INTEGRATION OF BUILDING INFORMATION MODELING AND AGENT-BASED MODELING FOR EVACUATION SIMULATION

This study demonstrates the research and development of a visualization method called thermal performance simulation. The objective of this study is providing the results of thermal performance simulation results into building information modeling (BIM) models, displaying a series of thermal performance results, and enabling stakeholders to use the BIM tool as a common user interface in the early design stage. This method utilizes a combination of object-oriented physical modeling (OOPM) and BIM. To implement the suggested method, a specific BIM authoring tool called the application programming interface (API) was adopted, as well as an external database to maintain the thermal energy performance results from the OOPM tool. Based on this method, this study created a prototype called the thermal energy performance visualization (TEPV). The TEPV translates the information from the external database to the thermal energy performance indicator (TEPI) parameter in the BIM tool. In the TEPI, whenever BIM models are generated for building design, the thermal energy performance results are visualized by color-coding the building components in the BIM models. Visualization of thermal energy performance results enables non-engineers such as architects to explicitly inspect the simulation results. Moreover, the TEPV facilitates architects using BIM as an interface in building design to visualize building thermal energy performance, enhancing their design production at the early design stages.

Building information modeling (BIM) has become an integral part of commercial construction processes in recent years. This article summarizes a research study undertaken to explore the frequency of BIM application, the advantages and effects of using BIM, and various other methods associated with developing and using BIM models in commercial construction. Executive, mid-management, and BIM practitioner-level employees from eighteen leading commercial general contracting firms (with regard to BIM use) were surveyed to determine how their companies utilized BIM. Thirty-two different applications of BIM use were identified for commercial construction, and those most commonly utilized included clash detection, 3-D modeling, team collaboration, constructability issues of design, and sales. Communication, scheduling, coordination, visualization, and clash detection were identified as the top advantages of using BIM. Regarding the effects of using BIM, companies reported a positive impact on profitability, time of construction, and marketing. Finally, this article discusses various processes for using BIM, how models were used internally and with trade partners, and the decisions affecting BIM use by leading commercial contractors.

Building information modeling (BIM) aims to facilitate information management and collaboration among stakeholders in different domains over the building life cycle. BIM models are increasingly used as an object-based information hub for storing, integrating and managing building information in different aspects. Over the building life cycle, stakeholders like the owner, designers and subcontractors keep reviewing and commenting on different building components, but these social interactions are often not recorded and managed in a structured manner. This paper presents a distributed cloud-based BIM framework that was designed to support collaboration among project participants and information sharing. The framework, namely BIMCloud, was developed based on Apache Cassandra which can be deployed on public cloud servers like Amazon EC2 or private cloud servers hosted in own infrastructures. A schematic data structure was also developed to capture the building component-based social interactions, which could be used for mining and post-processing to generate knowledge in the future. The BIMCloud framework stores BIM models based on the IFC schema and the developed schema for Social BIM. Therefore, people can make changes to the BIM models in the BIMCloud framework by transferring only a partial BIM model. An example scenario is presented in this paper.

PurposeThe COVID-19 pandemic has forced billions of people into lockdown; foregrounding the important relationship between architecture and health. In this context, there is heightened urgency for the construction sector to improve the healthiness of buildings. Accordingly, the research identifies the feasibility of measuring various building health indicators (BHIs) through the use of a building information management (BIM) model. The research seeks to find optimal strategies for integrating the near ubiquitous use of BIM with a range of health indicators related to building design.Design/methodology/approachA systematic literature review was undertaken to identify potential BHIs for use in BIM models. The research then undertook a Delphi technique in order to test the hypothesis. In total, three rounds of questionnaire-based surveys were undertaken with expert participants.FindingsThe research identifies three different levels of BIM complexity in order to achieve the integration of health indicators. The most simple strategy suggests BHI can be directly measured using existing BIM models; the next level of sophistication requires “plug-in” software to BIM models; the final level would require additional sensors and detectors in a “smart” building.Practical implicationsThe research is significant for users of BIM, building designers, public health advisors, construction professionals, healthcare providers, social prescribers, architects and clients.Originality/valueThe integration of BHI into the architectural design process is an important step towards the construction sector improving health and well-being. The research provides for the first time a rigorous identification of the most viable mechanisms through which BIM may be used to measure the healthiness of a building.

Recently there has been growing recognition of the value of facility management (FM) in the construction field. Nowadays, FM data can be extracted from parameters of BIM (building information modeling) models. Thus, it is increasingly important to manage parameters of BIM model elements in the operation and maintenance (O&M) stage. Currently, parameters in a BIM model are mostly treated as static (i.e. fixed information of a model element). In order to make BIM model more valuable in the O&M stage, variable parameters (operating information of a model element) should be considered in a BIM model to address the data management need in actual environment of a building, such as status of a building element (e.g. movable wall's status), IoT (Internet of things) data, etc. This paper presents an effort in designing a database schema for integrating both static and variable parameters of a BIM model into the database. The design considers the compatibility with COBie (construction operations building information exchange) and supports visual management of BIM model parameters, especially variable parameters. In addition, applications of the database with the proposed design are demonstrated through API implementation in Autodesk Forge. © 2019 American Society of Civil Engineers.

Brownfield site development refers to the process of redeveloping previously used or contaminated land for new construction or renovation projects. These sites often present unique challenges due to their historical use and potential environmental hazards. Despite the benefits accruable from the use of BIM and the steep rise its adoption, the literature shows dearth and lack of the adoption of Building Information Modelling (BIM) in brownfield site development Therefore, this research project attempts to take the advantage of the growing development of Building Information Modelling (BIM) to bridge the above gaps, where BIM can play a significant role in this process by providing a virtual representation of the impact of the site on buildings and its potential hazards. By incorporating data from environmental assessments, such as soil and groundwater contamination, into the BIM model, project teams can visualise and analyse the risks associated with the site. This allows for better planning and decision-making in terms of hazard mitigation strategies. This study seeks to develop a clear and comprehensive conceptual framework to guide research in this field and shape the innovative system that integrates design decision tasks throughout project lifecycle with BIM processes. It will assist designers to reflect on the safety implications of their design decisions. The fundamental concern of the system is the identification, evaluation, and mitigation of potential hazard at the design stage of brownfield site development. The proposed system will add a new sort of functionality to common BIM tools such as Autodesk REVIT.

Building Information Modeling (BIM) is a technology increasingly used in the modern construction industry, particularly to improve communication efficiency and collaboration between stakeholders. This technology enables the integration of project data and information into a comprehensive digital model, allowing all involved parties to access, verify, and update information in real time. This study aims to evaluate the strategic role of BIM as a communication medium in the Integrated Project Delivery (IPD) approach, focusing on the planning stage involving the disciplines of architecture, structure, and Mechanical, Electrical, and Plumbing (MEP) systems. The IPD approach emphasizes cross-disciplinary collaboration from the early stages of a project to optimize outcomes, reduce risks, and accelerate completion. The research methods used are literature review and case study analysis of various projects that have implemented BIM within the IPD framework. The data analyzed include the effectiveness of information exchange, inter-team coordination, and early identification of design conflicts. The study results show that BIM significantly improves information transparency among stakeholders, minimizes the risk of miscommunication, and accelerates the decision-making process through accurate and integrated data visualization. BIM models also facilitate the detection of potential conflicts, such as clashes between structural and MEP elements, before entering the physical construction phase, thereby reducing repair costs and delays. Furthermore, the use of BIM in IPD fosters a more collaborative work culture, where architects, engineers, and contractors can work together to solve problems quickly and effectively. Thus, BIM has proven to play a crucial role as a primary communication tool in IPD implementation, while also serving as a crucial foundation for achieving efficient, integrated, and high-quality construction project management.

Building maintenance is the responsibility of its owner which must use, whenever appropriate, a technician to perform the inspection. A good maintenance depends on the analysis of the anomalies detected during the inspection of the site. Building Information Models (BIM) have revealed themselves as a good tool when it comes to supporting maintenance actions, due to their ability to store enough information in one digital model. The aim of the proposed work was to implement the benefits provided by BIM on a software tool used as support to maintenance of buildings. During an inspection activity for maintenance purposes, the implemented application, containing a rigorous database, allows the user to identify each anomaly present in building components, directly onto the BIM model, automatically associating them with probable causes, repair methods and a photograph of the anomaly uploaded at the site. Therefore, gains in productivity and a decrease in the error probability can be achieved. The inspection data is stored in the BIM model, making it suitable for consultation when planning maintenance. Additionally, it was case study the interoperability between BIM modeling and visualizing software, regarding the preservation of information, especially in the standard format Industry Foundation Classes (IFC). This work contributed to demonstrate, not only that there are still problems concerning the interoperability between BIM software, but also the advantages of employing BIM for building maintenance purposes.

The design of the civil engineering works in High Speed Two (HS2) is a good example of what can be achieved when the Building Information Modelling (BIM) process is embraced. Central to the BIM process is a three-dimensional (3D) model that communicates the civil design to enable construction, asset management, operation and maintenance in a fully collaborative and coordinated multi-disciplinary environment. Software developers of leading BIM packages have responded to the requirements of HS2 and similar projects by delivering feature-rich applications to enable design and BIM to go hand-in-hand. HS2, however, is under a tight programme to deliver a 3D model with a Level of Detail (LOD) beyond what has been required on most projects to date, and this has resulted in exhaustive testing of the software. Such requirements have identified gaps in the BIM software tools for drainage designers. Drainage designers utilise hydraulic modelling software to design and test their designs. This software must be efficient, reliable and, most importantly, have all the design tools necessary to design and test a drainage network to meet the client’s requirements. HS2 Ltd’s requirements under the Asset Data Dictionary Definition Document (AD4) are to provide spatially accurate 3D models along with detailed and relevant asset data. The integrated project team delivering the HS2 Area North works opted to achieve this by delivering fully attributed BIM models. However, software developers of leading drainage design packages do not have the BIM capabilities required to provide a BIM model with the LOD required in HS2 on their own. They must be integrated with a BIM software. This leaves drainage designers using two separate systems with a requirement to integrate two software packages to work seamlessly together in a BIM environment. To overcome this, a suite of tools was developed using Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) to convert from MicroDrainage (a drainage design tool) to Bentley OpenRoads Designer (a BIM package) and fully attribute the BIM models. The tools have been developed specifically for HS2 feature definitions and requirements, however, with further development, they could be customisable for use on other projects thus improving the level of detail, accuracy and efficiency future deliverables on future projects.

As a processing technology of data and information, building information modeling (BIM) is often used for producing digital engineering model and promoting interoperability among participants involved in the Architecture, Engineering, and Construction (AEC) industry. The real values of BIM largely depend on effective information integrating and sharing among different stages or disciplines through the whole building lifecycle. To this day, although BIM has made a substantial contribution to the Chinese AEC industry, there are still some debates on its roles. Moreover, due to the complexity of structural design process, the weak link between structural model and BIM model makes its deep application even harder. To address these issues, this paper discusses the roles of BIM from the perspective of structural engineers through comparing with the traditional CAD. Then, the BIM structural model is studied by analyzing the model conformation, design mode, and Industry Foundation Classes (IFC)-format structural model. By comparing the differences between BIM physical model and structural mechanical model, an indirect method for the data transformation from BIM model to structural analysis model isproposed. An interface is developed based on the analysis of data formats and mapping rules. Three typical cases are adopted to demonstrate the data transfer efficiency by using the interface. The case study shows that the proposed method achieves higher efficiency for the data transformation from BIM model to structural analysis model.

BackgroundFinding the current location of a specific utility or oneself in an unfamiliar facility can be difficult and time consuming. The hypothesis tested in this paper is that using the information contained within Building Information Models (BIM) can increase the accuracy of indoor positioning algorithms using context-aware sensing technology. The presented work demonstrates how the integration of passive Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) tracking technology and Building Information Modeling (BIM) can assist indoor localization for potential applications in facilities management for proactive preventative maintenance.MethodsThis paper includes (1) developing a framework that utilizes the integration of commercially-available RFID and a building information model; (2) evaluating the framework for real-time resource location tracking within an indoor environment; and (3) developing an algorithm for real-time localization and visualization in a BIM. A prototype application has been developed that simultaneously connects the RFID readers on a maintenance cart, an asset maintenance database and a BIM model. Three multilateralization approaches were compared in the system to use in the algorithm. Testing was conducted in a facility with a corridor that loops around in a rectangle.ResultsThe goal is to have a system accuracy within 3 m. Results show that fusing BIM with multilateralization techniques for RFID technology can decrease the number of false reads by 64 % versus standalone multilateralization equations. The greatest system accuracy achieved was 1.66 m.ConclusionsSignificantly, the results validate the hypothesis that BIM can increase indoor localization accuracy, and show the usefulness of using BIM for indoor localization in addition to real-time visualization.

Assessment of energy utilization and leakages in buildings with building information model energy

Conventional construction scheduling techniques often fall short due to inefficiencies, the prevalence of human error, and the lack of reliable scheduling data. Despite efforts to obtain better scheduling data and automate the process using Building Information Modelling (BIM) as a primary source of information, challenges persist. BIM models contain inconsistencies that can compromise their scheduling effectiveness. Moreover, existing automation efforts face obstacles, including complexity and scalability issues. These efforts frequently overlook the intricacies of accurately modelling construction tasks, neglecting resource considerations, subprocesses, and structured information management, which further complicates the creation of reliable and efficient construction schedule data. This research proposes a framework designed to systematically obtain scheduling data in an automated manner, aligning with a Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) to ensure organisational clarity. By incorporating subprocesses and focusing on resource constraint calculations and balancing. Furthermore, the framework structures scheduling data into a CSV format, facilitating easier analysis and integration with project management tools. The research follows the Design Science Research methodology. This multi-stage framework integrates BIM data extraction, automated element labelling, creation of a custom WBS, construction sequence, and resource balancing. The framework was developed using Python coding and libraries, facilitating seamless transitions between stages without manual intervention. The framework's performance is evaluated using 4D BIM software, assessing the generated data and logic in a girder bridge projects. This innovative framework enhances the accuracy and efficiency of construction data scheduling through automation. It reduces manual intervention, organises data effectively, and improves project timeline reliability. The use of 4D BIM further illustrates the practical application of this data in bridge projects, showcasing a scalable and robust contribution to construction automation.

This study introduces DAVE (Digital Assistant for Virtual Engineering), a Generative Pre-trained Transformer (GPT)-powered digital assistant prototype, designed to enable real-time, multimodal interactions within Building Information Modeling (BIM) environments for updating and querying BIM models using text or voice commands. DAVE integrates directly with Autodesk Revit through Python scripts, the Revit API, and the OpenAI API and utilizes Natural Language Processing (NLP). This study presents (1) the development of a practical AI chatbot application that leverages conversational AI and BIM for dynamic actions within BIM models (e.g., updates and queries) at any stage of a construction project and (2) the demonstration of real-time, multimodal BIM model management through voice or text, which aims to reduce the complexity and technical barriers typically associated with BIM processes. The details of DAVE’s development and system architecture are outlined in this paper. Additionally, the comprehensive process of prototype testing and evaluation including the response time analysis and error analysis, which investigated the issues encountered during system validation, are detailed. The prototype demonstrated 94% success in accurately processing and executing single-function user queries. By enabling conversational interactions with BIM models, DAVE represents a significant contribution to the current body of knowledge.

\n It has been decades since the impact of information technology (IT) on structural engineering started to be discussed. The first documentation and analysis software prototypes date from the 1950s and 1960s. In the 90s, a survey indicated that a great number of structural engineers already agreed that IT was accelerating engineering. This close relationship evolved with the increasing power of computation. Nowadays, it is possible that engineers explore an amplified design space before reaching a final solution, mainly through parametric modeling combined with analysis. This culminated in large and complex data being generated during design. At the same time, the popularization of Building Information Modeling (BIM) and its focus on information present an opportunity for engineers to use BIM models as databases for enhancing design and collaboration. To fully leverage this data, it is imperative to condense it into meaningful and actionable visualizations. In this context, this research investigates and tests a workflow for structural design in BIM, named an \\"augmented BIM workflow for structural engineering through data visualization\\". The general objective is the enhancement of collaboration within a design team. A computational tool for enabling this workflow is proposed and implemented at a proof of concept (PoC) level, combining data from FEA (Finite Element Analysis) and BIM models. Extraction, transformation, and load processes from these data sources into a data warehouse in a visualization software solution are executed. The proposal was presented to engineers and BIM specialists. Feedback was collected to base the construction of a set of standard dashboards for data visualization. The final dashboards had their utility validated by the professionals. Technical limitations on the current implementation and underlying barriers to adoption are discussed.\n