Developing a systematic approach to investigate interoperability issues between Building Information Modeling (BIM) tools and Building Energy Modeling (BEM) tools

Integrated building design necessitates the Architecture-Engineering-Construction-Owner-Operator (AECOO) Industry’s participants to collaborate efficiently with each other through the different phases of a building. Nevertheless, to reduce the energy consumption and CO2 emissions of a building, the emphasis is on the early design phases, since if accurate energy calculations and strategies are developed in an early design stage, the sustainable footprint of the building will be significantly reduced. That said, Building Information Modelling (BIM) promotes collaboration among the stakeholders by allowing them to design and store and access the data related to a project into one building information model. Furthermore, this model can be used for energy analysis through Building Energy Modelling (BEM) tools in the early design stages of the project, and through the whole life-cycle. For this, BIM and BEM tools must be able to communicate and exchange information with one another, seamlessly. This means that these tools should be interoperable. However, currently, there are some issues in the BIM to BEM exchange process, which obliges the user to check for the interoperability issues and fix them manually. Therefore, as a result of these interoperability issues, the BIM to BEM process in not automated, and creating an accurate BIM-based BEM is quite time-consuming, laborious and prone to human-made errors. Hence, this thesis aims to systematically investigate the interoperability issues and the state of automated data exchange between BIM and BEM tools, based on the Industry Foundation Class (IFC) exchange data schema. For this, Revit and IDA-ICE are used as BIM, and BEM tools, respectively. The outcome is the presentation of a set of interoperability issues that were found based on the investigation of 19 case studies, with some suggestions for Revit and IDA-ICE developers and future researchers in the end

BIM-Based End-of-Lifecycle Decision Making and Digital Deconstruction: Literature Review

This article is the second part of a two-part study, which explored the extent to which Building Information Modelling (BIM) is used for End-of-Lifecycle (EoL) scenario selection to minimise the Construction and Demolition Waste (CDW). The conventional literature review presented here is based on the conceptual landscape that was obtained from the bibliometric and scientometric analysis in the first part of the study. Seven main academic research directions concerning the BIM-based EoL domain were found, including social and cultural factors, BIM-based Design for Deconstruction (DfD), BIM-based deconstruction, BIM-based EoL within LCA, BIM-aided waste management, Material and Component Banks (M/C Banks), off-site construction, interoperability and Industry Foundation Classes (IFC). The analysis highlights research gaps in the path of raw materials to reusable materials, i.e., from the deconstruction to M/C banks to DfD-based designs and then again to deconstruction. BIM-based EoL is suffering from a lack of a global framework. The existing solutions are based on local waste management policies and case-specific sustainability criteria selection. Another drawback of these ad hoc but well-developed BIM-based EoL prototypes is their use of specific proprietary BIM tools to support their framework. This disconnection between BIM tools and EoL tools is reportedly hindering the BIM-based EoL, while no IFC classes support the EoL phase information exchange

Semantic Material Bank: A web-based linked data approach for building decommissioning and material reuse

One of the barriers to circular construction is the lack of availability or visibility of reusable materials and components at the right time and place. Therefore, this paper suggests a digital solution based on identified key stakeholders’ information requirements and market motivations. This solution helps close the material loop between the decommissioning phase and the new construction phase through semantic technology-based information exchanges among stakeholders. The proposed ontologies are twofold: 1) a Decommissioning & Reuse Ontology (DOR) that enriches information models with circular and End-of-Life cycle information while 2) the Ontology for Environmental Product Declaration (OEPD) digitalising standardised and comparable sustainable information. Both ontologies are employed in the Semantic Material Bank (SMB) proof-of-concept: a BIM-compliant digital urban mining solution through which defined stakeholders can evaluate the availability and status of reusable and recyclable elements for future construction projects

Sustainability assessment of a novel reusable and demountable steel-concrete composite floor system

Raw materials extraction, production of components, transportation and reverse logistics activities that run in the construction sector are constantly depleting the available global resources. Sustainability of the construction industry and its ability to adopt to the principles of circular economy is under question. This paper addresses these questions through the introduction of a novel reusable steel-concrete composite floor system. Its reuse potential is evaluated through comparative BIM-based Life Cycle Analysis with contemporary systems

An Explorative Analysis of European Standards on Building Information Modelling

peer reviewedMany standards for Building Information Modelling (BIM) have been published and more are being prepared. Practitioners and academics often struggle to understand the still-evolving relationships between them and how they can support day-to-day activities. In this research we collect data on BIM standards developed by CEN/TC 442. The standards are presented in a series of prototype online dashboards and analysed to study how they are related to each other and to the different aspects. The results can help standardisation bodies, professionals, and academics understand how key concepts are covered in standards, and explore how they are linked to other domains

An explorative analysis of european standards on building information modelling

peer reviewedMany standards for Building Information Modelling (BIM) have been published and more are being prepared. Practitioners and academics often struggle to understand the still-evolving relationships between them and how they can support day-to-day activities. In this research we collect data on BIM standards developed by CEN/TC 442. The standards are presented in a series of prototype online dashboards and analysed to study how they are related to each other and to the different aspects. The results can help standardisation bodies, professionals, and academics understand how key concepts are covered in standards, and explore how they are linked to other domains

Systematic Investigation of Interoperability Issues between Building Information Modelling and Building Energy Modelling - BIM-based BEM Information Exchange Issues

Integrated building design necessitates the Architecture-Engineering-Construction-Owner-Operator (AECOO) Industry s participants to collaborate efficiently with each other through the different phases of a building. Nevertheless, to reduce the energy consumption and CO2 emissions of a building, the emphasis is on the early design phases, since if accurate energy calculations and strategies are developed in an early design stage, the sustainable footprint of the building will be significantly reduced. That said, Building Information Modelling (BIM) promotes collaboration among the stakeholders by allowing them to design and store and access the data related to a project into one building information model. Furthermore, this model can be used for energy analysis through Building Energy Modelling (BEM) tools in the early design stages of the project, and through the whole life-cycle. For this, BIM and BEM tools must be able to communicate and exchange information with one another, seamlessly. This means that these tools should be interoperable. However, currently, there are some issues in the BIM to BEM exchange process, which obliges the user to check for the interoperability issues and fix them manually. Therefore, as a result of these interoperability issues, the BIM to BEM process is not automated, and creating an accurate BIM-based BEM is quite time-consuming, laborious and prone to human-made errors. Hence, this thesis aims to systematically investigate the interoperability issues and the state of automated data exchange between BIM and BEM tools, based on the Industry Foundation Class (IFC) exchange data schema. For this, Revit and IDA-ICE are used as BIM, and BEM tools, respectively. The outcome is the presentation of a set of interoperability issues that were found based on the investigation of 19 case studies, with some suggestions for Revit and IDA-ICE developers and future researchers in the end