PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to summarize the current applications of BIM, the integration of related technologies and the tendencies and challenges systematically.Design/methodology/approachUsing quantitative and qualitative bibliometric statistical methods, the current mode of interaction between BIM and other related technologies is summarized.FindingsThis paper identified 24 different BIM applications in the life cycle. From two perspectives, the implementation status of BIM applications and integrated technologies are respectively studied. The future industry development framework is drawn comprehensively. We summarized the challenges of BIM applications from the perspectives of management, technology and promotion, and confirmed that most of the challenges come from the two driving factors of promotion and management.Research limitations/implicationsThe technical challenges reviewed in this paper are from the collected literature we have extracted, which is only a part of the practical challenges and not comprehensive enough.Practical implicationsWe summarized the current mode of interactive use of BIM and sorted out the challenges faced by BIM applications to provide reference for the risks and challenges faced by the future industry.Originality/valueThere is little literature to integrate BIM applications and to establish BIM related challenges and risk frameworks. In this paper, we provide a review of the current implementation level of BIM and the risks and challenges of stakeholders through three aspects of management, technology and promotion.

Off-site construction has been increasingly employed due to its advantages, for instance, improved quality control, reduced skills labour, faster construction time, decreased material wastage and safe working environment. As the most cutting-edge off-site construction, modular buildings have been utilised for residential building, student accommodation, and hotel projects. However, because of existing and underlying constraints, the adoption of modular buildings is still relatively low. To reveal factors hindering the development of high-rise modular buildings, a comprehensive literature review, coupled with a focus group study, were conducted. A questionnaire survey inquiring about all stakeholders was implemented to quantify constraints. The results were further examined according to a real-life case study. This paper manifested that “Lack of coordination and communication among stakeholders”, “Higher cost”, “Lack of government support”, “Lack of experience and expertise”, “Lack of building codes and standards”, “Poor supply chain integration”, and “Complexity of connection” are the top barriers curbing the uptake of modular buildings. The findings should provide a valuable reference for stakeholders adopting modular buildings, whilst mitigating risks amid modular construction. Future research is expected to exploit building information modelling and design for manufacture and assembly to alleviate these existing constraints and promote the performance of modular construction as well.

To scrutinize the current application of building information modelling (BIM) and computational fluid dynamics (CFD) integration in research as well as industrial fields, the present study conducted a holistic review including a bibliometric exploration for existing articles, specific content analysis in different sectors, and follow-up qualitative discussion for the potential of this integrated technology. The bibliometric exploration is focused on analyzing main journals, keywords, and chronological change in representative research content by selecting 115 relevant studies. In content analysis, the representative integrated BIM and CFD application cases are divided into three different sectors. The functionality, interoperability, and sustainability of such integration in architecture, engineering, and construction (AEC) projects are described in detail. Furthermore, the future research based on the applications of BIM and CFD integration is discussed. Specifically, the more advanced hazard analysis is proposed reflecting the strength of such an integration. Comprehensive information for the possible hazards in AEC projects is digitized and quantified to make a more sensitive hazard recognition tool which can formalize reduction strategies and measures of potential hazards. As a result, the present review study contributes to relevant research by identifying representative application parts and practical requirements for BIM and CFD integration in whole design aspects, reviewing the current research trends and future direction in detail, and analyzing the major issues, such as an interoperability in BIM-compatible CFD for sustainable built environments.

Scaffolding serves as one construction trade with high importance. However, scaffolding suffers from low productivity and high cost in Australia. Activity Analysis is a continuous procedure of assessing and improving the amount of time that craft workers spend on one single construction trade, which is a functional method for monitoring onsite operation and analyzing conditions causing delays or productivity decline. Workface assessment is an initial step for activity analysis to manually record the time that workers spend on each activity category. This paper proposes a method of automatic scaffolding workface assessment using a 2D video camera to capture scaffolding activities and the model of key joints and skeleton extraction, as well as machine learning classifiers, were used for activity classification. Additionally, a case study was conducted and showed that the proposed method is a feasible and practical way for automatic scaffolding workface assessment.

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