Digital Construction Research Articles

Rethinking digital construction: a study of BIM uptake capability in BIM infant construction industries

PurposePractitioners have reported a minimal and non-use of building information modelling (BIM), especially in small and medium-sized organisations and BIM infant construction industries. This development calls for a reappraisal of organisations’ strength in capabilities required for BIM uptake towards the target of global construction digitalisation. This study aims to assess the BIM Level 2 uptake capability of organisations in a BIM infant construction industry and identify the underlying interactions between the capability criteria.Design/methodology/approachThe study used a multivariable analysis of fifteen descriptors identified from the people, process, policy, finance and technology domain. Data collection was done in the BIM infant construction industry in Nigeria. Verification of the descriptors and an evaluation of BIM uptake capability in organisations was done. Seventy-three responses were received within the selected context, and data analysis was done with mean weighting and exploratory factor analysis. Maximum Likelihood extraction and Direct Oblimin rotation were used.FindingsFactor analysis revealed three factors that explained 53.28% of the total variance in the BIM Level 2 uptake capability of construction organisations. The factors are workforce capacity and continuous development, an affinity for innovation and strength in physical and operational facilities.Research limitations/implicationsThis study provides an overarching and insightful discussion on BIM uptake capability and construction digitalisation with evidence from a BIM-infant construction industry.Practical implicationsThe findings of this study are a piece of valuable empirical evidence on Level 2 BIM uptake capability. This empirical situation analysis will inform the advocacy for the advancement of BIM and enhanced utilisation of building information. Evidence on the capability performance of the BIM infant industry has been revealed.Originality/valueThe outcome is expected to stir debate on the preparedness of organisations to further exploit the benefits of BIM in the BIM infant construction industry. Examination of the capability for a particular phase of BIM is scanty in the literature.

Acceptance of contemporary technologies for cost management of construction projects

The construction industry has become more digital and the traditional methods of construction activities are gradually becoming outdated. In this era of digital construction, various information and communication technologies have been developed and deployed to the site for the management and control of construction activities including cost management. Irrespective of the benefits of adopting these technologies, most of them are still not readily accepted for use for construction management. This study articulated Seven (7) recent technologies driving the industry and evaluated their acceptance for cost management of construction projects. The technologies include mobile technology, Augmented/Virtual Reality (AR/VR), Building Information Modeling (BIM), Internet of Things (IoT), Autonomous Equipment (Drones and Robotics), Artificial Intelligence (AI), and Predictive Analytics (PA). Data was gathered using a restructured questionnaire and technology acceptance model analysis was performed to identify which of the technologies have higher acceptance for cost management based on the criteria of availability, affordability, frequency of use, usefulness for cost management, and acceptance in the industry. Test statistics using Spearman’s correlations and Kendall’s correlations for each of the technologies and Spearman’s Correlations of Technology acceptance with other variables in the TAM Model were performed. The results showed that mobile technology has higher correlation values than other technologies, and therefore has a higher acceptance for cost management. Kendall’s coefficient of concordance values and Spearman’s correlation values for Mobile technology were all above 0.6 which indicates a high level of agreement among the raters and strong relationships between the compared TAM variables.

Understanding the Effect of Movement Control Order during Covid-19 Pandemic on Contractors

Series of Movement Control Order (MCO), also known as - Perintah Kawalan Pergerakan (PKP) were issued by Malaysian government with the intention of flattening the spread of Coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) pandemic. The series of MCO, though successfully flattened the curve of Covid-19 spread in the country, has affected all areas of life, including the construction industry. This paper aims to investigate the impacts as well as collisions of Covid-19 Pandemic and the handling of MCO effects from contractors’ perspectives. Representative from 2 major contractors association were interviewed. The method adopted was joint In-depth interview or paired interview and was conducted online. Data collected was coded and thematic analysis ensued. The findings exposed those various impacts were inflicted on the contractors namely financial, time and human resource because of Covid-19 and MCO. Several proposals namely introduce stimulus package and lunch new projects to get the economy running, legalize illegal foreign workers as immediate and short- term solution, and emphasizing new ways of construction, particularly by adopting the Industrialized Building System (IBS) and automated or digital construction were raised, to cushion the impact and sustain the industry in the long haul.

Construction Project Management with Digital Twin Information System

The current stage in the development of the construction industry is its digitalization, which requires the transformation of processes and models based on the use of digital platforms and twins. Datasets in a construction project accumulates quickly and becomes difficult to store and process due to the large file sizes of CAD,GIS and BIM technologies. Managing such datasets is a complex problem, since the usefulness of such data lies in ensuring that it is available and used as needed by all participants in a construction project. The article proposes to develop an information system for creating digital twins of construction project management as an integrator of digital tools based on Big Data Analytics and BIM technology, which is already the standard for the digitalization of the construction industry. The study describes four types of digital twins and ten properties of Big Data required for construction project. Conceptual model of Big Data domains for construction project and BIM-model of Big Data exchange and information transfer for construction project digital twin are considered. The authors propose a framework for creating digital twins of construction project management that uses three main components: BIM-models, Big Data Analytics and Knowledge Base. The results of the study are structure of information system of creating digital twin of territory urban planning project for Design Company and example using a BIMoriented software product. Keywords—BIM-model, Big Data, digital twin, construction projectmanagement, digital construction

How Does Digitization Affect Sports Industry Development and Public Health?

<p><big>Speeding up digital development and building "digital China" is an important strategic deployment of the "14th Five-Year Plan" and a concrete measure to promote the high-quality development of China's sports industry and national health. Based on provincial data in China from 2011 to 2019, an empirical model is used to analyze the relationship between digital construction, sports industry development and national health investment. The results show that digitalization is instrumental for sports industry development and the improvement of national health in China. Digitalization has promoted the healthy development of sports industry and national health by increasing the input of public science and technology.</big></p>

Positioning Algorithm of MEMS Pipeline Inertial Locator Based on Dead Reckoning and Information Multiplexing

High-precision mapping and positioning of urban underground pipelines are the basic requirements of urban digital construction. Aiming at the above problems, a dead reckoning algorithm based on the starting point and ending point correction and forward and reverse solution information reuse is proposed. This paper firstly establishes a dead reckoning system model consisting of a microelectromechanical system (MEMS) inertial measurement unit (IMU) and an odometer and analyzes the propagation mechanism of dead reckoning errors. The algorithm constructs the trajectory correction matrix by using the position information of the starting point and the ending point of the short-distance underground pipeline and then uses the trajectory correction matrix to correct the trajectory position information obtained by forward and reverse dead reckoning. Finally, the corrected forward and reverse trajectory position information is fused and averaged to achieve high-precision mapping and positioning of underground pipelines. The simulation results of the 100 m pipeline show that the maximum positioning error of the proposed algorithm for straight pipelines is within 5 cm, and the maximum positioning error for 90° curved pipelines is within 20 cm. The algorithm effectively solves the problem of a rapid accumulation of errors over time in the process of dead reckoning, which greatly improves the positioning accuracy.

Study of the mechanism of digitalization boosting urban low-carbon transformation

The climate problem is severe and many urban climates are poor. To deal with a series of climate problems, low-carbon measures are indispensable. Digital development is becoming a new driving force for social development. Therefore, the development of urban low-carbon transformation should be based on digital construction. This paper explores the significance and theoretical mechanism of the research of the mechanism of digitalization boosting urban low-carbon transition. Theoretically, digitalization can reduce carbon emissions through mechanisms such as optimizing industrial structure, adjusting energy structure, improving government governance efficiency, and changing people’s way of production and life. Finally, from the perspective of carbon neutrality, this paper puts forward relevant countermeasures, from the following six aspects: building a carbon emission measurement and monitoring system, promoting the digital transformation of enterprises, increasing the research and development of new energy technologies, improving the carbon emission market trading system, optimizing the carbon emission administrative management system, and practicing the low-carbon concept.

Engineering Management Innovation and Digital Construction Practice Based on BIM Technology

Engineering Management Innovation and Digital Construction Practice Based on BIM Technology

Does digitalization drive corporate green transformation?—Based on evidence from Chinese listed companies

Accelerating the digital transformation of enterprises, enabling enterprise operation and management with digitalization, and driving green transformation are important tasks to further promote the digital construction of a country. Based on the text data mining method, this paper investigates digitalization’s impact on enterprises’ green transformation and its mechanisms, using A-share listed companies in Shanghai and Shenzhen as research samples from 2011 to 2020. The results show that digitalization has the effect of “inhibiting” and then “promoting” on the green transformation of enterprises, i.e., the relationship between the two is U-shaped. The heterogeneity analysis shows that this U-shaped relationship exists among non-heavy polluting enterprises, eastern enterprises, main-board enterprises, GEM enterprises, and enterprises with high digitization speed. As far the influence mechanism, the dynamic capability acts as a partial mediator in the relationship between digitalization and green transformation. This study provides a useful reference for enterprises to drive sustainable development and promote the construction of national ecological civilization.

Integration of Building Information Modeling (BIM) and Virtual Design and Construction (VDC) with Stick-Built Construction to Implement Digital Construction: A Canadian General Contractor’s Perspective

Building information modeling (BIM) and virtual design and construction (VDC) are useful management processes and methodologies to enhance project communication and coordination. Over the past few decades, researchers and practitioners have made efforts to promote the adoption of BIM and VDC in the construction industry. However, currently, the promotion and adoption of BIM and VDC are relatively slow in North America. This paper focuses on developing an approach to drive the adoption of the technologies through cooperation among project stakeholders and proposing a method of collaboration through a case study. In this paper, the authors surveyed and interviewed a major Canadian general contractor on its implementation of BIM and VDC in construction projects. The was to benchmark the status of BIM and VDC applications in the Atlantic region of Canada from a general contractor’s perspective. Both surveys and interviews were conducted with various project participants throughout the organization. Based on the results, a “Digital Construction Framework for the Future” is proposed to increase the adoption of BIM and VDC. This research can provide a general understanding of BIM and VDC adoption in this particular general contractor and areas of improvement in transitioning to a more digital working construction environment.

Rheology and printability of Portland cement based materials: a review

Three-dimensional (3D) concrete printing (3DCP) is one of the digital construction techniques that demands the fulfilment of particular material properties. One of the most important requirements for 3DCP is the material’s rheology. This article provides a comprehensive analysis of the rheology of Portland cement-based materials used in extrusion-based 3DCP. The first sections of the article focused on the influence of mix design on the rheology required for 3DCP in both fibre reinforced and non-fibre reinforced mixtures, followed by the role of various chemical admixtures in tailoring the time dependent rheology. The research points out the lack of rheology benchmarking, implying a strong need for novel or standard printable mix designs that use sustainable materials to improve the structural build-up of mixtures. The review also shows a strong need for active rheology control of cementitious materials for large scale printing application.

Analysis on the Path of Digital Villages Affecting Rural Residents' Consumption Upgrade: Based on the Investigation and Research of 164 Administrative Villages in the Pilot Area of Digital Villages in Zhejiang Province.

The weak consumption of rural residents has become an important factor restricting the healthy development of the Chinese economy. With the continuous development of digital construction in rural areas, its role in the upgrading of rural residents' consumption is becoming more and more important. Based on the mechanism of 164 administrative villages in the pilot area of Zhejiang Province, and using staggered cluster analysis, MLR analysis, mediation effect model, etc., this paper discusses the impact and transmission mechanism of digital villages on rural residents' consumption upgrade. The results show that farmers' wage income, property income, and total income all play a significant positive mediating role in the process of promoting consumption upgrading in digital villages; information literacy is a latent variable in the process of promoting consumption upgrading in digital villages. It also played a significant positive mediating role. The research provides the micromechanism of the digital village affecting the consumption upgrade of rural residents and puts forward to promote the process of infrastructure construction, improve the construction of e-commerce system, pay attention to the differences among residents and other suggestions.

Construction of Heritage Digital Resource Platform Based on Digital Twin Technology

In order to preserve and inherit material cultural heritage, the author proposes a method for digital construction of the Great Wall’s cultural heritage based on digital twin. This method discusses the connotation of the whole life cycle of the Great Wall digital twin, proposes the research path and content of the digital twin construction of the Great Wall cultural heritage, and conducts the application of the Great Wall digital twin to evaluate the application effect. The evaluation results show that users’ overall satisfaction with Great Wall’s digital twin application is relatively high, and the average score of each indicator is above 4, and the functional experience is slightly poor. Conclusion. This method can provide full life cycle visualization services for the digital archiving, application, and decision-making of the Great Wall cultural heritage and provide theoretical and methodological references for the preservation and inheritance of material cultural heritage.

Digital Fabrication and Mechanical Properties of 3D-printing Concrete

3d printed concrete technology is a hot research topic in the field of architecture. Printed by layers, the concrete could be stacked accurately in the shape which is digitally designed on computer programs. However, the conventional cement mortar is not suitable for 3D-printing, Because that its aggregate ingredients may cause the cracks in the process of printing. Moreover, the buildability and rheological properties of conventional mortar cannot reach the requirements of 3D-ptinting concrete technology. Ultra-high performance concrete is a developing category of material used in concrete structures and it is considered to be one of the most appropriate printing materials. As the popularization of computer technology, it is a necessary task to research on the digital construction way of concrete structures. And 3D-printing concrete technology combines the popular topics above together. This study mainly introduces the fabrication process of ultra-high performance concrete and digital printing process of 3D-printing concrete, and the mechanical properties of printed specimens are studied by the experimental results.

Protection of Jingdezhen Ceramic Heritage Based on Blockchain Technology

Jingdezhen ceramic heritage is the largest existing ceramic cultural heritage in China, with the richest connotation and the most complete system. It has the characteristics of strong systematization, complicated preservation, and diversified use. With the vigorous development of cultural industry, Jingdezhen’s ceramic heritage has a broad application prospect, but at the same time, it faces the problem of being destroyed or improperly developed. With the progress of science and technology and the development of machinery, the traditional hand-made porcelain technology of Jingdezhen ceramics is gradually being eliminated. The value and distinctive feature of Jingdezhen ceramic heritage is the importance and necessity of its protection, and the protection of Jingdezhen ceramic heritage has become an urgent problem to be solved. In order to solve this problem, this paper takes the protection of Jingdezhen ceramic heritage as the research object, analyzes the characteristics and protection status of Jingdezhen ceramic heritage, and applies blockchain technology to the protection of Jingdezhen ceramic heritage, which promotes the protection of ceramic heritage. The decentralized, traceable, and open characteristics of blockchain technology provide innovative technical support for the digital construction of ceramic heritage and strong technical support for the protection of ceramic heritage. The results show that by analyzing the current situation of Jingdezhen ceramic heritage protection and construction, the digital model of Jingdezhen ceramic heritage based on blockchain technology is established by combining blockchain technology with digital construction of ceramic heritage, and a digital identity is built for Jingdezhen ceramics. The collected Jingdezhen ceramic information is attached to the blockchain, which ensures its unique and effective identity information, realizes the integration of Jingdezhen ceramic information, and actively promotes the informatization and standardization of ceramic heritage protection. The research results provide new ideas for Jingdezhen ceramic heritage protection and theoretical support for heritage protection and inheritance.

Survey and analysis on digital construction of primary hospitals in Guizhou Province

To investigate the utilization status and awareness of digital hospital construction among medical staff in critical care department of primary hospitals, so as to promote the process of digital medical health. One to two doctors and nurses (in the department on that day) from public hospitals in 88 counties and urban areas in 9 cities of Guizhou Province were enrolled of field investigation. The questionnaires form were filled in on-site and sorted out and analyzed by special personnel. A total of 297 medical staff from the department of critical care medicine of 146 hospitals were included. All the questionnaires were filled in with their real names, including 152 doctors and 145 nurses. There were 24 class III Grade A hospitals and 122 class II and all the hospitals had implemented digital information management. The awareness of hospital digital information management system was generally low among the surveyed medical staff, and the awareness of hospital information system (HIS) was the highest (86.5%), followed by laboratory information management system (LIS, 41.4%) and image archiving and communication system (PACS, 40.7%). The awareness of hospital management system (HERP) was the lowest (7.7%). The total number of remote consultations conducted by hospitals using big data Internet was 25 428 times in 2020, with a median of 24.5 (88.0, 240.0) times in each hospital. From 2018 to 2020, the total number of patients admitted to the intensive care unit of the hospital was 50 473, 57 565 and 57 907, respectively, of which the number of patients over 65 years old accounted for 37.47%, 41.26% and 43.31%, respectively (all P > 0.05). There were 4 242 cases of remote consultation using big data Internet in the department every year, with a median of 257.50 (96.50, 958.25) cases. 12.12% of the departments had independent critical monitoring systems, and 8.75% of them could capture data automatically to form tables. 96.30% of the medical staff participated in systematic and professional training on basic knowledge, basic theory and basic medical care skills through the Internet platform, and the number of meetings, studies and training in the provinces and prefectures were 282 and 357 times per year, respectively. More than 90% of the departments initiated remote consultation, arranged referral or admitted patients who had improved status after treatment in superior hospitals through the Internet platform. Most of the patients (69.02%) were from the lower level of the hospital. The total number of out-patient consultations was 2 959 times per year, with a median of 296 (185 473) times. 54.79% of the departments had fixed service villages, and 28.08% of the departments had fixed service population. The median furthest visit distance was 52.5 (30.0, 80.0) kilometers, and the median average visit distance was 30.0 (20.0, 50.0) kilometers. 54.88% of medical staff believed that the biggest difficulties encountered during house visits were insufficient energy and too large service groups or regions. More than 90% of medical staff had been exposed to cloud learning and cloud training, and most of the surveyed medical staff believed that cloud learning and cloud training greatly improved medical service capacity and service efficiency of medical institutions (71.04% and 67.01%, respectively). Meanwhile, they believe that "Internet+health big data" projects from various aspects brought advantage to medical institutions, but there are also low utilization rate of Internet medical equipment by village doctors, low acceptance for telemedicine and mobile hospitals by farmers. Guizhou public hospitals have implementation of digital information management at the grass-roots level, the surveyed health care workers have a relatively low awareness of the digital information management system, hospital use big data Internet for remote consultation is uneven, intensive care medicine is a clinical discipline used in most remote consultation information system, and can complete two-way referrals. In the past three years, the discipline operation showed an upward trend year by year. Medical staff use artificial intelligence devices such as cloud learning and training to improve medical service capacity and efficiency. The digital transformation of primary hospitals is being continuously improved.

Construction of Rural Governance Digital Driven by Artificial Intelligence and Big Data

Rural governance relies on distinct geographical, population, and fundamental service attributes for deploying digital construction and operation modes. The digital platform for rural governance includes surveying, identifying, and fulfilling the demands through application-specific user interactions. This article discloses a Modular Data Representation Method (MDRM) for improving the data semantics in digital platforms. The proposed method improves the presentation, analysis, and interaction in the governance process through requirements-based intelligent processing. The processing is performed based on the data organization as recommended by the regression learning paradigm. In this paradigm, the forward regression for data representation and service delegations are linearly analyzed. Based on the processing, the service requirement is met with big data availability. Therefore, the representation recommendations and data-driven analysis are provided through digital platform implications, improving the service availability. This is consistently provided based on the regressive outputs for data analysis. Therefore, the proposed method’s performance is analyzed using the metrics analysis time, data processing rate, and unavailability.

Innovation and Digital Construction of Cultural Tourism Industry under the Background of Big Data and Internet of Things

In recent years, the concept of the Internet of Everything has gradually entered all walks of life, and the combination of big data technology and the Internet of Everything applied to other industries has become the current trend of industrial innovation. The integration between the tourism industry and the cultural industry is an inevitable trend for the sustainable development of the tourism industry. New science and technology are constantly innovating the way of life of human beings. If the tourism industry wants to maintain a state of rapid development, it must focus on the innovative development and digital construction of cultural tourism, develop new cultural tourism products, and propose new marketing innovation models. This promotes faster and better development of the tourism industry. Based on this, this paper designs a questionnaire and uses statistical methods to analyze the data obtained by the questionnaire, summarizes the current problems in the innovation and digital construction of the cultural tourism industry, and proposes solutions in a targeted manner, in order to improve the cultural tourism industry. Healthy development provides incremental contributions.

Application of Big Data Mining Technology in the Digital Construction of Vocal Music Teaching Resource Library

In recent years, vocal music is becoming more and more important to daily life, which can cultivate emotion and adjust pressure, but at present, vocal music teaching is faced with an increasingly serious shortage of teacher resources. Therefore, it is particularly important to develop a vocal music teaching system using the computer-aided teaching function. First, the algorithm flow of the system is designed in detail according to the principle of computer neural network technology, the performance characteristics of vocal music are extracted by using Fourier transform and its improved function, and the key modules of the system are designed according to the system frame structure and data processing flow and gave the key design code. Finally, taking piano performance as an example, players with different steel bar grades were selected to test the accuracy of the system evaluation. The test results show that the system can reflect the real level of the performers, which is beneficial to vocal music teaching. The improvement of the vocal music teaching system is of great practical significance to adjust the traditional music teaching mode and make the education system more reasonable.

Fusion Analysis of Chinese Painting Color Teaching and Intelligent Image Color Processing Technology

In order to solve the problem of traditional Chinese painting image color processing technology, meet the needs of digital museum construction, make up for the vacancy of color processing technology in traditional Chinese painting, and improve people’s understanding of traditional Chinese painting. Through the analysis of the experiment, the experimental equipment adopts Epson v940 scanner, the color depth is 24 bit true color, and the scanning accuracy is 1200dpi. The main simulation methods of Chinese painting are systematically and deeply studied, from which the characteristics of Chinese painting are analyzed. Through a large number of formula analysis, it is found that the application of computer image processing technology in Chinese painting is very successful, which promotes the development of the digital museum and improves people’s understanding and liking of Chinese painting.