The concept of building information modelling (BIM) under various names such as building product models has been around over 30 years. Other industries such as aerospace and automotive have used similar informational models on their products to analyse their design, performance and manufacturability. The architecture, engineering and construction industry is now moving towards the adoption of such concepts, driven by the need to be competitive in the market, to reduce cost and time, and to satisfy the government regulations. In view of the recent interest in BIM, this paper reports on the findings of several case study research projects and discusses how this innovative solution works in practice. The introductory sections discuss the current consistent problems that occur during the engineering design and production processes despite the introduction of good practice management techniques. Case study empirical data are used to provide insight regarding the implications for BIM development, implementation and execution. Collectively the barriers to adoption, benefits achievable and opportunities for the future are discussed with the help of illustration. The contribution to knowledge is a BIM state-of-the-art review and its potential in future engineering practice.
E-learning has occurred in the academic world in different forms since the early 1990s. Its use varies from interactive multimedia tools and simulation environments to static resources within learning management systems. E-learning tools and environments are no longer criticised for their lack of use in higher education in general and within the construction domain in particular. The main criticism, however, is that of reinventing the wheel in order to create new learning environments that cater for different educational needs. Therefore, sharing educational content has become the focus of current research, taking e-learning into a whole new era of developments. This era is enabled by the emergence of new technologies (online and wireless) and the development of educational standards, such as SCORM (Sharable Content Object Reference Model) and LOM (Learning Object Metadata) for example. Accordingly, the broad definition of the construction domain and the interlocking nature of subjects taught within this domain, makes the concept of sharing content most appealing. This paper proposes a framework developed to describe the various steps required in order to enable the application of e-learning metadata standards and ontology for sharable learning objects to serve the construction discipline. The paper further describes the application of the proposed framework to a case study for developing an online environment for learning objects that are standardised, sharable, transparent and that cater for the needs of learners, educators and curricula developers in Construction Management. Based on the framework, a learning objects repository is developed incorporating educational and web standards. The repository manages objects as well as metadata using ontology and offers a set of services such as storing, retrieving and searching of learning objects using Semantic Web technologies. Thus, it increases the reusability, sharability and interoperability of learning objects.
Knowledge based engineering (KBE) as a design method helps formulate a comprehensive knowledge base as a virtual prototype which includes design intent, requirements, rationale, and logic along with geometric information, which can then be utilised for representing the product design process, and to achieve complex design automation. One of the identified shortcomings in the field of design process automation using KBE as a holistic approach is a suitable neutral representation technique of a process model with well-defined syntax, axioms, and semantics for it to be shared across multiple platforms and to enable interoperability. To achieve design process automation, two steps are very important. First, a modelling method should be able to informally capture all critical aspects of a process to enable design automation. Second, the informal model should be able to be mapped onto a formal representation technique in a system, which will then enable automation by running a query through this representation. This paper discusses all the critical aspects in the form of design decomposition features and narrows down informal modelling approaches based on the criteria formulated for design automation from the literature. Formal representation techniques are discussed with the help of an example to ensure correct mapping of the informal model to a formal representation. The next steps of this research would be recommendation of the formal representation techniques of the informal model based on the discussion in this paper and for future work that will enable process automation.
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