The experience of the Second Level Master to be qualified as InfraBIManager

In order to “survive” you must reinvent yourself. Even if you are a professional whose career is successful or a university which offers second level masters for professionals to give them the chance to keep up to date. For this reason, the construction industry and the education sector have a duty to be fully aligned with the objectives of bridging the gap of knowledge. Indeed, thursday, January 24th started the first edition of the InfraBIM Manager Second Level Master of the Politecnico di Torino. The 25 participants were mainly professionals who decided to invest in themselves to play a leading role in the new digital challenges of the AEC sector, showing great interests towards BIM-related topics. For this reason, the paper aims at understanding possible ways of engaging experienced people in new working methodologies, convincing them that something new it is less scary if faced by developing new skills and opening their mind towards new opportunities. They could attend the lessons in person, by videoconference or remotely in on-demand mode; that is fundamental! How can you ask people to be updated by using only old communication strategies? The structure of the Master was thought in order to push students beyond their limits of knowledge, so it was divided into 3 main phases: 350 hours of lectures given by professors from Politecnico di Torino or from other universities and professionals already working with InfraBIM methodology, telling students their own experience and advices; 375 hours of internship either in their company or somewhere else; 250 hours of project work during which they had to put into practice what they had learnt from lectures and exercises on a case study, defining specific objectives. Another reason that inspired the starting of such kind of Master was the chance to present methodology and BIM-related tools in an unbiased way, by presenting several software platforms, trying to define pros and cons, benefits and weaknesses of all products. The aim was to pass the message that no matter the tools used, some procedures and processes can work properly because of the premises and concepts behind. The structure of exercises and project teamwork aimed at encouraging collaboration among students; the experience showed that younger professionals better knew how to handle with BIM platforms and tools, but professionals had the necessary expertise deriving from years of work experience. Furthermore, the importance of openBIM was highlighted by presenting previous experiences of projects developed in such environment. To summarize, the aim was to make students understand the methodology, the processes and the objectives, not merely how to use specific software. Furthermore, by talking about processes, the focus was on the concept of interoperability, in order to communicate that once the methods are clear, software are just tools that enable to achieve the previously defined objectives. Finally, BIM-oriented learning courses presenting cutting edge topics even in second level masters are getting more desirable day by day, because of the market requests and to bridge the gap among universities and the work environment

Virtual Reality for training the public towards unexpected emergency situations

Nowadays, unexpected situations in public spaces are quite frequent; for this reason, there is the need to provide valid decision-making tools to support people’s behavior in emergency situations. The aim of these support tools is to provide a “training” for the public on how to behave when something unexpected happens, in order to make them aware of how to manage and control their own emotions. Thanks to the introduction of new technologies, trainings are also feasible in Virtual Reality (VR), exploiting the chance to create virtual environments and situations that reflect real ones and test different scenarios on a sample of people in order to verify and validate training procedures. Virtual simulations in this context are paramount, because they offer the possibility to analyse reactions and behaviors in a safe, “not real”, so without health concern, environment. Three scenarios (fire, heart attack of a person in the environment and terrorist attack) have been reproduced in VR, analyzing how to define the context for emergency situations. Users approaching the training only know they are going to face a situation without having details on what is happening; this is fundamental to test the training efficiency on people’s reaction

Pavement Information Modelling (PIM): Best Practice to Build a Digital Repository for Roads Asset Management

The application of BIM methods and tools plays a key role in transportation infrastructure asset management. Road pavements represent one of the main components of the asset, which greatly influences safety and quality of service for users. The work presented herein exploited the potentialities of BIM processes and methods for management of road pavement structures. The specific goal was to define best practice for development of a methodological framework for Pavement Information Modelling (PIM). The starting point of the process was the identification of the specific BIM use, as intended by Kreider and Messner [1]. In this case, the BIM use identified concerned the 3rd (3D), 4th (4D), and 5th (5D) dimensions of BIM. The adopted approach had the aim to define the steps to build PIM based on geometrical and structural parameters to be used as a database for different kinds of maintenance strategies. Within this context, the main objectives of the study can be summarized as follows:(1)Define the steps to develop a PIM including all the relevant information to be stored for management purposes, from data collection to data restitution,(2)Define a best practice for the integration among BIM tools and road pavement management methods in order to obtain a digital repository for predictive maintenance strategies,(3)Define a planning and cost database for the different technologies and materials involved in the different maintenance strategies.From a practical point of view, the methodological framework was divided into three main categories (Figure 1) dealing with data: (i) data collection and input definition, which includes the analysis of available data and the BIM tools to be used to develop specific workflows; (ii) data processing, by dividing the workflows and related tasks in sub-sections for the fulfilment of the previously enounced objectives; (iii) data output, by defining the final result of each workflow.QC 20230706</p

District data management, modelling and visualization via interoperability

Data management has been one of the most interesting research fields within the smart city framework over the last years, with the aim of optimizing energy saving at district level. This topic involves the creation of a 3D city model considering heterogeneous datasets, such as Building Information Models (BIMs), Geographical Information Systems (GISs) and System Information Models (SIMs), taking into account both buildings and the energy network. Through the creation of a common platform, the data sharing was allowed starting from the needs of the users, such as the public administrator, the building manager and the energy professional. For this reason, the development of a District Information Modelling (DIM) methodology for the data management, related to the energy saving and CO2 emission, is considered the focus of this paper. It also presents a specific tool developed for the comparison of energy data in a selected district: the Benchmarking Tool

La centralità della Rappresentazione con il BIM

La transizione digitale del settore delle costruzioni è un’esigenza per tutte le figure professionali coinvolte durante l’intero ciclo di vita dell’edificio. In questo contesto il tema della rappresentazione rafforza la centralità del proprio ruolo in relazione ai diversi ambiti coinvolti, grazie all’interoperabilità dei dati. Il disegno è da sempre considerato la forma di sintesi e di comunicazione visiva che si occupa di condividere gli elementi utili alla conoscenza e/o alla realizzazione di oggetti complessi, grazie ai metodi della rappresentazione. Il Building Information Modelling (BIM) è la metodologia che consente ai diversi professionisti di fornire informazioni grafiche e alfanumeriche di diverso tipo in maniera integrata tra loro. In questo senso la modellazione parametrica, oltre che permettere la rappresentazione tridimensionale dell’elemento complesso, assolvendo al dovere del disegno, dà vita ad un ambiente capace di contenere tutte le informazioni di natura eterogenea derivanti dalle molteplici discipline interessate durante il processo di progettazione, costruzione, gestione e manutenzione di un’opera. L’ambiente BIM deve essere inteso non solo come strumento di rappresentazione e visualizzazione, ma piuttosto come una banca dati le cui informazioni possono essere condivise e utilizzate agevolmente in diversi ambiti seguendo un flusso metodologico interoperabile. Quanto affermato è stato approfondito e analizzato su diversi casi studio reali, con l’obiettivo di definire il migliore processo di interoperabilità in funzione delle finalità richieste al modello. Verrà descritta la metodologia messa a punto nel corso degli anni sulle attività svolte relativamente: 1) al BIM per il patrimonio architettonico con il progetto di ricerca Building Heritage Information Modelling and Management (BHIMM-PRIN) relativo alla modellazione di edifici storici, con un approfondimento del tema della gestione delle nuvole di punti; 2) al Facility Management (FM) applicato ai casi studio della Nuova Sede per Uffici di Reale Mutua e alla Torre per la Sede Unica della Regione Piemonte, per la realizzazione di modelli as-built strutturati per il collegamento ad un software di Computer Aided FM (CAFM) rispettivamente sulle attività di gestione dell’edificio e sulle attività di manutenzione impiantistica; 3) all’analisi energetica nell’ambito del Progetto di Digitalizzazione del Patrimonio Pubblico della Città di Torino e a livello distrettuale con il progetto District Information Modelling and Management for Energy Reduction (DIMMER-FP7); 4) all’InfraBIM per la sperimentazione della metodologia BIM per la progettazione, costruzione e manutenzione dell’ingegneria infrastrutturale. La metodologia adottata nei diversi lavori prevede sempre tre fasi successive: rilievo e ricerca documentale; modellazione digitale con interpretazione critica dei dati da inserire nel modello con il livello di dettaglio e di sviluppo (LoD) volta per volta più adatto; utilizzo dei dati del modello grazie all’interoperabilità e alla interrogazione del data base del modello stesso. Attraverso i vari casi studio si sono raggiunti risultati diversi in relazione alle specifiche finalità dei vari progetti: la modellazione architettonica/strutturale/impiantistica di oggetti complessi (edifici e infrastrutture), la gestione degli spazi, il risparmio energetico e le attività di gestione e manutenzione. Il processo BIM ad oggi non ha ancora raggiunto un grado di interoperabilità che permetta di condividere i dati senza perdita di informazioni determinando di fatto la necessità di replicazione/reinserimento del dato. In questo senso è chiaro quanto sia fondamentale l’attività di ricerca in questo ambito. L’interoperabilità è il valore aggiunto dell’innovazione tecnologica per l’industria delle costruzioni che valorizza la rappresentazione come strumento fondamentale nel processo edilizio per la condivisione dell’informazione tra i vari utenti coinvolti

InfraBIM methods and tools applied to companies¿ implementation processes

L'abstract è presente nell'allegato / the abstract is in the attachmen

Interoperability for 4/5D

Chapter objective: Aggregate data related to WBS structure and cost estimation, associating this information to elements within the model, in order to obtain 4/5D simulations; Basic knowledge: Shared and Project Parameters, Material basic settings, Type and Instance parameters, Programming and Planning for Construction Management; Required competencies: Knowledge on WBS structure and BOQ

Strumenti e metodi per l'interoperabilità InfraBIM

Il capitolo tratta il tema dell'interoperabilità nell'ambito di strumenti e metodi per l'InfraBIM. Dopo aver accennato ai formati di scambio, sono definiti e trattati nello specifico i formati IFC, gli schemi basati su XML e il Visual Programming Language come possibile piattaforma di scambio dati. Successivamente viene presentata una sintesi degli attuali BIM server e piattaforme per la condivisione dei modelli informativi. Il concetto di test di interoperabilità esprime la necessità di verificare che due sistemi garantiscano la possibilità di "operare" tra loro ed eventualmente la bidirezionalità nello scambio dei dati. Tali test sono particolarmente funzionali nell'analisi delle dimensioni dell'InfraBIM, in cui, per raggiungere un determinato BIM use, è necessario garantire l'interazione tra piattaforme e strumenti diversi, senza una perdita sostanziale di dati

A BIM-based infrastructural project approach for time and cost estimation

Infrastructural Building Information Modelling (infraBIM) is one of the most-talked topics of increasing interest nowadays. The object of the present study is a BIM-based development of the underground station Sevrain-Beaudottes. As the infrastructural projects are complex set of works, the case study must face various aspects of the design and construction process. This paper highlights the chance of taking advantages of BIM methodology for cost estimation and time scheduling. The pursued objectives have been achieved through an iterative process of interoperability tests