During the SATBIM MC IF fellowship, the following major tasks have been accomplished: i) establishing the concept for integrated design and assessment; ii) development of the software framework and iii) verification of the developed framework using real industry project data. The research conducted within this period has been disseminated though three high-profile journal publications (published in Advances in Engineering Software, Journal of Computing in Civil Engineering and Geomechanics and Tunnelling), four peer-reviewed publications in proceedings of international conferences and upcoming workshop (EUROTUN 2014, PARENG 2017, EG-ICE 2017, EG-ICE 2018) and one book chapter (Taschenbuch für den Tunnelbau 2019). SATBIM is in the process of being established as open source software, with source code, a detailed technical report, and tutorials available through Github at
https://github.com/satbim/(s’ouvre dans une nouvelle fenêtre). Finally, permanent contact is maintained with partners from research and industry (RUB - SFB 837 and Maidl Tunnelconsultants and), which resulted in joint publications and has opened perspectives for new collaborations as well as extension of existing collaborations. Overall, the progress achieved during this action mainly fulfils and in some fields exceeds the planned work proposed in Annex I. The main achievements of the project are briefly summarised in the following.
1. Summary of outcomes of the SATBIM fellowship
Unified platform for multi-level information and numerical modelling, and visualisation (D1.1. & D1.2.): Fully parametric multi-level Tunnelling Information Model (TIM) is developed using the industry-standard tools. The resulting TIM serves as a basis for the generation of numerical models for soil-structure interaction in tunnelling using the developed “SatBimModeller” and simulation software KRATOS. The SATBIM software is organized in a way to provide high flexibility not only for further extensions, but also for adaptation to any changes in the simulation software.
Assessment of structural response in BIM – Visualisation (D2): The simulation results are visualised within the TIM to enable comprehensive, intuitive and quick understanding of effects of design actions on the stability and safety of the tunnel and the existing environment, as illustrated in Fig. 2.
Real-time design assessment and optimisation (D2 & D3): SATBIM allows for conducting real-time analyses by substituting numerical simulations with computationally cheap meta models to enable on-demand numerical predictions and optimisations. The design process and optimisation is integrated within a state-of-the-art design environment, avoiding the pitfalls of traditional pre and post-processing workflows (see Fig. 2.).
Verification of the SATBIM framework based on a real industry project (D4): Based on design reports and design drawings of the underground, tunnel structure, tunnel boring machine and Auto CAD City model, the multi-level information model for the tunnel is generated in the SATBIM framework; and the existing design is assessed with numerical models.
[Figure 2. Real-time assessment of the design alternatives in terms of soil-structure interaction effects on multi-user multi-touch video wall.]
2. Progress beyond proposed research
Parallelisation of the simulation model: In collaboration with the Institute for Structural Mechanics (ISM) at the Ruhr University Bochum in Germany, parallelization strategies on shared and distributed memory systems have been developed and applied to the finite element simulation model
Integration of IGA into the SATBIM framework: In collaboration ISM, we are currently working on integration of isogeometric analysis for modelling of tunnel linings to make direct use of the B-rep geometries generated in the BIM for definition of numerical models.
