Building Information Modelling for Civil Infrastructures

A special issue of Infrastructures (ISSN 2412-3811).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 December 2018) | Viewed by 42632

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
OTB Department - Research for the Built Environment, Faculty of Architecture and the Built Environment, Delft University of Technology, Julianalaan 134, 2628 BL Delft, The Netherlands
Interests: 3D and semantic modelling; accessibility; point cloud processing; BIM
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Guest Editor
Department of Civil Engineering, University of Minho, ISISE, Guimarães, Portugal
Interests: cracking of reinforced concrete; serviceabilty of concrete structures; behaviour of concrete at early ages; BIM; digital fabrication
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear colleagues,

In recent years, Building Information Modelling (BIM) has become an important strategy in building construction due to the inherent improved efficiency and productivity. Information modelling has ceased to be exclusive to ‘buildings’ per se and model-based technologies and processes are being extended towards other types of constructions.

BIM for Civil Infrastructures is now in the focus of the construction industry because of the need for innovative and cost-effective approaches for both new and existing infrastructures. The representation of spatial and physical features in a common data model is demanded by several infrastructure domains such as roads, highways, airports, dams, canals, water facilities, energy and park/recreation projects.

The Infrastructures Journal MDPI (https://www.mdpi.com/journal/infrastructures) was recently launched. It is an international scholarly journal covering all aspects of infrastructure engineering. Naturally, BIM for Civil Infrastructures is a very timely topic, which led us to launch a special issue to bring together new developments in such concerns, including but not limited to:

  • Data model and standard development for Civil Infrastructures
  • Procedural BIM for Civil Infrastructures
  • Level of Development Specification for all infrastructure life stages
  • Level of Detail Definition
  • Accuracy requirement and assessment in 3D modelling
  • BIM as a management tool for Civil Infrastructures
  • As-built BIM reconstruction
  • Historic BIM
  • Visualization
  • Cloud computing and BIM
  • The n-dimensions of BIM: from 3D to 7D and beyond
  • Case studies of BIM for Civil Infrastructures

We would like to invite experts in the field of Building Information Modelling to participate in this special issue by submitting an original contribution within the topics highlighted above, according to the instructions available in the link below that include the attached Microsoft Word template:

https://www.mdpi.com/journal/infrastructures/instructions

It is remarked that this journal is currently exempted from publication fees, i.e., publication will normally be free of charge.

We kindly request all interested parties to send us information about title and 200 word abstract by 15th February (preferably), and commit to submit the final manuscript by the end of May 2017.

We thank you in advance for your best attention and expect to hear a positive answer from you soon.

Kind regards,

Dr. Lucía Díaz Vilariño
Dr. Miguel Azenha
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Infrastructures is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1800 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

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Published Papers (4 papers)

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Research

13 pages, 6342 KiB  
Article
A Case Study of BIM Implementation in Rail Track Rehabilitation
by José Neves, Zita Sampaio and Manuel Vilela
Infrastructures 2019, 4(1), 8; https://doi.org/10.3390/infrastructures4010008 - 19 Feb 2019
Cited by 38 | Viewed by 15207
Abstract
Building Information Modeling (BIM) is an Industry 4.0 methodology that is increasingly used in the domain of Architecture, Engineering, and Construction (AEC). BIM emerges as a new methodology, one that is more collaborative and based on parametric three-Dimensional (3D) models, centralizing different types [...] Read more.
Building Information Modeling (BIM) is an Industry 4.0 methodology that is increasingly used in the domain of Architecture, Engineering, and Construction (AEC). BIM emerges as a new methodology, one that is more collaborative and based on parametric three-Dimensional (3D) models, centralizing different types of information of a geometric, physical, and economic nature. The purpose of this paper is to analyze the application of the BIM methodology to a rail track rehabilitation case study using a geotextile and geogrid in the ballast layer base. The creation of the 3D and 4D BIM models was performed using various BIM-based tools, which made it possible to achieve the spatial and parametric representation of the rail track and the simulation of the main construction tasks. A new BIM object pertaining to the rail track was created. This paper describes the procedures applied in achieving the BIM models, the limitations involved, and the interoperability between the BIM tools. Additionally, the potential for information extraction with respect to the infrastructure design, construction, and operation, e.g., planning and scheduling, quantities, graphic outputs, and track geometry quality, was demonstrated. It was concluded that the BIM methodology was viable and could be implemented with benefits, despite certain difficulties and limitations, which emphasize the need for further developments. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Building Information Modelling for Civil Infrastructures)
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15 pages, 5389 KiB  
Article
A 5D Building Information Model (BIM) for Potential Cost-Benefit Housing: A Case of Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA)
by Ibrahim Alrashed and Komali Kantamaneni
Infrastructures 2018, 3(2), 13; https://doi.org/10.3390/infrastructures3020013 - 10 Jun 2018
Cited by 13 | Viewed by 9910
Abstract
The Saudi construction industry is going through a process of acclimatizing to a shifting fiscal environment. Due to recent fluctuations in oil prices, the Saudi construction sector decided to adjust to current trade-market demands and rigorous constitutional regulations because of competitive pressures. This [...] Read more.
The Saudi construction industry is going through a process of acclimatizing to a shifting fiscal environment. Due to recent fluctuations in oil prices, the Saudi construction sector decided to adjust to current trade-market demands and rigorous constitutional regulations because of competitive pressures. This quantitative study assesses and compares existing flat design vs. mid-terrace housing through cost estimation and design criteria that takes family privacy into consideration and meets the needs of Saudi Arabian families (on average consisting of seven members). Five pilot surveys were undertaken to evaluate the property preference type of Saudi families. However, Existing models did not satisfy the medium range family needs and accordingly a 5D (3D + Time + Cost) Building Information Modelling (BIM) is proposed for cost benefiting houses. Research results revealed that mid-terrace housing was the best option, as it reduced land usage and construction costs. While, 5D BIM led to estimate accurate Bill of Quantities (BOQ) and the appraisal of construction costs. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Building Information Modelling for Civil Infrastructures)
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4584 KiB  
Article
An Enhanced Algorithm for Concurrent Recognition of Rail Tracks and Power Cables from Terrestrial and Airborne LiDAR Point Clouds
by Mostafa Arastounia
Infrastructures 2017, 2(2), 8; https://doi.org/10.3390/infrastructures2020008 - 2 Jun 2017
Cited by 21 | Viewed by 8601
Abstract
This study proposes an enhanced algorithm that outperforms the methods developed by the author’s earlier contributions for the recognition of railroad assets from LiDAR point clouds. The algorithm is improved by: (1) making it applicable to railroads with any slope; (2) employing Eigen [...] Read more.
This study proposes an enhanced algorithm that outperforms the methods developed by the author’s earlier contributions for the recognition of railroad assets from LiDAR point clouds. The algorithm is improved by: (1) making it applicable to railroads with any slope; (2) employing Eigen decomposition for the rail seed point selection that makes it independent of the rails’ dimensions; and (3) developing a computationally efficient fully data-driven method (simultaneous identification of rail tracks and contact cables) that is able to process poorly sampled datasets with complicated configurations. The upgraded algorithm is applied to two datasets with quite different point sampling and complexity. First dataset is scanned by a terrestrial system and contains three million points covering 630 m of an inter-city railroad corridor. It presents a simple configuration with nonintersecting straight rail tracks and cables. Second dataset includes 80 m of a complex urban railroad environment comprising curved and merging rail tracks and intersecting cables. It is scanned from an airborne platform and contains 165,000 points. The results indicate that all objects of interest are identified and the average recognition precision and accuracy of both datasets at the point cloud level are greater than 95%. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Building Information Modelling for Civil Infrastructures)
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2915 KiB  
Article
Improving MMS Performance during Infrastructure Surveys through Geometry Aided Design
by Conor Cahalane, Paul Lewis, Conor P. McElhinney, Eimear McNerney and Tim McCarthy
Infrastructures 2016, 1(1), 5; https://doi.org/10.3390/infrastructures1010005 - 8 Dec 2016
Cited by 5 | Viewed by 7396
Abstract
A Mobile Mapping System (MMS) equipped with laser scanners can collect large volumes of LiDAR data in a short time frame and generate complex 3D models of infrastructure. The performance of the automated algorithms that are developed to extract the infrastructure elements from [...] Read more.
A Mobile Mapping System (MMS) equipped with laser scanners can collect large volumes of LiDAR data in a short time frame and generate complex 3D models of infrastructure. The performance of the automated algorithms that are developed to extract the infrastructure elements from the point clouds and create these models are largely dependent on the number of pulses striking infrastructure in these clouds. Mobile Mapping Systems have evolved accordingly, adding more and higher specification scanners to achieve the required high point density, however an unanswered question is whether optimising system configuration can achieve similar improvements at no extra cost. This paper presents an approach for improving MMS performance for infrastructure surveys through consideration of scanner orientation, scanner position and scanner operating parameters in a methodology referred to as Geometry Aided Design. A series of tests were designed to measure point cloud characteristics such as point density, point spacing and profile spacing. Three hypothetical MMSs were benchmarked to demonstrate the benefit of Geometry Aided Design for infrastructure surveys. These tests demonstrate that, with the recommended scanner configuration, a MMS, operating one high specification scanner and one low specification scanner, is capable of comparable performance with two high-end systems when benchmarked against a selection of planar, multi-faced and cylindrical targets, resulting in point density improvements in some cases of up to 400%. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Building Information Modelling for Civil Infrastructures)
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