Virtual prototyping for constructability review

Project design is facing challenges in the Architectural, Engineering, and Construction (AEC) industry. Due to fragmented design and construction process, problems such as change orders and rework occur during construction, resulting in poor schedule and cost performance. The concept of "constructability" has been raised to optimize construction knowledge and experience in the design phase to improve project performance. Previous research has investigated the structure of constructability knowledge and indicated the appropriate level of detail of constructability input should be reviewed at the proper phase of facility design. A few tools have been developed for constructability assessment and analysis, such as knowledge-based systems and quantitative modeling. However, the limitations of such tools have confined the application for constructability review. With the implementation of virtual prototyping in the AEC industry, the current work presents a case study evaluating the applicability of Building Information Modeling (BIM) to constructability review. The current work uses a case study project to collect the different levels of constructability knowledge applied during the project design and analyses the information embedded into BIM model to determine if the appropriate level of detail and information were available to automate portions of the analysis. The procedure of capturing the design-related constructability issues with BIM contents is investigated. Potential benefits of using BIM to facilitate constructability review and decision-making processes prior to construction as a shared knowledge resource are discussed. Implication for practice and future research opportunities are indicated.