A BIM-based approach for automated tower crane layout planning
Introduction
Effective tower crane layout design and placement within a construction site is a common construction technical issue, and is regarded as a complex combinatorial problem. To transport heavy materials, such as rebar, formwork, scaffolding, equipment and steel component, tower cranes are needed and should be well located to reduce construction cost and safety hazards [1], [2], [3], [4], [5]. Tower crane layout planning is a multi-objective problem, and is affected by many uncertainties and variations. To facilitate the decision-making process, many static and dynamic mathematical approaches had been developed [1], [2], [3], [4], [5], [6], [7]. However, modelling the dynamic facility requirements of a construction site is a complicated task, and takes a significant amount of time and effort by the layout planner [8]. In addition, most of the current tower crane layout systems require a large number of project specific variables to be inputted and updated manually which is time-consuming [2], [8], [9].
To tackle these issues, this paper proposed an automated tower crane layout planning system by leveraging Building Information Modelling (BIM) technology. BIM is emerging as a method of creating, sharing, exchanging and managing the information throughout life cycle between all stakeholders [10], [11], [12], [13], [14], [15], [16]. There are various types of information stored in BIM model including 3-Dimension (3D) spatial data, 4-D schedule data, 5-D cost data, 6-D facility data and n-D data. These data are more coordinated, more reliable, of better quality, and more internally consistent than traditional Computer Aided Design (CAD) data [15]. In addition, any changes within BIM will automatically trigger the adjustment of all the related elements and information so as to provide stringent quality assurance [15].
According to Fister et al. [17], Firefly Algorithm (FA) is simple, flexible and versatile, which is very efficient in solving a wide range of diverse real-world problems. Nowadays, FA has been applied for solving many optimisation problems in practice including combinatorial optimisation, constraint optimisation, dynamic and noisy optimisation, continuous optimisation, and multi-objective optimisation [17].With regard to efficiency and effectiveness, FA is selected to calculate the optimal locations of tower cranes and supply points by analysing construction requirements and site conditions.
The synergy of BIM and FA opens up new possibilities in the field of tower crane layout planning. BIM can not only be used to provide automated inputs for FA but visualise and validate the abstract outputs from FA. The structure of this paper is as follows: Section 2 reviews the recent studies related to tower crane layout planning from two perspectives: mathematical optimisation and 3D tools-enabled virtual simulation. Section 3 describes a framework of BIM-based automated tower crane layout planning system. Three modules, including the BIM platform, the mathematical model, and the visualisation and operation simulation model, within the framework are mentioned and explained in details. Section 4 provides a case study to demonstrate and evaluate the proposed framework in Section 3. Section 5 concludes with the summary of contributions including both theoretical and practical contributions.
Section snippets
Related research studies
A significant number of studies have been implemented in tower crane layout optimisation and operation simulation so as to reduce total operation cost. These research studies can be classified into the following two main categories:
BIM-based automated tower crane layout planning system
This section describes a framework of BIM-based automated tower crane layout planning system (as shown in Fig. 1). There are three modules in the framework: module A, B and C, standing for BIM platform, mathematical model for tower crane layout planning, and BIM-based tower crane layout visualisation and operation simulation, respectively. Module A provides inputs for module B to automatically generate alternatives of tower crane layout. Each alternative will be visualised and evaluated through
Case study
The methodology outlined above was employed to determine the needed tower cranes and their optimal locations and resource supply locations for a high-rise commercial building project. The project was located in Sichuan, China, consisting of 48-story office building, 58-story residential building, 3-story underground commercial facilities with a site area of 2690 m2 and a total gross floor area of 167,895 m2. The location in an urban area with limited workspace and its proximity to congested
Conclusion
Tower cranes are typically used on many building construction sites to lift a wide variety of materials vertically and horizontally. Identifying minimal number and optimal locations of tower cranes, especially when they operate with overlapping work zones, is difficult for site managers only through 2D CAD drawings and work experience. This study is novel because it integrates BIM and firefly algorithm for improving tower crane layout planning from practical, economic and safe perspectives.
Acknowledgement
Acknowledgement goes to Sichuan Southwest Project Management & Consultancy Co. Limited, which provided the BIM models, project information presented in this paper, and the contributed time of their experts to the research and developmental work that have been described and presented in this paper.
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