Social BIMCloud - A Distributed Cloud-based BIM Framework for Object-based Lifecycle Information Exchange and Supply Chain Integration

Due to its fragmented and multi-domain architecture, the AEC (architecture, engineering, and construction) industry faces the issues of data transfer efficiency and data consistency while exchanging large BIM files. In this thesis, a cloud based BIM framework, called Social BIMCloud is presented for building design and management of lifecycle activities. Social BIMCloud addresses the issue of data transfer efficiency by reducing the size of the BIM files being exchanged through dynamic splitting and merging mechanisms. Data consistency is also improved by hosting a common integrated BIM model which is updated partially instead of generating a new BIM file for every new change, which usually leads to data duplicity. This collaborative framework, Social BIMCloud is termed "Social" in particular, as it captures and manages the formal and informal social interactions that take place in a construction project. The methodology for capturing and managing social interactions through Social BIMCloud has been demonstrated in this thesis by integrating it with popular BIM software, Autodesk Revit.;Social BIMCloud provides the scope for extending and integrating it with external planning and analysis applications in a plug-and-play manner for lifecycle integration. In this thesis, methodologies and demonstrations have been presented for extending and integrating Social BIMCloud for -- (1) construction supply chain (CSC), (2) green building design, and (3) construction site layout planning. For CSC integration, an ontology based web service framework is presented. Ontologies incorporate data semantics in the information exchanged. Therefore, the information exchanging parties, i.e. software applications in the case of automatic information exchange, comprehend the meaning of the information and therefore facilitate smooth flow of heterogeneous information. Two example ontologies have developed by studying the CSC and those ontologies have been used to enrich the data model of Social BIMCloud for accommodating and supporting CSC integration. Popular energy simulation software were studied to design and extend the schema of Social BIMCloud in order to integrate it with standard simulation and analysis engines through a web service based framework. Social BIMCloud has also been extended for managing construction logistics by integrating it with a construction site layout planning (CSLP) engine. For this integration, the data model of Social BIMCloud has been extended for construction schedule information like activity start date, end date and the relation of each activity with one or more building elements and the vice versa. Finally this thesis discusses the scope of future extensions and improvements on Social BIMCloud for facilitating smooth flow of information in the construction industry.