Digital technologies in architecture, engineering, and construction

Digitalization in the architecture, engineering, and construction (AEC) sector is slow due to significant challenges in technology adoption. The study aims to promote technology adoption by advancing the understanding of digital technologies in the AEC sector. This article presents the findings from a quantitative scoping review, encompassing 3950 technology-related abstracts retrieved from the Scopus database, providing a preliminary assessment of literature size, geographic innovation hotspots, research gaps, and key concepts in the AEC field. The results show that Building Information Modelling (1852 studies) dominates the literature, while topics like 3D Printing (311) and Internet of Things (227) are gaining traction. China (687 publications) and the United States (566) produce most research articles. Despite the increasing interest in emerging technologies, their implementation often necessitates acquiring specific skill sets. Academia needs to put a stronger focus on these technologies in education and tighter collaboration with the industry is needed.publishedVersio

Optimization framework for cost and carbon emission of timber floor elements

Long-span timber floor elements increase the adaptability of a building and they exhibit a significant market potential. High cost of the floor elements is a challenge, and the timber sector is under substantial pressure to find more economical solutions without weakening otherwise favourable environmental performance. The range of technical timber-based materials and components, structural typologies, overlays and ceiling systems represent an immense solution space when searching for a competitive design for a specific building application. Finding the optimum solution requires a computational procedure. In this study a recent development for the accounting of manufacturing resources for timber elements is utilized to build an optimization framework for cost and ECO2 minimisation of timber floor elements finalized at the factory gate. The design of the element is formulated as a discrete optimization problem which is solved by a mixed-integer sequential linearization procedure. Various material combinations and constraint combinations are treated. The optimization framework provides a tool for rapid design exploration that can be used in timber floor design situations. The results of the calculations carried out in this study provide insight on the general trends of optimum floor elements. The optimization model is used to analyse the characteristics of the optimum designs, and a comparison between the current and the proposed method for the second generation of Eurocode 5 is chosen as a vehicle for demonstrating achievable implications.publishedVersio

Stormwater-related databases – Review and Recommendations

Floods and stormwater events are the costliest natural catastrophes. Costs are expected to increase due to urbanization and climate change. Mitigation is needed, and is already ongoing in certain cases. Different stakeholders with different motivations unfortunately often evaluate vulnerability by using fragmented and incomplete data sources. This report intends to review the different approaches for collecting and analysing data, and to evaluate their usefulness within the proposed framework for a "smart" use of data. The objectives of this work have been: - to describe a selection of event-based databases related to floods, - to review qualitatively and quantitatively a selection of national object-based databases, - to evaluate the current Norwegian situation and to propose measures for improvement. This study has shown that data are spread around a heterogeneous community of stakeholders concerned with different motivations, different needs, and different levels of data processing. In general, the needs of the different stakeholders have not been surveyed and defined systematically enough. Regarding international flood databases, there is still a substantial demand for a standardized and systematic collection of flood damage data with clearly defined and documented procedures. Regarding national stormwater-related inventory databases, there is a substantial potential in upgrading from the delivery of passive raw data to the delivery of knowledge-driven decision-support tools. Further work should aim at: ‐ Exploiting more efficiently available sources of data and exploring alternative sources of data,‐ Achieving a more efficient transformation of data into knowledge via the development of analytical tools that match the identified needs of relevant end-users by efficiently processing several relevant sources of data, ‐ Providing ergonomic and user-friendly digital solutions to support workers in their daily tasks and to efficiently document the actions within the system, and ‐ Triggering the implementation of evaluation processes within the national agencies for business purposes, and at a national scale for providing the policymakers with useful knowledge about the societal risks associated with climate changes. Technical challenges can relatively easily be solved by digitization and its opportunities for improvement of the workflow and for higher quality of data. Organisational challenges must be solved by an end-users-focused approach to identify needs and expectations. The task WP2.1 intends to be a catalyser within Klima 2050 project for triggering a global data-driven evaluation system to provide policymakers with knowledge on societal risk associated with climate change, and for strengthening national agencies and private companies' innovation capacity for addressing climatic changes.publishedVersio

On the potential of integrating Building Information Modelling (BIM) for the Additive Manufacturing (AM) of concrete structures

Additive Manufacturing (AM) and Building Information Modelling (BIM) are emerging trends for which it has been claimed that both increase both efficiency and productivity in the construction industry. The aim of this study is to synthesise and aggregate the literature addressing BIM integration in the AM of concrete structures and to exploit the joint value creation potential. This study firstly applies a mixed-review method in order to achieve mutual corroboration and interdependency between quantitative and qualitative research approaches. Bibliometric mapping is applied to identify, map and synthesise the relevant literature. Scoping review is used to examine the extent, gap, range and nature of the research activity. Afterward, a cross-situational analysis, TOWS2 Matrix, is proposed and applied to exploit the joint value creation potential of different aspects of AM and BIM. The study reveals a substantial interest in this field. However, progress in terms of integration is slow compared to the rapid development in interest in the two trends individually. The literature discusses or conceptualises such integration at building-scale, while prototyping or PoC processes are only rarely employed. The study identified 12 joint value creation potentials through the integration of BIM in AM for concrete structures, which can create value by enabling more optimised designs, automated construction processes, and data analytics that can apply throughout the building life-cycle process. The advancements of BIM integration in the AM of concrete structures are analysed and joint value creation potentials are proposed. The study proposes a cross-situation analysis that can be applied to structure joint value creation potentials from the multi-dimensional integration of different factors and topics, especially for emerging technologies.acceptedVersio

Stormwater-related databases – Review and Recommendations

Floods and stormwater events are the costliest natural catastrophes. Costs are expected to increase due to urbanization and climate change. Mitigation is needed, and is already ongoing in certain cases. Different stakeholders with different motivations unfortunately often evaluate vulnerability by using fragmented and incomplete data sources. This report intends to review the different approaches for collecting and analysing data, and to evaluate their usefulness within the proposed framework for a "smart" use of data. The objectives of this work have been: - to describe a selection of event-based databases related to floods, - to review qualitatively and quantitatively a selection of national object-based databases, - to evaluate the current Norwegian situation and to propose measures for improvement. This study has shown that data are spread around a heterogeneous community of stakeholders concerned with different motivations, different needs, and different levels of data processing. In general, the needs of the different stakeholders have not been surveyed and defined systematically enough. Regarding international flood databases, there is still a substantial demand for a standardized and systematic collection of flood damage data with clearly defined and documented procedures. Regarding national stormwater-related inventory databases, there is a substantial potential in upgrading from the delivery of passive raw data to the delivery of knowledge-driven decision-support tools. Further work should aim at: ‐ Exploiting more efficiently available sources of data and exploring alternative sources of data,‐ Achieving a more efficient transformation of data into knowledge via the development of analytical tools that match the identified needs of relevant end-users by efficiently processing several relevant sources of data, ‐ Providing ergonomic and user-friendly digital solutions to support workers in their daily tasks and to efficiently document the actions within the system, and ‐ Triggering the implementation of evaluation processes within the national agencies for business purposes, and at a national scale for providing the policymakers with useful knowledge about the societal risks associated with climate changes. Technical challenges can relatively easily be solved by digitization and its opportunities for improvement of the workflow and for higher quality of data. Organisational challenges must be solved by an end-users-focused approach to identify needs and expectations. The task WP2.1 intends to be a catalyser within Klima 2050 project for triggering a global data-driven evaluation system to provide policymakers with knowledge on societal risk associated with climate change, and for strengthening national agencies and private companies' innovation capacity for addressing climatic changes

Damping in Timber Structures

Key point to development of environmentally friendly timber structures, appropriate to urban ways of living, is the development of high-rise timber buildings. Comfort properties are nowadays one of the main limitations to tall timber buildings, and an enhanced knowledge on damping phenomena is therefore required, as well as improved prediction models for damping. The aim of this work has consequently been to estimate various damping quantities in timber structures. In particular, models have been derived for predicting material damping in timber members, beams or panels, or in more complex timber structures, such as floors. Material damping is defined as damping due to intrinsic material properties, and used to be referred to as internal friction. In addition, structural damping, defined as damping due to connections and friction in-between members, has been estimated for timber floors. The thesis consists of six main parts. The first part is entitled “Contexts”, and is composed of four chapters. A general overview of the wood material and its structural use in buildings is presented in Chapter 1. Chapter 2 gives a thorough literature review on comfort properties of (timber) floors. Chapter 1 and Chapter 2 serve as justifications for the motivation of this work, expressed in Chapter 3, and the aim of the work, expressed in Chapter 4. The next part “Backgrounds” briefly describes the basic theories used along the thesis, for the analytical studies (Chapter 5), the experimental studies (Chapter 6), and the numerical studies (Chapter 7). The part “State of the art” is a general literature review on damping (Chapter 8). A particular accent is set on the derivation of various damping prediction models. The “Research” part summarizes the original research work. Chapter 9 briefly presents the background and main findings for each study, and Chapter 10 concludes and proposes suggestions for further research. The studies are detailed in four journal papers, which are integrally reported in the “Publications” part. Paper I focuses on the evaluation of material damping in timber beam specimens with dimensions typical of common timber floor structures. Using the impact test method, 11 solid wood beams and 11 glulam beams made out of Norway Spruce (Picea Abies) were subjected to flexural vibrations. The tests involved different spans and orientations. A total of 420 material damping evaluations were performed, and the results are presented as mean values for each configuration along with important statistical indicators to quantify their reliability. The consistency of the experimental method was validated with respect to repeatability and reproducibility. General trends found an increasing damping ratio for higher modes, shorter spans, and edgewise orientations. It is concluded from the results that material damping is governed by shear deformation, which can be expressed more conveniently with respect to the specific mode shape and its derivatives. Paper II deals with the prediction of material damping in Timoshenko beams. Complex elastic moduli and complex stiffness are defined to derive an analytical model that predicts the hysteretic system damping for the whole member. The prediction model comprises two parts, the first related to bending, and the second related to shear. Selected experimental damping evaluations from Paper I are used to validate the model and obtain fitted values of loss factors for two types of wood. The good agreement of the derived model with experimental data reveals an efficient approach in the prediction of material damping. In Paper III, a semi-analytical prediction model of material damping in timber panels is described. The approach is derived from the strain energy method and input is based on loss factors, which are intrinsic properties of the considered materials, together with material properties and mode shape integrals, whose calculation can easily be implemented in most finite element codes. Experimental damping evaluations of three types of timber panels are performed. These are particleboards, oriented strand board panels and structural laminated veneer panels. Fair goodness-of-fit between the experimental results and the prediction models reveals an efficient approach for the prediction of material damping in timber panels with any boundary conditions, knowing only the loss factors and the mode shapes. In Paper IV, dynamic properties of two timber floors are experimentally evaluated by impact method. Each floor uses one specified type of connectors, either screws or nails. A numerical model is developed using constrained degrees-of-freedom for the modeling of connectors. Numerical analyses have been performed, and show good agreement with experimental results. A procedure is written using the commercial finite element software Abaqus to predict material damping from a strain energy approach. Estimation of structural damping is performed as the difference between the experimentally evaluated total damping and the predicted material damping. The contribution from floor members to material damping is extensively investigated, and the needs for better prediction of damping are discussed. Specific details of some aspects of the work are included in the “Appendix” part

Multi-objective parametric study of a wooden window

The aim of this study is to conduct a multi-objective parametric study by simultaneously analysing the thermal and structural performance of a wood-frame window. The finite element simulation program COMSOL is used to carry out the thermal and structural analysis. A global sensitivity analysis is performed to screen and rank the dominant parameters. Afterwards, a parametric analysis is performed by varying the dominant parameters. The results demonstrate that the performance of the frame configuration of the wooden window can be improved from the nominal configuration. The results suggest that the methodology can be further improved by conducting form-finding and typology-based optimization studies while accounting further for the impact of the window on the energy use for heating in buildingspublishedVersio

The potential of decision support systems for more sustainable and intelligent constructions: a short overview

Up to now, the performance-based concept has been very rarely extended from engineering phase to other phases within the building process. To achieve more sustainable and more intelligent constructions, the construction industry needs decision support systems that integrate a selection of processes, constraints, time span, and performance criteria that are relevant to all involved stakeholders. This paper intends to demonstrate a design methodology that solves these challenges, and provides several frameworks for decision support systems deemed relevant to the construction industry. Examples of current applications are provided, together with a discussion on future opportunities. The possible synergy with new technologies is emphasized.publishedVersio

A climate services perspective on Norwegian stormwater-related databases

Floods and stormwater events are the costliest natural catastrophes. Costs are expected to increase due to urbanization and climate change. Mitigation is needed. Different stakeholders with different motivations unfortunately often evaluate vulnerability by using fragmented and incomplete data sources. This paper intends to review the different approaches for collecting and analyzing data, and to evaluate their usefulness within the proposed framework for a “smart” use of data. The objectives of this work have been to review qualitatively and quantitatively a selection of Norwegian stormwater-related databases and to propose measures for improvement. The findings are seen according to the climate services literature and show that that data is spread around a heterogeneous community of stakeholders concerned with different motivations, different needs, and different levels of data processing. In general, the needs of the different stakeholders have not been surveyed and defined systematically enough and there is a substantial potential in upgrading from the delivery of passive raw data to the delivery of knowledge-driven decision-support tools.publishedVersio

Big data and data sharing in the AEC: Stakeholder priorities, opportunities, and perceived barriers

Construction City is a business cluster that works to consolidate the competitiveness of the construction, civil engineering and real estate development sector in Norway. We have almost 100 members, varying from promising start-up companies to major entrepreneurs. Together we share knowledge and find new solutions on behalf of an entire industry. The construction, civil engineering and real estate development sector in Norway is currently a world leader in terms of its use of digital tools but is failing to apply cross-sectoral systems that have real and effective impacts on efficiency and competitiveness. According to Statistics Norway, there were 4.2 million buildings in Norway in 2020. Most of this building stock consists of structures built before the digital age, and many of the newer buildings have been constructed with their data sources locked inside inaccessible, specialist and proprietary digital tools. Construction City wants to address this issue. Single-company data strategies address the value of data and the need to share, but often lack enabling mechanisms for access to essential data expertise and data management processes. For users, this means poorer service, and systems that are less tailored to individual needs. For wider society, it means that we fail to make the optimal use of our building stock. We believe that more learning and smarter operation of buildings may result in a need for less space per user and better energy optimization, leading in turn to an enhanced perception of building quality. The sharing and reuse of data will also provide opportunities to promote innovation in the construction and real estate development sector. Standards must be adapted to the needs of our industry, but at the lowest possible levels of complexity. Voluntary and more open industry standards can be the basis for cost-effective and scalable solutions. Norwegian companies have the opportunity to take the lead in developing such standards in areas where they hold a strong position. Construction City wants to promote the formation of a major ‘community’ that will facilitate a system of expertise and solution sharing, rooted in experience from both Norway and overseas.publishedVersio