Periodic Reporting for period 1 - CBIM (Cloud-based Building Information Modelling)
Período documentado: 2020-03-01 hasta 2022-02-28
Building Information Modelling (BIM) enables stakeholders across the built environment sector to create digital versions of buildings, bridges, etc., which are commonly called 'digital twins'. When placed on the cloud, the digital twins serve as a resilient and integrated repository of all asset data, and these are key enablers of data analytics, participatory sensing, and smart infrastructure. The potential benefits have attracted interest from a wide array of end-users whose interests span from early design phases to operation and asset management, and from roads and bridges to industrial off-shore facilities.
However, the full potential of BIM is currently unexploited. There is a severe lack of trained scientific personnel capable of understanding the value of BIM and creating the links between digital twins and possible applications.
The ambition of CBIM is to educate and train researchers who can develop a set of novel and disruptive BIM technologies that will automate the generation and enrichment of digital twins, improve the management, security and resilience of BIM-enabled processes, and boost the industrial uptake of BIM across sectors and disciplines. This new generation of researchers can play a key role in widespread implementation of BIM products and processes dedicated to digitising our built infrastructure and managing our assets better to yield massive gains in sustainability, productivity and safety.
CBIM’s objectives fall into three categories: Research, Training and Dissemination.
1. Research: To develop a joint research programme towards delivering the vision of the 'Digital Twin' for representing buildings and infrastructure; to overcome current knowledge and innovation gaps in the areas of generating, enriching, and updating Digital Twins of existing assets; to set basic precedents of how to best exploit BIM-based digital twins for process modelling and simulation.
2. Training: To offer original and advanced training to a group of Early-Stage Researchers in all the multi-disciplinary aspects of CBIM
3. Dissemination: To demonstrate the societal benefits, and to bring industrial and societal acceptance of the capabilities of CBIM in infrastructure to optimize asset performance, to provide for the efficient use of resources, and to advance our understanding of complex problems in many engineering disciplines; Use dissemination to specialists and outreach to the wider public to develop a new set of CBIM generation, enrichment and application tools
However, the full potential of BIM is currently unexploited. There is a severe lack of trained scientific personnel capable of understanding the value of BIM and creating the links between digital twins and possible applications.
The ambition of CBIM is to educate and train researchers who can develop a set of novel and disruptive BIM technologies that will automate the generation and enrichment of digital twins, improve the management, security and resilience of BIM-enabled processes, and boost the industrial uptake of BIM across sectors and disciplines. This new generation of researchers can play a key role in widespread implementation of BIM products and processes dedicated to digitising our built infrastructure and managing our assets better to yield massive gains in sustainability, productivity and safety.
CBIM’s objectives fall into three categories: Research, Training and Dissemination.
1. Research: To develop a joint research programme towards delivering the vision of the 'Digital Twin' for representing buildings and infrastructure; to overcome current knowledge and innovation gaps in the areas of generating, enriching, and updating Digital Twins of existing assets; to set basic precedents of how to best exploit BIM-based digital twins for process modelling and simulation.
2. Training: To offer original and advanced training to a group of Early-Stage Researchers in all the multi-disciplinary aspects of CBIM
3. Dissemination: To demonstrate the societal benefits, and to bring industrial and societal acceptance of the capabilities of CBIM in infrastructure to optimize asset performance, to provide for the efficient use of resources, and to advance our understanding of complex problems in many engineering disciplines; Use dissemination to specialists and outreach to the wider public to develop a new set of CBIM generation, enrichment and application tools
Recruitment: The CBIM network recruited 14 Early-Stage Researchers (ESRs) from some 145 applicants. Each ESR is undertaking curiosity-driven research on a specific PhD-level topic. Each ESR has defined and defended a PhD-level topic and developed a Personal Career Development Plan. Knowledge exchange and interaction are enhanced through a series of secondments that are well under way.
Training: Complementary to training-by-research, the CBIM network developed and implemented a set of common training activities delivered by the network of beneficiaries and partners. During the first half of the project the consortium organised four PhD School training events:
1) BIM fundamentals and Research Methods (Univ. of Cambridge, virtual)
2) BIM-based Sensing and Data Collection (CARTIF, virtual)
3) Linked Data, Data Integration and Collaborative Working (TRIMBLE, held in Luxembourg and virtually)
4) Advanced BIM Applications and Digital Twin Technology (Technion, Haifa and virtual)
These training events served to gradually develop the knowledge and skills of ESRs, in the area of Cloud-based BIM and related disciplines. The events formed a coherent and sequential training programme in CBIM technologies, providing a balanced set of technical domain-specific knowledge and transferable skills. All training events were open to non-CBIM Early-Stage Researchers. On average, some 10-15 non-CBIM ESRs from across Europe and further afield accessed this high-quality training.
In addition, CBIM ESRs participated in a semester long module on Product Modelling of Civil Engineered Systems offered by TU Berlin.
Dissemination and Outreach: CBIM has established a strong media presence and has engaged actively with the construction computing research community across Europe. Media channels include LinkedIn, Twitter and Youtube, and collectively these reach hundreds of members, subscribers and followers. CBIM researchers have presented papers at four different construction computing conferences. A significant aspect of outreach has been the participation of some 65 external students in the CBIM training events.
Training: Complementary to training-by-research, the CBIM network developed and implemented a set of common training activities delivered by the network of beneficiaries and partners. During the first half of the project the consortium organised four PhD School training events:
1) BIM fundamentals and Research Methods (Univ. of Cambridge, virtual)
2) BIM-based Sensing and Data Collection (CARTIF, virtual)
3) Linked Data, Data Integration and Collaborative Working (TRIMBLE, held in Luxembourg and virtually)
4) Advanced BIM Applications and Digital Twin Technology (Technion, Haifa and virtual)
These training events served to gradually develop the knowledge and skills of ESRs, in the area of Cloud-based BIM and related disciplines. The events formed a coherent and sequential training programme in CBIM technologies, providing a balanced set of technical domain-specific knowledge and transferable skills. All training events were open to non-CBIM Early-Stage Researchers. On average, some 10-15 non-CBIM ESRs from across Europe and further afield accessed this high-quality training.
In addition, CBIM ESRs participated in a semester long module on Product Modelling of Civil Engineered Systems offered by TU Berlin.
Dissemination and Outreach: CBIM has established a strong media presence and has engaged actively with the construction computing research community across Europe. Media channels include LinkedIn, Twitter and Youtube, and collectively these reach hundreds of members, subscribers and followers. CBIM researchers have presented papers at four different construction computing conferences. A significant aspect of outreach has been the participation of some 65 external students in the CBIM training events.
As a team, the 14 CBIM ESRs have succeeded in sharpening their collective vision for the 'Digital Twin' for representing buildings and infrastructure. Although they each work in specific niche areas, their work has coalesced around a set of principles and technologies for achieving this vision:
- The future information architecture is a set of federated information models of buildings stored in the cloud,
- The information models must be comprehensively and intelligently coordinated to maintain internal integrity, presenting the information to users through interfaces tailored for their professional domains,
- The storage mechanisms employ semantic web technologies with data schema defined by publicly available ontologies,
- Appropriate business models and workflow processes must be developed in tandem with development of cloud BIM technologies.
The researchers have further defined, tested and explained their ideas in the set of publications produced so far.
The research has not yet progressed to the stages of demonstrating the precedents contemplated in objective 1(c), which calls for illustrating, through implementation of practical examples, how to best exploit BIM-based digital twins for process modelling and simulation. However, we see no practical barriers to the ESRs developing a convincing set of such demonstrators as they implement the data schema and the software.
Regarding their individual research objectives, the majority of CBIM ESRs have at this point reached a significant milestone, successfully defending their research in their respective candidacy examinations. They have: (i) defined their topics clearly and in detail; (ii) conducted comprehensive literature reviews to generate clear problem statements, problem significance, the start of the art in practice and research, and explicit knowledge gaps, objectives and research questions; (iii) defined their proposed solutions and (iv) conducted initial experiments. They have significantly de-risked their projects via the substantial depth, structure, and clarity they have achieved.
Many have published the initial results in high quality conferences and journals.
Examples of the short-term benefits that the project is already addressing include: new collaborations, sharing new techniques, and infrastructures between academic research groups and industrial partners within the consortium; promotion of awareness of BIM to a wider public through outreach activities in; stimulation of interest in this research field to other scientists and ESRs working in related architecture, engineering and construction fields in Europe through invitations to CBIM training events. Thus far, through its research, training and dissemination activities, CBIM is on track to deliver impact in all these areas.
- The future information architecture is a set of federated information models of buildings stored in the cloud,
- The information models must be comprehensively and intelligently coordinated to maintain internal integrity, presenting the information to users through interfaces tailored for their professional domains,
- The storage mechanisms employ semantic web technologies with data schema defined by publicly available ontologies,
- Appropriate business models and workflow processes must be developed in tandem with development of cloud BIM technologies.
The researchers have further defined, tested and explained their ideas in the set of publications produced so far.
The research has not yet progressed to the stages of demonstrating the precedents contemplated in objective 1(c), which calls for illustrating, through implementation of practical examples, how to best exploit BIM-based digital twins for process modelling and simulation. However, we see no practical barriers to the ESRs developing a convincing set of such demonstrators as they implement the data schema and the software.
Regarding their individual research objectives, the majority of CBIM ESRs have at this point reached a significant milestone, successfully defending their research in their respective candidacy examinations. They have: (i) defined their topics clearly and in detail; (ii) conducted comprehensive literature reviews to generate clear problem statements, problem significance, the start of the art in practice and research, and explicit knowledge gaps, objectives and research questions; (iii) defined their proposed solutions and (iv) conducted initial experiments. They have significantly de-risked their projects via the substantial depth, structure, and clarity they have achieved.
Many have published the initial results in high quality conferences and journals.
Examples of the short-term benefits that the project is already addressing include: new collaborations, sharing new techniques, and infrastructures between academic research groups and industrial partners within the consortium; promotion of awareness of BIM to a wider public through outreach activities in; stimulation of interest in this research field to other scientists and ESRs working in related architecture, engineering and construction fields in Europe through invitations to CBIM training events. Thus far, through its research, training and dissemination activities, CBIM is on track to deliver impact in all these areas.