Evaluating the use of virtual reality for maintainability-focused design reviews

Abstract

The Operation and Maintenance (O&M) phase can account for as much as 80% of the overall lifecycle cost of a project. The inputs from O&M practitioners are often not incorporated during the design phase leading to maintainability issues during the O&M phase, which results in significant costs and hinders building performance. Traditionally, design communication with practitioners is conducted using 2D drawings and in some more advanced projects, with Building Information Models (BIMs). Virtual Reality (VR) has the potential to facilitate maintainability-focused design input from O&M practitioners, but this application has not been studied in detail. This paper addresses the gap by examining the usability of VR for providing access-related maintainability inputs. A quasi-experimental approach was adopted to evaluate the difference in access-related inputs provided by sixteen O&M practitioners, once using 2D drawings and BIM and again using VR. We assessed the variation in time for O&M practitioners to provide the inputs and the perceived quality of the inputs using the two design communication methods. We also examined the effect of practitioners' years of experience on providing access-related maintainability inputs using VR. The results suggest that there was no statistically significant difference in the access-related maintainability inputs provided using the two design communication methods, which demonstrates that O&M practitioners could provide similar access-related inputs using VR and traditional means of communication using 2D drawings and 3D models. The results also show that O&M practitioners were able to provide inputs significantly faster using VR. The O&M practitioners also reported that VR facilitated ease of use and high confidence in their inputs. Furthermore, the practitioners' years of experience did not lead to any variation in the access-related inputs provided and the time efficiency of providing the inputs. While the small sample size limits the generalizability of the results, the study acts as a proof of concept on the usability of VR for improving O&M practitioner input on the maintainability of building designs.

Percepción de las empresas de Dirección Integrada de Proyecto sobre la implantación de Lean IPD en España

“…Sin embargo, este no parece ser un sentimiento muy extendido: «Algunos promotores y empresas del sector están de acuerdo en que el sistema está roto. No obstante, parece que no hay un incentivo suficiente para compartir aspectos esenciales de sus negocios y de sus procesos financieros porque los beneficios de IPD no son obvios» (Bhonde et al, 2020).…”

Enabling Technologies and Recent Advancements of Smart Facility Management

“…Augmented and Virtual reality (AR/VR) represents examples of these promising techniques. With their ability to present and interact with virtual information, AR and VR offer facilities professionals many advantages and possibilities, including the chance to participate in design decisions before the start of the construction, thus reducing 20% of the maintenance problems that result from decisions made during the design [20]. Moreover, AR and VR can be used to improve maintenance efficiency through training and work scenario simulations [21].…”