Identifying Uncertainties Toward Sustainable Projects

Intelligent optimal design of floor tiles: A goal-oriented approach based on BIM and parametric design platform

In the construction industry, Building Information Modelling is primarily viewed as a catalyst for productivity and innovation. As projects have become more and more complex, there has been an increasing concern about the concept of project complexity. Understanding project complexity and managing contractors need to improve their management level as the rising building intricacy increases. In the construction industry, the contractors have faced many challenges, including workforce, increasing cost, inadequate risk management, unrealistic expectations/bad forecasting, limited skills, and delay problem. The project participants must coordinate and plan according to the project scope, including the construction process simulation, monitoring the construction quality, reducing rework, and improving economic benefits. Some of the main-contractor managements are trying to apply new modern technology. Building Information Modeling (BIM) is a tool used to the design, construction, and maintenance process of the whole cycle of the construction project. This article aims to analyze the BIM tool and take its advantage to improve the construction project management efficiency. The case study research approach is utilized to analyze the BIM tools. It includes the BIM 3D/4D/5D tools as the new method to build visualization model, execute clash detection, take-off quantity, simulate the construction process, make the work schedule graphically, and ensure the project is complete on time. This study is to research construction project management through applying the BIM tool. The BIM platform optimizes the design quality and improves construction work efficiencies, such as clash detection, work schedule, quantity take-off, etc. The results are also helpful for the identification of research clusters and topics in the BIM community

PurposeSteel and reinforced concrete are among the most common structural materials used in the construction industry. Cost and the speed of construction have been usually the main criteria when selecting a building’s structural system, whereby the environmental impact of the structural material is sometimes ignored. Availability of an easy-to-use tool for environmental assessment of the structural alternatives could encourage this evaluation in the decision making. The purpose of this paper is to introduce an automated tool for the environmental assessment of the on-site construction processes of a building structural system, which calculates the energy consumption and carbon emissions of the structural system as a parameter for comparison.Design/methodology/approachThis assessment tool is implemented using a building information modeling (BIM) platform to extract structural elements and their key attributes, such as type, geometrical and locational data. These data are processed together with a productivity database to calculate machine hours, and then predefined energy and carbon inventories are used to assess the energy consumption of the structural system in the erection/installation stage.FindingsThis assessment tool provides an automated and easy-to-use approach to estimate energy consumption and carbon emissions of different structural systems that are modeled in a BIM platform. The results of this tool were within the ranges reported by the available studies.Originality/valueThis research project presents a novel approach to use BIM-based attributes of the structural elements to calculate the required efforts, i.e. machine hours, and assess their energy consumption and carbon emissions during construction processes.

Building Information Modeling (BIM) has excellent potential to enhance building operation and maintenance. However, as a standardized data format in the architecture, engineering, and construction (AEC) industry, the retrieval of BIM information generally requires specialized software. Cumbersome software operations prevent its effective application in the actual operation and management of buildings. This paper presents BIMCoder, a model designed to translate natural language queries into structured query statements compatible with professional BIM software (e.g., BIMserver v1.5). It serves as an intermediary component between users and various BIM platforms, facilitating access for users without specialized BIM knowledge. A dedicated BIM information query dataset was constructed, comprising 1680 natural language query and structured BIM query string pairs, categorized into 12 groups. Three classical pre-trained large language models (LLMs) (ERNIE 3.0, Llama-13B, and SQLCoder) were evaluated on this dataset. A fine-tuned model based on SQLCoder was then trained. Subsequently, a fusion model (BIMCoder) integrating ERNIE and SQLCoder was designed. Test results demonstrate that the proposed BIMCoder model achieves an outstanding accurate matching rate of 87.16% and an Execution Accuracy rate of 88.75% for natural language-based BIM information retrieval. This study confirms the feasibility of natural language-based BIM information retrieval and offers a novel solution to reduce the complexity of BIM system interaction.

A financial decision making framework for construction projects based on 5D Building Information Modeling (BIM)

Exploring the rate of adoption and implementation depth of building information modeling (BIM): A case of Kuwait

Building Information Modelling (BIM) is a revolutionary stride of technology in the orthodox construction and procedures in conventional Architecture Engineering and Construction (AEC) industry which is stressed upon for its delay on embracing new technologies. The strength of BIM has been disvalued in the eyes of many professionals, to think of BIM as just another ‘software’ which is in reality, a ‘process’ of attaining an outstanding collaboration among each and every stakeholder throughout a project’s life cycle. Hence, the philosophy of Supply Chain Management (SCM) in a construction project can be achieved effectively with the BIM’s promise of flexible and transparent interaction among Construction Supply Chain (CSC) contributors. However, the complexities in CSC of a conservative setup has been more composite with the intervention of BIM. Consequently, the BIM project stakeholders have encountered complications on the effective application of BIM on CSC while reaching the envisioned goals of BIM. Thus, the intention of this study is to develop a foreseeable information flow model related to construction supply chain in a BIM aided project. In order to attain the aim, an extensive literature synthesis was piloted to develop a conceptual informational flow model among CSC stakeholders of a BIM project. This contemporary research outlines that the CSC of a BIM project is much interactive and flexible with its collaborative effort of stakeholders when compared to the clashes among professionals in traditional setups. In a practical context, the roles and duties of BIM project stakeholders identified in BIM standards, have slightly differed due to real-world complications in construction industry. Besides that, BIM standards have laid down charismatic arrangements on information flows among BIM project stakeholders, which is in reality, a complex and random setup. Hence, the research outcome has successfully answered the complications by laying down guidelines for any outsider to the BIM field to recognise what would be the contribution of each stakeholder throughout the BIM project’s life cycle.

Efficient project delivery is essential in the Indian construction industry. This efficiency can be achieved by reducing errors in construction projects to minimize cost and time. The chances of errors in the designing stage are high, which can lead to construction delays and other claims. BIM (Building Information Modeling) is a technology that can reduce not only human efforts but also the likelihood of errors. BIM is emerging rapidly and transforming the Indian real estate and construction sectors. This study verifies the BIM functionalities that help reduce the design and human errors that occur at various intervals of the project. This study also helps BIM users identify possible errors and their perceived severity, which can occur while working in a construction environment and avoiding these errors by applying BIM functionalities to achieve optimum time and cost. The quantitative technique was difficult to carry out for evaluation. Hence, the qualitative approach for research is carried out based on the perception shared by construction professionals working on the BIM platform. Ineffective design coordination between the design and planning teams, detailing errors, clashing of elements, and lags in most up-to-date information were found to be the most severe errors that affect the project. The analysis explains the seven functionalities that were beneficial in reducing errors. Functionalities with similar natures of reducing errors were clubbed into compound clusters. Although quantity take-off was not very beneficial, it formed a greater number of clusters with other functionalities. Among several functionalities, the natures of the coordination model and work-sharing with a central cloud database were more similar in avoiding chances of errors. More attention is needed on technologies and software that will help reduce such errors. Training on BIM-based software is essential for the Indian construction industry to utilize effective project management systems and reduce claims.KeywordsBIM functionalitiesEffective managementCollaborationReducing errors

This research focuses on enhancing the precision and management of the top push method in cable-stayed bridge construction through the application of building information modeling (BIM) technology. By evaluating BIM standards, engineering decomposition standards, and modeling software, an appropriate BIM platform and standard were selected to create BIM models for each component of cable-stayed bridges. Using the Yellow River Cable-stayed Bridge as a case study, various construction schemes were visualized through BIM. The study investigated the impact of key structural parameters, such as cable stiffness, main girder stiffness, and main tower stiffness, on the top push method by adjusting them by − 3%, − 1%, 1%, and 3%. The outcomes showed that changes in cable stiffness had the most significant effect, with a 1% stiffness variation causing a 51.3 mm displacement in the main girder and a 124.2 kN deviation in cable force, increasing to 151.2 mm and 179.8 kN respectively for a 3% change. This research demonstrates that BIM technology can significantly improve the management of top-push construction methods, enable three-dimensional visualization of the construction process, and advance the informatization and industrialization of bridge construction.

The lack of mechanisms to manage construction project information using traditional documentation methods leads to information waste. Building information modeling (BIM), as one of the recent developments in the architect, engineering, and construction industry (AEC) has revolutionized the process of managing information among project stakeholders. BIM is advocated as an effective platform that digitizes and accommodates all essential project information that can be extracted, networked and shared among project stakeholders to foster effective decision making and construction operations. Despite the significant role of BIM in supporting lean construction principles, there is little evidence on how BIM leverages continuous information flow in construction projects. This study aims to find the mechanisms through which BIM facilitates continuous information flow. A desktop study on secondary data was conducted to identify those mechanisms. The results of the secondary data analysis suggest that the key aspects of BIM in storing and transferring project information such as effective exchange of information, early involvement of project stakeholders, information accuracy and real-time access to project information can enhance information flow in construction projects.

Abstract. Urban and population growth results in increasing pressure on the public utilities like transport, energy, healthcare services, crime management and emergency services in the realm of smart city management. Smart management of these services increases the necessity of dealing with big data which is come from different sources with various types and formats like 3D city information, GPS, traffic, mobile, Building Information Model (BIM), environmental, social activities and IoT stream data. Therefore, an approach to mine/analysis/interpret these data and extract useful knowledge from this diverse big data sources emerges in order to extract the hidden pattern of data using computational algorithms from statistics, machine learning and information theory. However, inconsistency, duplication and repetition and misconducting with the different type of discrete and continuous data can cause erroneous decision-making. This paper focuses on providing a rules extraction and supervised-decision making methods for facilitating the fusion of BIM and 2D and 3D GIS-based information coupling with IoT stream data residing in a spatial database and 3D BIM data. The proposed methods can be used in those applications like Emergency Response, Evacuation Planning, Occupancy Mapping, and Urban Monitoring to Smart Multi-Buildings so that their input data mostly come from 2D and 3D GIS, BIM and IoT stream. This research focus on proposing the unified rules extraction and decision engine to help smart citizens and managers using BIM and GIS data to make smart decision rather than focus on applications in certain field of BIM and GIS.

Background: Implementation of Building Information Modelling (BIM) has proven to deliver major performance improvements in Program efficiency, design quality, constructability, waste reduction, environmental performance, and capital & operational cost management of built environment projects. Yet BIM implementation in low BIM maturity markets, such as the UAE, is limited to technology applications which fail to deliver the full potential of BIM benefits to client originations. Objective: The purpose of this paper is to investigate BIM implementation from a client’s perspective and to present a case study that exhibits a level 2 BIM implementation process in a traditional procurement environment. Methods: The study has used a case study approach combined with a literature review. A critical appraisal of relevant literature is presented to highlight key issues hindering BIM implementation for client organizations, especially in developing BIM markets, such as the UAE. The research is collected using an action research approach within a case study, including project document audit, participation in project collaboration meetings and extensive communication with the project stakeholders. The case study is presented in a practice-oriented research format describing the project details, procurement approach, BIM development & management process and benefits achieved for the project client. Results: The paper presents a structured approach to strategically introduce BIM within a low BIM maturity market, creating partnering relationships, empower the supply chain partners and achieving significant BIM benefits with minimum disruption to existing work practices. The paper highlights that although BIM requires a step-change in the work practices of the construction industry, yet it is possible to successfully implement BIM with traditional procurement settings, which may be a critical feature in a certain market or a client requirement. Conclusion: There is a need for case study based, practice-oriented research work within the domain of BIM implementation. Construction clients in low maturity BIM markets are concerned about the perceived benefits of BIM and its practical implementation within existing business practices, which is addressed in this paper. Overall, the findings of this study are useful for construction industry clients and academia in redefining the existing work practices to incorporate BIM-enabled processes and applications.

Abstract. The implementation of historical information within BIM (Building Information Modelling) platforms has experienced great development processes during last years, generating excellent studies based on Historic Building Information Modelling (Murphy et al., 2009; 2013). The HBIM developing growth is certainly explained due to advantages concerning the documentation step as well as monitoring operations for Cultural Heritage assets. In this sense, information concerning historical architectures can be extracted directly from walls and masonries and it is related to stratigraphic information derived from archaeological analysis: this kind of analysis is fundamental in order to comprehend the evolution of the construction site through the identification of layers due to modifications and actions (Parenti R., 2000).The inclusion of stratigraphic analysis inside a HBIM workflow could be an innovative point as far as the management and monitoring is concerned. This kind of documentation, that was not designed to be included inside a common BIM platform, could be collected coupled with digital metric information derived from metric surveys even if it is still considered an ongoing research field, especially since Cultural Heritage assets have no BIM standard classification. For this reason, the main goal of this research is to adapt the possibilities of open source solutions concerning BIM methodologies to building archaeology documentation and analysis exploring unconventional strategies and also overcoming 3D modelling limitations of BIM software with free form modeler based on NURBS algorithm (Oreni et al., 2014), developing a particular scan-to-BIM process that, owing to the used opens source solutions and algorithm, can be renamed scan-to-openBIM via NURBS.

The construction sector is currently undergoing significant changes as a result of the adoption of digitaltechnologies. The utilisation of Building Information Modelling (BIM) has garnered considerable interest in recentyears from scholars and industry experts. The sector has seen major changes as a result of its rising success. Giventhese changes, the traditional knowledge and skills possessed by project specialists or managers seem insufficientin properly supervising the new information component of construction project management. As projects advance,the inclusion of new roles such as BIM managers, BIM coordinators, BIM modellers, and information managers isbecoming crucial to meet the demand for enhanced capabilities. Multiple studies have analysed these novel rolesfrom a theoretical perspective, but have not investigated their correlation with conventional roles in projectmanagement, nor have they explored how project managers and BIM specialists position themselves in relation tothe overall processes outlined in the BIM implementation guides. This case study illustrates that the duties of BIMspecialists varied among various fields and go beyond solely technical assignments. Moreover, the informationsub-process predominantly focuses on BIM managers, leading to the establishment of two distinct sources ofleadership within a project: BIM managers and project managers. According to the poll, professionals believe thatthe BIM collaboration methods described in the BIM implementation plan and project documents are too general.Moreover, there is always a difference between specified methods and the ones actually used in the project.

- Building Information Modelling (BIM) has emerged as a transformative enabler for modular steel construction by providing parametric modelling, coordinated detailing, digital fabrication integration, and 4D construction sequencing. Modular steel systems require high accuracy in design, fabrication, logistics, and assembly, making BIM indispensable for reducing rework, improving coordination, and enabling just-in-time production. This paper examines the integration of BIM within modular steel construction, focusing on prefabrication accuracy, clash-free detailing, sequencing simulation, and digital manufacture. The study includes a comprehensive literature review, a methodology grounded in BIM-enabled workflows, and analysis of two major case studies Chennai International Airport Terminal T2 and Shanghai Tower. Findings indicate that BIM significantly improves productivity, reduces site conflicts, minimizes waste, and enhances assembly predictability, particularly in the Indian context where BIM adoption faces challenges such as limited skills, high costs, and low SME readiness. The paper concludes with strategic recommendations for India’s modular steel industry and outlines future research directions. Key Words: Building Information Modelling (BIM), Modular Steel Construction, Prefabrication, Digital Fabrication, 4D BIM, Clash Detection, SMEs, Coordination, Steel Structures