A Functional Element-Naming Approach for BIM Elements in Building Envelope Systems
Publication: Journal of Construction Engineering and Management
Volume 149, Issue 6
Abstract
Building information modeling (BIM) is becoming a comprehensive, collaborative process in the architecture, engineering, and construction (AEC) industry. BIM’s purpose is collaboration between project participants while integrating information and completing successful projects. Persistent and recognizable names are used as direct element identifiers in BIM. Currently, element names are manually keyed in by participants. Common data environments (CDE) are recommended by BIM standards for managing information. We discuss the collaborative environment framework in construction. Participants retrieve data using element names in data environments. To reduce manually naming BIM elements, we propose an approach that ensures a unique, recognizable name. The approach strategy is summarized in four points: (1) geometric forms are separated from geometric properties, (2) list data structures are utilized to store naming conventions, creating element names to link databases, (3) project data are distributed to participants in centralized and distributed data environments, and (4) the Grasshopper program is used to create unique element names, which are stored in a database. We present a case study of a physical curtain wall project for verification. A discussion and analysis of the five procedures, as well as the advantages and disadvantages, of our approach in diverse collaboration environments are explored.
Practical Applications
BIM data are more and more comprehensive and valuable in a construction project. A lot of worker power is required to generate bills of material (BOM) before elements’ names are keyed in by participants, as well as the same needs for assembly, logistics, and scheduling. The importance of functional element (FE) element naming is to reduce manual work for producing bills of materials in our case study. Therefore, project participants can get the full value of using BIM from designing through to fabrication and installation, and identify every manufactured, prefabricated element and assembled product in the logistics process. Through our proposed approach, project participants can reduce a lot of worker power in naming BIM elements and storing BIM data to a database. This FE naming also helps project participants to quantify and connect all necessary information, increasing the overall output of BOM lists, logistics, and scheduling. Coding is carried out on the parametric model, and the coding information on the model can be reflected into the bill of materials at the same time. All the information is related to each other, creating more spare time for checking and analyzing how to effectively arrange the scheduling process.
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Data Availability Statement
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Some or all data, models, or code generated or used during the study are available from the corresponding author by request [C# script code and API code (Yu-Hsiang 2022)].
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Some or all data, models, or code used during the study were provided by a third party (building envelope BIM model details and system detail information were provided by Gomore Building Envelope Technology Company Ltd.). Direct requests for these materials may be made to the provider as indicated in the Acknowledgments.
Acknowledgments
This work was supported by the Department of Architecture, and the Department of Electronic and Computer Engineering in the National Taiwan University of Science and Technology. We extend a special thanks to the Gomore Building Envelope Technology Company Ltd. for participating in the research discussion, the naming conventions in BIM elements and providing system detail information for the physical testing in projects and the participation from Chinese Public Works Engineering Information Association for the practice of Cloud CDE. In addition, the authors would like to thank the reviewers in advance for their suggestions and comments.
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Journal of Construction Engineering and Management
Volume 149 • Issue 6 • June 2023
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© 2023 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Apr 15, 2022
Accepted: Nov 28, 2022
Published online: Apr 5, 2023
Published in print: Jun 1, 2023
Discussion open until: Sep 5, 2023
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