building rating analysis, and cost and benefit analysis are the most studied. However, wind & ventilation analysis, acoustic analysis, and water efficiency analysis receive little attention. Moreover, more research focusing on integrated design analysis should be carried out for optimal design outcome. In addition, most of the collected literature research on the capability of data integration and analysis of green BIM tools, while their capability of visualization and documentation has limited examination. Furthermore, most researchers utilized one main software package while utilization of information exchange formats (IEF) is limited. To increase interoperability of green BIM tools, how different BIM authoring tools and IEFs can be utilized for BPA requires further investigation.