Building Lifecycle Management Research Articles

BIM Driving Innovation in Construction Industry: Advancements in Building Lifecycle Management and Facility Management

With the rapid development of the traditional construction industry, China's construction market is becoming saturated and overcapacity, and the global macro economy is facing uncertainty. Negatively impacted by global events and the climate crisis, the willingness of traditional architectural firms to invest in real estate, infrastructure and other projects needs to be higher. The enhancement of digital information technology has brought greater freedom and openness, and traditional architects are looking to BIM technology to stimulate creativity and build more dynamic buildings. This paper analyses the development and application of BIM technology from the perspective of the BIM+ intelligent management model. It discusses the importance of upgrading the traditional construction industry, especially in building life cycle management. Through BIM+ intelligent management, the traditional construction industry can handle the information in all project stages more efficiently and achieve the goal of resource integration. At the same time, the combination of BIM and facility management can realise intelligent operation and monitoring of building projects. This paper reviews related research and looks forward to the future research direction of combining BIM and building facility management.

Prospects for digital twin technology in the building modular construction and operation phases: A game theory-based analysis

Modular construction and operation significantly impact building lifecycle management, with various stakeholders playing key roles. Digital twin technology emerges as a cutting-edge tool for information exchange, management, and forecasting in the construction sector, offering comprehensive services for diverse stakeholders. However, research primarily explores potential applications and practical solutions, with limited focus on application strategies considering all stakeholders' interests. This gap hinders the transition of digital twin technology from theoretical to practical use. Addressing this, the paper employs game theory to develop models that analyze key stakeholder decisions during the modular construction and operational phases. It creatively introduces mathematical models for complex conditions in the operation phase and conducts numerical simulations. Findings show that the diffusion rate of digital twin technology significantly affects decision-making by main stakeholders in the construction industries in two stages. The diffusion rate in other industries influences the decision of facility management contractors from different backgrounds, yet its implementation ultimately depends on their status and profitability during the operation process. These diffusion rates are influenced by various factors like government subsidies, development costs, and revenues. To enhance the application rate of digital twin technology, the paper suggests initiating pilot projects, creating project pools, expanding industry-university-research collaborations, and implementing subsidies and incentive programs.

Operation and Maintenance Challenges in Building Life Cycle Management: A Literature Review with Insights from Nigeria

Building life cycle management is crucial for ensuring the longevity and efficiency of buildings. However, operation and maintenance challenges hinder the effective management of buildings, leading to dilapidation and reduced lifespan. This literature review explores the reasons for building dilapidation, the impact of professionalism and finance on building life cycle, and the essential aspects of operations and maintenance. The study reveals that poor maintenance, lack of professionalism, and inadequate funding are significant contributors to building dilapidation. Furthermore, effective operations and maintenance involve regular inspections, preventive maintenance, and timely repairs. The findings have implications for building managers, policymakers, and stakeholders in the Nigerian building industry.

The application of prefabricated BIM technology in the production and demolition stages of the whole building life cycle

With the development of engineering construction, the concept of building lifecycle management (BLM) is put forward. The building life cycle is a full cycle process starting from material and construction production, including multiple stages of planning and design, construction and transportation, operation and maintenance, as well as demolition and disposal. With the popularity of the concept of sustainable development, recycling instead of completely abandoning has become a trend. This coincides with the concept of the whole life cycle of a building. Prefabricated BIM (Building Information Modeling) is an important branch of BIM. It plays an important role in the construction of the whole life cycle of buildings due to its characteristics such as visualization, information sharing, and appropriate technology composite, especially in the production and demolition stages. Through qualitative analysis of the advantages of BIM technology and case analysis, this paper focuses on the important role played by BIM technology in the production and demolition stages. The application of BIM technology in construction animation simulation, site layout, and site planning is studied to effectively improve work efficiency and ensure construction quality. Besides, corresponding models and optimization of demolition methods are proposed based on different demolition needs. It can be concluded that in the production stage, BIM technology can be used for structural design, visual three-dimensional (3D) design, collaborative design, and optimization design, while in the demolition stage, BIM technology can be used for space management.

Integration of Industry Foundation Classes and Ontology: Data, Applications, Modes, Challenges, and Opportunities

Industry Foundation Classes (IFCs), as the most recognized data schema for Building Information Modeling (BIM), are increasingly combined with ontology to facilitate data interoperability across the whole lifecycle in the Architecture, Engineering, Construction, and Facility Management (AEC/FM). This paper conducts a bibliometric analysis of 122 papers from the perspective of data, model, and application to summarize the modes of IFC and ontology integration (IFCOI). This paper first analyzes the data and models of the integration from IFC data formats and ontology development models to the IfcOWL data model. Next, the application status is summed up from objective and phase dimensions, and four frequent applications with maturity are identified. Based on the aforementioned multi-dimensional analysis, three integration modes are summarized, taking into account various data interoperability requirements. Accordingly, ontology behaves as the representation of domain knowledge, an enrichment tool for IFC model semantics, and a linkage between IFC data and other heterogeneous data. Finally, this paper points out the challenges and opportunities for IFCOI in the data, domain ontology, and integration process and proposes a building lifecycle management model based on IFCOI.

TOWARDS THE INTEGRATED ADOPTION OF BLM AND DT IN AECO-FM SECTOR: A SCIENTOMETRIC APPROACH

The Architecture, Engineering, Construction, Operation and Facility Management (AECO-FM) industry presents a well-known discrepancy in terms of productivity and digitalization compared with other sectors. The introduction of building lifecycle management (BLM) could lead to several benefits covering all the phases of the building lifecycle (BLC) and enabling the implementation of a model-based integrated management system. Nevertheless, its adoption is far from being spread across the construction field and the case studies in the existing literature present several criticalities related to the adopted technologies and policies which hinder the complete development of a BLM system. To overcome these obstacles, digital twins (DTs) could be exploited to enhance the collaboration among actors, preserving the integrity of data, and offering a multidisciplinary environment to carry out realistic simulations. The purpose of this research is to conduct a scientometric analysis to evaluate the relationships between the topics of BLM and DT in the AECO-FM sector. The most common key studies and patterns are identified by processing bibliometric metadata. The most investigated topics related to BLM and DT are system design, system management, and Building Information Modeling (BIM) applications. The analysis reveals a gap regarding the connection between BLM and DT, identifying a potential research area that is currently unexplored in the academic field. The integrated adoption of these topics could contribute to promoting a holistic approach in the built environment by preserving data consistency, reducing information loss between design and construction phases, and strengthening connectivity among the actors involved in the process.

Информационное моделирование и управление жизненным циклом строительных объектов в городе Новочеркасске

For the construction industry, the actual direction of development is the digitalization of construction at all its stages and the creation of a state information system for supporting the urban planning activities of the Russian Federation. It is possible to create this system taking into account the widespread introduction of digital twins, BIM models and building life cycle management systems.
 The paper considers the development by the team of the SRSPU (NPI) named after M.I. Platov BIM-models of buildings as the basis for creating a digital twin of the entire architectural complex of the SRSPU (NPI).
 To create a BIM model, two types of software were used: the ArchiCAD PC and the domestic Renga complex. A distinctive feature of the creation of the model was that an existing building was used as a prototype with significant alterations and changes in spatial planning and design solutions carried out during operation. In a practical way, it was revealed that the PC Renga is the most convenient for the purposes of creating BIM projects, since it implements most of the functions for modeling building structures.

Leveraging Structural Health Monitoring Data Through Avatars to Extend the Service Life of Mass Timber Buildings

Mass timber construction systems, incorporating engineered wood products as structural elements, are gaining acceptance as a sustainable alternative to multi-story concrete or steel-frame structures. The relative novelty of these systems brings uncertainties on whether these buildings perform long-term as expected. Consequently, several structural health monitoring (SHM) projects have recently emerged to document their behavior. A wide and systematic use of this data by the mass timber industry is currently hindered by limitations of SHM programs. These limitations include scalability, difficulty of data integration, diverse strategies for data collection, scarcity of relevant data, complexity of data analysis, and limited usability of predictive tools. This perspective paper envisions the use of avatars as a Web-based layer on top of sensing devices to support SHM data and protocol interoperability, analysis, and reasoning capability and to improve life cycle management of mass timber buildings. The proposed approach supports robustness, high level and large-scale interoperability and data processing by leveraging the Web protocol stack, overcoming many limitations of conventional centralized SHM systems. The design of avatars is applied in an exemplary scenario of hygrothermal data reconstruction, and use of this data to compare different mold growth prediction models. The proposed approach demonstrates the ability of avatars to efficiently filter and enrich data from heterogeneous sensors, thus overcoming problems due to data gaps or insufficient spatial distribution of sensors. In addition, the designed avatars can provide prediction or reasoning capability about the building, thus acting as a digital twin solution to support building lifecycle management.

DETECTING OPENINGS FOR INDOOR/OUTDOOR REGISTRATION

Abstract. Indoor/Outdoor modeling of buildings is an important issue in the field of building life cycle management. It is seen as a joint process where the two aspects collaborate to take advantage of their semantic and geometric complementary. This global approach will allow a more complete, correct, precise and coherent reconstruction of the buildings . The first issue of such modeling is thus to precisely register this data. The lack of overlap between indoor and outdoor data is the most encountered obstacle, more so when both data sets are acquired separately and using different types of sensors. As an opening in the façade is the unique common entity that can be seen from inside and outside, it can help the registration of indoor and outdoor point clouds. So it must be automatically, accurately and efficiently extracted. In this paper,we start by proposing a very efficient algorithm to detect openings with great precision in both indoor and outdoor scans. Afterwards, we integrate them in a registration framework. As an opening is defined by a rectangular shape composed of four segments, two horizontal and two vertical, we can write our registration problem as a minimization of a global robust distance between two segment sets and propose a robust approach to minimize this distance using the RANSAC paradigm.

Integrated Framework of BIM and GIS Applications to Support Building Lifecycle: A Move toward nD Modeling

Abstract The utilization of building information modeling (BIM) to support various tasks of building lifecycle management (BLM) has been reported in a range of studies. However, during its lifetime...

Developing a BIM-enabled building lifecycle management system for owners: Architecture and case scenario

Given the fragmented nature of the architecture, engineering, construction, and operation (AECO) industry, building lifecycle management (BLM) involves bringing together multidisciplinary teams and integrating lifecycle processes of buildings. Despite the increasing use of information technologies and software tools by property owners, several barriers in BLM implementations remain, such as information silos, low data interoperability, poor cross-party coordination, and the mismatch of existing commercial solutions and user requirements. To deal with these practical challenges, this study develops a BIM-enabled BLM system for property owners using a semi-custom approach. For this, a three-tier architecture of the BIM-enabled BLM system is designed. Next, the system is developed based on a real-life project in the Grid State of China. This case scenario verifies the system and further confirmed the proposed three-tier architecture. The developed architecture and system have theoretical and practical implications for property owners' BLM implementations. This proposed semi-custom approach provides guidelines for AECO industry digital transformation.

Digital Twin Research in the AECO-FM Industry

The purpose of this paper is to examine and discuss the current patterns, gaps and trends in Digital Twin research in the architectural, engineering, construction, operation, and facility management (AECO-FM) industry and to propose future directions for industry stakeholders. A bibliometric search was performed on 197 papers that were obtained from the Scopus database. 151 of those papers were used in the subsequent scientometric analysis and mapping to narrate the evolution of the research subject. The studies discussed in the paper cover a wide range of research from model-based information management to building information management, all the way to the interaction between buildings and smart cities. The ‘virtual-physical building integration’, ‘building lifecycle management’, and ‘information integrated production’ subjects are highly in the focus of the research field. While ‘information-based predictive management’ and ‘virtual-based information utilization’ studies need to be addressed for a holistic Digital Twin adoption in the AECO-FM industry. Future studies should focus on the full integration of digital twin and its physical counterpart for better performance throughout the building life cycle. This study highlights the patterns, gaps and trends in Digital Twin research in the AECO-FM industry and contributes to the state-of-the-art digitalization and automation approaches in the construction project management body of knowledge. The sample size is a limitation for this research since it is relatively small due to the newness of the subject. Future studies may include data related to practice-oriented innovations and industry-initiated improvements to achieve broader and more informed results.

An Adapted Model of Cognitive Digital Twins for Building Lifecycle Management

In the digital transformation era in the Architecture, Engineering, and Construction (AEC) industry, Cognitive Digital Twins (CDT) are introduced as part of the next level of process automation and control towards Construction 4.0. CDT incorporates cognitive abilities to detect complex and unpredictable actions and reason about dynamic process optimization strategies to support decision-making in building lifecycle management (BLM). Nevertheless, there is a lack of understanding of the real impact of CDT integration, Machine Learning (ML), Cyber-Physical Systems (CPS), Big Data, Artificial Intelligence (AI), and Internet of Things (IoT), all connected to self-learning hybrid models with proactive cognitive capabilities for different phases of the building asset lifecycle. This study investigates the applicability, interoperability, and integrability of an adapted model of CDT for BLM to identify and close this gap. Surveys of industry experts were performed focusing on life cycle-centric applicability, interoperability, and the CDT model’s integration in practice besides decision support capabilities and AEC industry insights. The evaluation of the adapted model of CDT model support approaching the development of CDT for process optimization and decision-making purposes, as well as integrability enablers confirms progression towards Construction 4.0.

From sketch BIM to design BIM: An element identification approach using Industry Foundation Classes and object recognition

Building Information Modelling (BIM) is a promising technology for building lifecycle management. Currently, BIM has been extensively used in both the sketch design (sketch) and detailed design (design) stages. Due to different purposes and different BIM tools, the reusability of sketch BIM models in the design stage is still challenging. To address this issue, this study proposes a building element identification scheme using a segmentation-aggregation strategy, termed EI-SA. Since Industry Foundation Classes (IFC) is the international standard of BIM, the EI-SA is built according to the IFC specification. Firstly, the element identification Problem is formally defined, followed by the overall framework of the EI-SA. Then, a presentation-level BIM segmentation algorithm is developed to divide a sketch BIM model into slices of geometric representations. Thirdly, a representation aggregation scheme is proposed to solve the element identification problem. The representation aggregation scheme employs a triangle-triangle intersection to detect the geometric connection and an object recognition algorithm to identify elements. Finally, experiments were conducted on several sketch BIM models. The experiment results showed that the EI-SA identified 82.22% elements on average, which verified the effectiveness of the EI-SA. To the best of our knowledge, this study is the first to solve the building element identification problem according to IFC. The proposed EI-SA will bridge the gap between sketch BIM models and design BIM models, smooth the reusability of data from the sketch stage to downstream stages, and improve the design efficiency by avoiding the re-designing of building elements.

An open, integrated modular format: For flexible and intelligible architecture, engineering and construction design and production

The architecture, engineering and construction sector is fragmented, and its computer-aided design systems suffer data loss and errors in workflow between design and realisation. An open source, integrated, modular format is proposed to address the technological nature of these problems. Accordingly, this research updates the notion of the modular format as a more flexible and intelligible computational design method by leveraging knowledge from the computer science and manufacturing sectors where the design and realisation process is intentional and explicit. The research design of this article comprises a theoretical approach combined with an empirical case study. Principles of modularity are extracted from the computer science and manufacturing sectors to assist with a better definition of architecture, engineering and construction computer-aided design processes that use materials and resources more efficiently and sustainably. The methodology of the modular format contributes to the emerging concept of a building lifecycle management system for the architecture, engineering and construction sector.

Engaging Building Automation Data Visualisation Using Building Information Modelling and Progressive Web Application

Abstract The integration of the building information modelling (BIM) and assets database has enabled a potential pathway for building stakeholders to add value to the building lifecycle management (BLM) processes. However, the obtaining, storing, processing, and distributing of data have not been ratified in a detailed and semantic manner in any official guideline. This paper suggests a framework for the efficient development of an interoperable visualisation of a building “digital twin” through an intuitive interface, to contribute to the idea above. The framework was applied in two case studies as examples, where rich visualisations of two buildings in the Kanta-Häme region of Finland were constructed using their architectural models and building indoor climate metrics. By constructing an engaging interface, relevant metrics and constant feedback from buildings’ occupants are gathered, meaningful data is selected, processed, and displayed to improve the facility management (FM) process. The yielded result is a progressive web application (PWA), where valuable sets of building performance data are visualised and a promptly communicable channel between owners/occupants and building system is delivered. Further development of this application in practice and research work is also proposed to harness the data-driven monitoring and automation in buildings to the greatest extent.

Building lifecycle management based on 4D modelling as the main workspace for building risk assessment

The use of information technology in the management of construction projects has become a decisive factor for the successful completion of projects, taking into account time, quality and financial costs. There are challenges in visualizing the planning process and integrating information between stakeholders. The paper considers some aspects of the development trend of information technology in construction. The element base, including the risks arising during the design and construction, associated with the direct use of computer and mathematical models of the object in the design is considered. The generated information models will provide basic information for the participants in the design process, which ultimately will be the basis of the element base of an effective tool for ensuring project life cycle management. The following methods were used: system analysis, logical-mathematical modelling, systems theory, economic-visual modelling, research methods of operations, economic and mathematical methods. A basic block diagram of 4D modelling is presented to minimize the occurrence of risks during design. The model allows considering the possibility of assessing the duration of the project, the level of labour productivity, as well as visualizing the construction process. The presented analysis indicates the importance of using 4D modelling in relation to the life cycle of the object in order to prevent the possibility of construction risks.

BUILDING INFORMATION MODELING APPLIED TO THE INDUSTRIAL ARCHITECTURAL MONUMENTS CASE STUDY OF SAINT PETERSBURG

Abstract. Development and implementation of information models of spatial objects affect broadest application areas currently. Building Information Models (BIMs) are now becoming extremely popular. These models are able to describe a great number characteristics of building or engineering construction, including physical and functional properties, economic parameters, visual parameters, etc. BIM use is introduced currently as the mandatory aspect of building life cycle management, from design and construction to demolition. However, implementation of the BIM concept into the reconstruction, restoration and conservation of historical and cultural heritage remains the least developed domain. Therefore, research and development activities concerned with HBIMs (Historical Building Information Models) are particularly relevant. Saint Petersburg being the second largest Russian city has a huge number of architectural monuments, while industrial architecture composes a special category of these monuments. We provided a number of research and development activities devoted to the 3D information modelling of industrial architectural monuments located in St. Petersburg. Context of these works was established by the reconstruction and adaptation of these monuments to modern needs. 3D models of buildings were produced basing on results of the laser scanning and photogrammetric survey. Basing on our work, we have formalized main approaches to design and implementation of Building Information Models of the industrial architectural monuments.

Building Information Management as a Tool for Managing Knowledge throughout whole Building Life Cycle

The essence of successful implementation of BIM in practice is knowledge about objects, their behaviour and other properties with higher overlap and throughout the life cycle of the building. In addition, other structurally and unstructured knowledge (historical experience, needs and requirements of users, investors, the need to perform revisions to some objects, etc.) is added to this. Taking all of these attributes into a building lifecycle management system requires the creation of both a knowledge management and knowledge management system and a time management system. Learning creates knowledge and “knowledge organization” is an organization that uses knowledge to develop and achieve (long-term) goals. In general, there is no guaranteed procedure, no universal set of tools to help build a knowledge-based organization. If knowledge creation is to be used to better achieve results, it should not be separated from other activities of the organization. Knowledge Management represents the establishment and subsequent managing special network structure that includes all existing knowledge units. Knowledge management is often perceived as a survivor of the company today, but managers often do not realize that it is a much more complex process than generating large tables in Excel for comprehensive reporting to senior management and owners. Well-organized Knowledge Management can create concepts of knowledge, review and consolidate them, prepare action plans to create, secure, combine and coordinate knowledge, as well as set up clear ways to extract them from knowledge bases at the time of need and hunger for quality.

Digital Twin: Vision, Benefits, Boundaries, and Creation for Buildings

The concept of a digital twin has been used in some industries where an accurate digital model of the equipment can be used for predictive maintenance. The use of a digital twin for performance is critical, and for capital-intensive equipment such as jet engines it proved to be successful in terms of cost savings and reliability improvements. In this paper, we aim to study the expansion of the digital twin in including building life cycle management and explore the benefits and shortcomings of such implementation. In four rounds of experimentation, more than 25,000 sensor reading instances were collected, analyzed, and utilized to create and test a limited digital twin of an office building facade element. This is performed to point out the method of implementation, highlight the benefits gained from digital twin, and to uncover some of the technical shortcomings of the current Internet of Things systems for this purpose.