Sustainability-Based Lifecycle Management for Bridge Infrastructure Using 6D BIM

Abstract

A number of bridge infrastructures are rising significantly due to economic expansion and growing numbers of railway and road infrastructures. Owing to the complexity of bridge design, traditional design methods always create tedious and time-consuming construction processes. In recent years, Building Information Modelling (BIM) has been developed rapidly to provide a faster solution to generate and process the integration of information in a shared environment. This paper aims to highlight an innovative 6D BIM approach for the lifecycle asset management of a bridge infrastructure by using Donggou Bridge as a case study. This paper adopts 6D modelling, incorporating 3D model information with time schedule, cost estimation, and carbon footprint analysis across the lifecycle of the bridge project. The results of this paper reveal that raw materials contribute the most embodied carbon emissions, and as the 6D BIM model was developed in the early stage of the lifecycle, stakeholders can collaborate within the BIM environment to enhance a more sustainable and cost-effective outcome in advance. This study also demonstrates the possibility of BIM applications to bridge infrastructure projects throughout the whole lifecycle. The 6D BIM can save time by transforming 2D information to 3D information and reducing errors during the pre-construction and construction stages through better visualisation for staff training. Moreover, 6D BIM can promote efficient asset and project management since it can be applied for various purposes simultaneously, such as sustainability, lifecycle asset management and maintenance, condition monitoring and real-time structural simulations. In addition, BIM can promote cooperation among working parties and improve visualisation of the project for various stakeholders.

Digital Twin Aided Vulnerability Assessment and Risk-Based Maintenance Planning of Bridge Infrastructures Exposed to Extreme Conditions

“…The increasingly mature application of Building Information Modeling technology in the construction industry has opened up new ideas for bridge health monitoring [4]. Building information modeling (BIM) or referred to as 'digital twins' (DT) aims to digitize and informatize various physical and functional characteristics of a construction project throughout its life cycle [5][6][7][8][9][10][11]. BIM technology and its application belong to a new academic field with great development space [12].…”

New Perspectives for BIM Usage in Transportation Infrastructure Projects

“…There are some other programs with the same possibilities such as Synchro. In this case, Navisworks was chosen because it was considered that using the software of a single commercial firm might enhance the precision of the data interchange among programs [40].…”

Application of Building Information Modelling (BIM) in the Health Monitoring and Maintenance Process: A Systematic Review

“…Combining BIM with other programs such as GIS improves the process of monitoring and risk or damage analysis [ 215 , 216 ]. Furthermore, using upper dimension BIM tools like 6D modelling through considering 3D model information along with cost, time and carbon footprint analysis improved maintenance decision making for traditional bridges [ 217 ]. In this field of study, researchers worked on expanding IFC-Railway to tunnel construction and sustainability evaluation of bridges [ 218 , 219 ].…”