Abstract-Human behavior needs to be considered when designing buildings and infrastructures. In recent decades, building information modeling (BIM) has been increasingly adopted as a computer aided design methodology for architectural design, engineering design simulation and evaluation, and 4D constructability analysis. BIM models can be used to conduct engineering analyses while human behavior simulation using BIM models is still lacking. The research objective of this study is to connect BIM software with the human behavior simulation engine utilizing object-oriented computer programming language. A behavioral modeling engine is also developed in this study upon the agent-based modeling (ABM) approach. Finally, this paper presents a demonstrative example of four scenarios and the result proves that implementation of the occupant simulation help improve building design.
Index Terms-Agent based modeling, building information modeling, human behavior, building design, emergency simulation
I. INTRODUCTIONConsideration of human factors in building design includes behavior in cases of emergencies (e.g. fire and earthquake) and day-to-day operations. Due to the massive casualties and property damage caused by an emergency, most of the previous work in human behavior simulation in buildings centered on emergency situations. Nowadays, engineers have come to realize the importance of human behavior simulation in day-to-day situations since occupants make decisions day by day that influence interior facilities and systems and change the energy utilization. In addition, the building structure and internal design often affect their decision and behavior. This research stream is mainly focused on modeling building occupancy and then analyzing the impact of occupants on the building and vice versa.In the construction industry, building information modeling (BIM) has been extensively utilized as a computer-aided design (CAD) methodology. In addition to creating digital models, BIM can store abundant building information and incorporate third party software programs (e.g. ETABS) for design analyses. The feasibility to integrate human behavior simulation with the BIM technology has been introduced in literature [1], but there is still little effort to establish such an integration. Due to the significance of human behaviors in building design and the lack of integration between human behavior simulations with BIM, Manuscript received February 10, 2013; revised May 9, 2013. The authors are with the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Hong Kong SAR, China (e-mail: cejcheng@ust.hk).this study aims to develop a human behavior simulation engine based on agent-based technique and a reliable link between this engine and BIM software.
II. BACKGROUND
A. Building Information ModelingBuilding information modeling is defined by the United States National BIM Standard as "a digital representation of physical and functional characteristics of a facility" [2]. "A BIM model is...