®

Structures
for Building Information Modelling

BIM
How Building Information
Modelling is transforming
the construction industry.
STRUCTURAL BUILDING INFORMATION MODELLING
Originally published in The Structural Engineer magazine
6th July 2004 (Volume 82 No.13)
> The reason for the wide adoption of 3D modelling systems, especially in the structural
steelwork industry over the last 15 years, can be defined as the simple desire to create prototypes.
The construction industry is one of the very few industries where actual prototypes are never
created, and trial erections are also rarely completed.
> With 3D modelling the structural prototype is
constructed within the computers memory, with clash
algorithms provided by a number of software providers.
However, the construction industry is on the verge of
a new technological breakthrough involving Building
Information Modelling (BIM), a new, collaborative,
model-based way of working in the construction
industry. Design information covering the entire
lifecycle of the building process can now be produced
and managed within a 3D product model.
BIM is about much more than creating and transferring
electronic versions of paper documents and 3D
building geometry. It is what the building industry had
expected Computer Aided Design (CAD) to be from the
very beginning, where all building processes have been
integrated to create one intelligent 3D product model,
resulting in improved productivity, greater speed,
higher quality and lower costs.
THE HIGHWAY TO BIM
> In the beginning of the 1980’s, CAD revolutionised the
draughting practice by providing digital tools for creating
2D drawings. Since then, the construction industry has
been searching for a solution that provides more than just
automation of manual working practices. The development of
drawing based collaboration had started.
Technical advances resulted from several useful discoveries.
Design teams in the building process started to communicate
information by sharing drawings in electronic formats. Layer
technology was presented and taken into everyday practice. For
example, engineers or HVAC designers used the architectural
layouts as reference layers for their own drawings. This
drawing level collaboration provided a means of detecting
the changes on individual drawings. The downstream design
team members then modified their own drawings accordingly.
However, this collaboration and visual co-ordination was
purely a manual process and information was still distributed
by numerous other partial drawings and sketches.
The Internet revolution opened up possibilities for effective
information management. The next steps towards BIM were
taken with trials to automate drawing-based information
management. Project data banks were established to solve
delays in information sharing and the initial results were
encouraging. Some hurdles were overcome; however the basic
problem of fragmented information management remained
unsolved. Drawings were only reflections of actual and
assumed information no matter how well they were managed.
Information was still scattered among many drawings with
countless duplicated and conflicting information items.
Change management was cumbersome and error prone.
PRODUCT MODELLING

> The only solution for managing building

information efficiently is with product
modelling. The forerunners of this type of
modelling have been in the mechanical and
plant design sectors. Since the early 1990’s,
structural steelwork detailing has made a
remarkable shift from 2D draughting to 3D
product modelling. Tekla Xsteel and a few
other solutions have played a pivotal role in
facilitating that change.

The available solutions of modelling technology can be divided into two different categories – ‘bottom-up’ and ‘top-
down’ systems. Originally driven by mechanical and plant design, parametric ‘bottom-up’ modelling technology was
designed to create parametric models of individual pieces. Building models created utilising this technology are based
upon independent ‘models’ of individual objects tightly integrated together.

This technology effectively manages the shape of individual objects as well as the output generated from them. However,
complications can arise when thousands of building objects are used with complicated linked relationships.

In the product model all elements should be defined as objects. As with real-world objects they share two characteristics
as they all have state and behaviour constraints. For example, a car state would be colour, make, model, equipment;
and its behaviour would be acceleration, braking and control. Software objects are modelled in accordance with real-
world objects with similar state and behaviour characteristics. The state in this respect would be a series of user defined
variables (an item of data named by an identifier). The behaviour would be hard coded as methods as to how the multi-
material elements should react to change and to each other. So in very simple terms an object could be defined as a
container of variables and related methods.

Modification management becomes more

practical with the use of parametric ‘top-
down’ modelling technology. This technology
was created specifically for modelling
buildings, which consist of thousands
of objects. According to the ‘top-down’
method, the basic objects are first modelled
without detail, which also perfectly supports
the normal requirements of conceptual
design. The logical relationships between
building objects are created when applying
the members’ physical connections and
enhanced information.
In the construction industry change is a natural
progression of the information refining in the design
process, as more precise information is created.
When changes do occur, the related building objects
automatically adapt to the new situation. This concept
keeps the building object libraries compact and makes
management of the entire building remarkably easy
and effective. The power and benefits of ‘top-down’
technology have been already proven in the structural
steelwork industry with Tekla products.
Today, we are in the situation that main prerequisites
for comprehensive productive BIM applications
are fulfilled. Parametric product modelling has a
successful track record in the building industry.
Telecommunication infrastructure and information
technology systems have developed to the level that
satisfies the requirements of BIM and international
standardisation processes have also produced practical
interoperability tools for the building industry.
Drawings consist of lines and text...
Product model of intelligent building components
APPLYING BIM
> The current organisation of the building industry
is localised, segmented and the construction process
consists of many small islands of automation. All parties
involved, work co-dependently on individual islands
using different tools. However, the tools do not speak a
common language, or share a platform or conventions, so
information flow between parties is ineffective which is
clearly a costly obstacle. Using modern product modelling
technology on some linked islands does not improve the
overall situation if the complete value-chain is not ready
to exploit the results.
Sub-optimisation naturally improves the performance
of the specific unit, but as information flow is based on
manual handoffs, some information is lost whilst passing
it to the next value-chain partner. This leads to duplication
of work and inconsistencies in information.
The straightforward solution is to integrate all the existing
tools. This has been more or less the target for various
international and national standardisation ventures such
as IFC, CIS/2, STEP, etc. Several successful demonstrations
and test projects have been made, with various results,
ending up in some software functionality to help with
routine tasks. However, development is still at an early
stage, regardless of the significant effort put into the
standardisations.
The biggest problems are in fragmented information
management, and in supporting the information roundtrip.
To be able to manage the constant changes, the integrated
system should be able to store all information from each
of the integrated solutions. All solutions within the
industry should speak a common language utilising the
same terminology. This would require a huge development
effort from the solution providers as well as from the
standards bodies. Therefore, this straightforward approach
does not seem to be the most practical approach to a BIM
solution.
APPLYING BIM CONTINUED...
> Likewise, the integration of BIM into CAD software
requires considerable effort from the software vendors
and is not the apparent way to a versatile BIM solution.
A general CAD platform is an obvious solution from
an interoperability point of view; however the depth
of information suffers. Existing CAD platform-based
solutions are far from the best-of breed solutions
available on the market and the effort needed to bring
CAD-based solutions to the same level is unrealistic.
When examining the pseudo islands of automation in
the BIM archipelago, we can easily detect that there
are groups of islands that are closer together. This can
be physically visualised as the traffic flow between
closely located islands, which is much more intense
and incoherent compared to the traffic between
island groups. The most natural approach towards BIM
integration is to provide deeply integrated solutions to
the island groups, which then connect to other BIM
subsets as well as to the outside world with open
interfaces. In this way, the multitude of information
management requirements within structural design
can be managed and the efforts put into the best-of-
breed solutions can then be exploited through BIM.
STRUCTURAL BIM
> Structural BIM is the part of the BIM process
where the majority of structural information is created.
The Structural BIM model consists of all information
that forms the actual structure. Architect’s models are
not included in the scope of structural BIM, as these
are not based on the same concept as this model.
Architects work with space, mass, texture and shapes;
they do not work with building objects in the same
way as the structural BIM. However, the connection
between the architect’s models and structural BIM is a
very obvious way to help in the future development of
intelligent integration.
The model starts to evolve during the engineering stage,
where conceptual decisions of the structural forms are
made. It is sometimes thought that the design portion
of analysis and design (A&D) is just the pure physical
sizing of the structural elements. However, it is more
than that as it should also include the engineering
and the value engineering of the project, including all
materials, their relationships and the reference to the
architectural objects.
The load-bearing structures are designed and
integrated into the model. A&D plays a significant role
at this stage, however not in the classic sense of using
separate independent tools. Structural BIM A&D is not
a primary phase in the process, just another output
that could be generated and maintained through the
physical model. When changes occur, they are made
directly into the Structural BIM model, with all A&D
results and other output updated accordingly.
STRUCTURAL BIM CONTINUED...

> Open interfaces are fundamental for a Structural

BIM solution, not only from an interoperability point of
view, but also from that of customisation and localisation.
However, nowadays it is easy to use open interfaces, which
provide the opportunity to supplement the functionality of
the structural BIM system with plug-in software modules.

After completing the engineering stage, the next design

team members are the structural detailers, who enhance
the information with the same product model. They do not
recreate the geometry of building objects, they just refine
and supplement the existing information already created
by the engineers. Real-time integration is extremely
crucial at this stage as changes must be communicated

Tekla is either a registered trademark or a trademark of Tekla Corporation in the United Kingdom and other countries. Photography copyright of Emily Brown excluding photographs on front page.
to all detailers, engineers and in some cases, back to the
architect.

The complexity of information management increases

with the fact that projects in the real world proceed in
phases, and are heavily overlapping. The complex network
of dependency between the tasks and responsibilities of
the different players handling the same building objects
definitely requires a solution with the capability to share
the same real-time model. The creator of the information
owns that information and has the authority to give Author: Clive Robinson
permission to view, use and change the information. CEng CITP MBCS AMIStructE
Product / IT Manager, Tekla (UK) Ltd.

Structural BIM, a subset of the BIM concept, covers the

entire structural design process from conceptual design
to detailing, fabrication and erection of all multi-material
elements.
The early adopters who have recognised this new business
opportunity have the best chance to gain enhanced market
share. Complete implementation of Structural BIM requires
certain adjustments to the traditional way of working. The
current process of sharing the responsibilities and tasks
is obviously no longer the best working practice. This will
inevitably lead to a change in the organisation of the
building industry. Collaboration will become easier
between organisations and known alliances rather
than between the sometimes unknown partners within
the current total supply chain.
Eventually all the benefits will show up as overall
building cost savings for all adopters, regardless of
whether structural BIM is implemented within the
entire value chain or only for a part of it.

CONTACT INFORMATION:
Tekla (UK) Limited.
Tekla House, Cliffe Park Way, Morley
Leeds, LS27 0RY
ENGLAND, U.K.
Tel. +44 (0)113 307 1200
Fax +44 (0)113 307 1239
www.tekla.com/uk