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Keywords: building information modeling, industry foundation classes, BIM platform, analysis software, data sharing, application interface.

Summary

Building information modeling (BIM) has been widely studied in recent years in order to facilitate information sharing and data transferring among stakeholders during the different stages in the building lifecycle. It is expected that engineers' working efficiency can be significantly enhanced by applying BIM technology among the different applications.

Large software vendors have developed powerful BIM platforms in their commercial software, but they are usually too expensive for small software vendors and researchers to afford. Some BIM platforms for research purposes have been reported, including the platform for a single application, and that for multiple applications. However, it seems that these BIM platforms are still not sufficient for developing various BIM-based analysis software such as that for energy efficiency evaluation and cost estimation. This research aims to develop a BIM platform for the development of various analysis applications in the design stage of buildings, so that researchers will be able to efficiently develop their own innovative software based on it.

Since design software is used to generate design results, and the latter is then used to carry out various analysis, in this way no geometric objects need to be added or modified in the analysis software, so that the BIM platform used for the analysis software can be light-weight. Based on this notion, the framework of the BIM platform is proposed first. Then major functional requirements are identified and implemented. The BIM platform is developed using Visual Studio 2005. Data types for the BIM data and relationship among entity objects are set up based on the IFC (Industry Foundation Class) schema. To speed up the development, several existing software tools and techniques are integrated. Namely, IFCsvr is encapsulated as interfaces for the IFC data reading; the standard template library (STL) is used to express specific data types and to efficiently organize the BIM data in the memory; and OpenGL (Open Graphics Library) is used to provide graphical functions.

As a conclusion, the BIM platform has the following three major advantages. First, it is light-weight, because unnecessary graphical functions for analysis software are not included. Second, it is comprehensive, because all of the IFC data types can be parsed. Thus, various analysis software can be developed based on it. In addition, it is economical, because only free software components are adopted and indispensable functions are included so that the development cost and time are reduced. The BIM platform has been tested with a collection of IFC files successfully, and it is now being applied to a pilot development of an energy efficiency evaluation software. The BIM platform provides a competitive approach for researchers or small software developers who embark on IFC-based analysis software.

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Front Page Browse CCP CSETS CTR IJRT Other Authors Search Purchase Guide FAQ Contact us	Civil-Comp Proceedings ISSN 1759-3433 CCP: 91 PROCEEDINGS OF THE TWELFTH INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON CIVIL, STRUCTURAL AND ENVIRONMENTAL ENGINEERING COMPUTING Edited by: B.H.V. Topping, L.F. Costa Neves and R.C. Barros Paper 91 A Building Information Modeling Platform for Analysis Software in the Architecture, Engineering and Construction Industry Z.L. Ma, Y. Feng and Y.L. Zhao Department of Civil Engineering, Tsinghua University, Beijing, China doi:10.4203/ccp.91.91 purchase the full-text of this paper Full Bibliographic Reference for this paper Z.L. Ma, Y. Feng, Y.L. Zhao, "A Building Information Modeling Platform for Analysis Software in the Architecture, Engineering and Construction Industry", in B.H.V. Topping, L.F. Costa Neves, R.C. Barros, (Editors), "Proceedings of the Twelfth International Conference on Civil, Structural and Environmental Engineering Computing", Civil-Comp Press, Stirlingshire, UK, Paper 91, 2009. doi:10.4203/ccp.91.91 Keywords: building information modeling, industry foundation classes, BIM platform, analysis software, data sharing, application interface. Summary Building information modeling (BIM) has been widely studied in recent years in order to facilitate information sharing and data transferring among stakeholders during the different stages in the building lifecycle. It is expected that engineers' working efficiency can be significantly enhanced by applying BIM technology among the different applications. Large software vendors have developed powerful BIM platforms in their commercial software, but they are usually too expensive for small software vendors and researchers to afford. Some BIM platforms for research purposes have been reported, including the platform for a single application, and that for multiple applications. However, it seems that these BIM platforms are still not sufficient for developing various BIM-based analysis software such as that for energy efficiency evaluation and cost estimation. This research aims to develop a BIM platform for the development of various analysis applications in the design stage of buildings, so that researchers will be able to efficiently develop their own innovative software based on it. Since design software is used to generate design results, and the latter is then used to carry out various analysis, in this way no geometric objects need to be added or modified in the analysis software, so that the BIM platform used for the analysis software can be light-weight. Based on this notion, the framework of the BIM platform is proposed first. Then major functional requirements are identified and implemented. The BIM platform is developed using Visual Studio 2005. Data types for the BIM data and relationship among entity objects are set up based on the IFC (Industry Foundation Class) schema. To speed up the development, several existing software tools and techniques are integrated. Namely, IFCsvr is encapsulated as interfaces for the IFC data reading; the standard template library (STL) is used to express specific data types and to efficiently organize the BIM data in the memory; and OpenGL (Open Graphics Library) is used to provide graphical functions. As a conclusion, the BIM platform has the following three major advantages. First, it is light-weight, because unnecessary graphical functions for analysis software are not included. Second, it is comprehensive, because all of the IFC data types can be parsed. Thus, various analysis software can be developed based on it. In addition, it is economical, because only free software components are adopted and indispensable functions are included so that the development cost and time are reduced. The BIM platform has been tested with a collection of IFC files successfully, and it is now being applied to a pilot development of an energy efficiency evaluation software. The BIM platform provides a competitive approach for researchers or small software developers who embark on IFC-based analysis software. purchase the full-text of this paper (price £20) go to the previous paper go to the next paper return to the table of contents return to the book description purchase this book (price £140 +P&P)
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