Rome wasn’t built in a day. Nor can technological advancements revolutionize an industry overnight. But, what they can offer users is an opportunity to challenge the status quo and produce work that far surpasses what had previously been championed.
Building information modeling (BIM)—also called dynamic 3-D modeling or model-centric design—does just that. Raising the design standard of the A/E/C market during the last decade, BIM technology is now seeping into civil engineering, looking to change the way transportation routes, land development projects, and stormwater and wastewater collection systems, among other civil projects, are imagined, designed, and constructed.
The legacy 2-D drafting-centric design process currently used by the civil engineering community functions within the following framework: A preliminary design is created, details are then added to include desired measurements and site-specific properties, and once the final design has been polished, it is transferred into construction documentation and presented to the next project team for implementation. Most of the effort in this process, and therefore the greatest amount of design changes, occurs during the construction documentation phase when project cost and performance can be significantly affected.
By contrast, the data-centric process of BIM dynamically coordinates project information from design through construction and operations into one set of intelligent 3-D documents, naturally linking the design to the drafting. At the core of its success is BIM’s collaboration process. With the ability to co-author design documents, all members of a project team can digitally share their data and specific project requirements. A building’s architect may want to communicate conceptual envelope ideas, while an MEP engineer may need to tie facility mechanical systems into the project’s existing water, sewer, and electric ports. A contractor may want to coordinate adjacent highway expansion or add new field measurements to a preliminary de-sign. While the civil engineer can develop stormwater drainage for the site. This type of collaboration can reduce design and construction costs significantly, enhance sustainability, improve scheduling, and limit errors.
Additionally, BIM dynamically executes design changes throughout the project. When one aspect of the design is modified, the entire document, including its labels and annotations, is simultaneously updated. By the same token, 3-D models can be leveraged to evaluate multiple design alternatives for each project. For example, various scenarios can be visualized for any given road or highway, providing an opportunity to create the optimal design, not just the first one that meets code. In this way, BIM workflow relocates the heavy design effort up front, during the project’s preliminary and design phase—a time when any design changes that occur have little, if any, impact on project cost and performance.Other tools include analysis and visualization capabilities that help optimize constructability and road safety as well BIM’s unprecedented ability to extend its information model beyond the design phase and into site construction and project operations, such as using machine control for grading.
While BIM technology is poised to reinvent civil engineering workflow efficiencies, it can only come of age after it has been time-tested and sharpened by its users. This process will blend the engineer’s approach with technology’s capabilities, creating a new practice that promises to catapult civil design into the 21st Century.
STAY TUNED: Next month’s feature will delve further into 3-D modeling software capabilities with testimonial from current civil BIM users.
Mindi Zissman is a freelance writer based in Chicago.