Building Information Modelling in building production management
Start Date: 05/09/2008
End Date: 05/09/2009
Project Status: Completed
Background
3D parametric modelling of buildings has been developed incrementally over three decades. It has evolved into building information modelling (BIM) and can support a wide range of visualizations. Much work has also been devoted to systems for concurrent engineering and design collaboration. The 4D CAD concept in which 3D building models are ‘animated’ by linking them to construction schedules that provide the fourth dimension, has been adopted in industry and commercial applications are available for 4D construction planning, such as CommonPoin and Synchro. Work spaces and temporary facilities can be generated and added to 3D building design models to enable evaluation of construction plans for space conflicts. Some systems incorporate cost as a ‘fifth dimension’ of project information and aim to enable ‘virtual construction’. Among the small scope of visualization research that deals with day to day operations onsite are applications of virtual reality and augmented-reality.
the physical environments and the contracting relationships typical of construction projects make direct application of the lean techniques that function successfully in manufacturing inappropriate. A key problem is that it is very difficult to visualize the flow of the work in progress on a construction site. This is obvious for the interior finishing works that comprise the majority of the value in most buildings, but in terms of production flow, it is also true for structural work: the amount of buffered work-in-progress (WIP) accumulated between work teams cannot be seen by the naked eye in the same way that piles of products that constitute WIP can be seen accumulating between processing stations in a manufacturing plant.
Building Information Modelling (BIM) is an approach to designing, simulating, detailing and managing construction in which a machine-readable parametric data model of the facility is compiled and used by the project team using appropriate computer software. Typical examples of software for generating building information models include Autodesk REVIT, Tekla Structures, Bentley Architecture and Structures, Graphisoft Archicad and CATIA Digital Project (Eastman et al. 2008). A large number of associated software packages are available for manipulating building models, such as static and dynamic structural analyses, thermal and acoustic analyses, space utilization and function checking, code compliance checking, quantity take-off, and more. These are all functionally effective because the information describing the building project is available in a form that has semantic meaning for their operation. The ability of computer software to interpret BIM information as representing real buildings with form, function and behaviour, is the primary distinction between BIM and 2D computer-aided design and/or drafting (CAD) software.
This research proposes to establish a framework for assessing the value proposition in the use of Building Information Model based tools to deliver construction process information directly to all personnel in a construction project, and particularly to those working on the site, in ways that empower them to visualize the state of the process and control their role in it. Value will be measured as the potential to achieve safer projects, with smoother workflows and stable working environments, and achieving better value for owners.
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