A BIM-Based Framework to Visually Evaluate Circularity and Life Cycle Cost of buildings

The Circular Economy paradigm seeks to shift products and systems from linear to “closed loop” life cycles applying specific business models and strategies to their designs and lifelines. The implementation of the circular economy in buildings depends on the efforts made by all the stakeholder involved in the life cycle of a building, where it can draw most of the benefits if the application of a circular business model is planned during the design phases. Building Information Modelling is an approach that helps designers in creating and managing semantically rich 3D-models describing the status of the building over its life cycle. In this paper, a BIM-based framework for evaluating the application of circular business models of buildings from the circularity and the life cycle cost points of views is proposed

Introducing causal inference in the energy-efficient building design process

“What-if” questions are intuitively generated and commonly asked during the design process. Engineers and architects need to inherently conduct design decisions, progressing from one phase to another. They either use empirical domain experience, simulations, or data-driven methods to acquire consequential feedback. We take an example from an interdisciplinary domain of energy-efficient building design to argue that the current methods for decision support have limitations or deficiencies in four aspects: parametric independency identification, gaps in integrating knowledge-based and data-driven approaches, less explicit model interpretation, and ambiguous decision support boundaries. In this study, we first clarify the nature of dynamic experience in individuals and constant principal knowledge in design. Subsequently, we introduce causal inference into the domain. A four-step process is proposed to discover and analyze parametric dependencies in a mathematically rigorous and computationally efficient manner by identifying the causal diagram with interventions. The causal diagram provides a nexus for integrating domain knowledge with data-driven methods, providing interpretability and testability against the domain experience within the design space. Extracting causal structures from the data is close to the nature design reasoning process. As an illustration, we applied the properties of the proposed estimators through simulations. The paper concludes with a feasibility study demonstrating the proposed framework's realization

Proceedings of the 29th EG-ICE International Workshop on Intelligent Computing in Engineering

This publication is the Proceedings of the 29th EG-ICE International Workshop on Intelligent Computing in Engineering from July 6-8, 2022. The EG-ICE International Workshop on Intelligent Computing in Engineering brings together international experts working on the interface between advanced computing and modern engineering challenges. Many engineering tasks require open-world resolution of challenges such as supporting multi-actor collaboration, coping with approximate models, providing effective engineer-computer interaction, search in multi-dimensional solution spaces, accommodating uncertainty, including specialist domain knowledge, performing sensor-data interpretation and dealing with incomplete knowledge. While results from computer science provide much initial support for resolution, adaptation is unavoidable and most importantly, feedback from addressing engineering challenges drives fundamental computer-science research. Competence and knowledge transfer goes both ways. &nbsp

Proceedings of the 29th EG-ICE International Workshop on Intelligent Computing in Engineering

This publication is the Proceedings of the 29th EG-ICE International Workshop on Intelligent Computing in Engineering from July 6-8, 2022. The EG-ICE International Workshop on Intelligent Computing in Engineering brings together international experts working on the interface between advanced computing and modern engineering challenges. Many engineering tasks require open-world resolution of challenges such as supporting multi-actor collaboration, coping with approximate models, providing effective engineer-computer interaction, search in multi-dimensional solution spaces, accommodating uncertainty, including specialist domain knowledge, performing sensor-data interpretation and dealing with incomplete knowledge. While results from computer science provide much initial support for resolution, adaptation is unavoidable and most importantly, feedback from addressing engineering challenges drives fundamental computer-science research. Competence and knowledge transfer goes both ways. &nbsp

An IDM-Based Approach for Information Requirement in Prefabricated Construction

Prefabricated construction promotes providing better productivity and project results. Building models, including their elements’ fabrication details, are complex structures that need accurate information delivery among the project participants and their partial designs. This paper extends the IFC data model to support prefabricated construction. Also, it discusses the advantages of systematically managing exchange requirements in a database to facilitate generating IDM (Information Delivery Manual). The paper first introduces a BIM-based collaborative work mode by sharing and extracting the model views. The core of the sharing is the establishment of view exchange standard about the linked model and the definition of exchange requirements based on the design process, leading to the formulation of the IDM standard again from the perspective of the actual design. Process maps covering architecture, structure, plumbing, mechanical engineering, and electrical engineering are made to show how to realize BIM-based collaborative work. Then the exchange requirements referred to the object and attribute of the BIM model which should be delivered in a special phase are defined in particular tables. To facilitate the automation of managing and exchanging requirements, a database management system is designed with its corresponding user-interface, which enhances the collaboration and delivery throughout the project life cycle. The proposed approach supports better information reuse and delivery among the project participants

Information containers providing deep linkage of drawings and BIM models

In current BIM standards and today's BIM practice, drawings and models are used side-by-side. While respecting the de-facto coexistence of models and drawings, the induced information redundancy results in challenges for proper information management. It is thus desirable to establish and maintain deep links between the model elements and the corresponding drawing elements, as this allows for bi-directional navigation across the model/drawing boundaries and enables accessing non-geometrie model information from the drawing. In addition, consistency checking and preservation become more reliable. The paper specifies the requirements and semantics of the linking mechanism and discusses different technical implementations. Major emphasis is placed on the concept of the Information Container as defined by ISO 21597 which allows to represent and exchange linked models in a vendor-neutral format, but alternative mechanisms are also investigated. The paper finishes with presenting a feasibility case study.Urban Data Scienc

OpenBIM for Occupant Movement Analysis industry report: a perspective from the Building Room

The safety and comfort of building occupants are of vital importance. For building design and compliance checking concerning occupants’ safety in buildings, prescriptive codes are usually used. However, for more complex buildings the prescriptive rules are not always applicable, and therefore, a performance-based approach (engineering approach) is employed. This performance-based approach to fire safety which is also known as Fire Safety Engineering (FSE) utilizes either hand calculations or computer model simulations (using simulation tools) to determine whether the performance indicators are fulfilled according to regulations and then in turn establish if a building is compliant. Occupant Movement Analysis (OMA) includes aspects of non-emergency and emergency movement of people. Circulation modelling focuses on the non-emergency movement of people, whereas evacuation modelling as part of the FSE-based analysis focuses on the emergency movement of people. During the planning and lifecycle process of a building, circulation modelling plays an important role. It offers a deep insight into the building’s functionality and capacity concerning occupants’ flow and comfort, thus, improving space utilization and productivity. On the other hand, evacuation modelling is used to determine evacuation times and possible bottlenecks in the building’s design. In short, OMA has an important role in establishing occupants’ safety and comfort during the building lifecycle, particularly during the design phase. The use of Building Information Modelling (BIM) is increasing significantly but for OMA the adoption is still relatively slow, which impedes the realization of potential BIM benefits such as mitigating risk and cost reduction. The goal of this paper is to provide an insight into how buildingSMART International (bSI) is adding support for OMA requirements in the IFC Model. Work was initiated to develop a Information Delivery Manual (IDM) for OMA that focuses on capturing the data requirements including key simulation results produced by the pedestrian modelling tools. This work will not only incorporate properties into the IFC Model to meet the common needs of OMA data exchange requirements for the modelling tools but in turn also enable an open, connected iterative workflow. The following three broad use cases are presented in this paper to highlight the work which is currently underway: 1. Evacuation Analysis – based on The Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) stages. 2. Evacuation Analysis – International (non-country specific). 3. Circulation Analysis – International (non-country specific)

Analyzing Contextual Linking of Heterogeneous Information Models from the Domains BIM and UIM

Information models from the domains Building Information Modeling (BIM) and Urban Information Modeling (UIM) are generally considered as information silos due to their heterogeneous character. These information silos can be bridged through linking where corresponding objects are identified and linked subsequently. However, whether two objects are considered as corresponding might depend on the scenario for which the links are created. The dependency of the link creation and the scenario refers to the term contextual linking and is analyzed in this paper with respect to building and city models. Therefore, different situational aspects influencing the link creation are discussed. Afterwards, the issue of contextual linking is demonstrated based on three different integration scenarios. In summary, this paper has three major outcomes: First, this paper introduces an application-oriented perspective on information integration and emphasize the role of the application when linking heterogeneous information models. Second, this paper shows that linking heterogeneous information models from the domains BIM and UIM at instance level depends on the scenario. Third, the results of the discourse about contextual linking serve as a framework supporting the design and development of artifacts for linking heterogeneous information models from the domains BIM and UIM

Analyzing Contextual Linking of Heterogeneous Information Models from the Domains BIM and UIM

Information models from the domains Building Information Modeling (BIM) and Urban Information Modeling (UIM) are generally considered as information silos due to their heterogeneous character. These information silos can be bridged through linking where corresponding objects are identified and linked subsequently. However, whether two objects are considered as corresponding might depend on the scenario for which the links are created. The dependency of the link creation and the scenario refers to the term contextual linking and is analyzed in this paper with respect to building and city models. Therefore, different situational aspects influencing the link creation are discussed. Afterwards, the issue of contextual linking is demonstrated based on three different integration scenarios. In summary, this paper has three major outcomes: First, this paper introduces an application-oriented perspective on information integration and emphasize the role of the application when linking heterogeneous information models. Second, this paper shows that linking heterogeneous information models from the domains BIM and UIM at instance level depends on the scenario. Third, the results of the discourse about contextual linking serve as a framework supporting the design and development of artifacts for linking heterogeneous information models from the domains BIM and UIM