BIM to BEM for Building Energy Analysis: A Review of Interoperability Strategies

Abstract

The main objective of this review is to summarize and thoroughly investigate the most popular and promising BIM (building information modeling) and BEM (building energy modeling) interoperability strategies employed in the last years (2004–2023), highlighting pros and cons of each strategy and trying to understand the reason for the still limited BIM–BEM interaction. This review summarizes the main countries, areas, modeling tools, and interoperability strategies, with the advantages and disadvantages of each one. The methodology is based on the PRISMA protocol, and two databases were used for the research: Scopus and Google Scholar. A total of 532 publications were selected and 100 papers were deemed useful for the purposes of this review. The main findings led to the identification of four different interoperability strategies between BIM and BEM tools: (1) real-time connection; (2) standardized exchange formats and middleware corrective tools; (3) adherence to model view definitions; (4) proprietary tool-chain. These strategies were found to be characterized by different degrees of complexity, time required for information exchange, proprietary or opensource software, ability to reduce information loss, and detailed energy results. The results of this study showed that, to date, there is no better interoperability strategy, and that further efforts are needed so that interoperability between the two tools can become commonplace.

Sustainable Built Environments: Building Information Modeling, Biomaterials, and Regenerative Practices in Mexico

“…In addition to the configurations shown, it is necessary to establish parameters for both the areas of the model to be analyzed and the energy spaces to be simulated. The configuration is made up of different parameters to configure and consider for the simulation in Energy Plus of Revit as contemplated [47][48][49][50]; however, for the present study, it is only developed in Revit, and the SketchUp software version 2022 was not used to obtain the models and predictive quantifications of the energy models in this section. Among the configurations developed, the analytical spaces configured for the model stand out, establishing interior and exterior air flows according to the nearest meteorological station set in L/(s•m 2 ).…”

“…However, the software has many preconfigured materials and construction systems used in BIM modeling. The versatility of the BIM tool has vast benefits, as shown by [47,48] in his study. However, in the case of biomaterials, the preconfigured information is reduced, resulting in a personalized edition for the present study.…”

Hybrid Assessment for Strengthening Supply Chain Resilience and Sustainability: A Comprehensive Analysis

“…SSCM can adeptly and efficiently handle the interconnected financial, environmental, and social aspects within global SCs [52]. To achieve sustainable supply chains, stakeholders must address economic, environmental, and social necessities [53,54]. The philosophy is that completion would be preserved by sustaining customer demands and the associated standards.…”

A Method to Compute Shadow Geometry in Open Building Information Modeling Authoring Tools: Automation of Solar Regulation Checking

“…Due to their specificity, manual extraction prevails for the first two. Concerning BEM, automating the generation of the BEM model from BIM data is an active topic of research [19] but remains challenging due to the complexity of both data models. Even if automation works, the benefits of BIM workflow could be limited by any data flow without automatic feedback from BEM to BIM.…”