Supporting knowledge-intensive construction management tasks in BIM

The delivery of products and services for construction-based businesses is increasingly becoming knowledge-driven and information-intensive. The proliferation of building information modelling (BIM) has increased business opportunities as well as introduced new challenges for the architectural, engineering and construction and facilities management (AEC/FM) industry. As such, the effective use, sharing and exchange of building life cycle information and knowledge management in building design, construction, maintenance and operation assumes a position of paramount importance. This paper identifies a subset of construction management (CM) relevant knowledge for different design conditions of building components through a critical, comprehensive review of synthesized literature and other information gathering and knowledge acquisition techniques. It then explores how such domain knowledge can be formalized as ontologies and, subsequently, a query vocabulary in order to equip BIM users with the capacity to query digital models of a building for the retrieval of useful and relevant domain-specific information. The formalized construction knowledge is validated through interviews with domain experts in relation to four case study projects. Additionally, retrospective analyses of several design conditions are used to demonstrate the soundness (realism), completeness, and appeal of the knowledge base and query-based reasoning approach in relation to the state-of-the-art tools, Solibri Model Checker and Navisworks. The knowledge engineering process and the methods applied in this research for information representation and retrieval could provide useful mechanisms to leverage BIM in support of a number of knowledge intensive CM/FM tasks and functions.

The RATAS-project, in the Light of 25 Years of Development Towards Computer-Integrated Construction

In smaller countries where the key players in construction IT development tend to know each other personally and where public R&D funding is concentrated to a few channels, IT roadmaps and strategies would seem to have a better chance of influencing development than in the bigger industrial countries. In this paper Finland and the RATAS-project is presented as a historical case illustrating such impact. RATAS was initiated as a construction IT roadmap project in 1985, involving many of the key organisations and companies active in construction sector development. Several of the individuals who took an active part in the project have played an important role in later developments both in Finland and on the international scene. The central result of RATAS was the identification of what is nowadays called Building Information Modelling (BIM) technology as the central issue in getting IT into efficient use in the construction sector. BIM, which earlier was referred to as building product modelling, has been a key ingredient in many roadmaps since and the subject of international standardisation efforts such as STEP and IAI/IFCs. The RATAS project can in hindsight be seen as a forerunner with an impact which also transcended national borders.

Educação infantil e direito: práticas de controle como campo de análise

O presente estudo objetiva colocar em análise a Edu cação Infantil como um direito incorporado às políticas públicas para a infância, a partir de 1988, no contexto da nova Constituição Federal. A universalização do acesso à escola desde o nascimento é celebrada como uma conquista, em nome do direito, mas, como isto se dá na prática, para além da legislação? A partir de análises de implicação, conforme propõe René Lourau, colocamos em questão o que nos une ao campo da Educação Infantil enquanto direito da primeira infâ ncia, problematizando a própria condição dos especialismos que atravessam e são atr avessados no cotidiano dos estabelecimentos de atendimento. A construção da Educação Infantil como direito, no contexto da sociedade de controle, obriga pensar em relações de direito, responsabilidade, acesso e coerção, apontadas como fundamentais à boa formação. Tendo como norte o caminho genealógico proposto por Foucault, interessa pensar os sentidos que produzem este ou aquele caminho. Por certo, não é a formulação de um instrumento, de um dispositivo, uma lei, por si só, que nos leva a algo, mas as suas formas de aplicação. Trazemos para a discussão , então, as produções de verdades, as relações de saber-poder e, consequentemente, as subjetividades que vão se constituindo em nome da garantia do direito. Nesta perspectiva, o uso de alguns conceitos como cidadania e direitos, como paradigmas, pode acabar nos engessando em conceitos modelares e no enquadramento como discurso de oportunidades iguais para todos. Consideramos, assim, a possibilidade de se estabelecer na Educação Infantil um espaço redimensionado enquanto fluxo de resistências na sociedade de controle (PASSETTI), n ão no sentido de institucionalizar as crianças, para enquadrá-las em comportamentos idealizados, mas para trabalhar firmando constantemente a importância de um olhar sensível para o entorno, os devires na perspectiva de Deleuze os sorrisos, os gestos, as diferenças

Social sensing in the field: Challenges in detecting social interactions in construction sites

Construction industry is a sector that is renowned for the slow uptake of new technologies. This is usually due to the conservative nature of this sector that relies heavily on tried and tested and successful old business practices. However, there is an eagerness in this industry to adopt Building Information Modelling (BIM) technologies to capture and record accurate information about a building project. But vast amounts of information and knowledge about the construction process is typically hidden within informal social interactions that take place in the work environment. In this paper we present a vision where smartphones and tablet devices carried by construction workers are used to capture the interaction and communication between workers in the field. Informal chats about decisions taken in the field, impromptu formation of teams, identification of key persons for certain tasks, and tracking the flow of information across the project community, are some pieces of information that could be captured by employing social sensing in the field. This information can not only be used during the construction to improve the site processes but it can also be exploited by the end user during maintenance of the building. We highlight the challenges that need to be overcome for this mobile and social sensing system to become a reality. © 2012 ACM.

Toward automated generation of parametric BIMs based on hybrid video and laser scanning data

Only very few constructed facilities today have a complete record of as-built information. Despite the growing use of Building Information Modelling and the improvement in as-built records, several more years will be required before guidelines that require as-built data modelling will be implemented for the majority of constructed facilities, and this will still not address the stock of existing buildings. A technical solution for scanning buildings and compiling Building Information Models is needed. However, this is a multidisciplinary problem, requiring expertise in scanning, computer vision and videogrammetry, machine learning, and parametric object modelling. This paper outlines the technical approach proposed by a consortium of researchers that has gathered to tackle the ambitious goal of automating as-built modelling as far as possible. The top level framework of the proposed solution is presented, and each process, input and output is explained, along with the steps needed to validate them. Preliminary experiments on the earlier stages (i.e. processes) of the framework proposed are conducted and results are shown; the work toward implementation of the remainder is ongoing.

Early Implementation of BIM into a Cold-Formed Steel Design/ Fabricator and an Architectural/Planning Consultancy

There is a broad consensus surrounding the ability of building information modelling (BIM) to positively impact a project by enabling greater collaboration. This paper aims to examine the development of BIM and how it can contribute to the evermore present and growing cold-formed steel (CFS) industry. This is achieved thorough a comprehensive literature review and four exploratory interviews with industry experts. Work has been carried out, for the first time, alongside one of the UK’s largest CFS Designer/Fabricators in conjunction with Northern Ireland’s leading Architectural and Town Planning Consultants in the identification and dissemination of information. The capabilities of BIM have been investigated through modeling of simple CFS structures n consultation with the project partners. By scrutinising the literature and associated interviews, the primary opportunities, as well as barriers, of BIM implementation have been investigated in the context of these companies. It is essential to develop greater understanding of the flexibility, adaptability and interoperability of BIM software as the UK construction industry faces a daunting challenge; fully collaborative 3D BIM as required by the UK Government under the “Government Construction Strategy” by 2016 in all public sector projects. This paper, and the wider study that it stems from, approaches the problem from a new angle, from sections of the construction industry that have not yet fully embedded BIM.

Análise da interoperabilidade aplicada ao projeto BIM de Estruturas Metálicas

O BIM – Building Information Modeling – é um conceito de controlo e gestão de informação desenvolvida, entre diferentes especialidades e intervenientes envolventes, durante o ciclo de vida das construções. A utilização das tecnologias BIM, no ramo da Engenharia Mecânica e Civil, tem sido uma aposta constante, e cada vez mais concisa, nos projetos de construção. A justificação para a adoção destas metodologias mais eficientes, em substituição dos processos convencionais, prende-se com o facto desses processos convencionais, ainda hoje, apresentarem muitas dificuldades e problemas associados, por exemplo, à falta de comunicação entre os intervenientes e ao ineficiente controlo na gestão de projetos. O objetivo desta dissertação centra-se na análise da interoperabilidade de softwares BIM, ou seja, na verificação da viabilidade de exportação de dados dos modelos produzidos, entre as ferramentas BIM. Para este campo de ação contribuirá a análise da passagem de informação, relativa ao modelo de uma Nave Industrial modelada, em alguns dos softwares BIM, correntemente mais utilizados. O conhecimento adquirido com a modelação do caso de estudo do presente trabalho irá permitir identificar algumas lacunas existentes ao nível da falta de recomendações práticas que sirvam de orientação na modelação recorrendo a ferramentas informáticas BIM-compatíveis. Assim, a base deste trabalho consiste na criação de uma série de recomendações ou de um roteiro de modelação em específico para a disciplina de estruturas enquanto área de aplicação concreta do estudo efetuado. Nesse sentido, a proposta deste trabalho é de apresentar alguns critérios de modelação onde são definidos os elementos a modelar em cada fase do projeto.

Guia de Implementação BIM em organizações e projetos

A adoção da metodologia BIM (Building Information Modeling) é vista como um processo transformador que engloba as empresas e os seus projetos e, em última instância, toda a Indústria da Construção Civil. Devido ao facto de que o BIM é um complexo sistema cuja implementação tem impactos sociais, técnicos e metodológicos, este tema há já alguns anos que tem sido alvo de pesquisas com o objetivo primordial de difundir as práticas associadas ao BIM nas empresas, nos seus projetos, e na indústria. Um pouco por todo mundo, várias iniciativas de entidades públicas e privadas, governamentais e não-governamentais, têm produzido guias, normas, manuais e outros documentos que funcionam como um motor propulsor da implementação BIM. O presente trabalho contém a proposta de um Guia de Implementação da Metodologia BIM, desenvolvido no contexto do um estágio curricular levado a cabo na empresa Building Information Modeling & Management Solutions (BIMMS) e que resultou do estudo e adaptação de alguns dos mais conceituados guias, normas e manuais BIM existentes e em vigor noutros países. Este documento de caráter técnico e prático foi concebido para servir o propósito de auxiliar gabinetes de Engenharia, Arquitetura, e empresas de Construção na integração do BIM na sua atividade e foi elaborado com o intuito de poder ser divulgado e utilizado como referência a nível nacional.

A Novel Decision Tree Algorithm for Numeric Datasets - C 4.5*Stat

Decision trees are very powerful tools for classification in data mining tasks that involves different types of attributes. When coming to handling numeric data sets, usually they are converted first to categorical types and then classified using information gain concepts. Information gain is a very popular and useful concept which tells you, whether any benefit occurs after splitting with a given attribute as far as information content is concerned. But this process is computationally intensive for large data sets. Also popular decision tree algorithms like ID3 cannot handle numeric data sets. This paper proposes statistical variance as an alternative to information gain as well as statistical mean to split attributes in completely numerical data sets. The new algorithm has been proved to be competent with respect to its information gain counterpart C4.5 and competent with many existing decision tree algorithms against the standard UCI benchmarking datasets using the ANOVA test in statistics. The specific advantages of this proposed new algorithm are that it avoids the computational overhead of information gain computation for large data sets with many attributes, as well as it avoids the conversion to categorical data from huge numeric data sets which also is a time consuming task. So as a summary, huge numeric datasets can be directly submitted to this algorithm without any attribute mappings or information gain computations. It also blends the two closely related fields statistics and data mining

Model-based life cycle cost and assessment tool for sustainable building design decision

There is a growing concern in reducing greenhouse gas emissions all over the world. The U.K. has set 34% target reduction of emission before 2020 and 80% before 2050 compared to 1990 recently in Post Copenhagen Report on Climate Change. In practise, Life Cycle Cost (LCC) and Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) tools have been introduced to construction industry in order to achieve this such as. However, there is clear a disconnection between costs and environmental impacts over the life cycle of a built asset when using these two tools. Besides, the changes in Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) lead to a change in the way information is represented, in particular, information is being fed more easily and distributed more quickly to different stakeholders by the use of tool such as the Building Information Modelling (BIM), with little consideration on incorporating LCC and LCA and their maximised usage within the BIM environment. The aim of this paper is to propose the development of a model-based LCC and LCA tool in order to provide sustainable building design decisions for clients, architects and quantity surveyors, by then an optimal investment decision can be made by studying the trade-off between costs and environmental impacts. An application framework is also proposed finally as the future work that shows how the proposed model can be incorporated into the BIM environment in practise.

Implementing ‘Site BIM’: a case study of ICT innovation on a large hospital project

Numerous Building Information Modelling (BIM) tools are well established and potentially beneficial in certain uses. However, issues of adoption and implementation persist, particularly for on-site use of BIM tools in the construction phase. We describe an empirical case-study of the implementation of an innovative ‘Site BIM’ system on a major hospital construction project. The main contractor on the project developed BIM-enabled tools to allow site workers using mobile tablet personal computers to access design information and to capture work quality and progress data on-site. Accounts show that ‘Site BIM’, while judged to be successful and actively supporting users, was delivered through an exploratory and emergent development process of informal prototyping. Technical IT skills were adopted into the construction project through personal relationships and arrangements rather than formal processes. Implementation was driven by construction project employees rather than controlled centrally by the corporate IT function.

BIM: innovation in design management, influence and challenges of implementation

The construction industry is widely being criticised as a fragmented industry. There are mounting calls for the industry to change. The espoused change calls for collaboration as well as embracing innovation in the process of design, construction and across the supply chain. Innovation and the application of emerging technologies are seen as enablers for integrating the processes ‘integrating the team’ such as building information modelling (BIM). A questionnaire survey was conducted to ascertain change in construction with regard to design management, innovation and the application of BIM as cutting edge pathways for collaboration. The respondents to the survey were from an array of designations across the construction industry such as construction managers, designers, engineers, design coordinators, design managers, architects, architectural technologists and surveyors. There was a general agreement by most respondents that the design team was responsible for design management in their organisation. There is a perception that the design manager and the client are the catalyst for advancing innovation. The current state of industry in terms of incorporating BIM technologies is posing a challenge as well as providing an opportunity for accomplishment. BIM technologies provide a new paradigm shift in the way buildings are designed, constructed and maintained. This paradigm shift calls for rethinking the curriculum for educating building professionals, collectively.

Diffusion of digital innovation in construction: a case study of a UK engineering firm

The UK government is mandating the use of building information modelling (BIM) in large public projects by 2016. As a result, engineering firms are faced with challenges related to embedding new technologies and associated working practices for the digital delivery of major infrastructure projects. Diffusion of innovations theory is used to investigate how digital innovations diffuse across complex firms. A contextualist approach is employed through an in-depth case study of a large, international engineering project-based firm. The analysis of the empirical data, which was collected over a four-year period of close interaction with the firm, reveals parallel paths of diffusion occurring across the firm, where both the innovation and the firm context were continually changing. The diffusion process is traced over three phases: centralization of technology management, standardization of digital working practices, and globalization of digital resources. The findings describe the diffusion of a digital innovation as multiple and partial within a complex social system during times of change and organizational uncertainty, thereby contributing to diffusion of innovations studies in construction by showing a range of activities and dynamics of a non-linear diffusion process.

Interactive learning in UK construction practice: examining the role of BIM process standards

From a construction innovation systems perspective, firms acquire knowledge from suppliers, clients, universities and institutional environment. Building information modelling (BIM) involves these firms using new process standards. To understand the implications on interactive learning using BIM process standards, a case study is conducted with the UK operations of a multinational construction firm. Data is drawn from: a) two workshops involving the firm and a wider industry group, b) observations of practice in the BIM core team and in three ongoing projects, c) 12 semi-structured interviews; and d) secondary publications. The firm uses a set of BIM process standards (IFC, PAS 1192, Uniclass, COBie) in its construction activities. It is also involved in a pilot to implement the COBie standard, supported by technical and management standards for BIM, such as Uniclass and PAS1192. Analyses suggest that such BIM process standards unconsciously shapes the firm's internal and external interactive learning processes. Internally standards allow engineers to learn from each through visualising 3D information and talking around designs with operatives to address problems during construction. Externally, the firm participates in trial and pilot projects involving other construction firms, government agencies, universities and suppliers to learn about the standard and access knowledge to solve its specific design problems. Through its BIM manager, the firm provides feedback to standards developers and information technology suppliers. The research contributes by articulating how BIM process standards unconsciously change interactive learning processes in construction practice. Further research could investigate these findings in the wider UK construction innovation system.

Proposal of convergence of e-Learning systems for t-Learning

This article presents considerations about viability on reutilize existing web based e-Learning systems on Interactive Digital TV environment according to Digital TV standard adopted in Brazil. Considering the popularity of Moodle system in academic and corporative area, such system was chosen as a foundation for a survey into its properties to create a specification of an Application Programming Interface (API) for convergence to t-Learning characteristics that demands efforts in interface design area due the fact that computer and TV concepts are totally different. This work aims to present studies concerning user interface design during two stages: survey and detail of functionalities from an e-Learning system and how to adapt them for the Interactive TV regarding usability context and Information Architecture concepts.