Information Integration in Construction

Construction information

• In construction, architects, engineers, planners, contractors, facility managers .... all work with their own pool of project information.

• The essence of integration is the ability for different professionals to seamlessly share project information electronically.

Integration strategies

Integrated Systems(model-based)

Interoperating autonomoussystems

Electronic document management systems(document-based)

Inte

gra

tio

n d

epth

Interoperating autonomus systems

Application X

Application Y

Application Z

Application A

Neutral format

Integrated Project Database

Workspace X

Workspace Y

Workspace Z

Workspace A

Integratedproject

database

The construction business

1. Fragmented supply chain

2. Lack of industry standard for information exchange

3. Poor cross-disciplinary communication (between the sub-processes of a construction project).

4. Lack of process transparency

5. Poor use of experience gained from previous projects (poor knowledge mgt.)

CONSTRUCTION

ARCHITECTURALDESIGN

ENGINEERINGDESIGN

BUILDING USEAND MAINTENANCE

Integration in construction

• In construction, information is stored in discipline-specific formats.

• Members of the project team use discipline-specific tools (software)

• It is difficult for these applications to communicate and pass information between them.

Main problems: Seperation of design from construction and poor information flow.

‘Islands’ of information-handling

The reason for integration

• Improving the efficiency of the building process will require facilitating the interactions between inter-disciplinary teams.

• Researchers have identified the need for an integrated construction environment, which acts as a project repository during the stages of the project life cycle.

Life Cycle Information

• Conceptual : Establish goals, general duration, ..• Definition : Schedule, budget, design, staff organisation,• Construction : Build, document, cost, ..• Start-up operation : Handover, integrate, train, ..• Tear-down : Terminate organisation, demobilize, ...

Projects have a tendency to go through similar stages between start and end. The total of these phases is called the project life cycle.

In an integrated environment teams will work on the same dataset throughout the life cycle.

Integration research

• The research efforts have been concentrated on a 3D models of the planned construction. Project participants can work on this model at the same time through their own work spaces.

• An integrated construction environment has been very difficult to implement and no commercial solutions exist.

• Main themes of research: Product modelling, integration standards and object modelling.

• Aviation and automobile industries develop their products around an integrated product model stored in large CAD/CAM databases.

• The model remains the repository of information throughout the product life cycle.

• Boeing can virtually assemble a 777 aircraft with all parts.

Integration in manufacturing

Integration in manufacturing

Organisation Engineering Process Computers and modelling

Caterpıllar Preliminary and detailed design of whole vehicle system

• 10 gigabyte CAD file • Parametric design • System model with flexible body dynamics and all nonlinearities • Distributed computing environment • Manufacturing and assembly simulation

Ford Whole vehicle design • 500,000 element mesh• Parametric and stochastic models• CAE associative with CAD• Sources of variability including material and dimensional stability• Cost and manufacturability analysis

Boeing CAD Management of geometry and configuration for very large systems

• Elimination of data translation

• Product information management for configuration control

• Process modeler for management of dependent processes

Boeing digital Pre-Assembly Studies show that the most pervasive problems in manufacturing airplanes are:

• Part interference (incidents of assembly parts overlapping each other)

• Difficulty in properly fitting parts together in aircraft final assembly

• By 1989, Boeing was confident that it could significantly reduce the costly rework caused by these problems by digitally pre-assembling the airplane on the computer. The technology offered:

• Improved accuracy in part design and assembly,

• Instantaneous communication capability,

• Improving the quality of airplane designs,

• Reduction of the time required to introduce new airplanes into the marketplace.

Benefits of integration

• If all project participants work around the same model, coordination and communication will improve.

• Clients’ needs are typically captured as text documents, supported by sketches. Clients input in an integrated environment will ensure better meeting client needs.

Early integrations: CAD and linked databases

Traditional storage of project design data, often leading to ‘misfit’

Database - Project data linked to a CAD model

Further integration

• CAD and FE systems are not integrated; design changes must be made in the design tool (CAD) and re-imported into the structural analysis system or visa-versa.

• CAD and VR; same – design changes not possible from VR (which is only for display).

Data models

• A data model describes how ‘things’ that occur in a constructed facility (including real things such as doors, walls and abstract concepts such as space, process) should be represented electronically.

• These specifications represent a data structure, supporting sharing of information across applications.

• The specification of each type of real world projects (doors, windows, etc.) is called a ‘class’.

Industry Foundation Classes

• The IFC is a collection of classes for the AEC industry (Architecture, Engineering and Construction).

• IFCs will enable interoperability among AEC/FM (Facility Management) software applications.

• All IFC compliant software will be able to share project data.

Information exchange standards

• IFC (Industry foundation classes) Standard elements for interoperability in the AEC/FM industry.

• STEP / EXPRESS : A standard for exchange of CAD model data.

• ifcXML, bcXML, aecXML : Data structures defined in XML.

http://www.iai-international.org/iai_international/

IFC – STEP – XML

: Standard XML Elements for AEC interoperability

IAI Conceptual model

IAI ConceptualModel:

(Product model &Process Model)

EXPRESS IFC Model

XML ifcXML

The Future

(Matti Hannus)

Sinking waters....

Challenge: To build bridges between islands