Elsevier

Automation in Construction

Volume 58, October 2015, Pages 196-206
Automation in Construction

Integrated system for BIM-based collaborative design

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.autcon.2015.07.015Get rights and content

Highlights

  • We develop an integrated design system for BIM-based collaborative design.

  • Major problems in the conventional BIM-based building design are examined.

  • Three integration concepts are implemented through the combination of three major modules.

  • The proposed system can enhance design quality and productivity in an integrated manner.

Abstract

For effective collaboration among construction project participants, the use of Building Information Model (BIM) has become more common throughout the building life cycle. However, due to the use of different BIM-based software among collaborators during the design, a variety of problems have occurred, including loss of data, difficulty in communication, and poor work efficiency. Hence, this study proposes an integrated design system for the improvement of BIM-based collaborative design. For this purpose, problems are derived based on an analysis of conventional BIM-based collaborative design. In addition, a concept for the development of the BIM-based integrated design system is established from integration methodologies. Based on ‘functional integration,’ ‘integrated information management’ and ‘integrated process support,’ the integrated design system is implemented through the combination of three modules: BIM Modeler, BIM Checker and BIM Server. To test the integrated design system, a case study on a hospital building design is reviewed, and improvements compared to the conventional system are examined. It appears that the proposed system can enhance design quality and productivity by providing necessary support for collaborative design in an integrated manner.

Introduction

As construction projects become larger and more complicated, the amount of information required dramatically increases. As a result, various problems such as difficulty in collaboration and information sharing among project participants have taken place. To solve these problems, a variety of BIM-based technologies and applications have been proposed [5], [22], [28], [36], [60].

BIM was introduced based on the concept of storing and managing various data produced throughout the building life cycle in an integrated manner [12]. The geometric and property information of building objects is modeled upon solving design errors that frequently occur during conventional paper-based design and difficulty in information exchange in the collaborative design process [27]. In BIM-based collaborative design, therefore, it is essential to exchange design information between various participants (e.g., architects, engineers, contractors, clients, etc.) for making decisions. So far, however, participants in BIM‐based design use different software according to work type and tasks in general, resulting in data loss in the process of information exchange, and this requires unnecessary duplication of work for data restoration [44]. Consequentially, unlike the ultimate purposes of BIM, due to limits in the application of BIM, the whole design process is still separated by phases and participants, which often causes additional cost and the inability to finish on schedule [12].

The design tools supporting BIM-based collaborative design should provide integrated functions that can be used throughout the design process. In addition, the information produced during collaborative design should be provided to participants in a timely manner. The integrated function and information in collaborative design make communication among design participants smooth and improve design quality and productivity by preventing unnecessary work. However, commercial BIM-based design tools used in practice are inadequate at providing a design environment from the perspective of integration, and most related studies have focused on information sharing using standard formats. Therefore, this study attempts to conceptualize integration for the improvement of BIM-based collaborative design and to propose an integrated design system. For this purpose, we derive problems based on analysis of conventional BIM-based collaborative design, and establish a concept from integration methodologies for the development of the BIM-based integrated design system.

Section snippets

Software and system integration

The lexical meaning of ‘software integration’ is “making disparate applications work together to produce a unified set of functionality” [24], and ‘system integration’ is defined as “the process of connecting systems, devices and programs together in a common architecture so as to share and exchange data” [58]. As such, system integration is a concept that includes software integration (Fig. 1). Therefore, the integrated system should be able to provide services to users in an integrated manner

Analysis of BIM-based collaborative design

BIM-based collaborative design is performed by using software that provides functions needed for the fulfillment of tasks in phases. To analyze the current status of BIM-based collaborative design, we derived functional requirements required for the four design phases defined by AIA (American Institute of Architects) [1]: Pre-design, Schematic Design, Design Development and Construction Documents. Table 3 summarizes the three requirements by phase: 1) BIM data generation and documentation, 2)

Development of integrated design system

As shown in Table 5, the proposed system is composed of the three major modules (i.e., BIM Modeler, BIM Checker, and BIM Server), and their functions are provided under the same Graphical User Interface (GUI). These modules were developed based on the ‘functional requirements for BIM-based collaborative design’ and the ‘three integration concepts’ as described in the previous sections.

Fig. 4 represents the collaborative design environment provided by the integrated design system. It shows how

Validation of integrated design system

For the validation of the integrated design system, we used the hospital building, that had been used to analyze the interoperability between Revit and Solibri in Section 3, and confirmed improvements compared to conventional task performance. Like the previous case, two architects and two MEP engineers modeled the building, and it took 8 h of work per day for 17 days. As a test case, we carried out a collaborative design between architecture and MEP, and compared the following eight performance

Conclusion

BIM was introduced to solve diverse problems produced during design and construction, but problems still exist in the BIM-based collaborative design due to differences in participants, work processes, and software applications. To solve these problems, this study established three integration concepts (‘functional integration,’ ‘integrated information management,’ and ‘integrated process support’) through the analysis of integration methodologies, and proposed an integrated design system.

The

Acknowledgments

This work was supported by grants (12 High-tech Urban D13, 13AUDP-C067836-01) from research programs funded by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, and a grant (No. 2014R1A2A1A11051772) funded by the National Research Foundation (NRF) of the Korean government (MSIP).

References (62)

  • H. Li et al.

    Integrating design and construction through virtual prototyping

    Autom. Constr.

    (2008)
  • J. Plume et al.

    Collaborative design using a shared IFC building model-learning form experience

    Int. J. Autom. Control.

    (2007)
  • Z. Ren et al.

    The engineering services of a universal e-engineering hub: application to the construction industry

    Adv. Eng. Softw.

    (2008)
  • P. Sanguinetti et al.

    General system architecture for BIM: an integrated approach for design and analysis

    Adv. Eng. Inform.

    (2012)
  • G. Schoner et al.

    A dynamical systems approach to task-level system integration used to plan and control autonomous vehicle motion

    Robot. Auton. Syst.

    (1992)
  • V. Stavridou

    Integration in software intensive system

    J. Syst. Softw.

    (1999)
  • R. Vanlande et al.

    IFC and building lifecycle management

    Autom. Constr.

    (2008)
  • J.K.W. Wong et al.

    Intelligent building research: a review

    Autom. Constr.

    (2005)
  • J.P. Zhang et al.

    BIM-and 4D-based integrated solution of analysis and management for conflicts and structural safety problems during construction: 1. Principles and methodologies

    Autom. Constr.

    (2011)
  • AIA

    American Institute of Architects

  • R. Amor et al.

    Preservation of meaning in mapped IFCs

  • B. Akinci et al.

    Representation and integration of as-built information to IFC based product and process models for automated assessment of as-built conditions

  • J. Beetz et al.

    BIMSEVER. ORG—an open source IFC modeler server

  • E. Beyne

    3D system integration technologies

  • G.A. Bolcer et al.

    Endeavors: a process system integration infrastructure

  • D. Campbell

    Building information modeling: the Web3D application for AEC

  • C. Eastman et al.

    BIM Handbook: A Guide to Building Information Modeling for Owners, Managers, Designers, Engineers and Contractors

    (2007)
  • M. Fischer et al.

    CIFE Technical Report Number 143: PM4D Final Report

    (2002)
  • F. Flager et al.

    Multidisciplinary process integration and design optimization of a classroom building

    Electron. J. Inf. Technol. Constr.

    (2009)
  • T. Froese et al.

    System architectures for AEC interoperability

  • C. Fu et al.

    The development of an IFC-based lifecycle costing prototype tool for building construction and maintenance: integrating lifecycle costing to nD modelling

    Constr. Innov. Inf. Process. Manag.

    (2001)
  • Cited by (0)

    1

    Tel.: + 82 2 34083331; fax: + 82 2 34084331.

    2

    Tel.: + 82 32 8607580; fax: + 82 32 8664624.

    3

    Tel.: + 82 2 69352427; fax: + 82 2 34084331.

    View full text