Component Change List Prediction for BIM-Based Clash Resolution from a Graph Perspective

Information technologies, such as building information modeling (BIM), significantly improve the clash detection process, but the clash resolution process is still time consuming. Although some studies have devoted attention to this field, they rarely discuss the dependency relations between clashes, which impact clash resolution in practice. This paper proposes to adopt graph theory to capture clash dependency and harnesses the information embedded in BIM models. This provides decision support for clash resolution, specifically focusing on automatically generating a component change list to minimize potential change impacts. This paper maps this situation as a minimum-weight vertex cover problem and discusses how to use component attributes to calculate vertex weights for approximating component change impact. Then, a branch and bound algorithm is designed to search for an optimal component change list. The paper tests the framework in two construction projects, and the results show the efficiency of the designed algorithm. The validity of the proposed method is further supported by comparing the list generated by the proposed method with actual project solutions.