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DIGITAL TWINS

Application In The Different

Technical Disciplines

CLOUD AND AUTODESK FORGE

Analysis And Visualization Of Data

In Digital Twins Technology

Free electronic

publication

Special Issue,

January 2021

Publisher:

TeamCAD

10v/4 Mihajla Pupina Blvd.

Suite 423

Belgrade,

Serbia

www.TeamCAD.rs

www.BIM-DT.com

Project Director:

Slobodan Lazić

Authors:

Predrag Jovanović

Anđelija Sandić

Vladimir Guteša

Editor and Coordinator:

Marko Kozlica

Cover Page and Design:

Marko Kozlica

Prepress:

Jack Russell

Advertising:

Jack Russell

003

ADVANCED BIM DATA

MANAGEMENT

010

BIM WORKFLOW

AUTOMATION

016

SMALL BUT BIG SAVINGS IN THE

BIM WORKFLOW - EXAMPLES

021

WHAT ARE THE

DIGITAL TWINS?

028

DIGITAL TWINS IN THE

CONSTRUCTION INDUSTRY

035

TEAMCAD

BIM CONSULTANTS

038

DATA MANAGEMENT IN THE

DIGITAL TWIN OF THE BUILDING

068

DATA IS THE NEW GOLD, DOES

THE SAME APPLY TO DATA IN DT?

075

SENSORS AND IOT IN THE

DIGITAL TWIN TECHNOLOGY

082

STORING AND AVAILABILITY OF

DIGITAL TWIN MODEL DATA

089

ANALYSIS AND VISUALIZATION

OF DATA IN DT TECHNOLOGY

096

A DIGITAL TWIN

OF A SHOPPING MALL

098

BIM REAL ESTATE APP FOR

SIMPLIFIED SALES & RENTALS

045

WHAT IS BEP AND WHAT

SHOULD IT CONTAIN?

052

WHAT IS LOD - THE LEVEL OF

DETAIL OF BIM ELEMENTS?

057

THE BIM MODELING

CONVENTION

062

THE BIG SAVINGS BEP BRINGS

TO THE INVESTOR

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Advanced BIM Data

Management

AUTHOR: Predrag Jovanović, BIM Consultant

BACK TO CONTENTS

WITH THIS TEXT, I WOULD

LIKE TO ANNOUNCE A

SERIES OF ARTICLES

WHERE I AM GOING TO

WRITE ABOUT ADVANCED

BIM DATA MANAGEMENT.

AS BIM IS INCREASINGLY

BEING SET AS THE

DEFAULT STANDARD FOR

PROJECT DESIGN, THE

IMPLEMENTATION OF THE

BIM WORKFLOW IS

BECOMING ESSENTIAL FOR

BOTH DESIGNERS AND

INVESTORS, AND IT ALSO

INCREASES FOR

CONTRACTORS.

How one sees BIM could be very

differently interpreted depending

on the viewing perspective.

Because of that, in the following

text, I process different

interpretations of the BIM

workflow depending on who is

the viewer – designer, investor, or

contractor. In the following

articles, I am going to carry over

my thoughts, conclusions, and

suggestions, based on more than

fifteen years of experience in

implementing BIM workflow as

BIM coordinator and BIM

manager in international design

and consulting company.

BIM Implementation

From The Designer

Perspective

For the designer, BIM is usually

the workflow that helps him draw

a 3D model of its discipline, and

which is going to be coordinated

with other disciplines in the

project. Often, but not as a rule,

the BIM model within a particular

discipline is also used for

different calculations. Thus, for

example, the structure BIM

model is often used for structure

analysis, the MEP model is

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commonly used for various

calculations such as heating and

cooling installations calculations,

while the architectural model is

most often used to design

architecture and check the

coordination of an architectural

project with other disciplines in

the project.

Besides BIM data generated for

the designing needs of the

particular discipline in the

project, the BIM model is often

used for the quantities of the

materials. The quantities of the

materials are not the same as the

bill of quantities, and those two

terms we should not be

confused.

The bill of quantities is the

contractor's obligation, and the

designer could do the quantities

of the materials. It could be

beneficial for the investor in

deciding for the most economical

design solution in case the client

has to choose over a few design

solutions in one project.

We could say, from the designer’s

perspective, that above

mentioned BIM activities imply as

sufficient contribution in

generating BIM data.

Also, we could say that every

discipline in the design process

generates a lot of BIM data,

which could be used for the

design process optimization

within a particular discipline.

What is the problem in the above

mentioned is that BIM workflow

often wrongly represents

generating data and parameters

which designer needs for its

discipline, with no ambition to

share generated data with other

disciplines and project

participants in an arranged way.

In that way, we often have a

problem with too much data and

too many parameters in a BIM

model of a specific discipline,

which most commonly stay in

that particular model of the

discipline. As such, they do not

worth anything for other

disciplines in a project.

The easiest way to illustrate the

BIM model without well-planned

and arranged data exchange

between disciplines is with the

image below, which I am going to

explain with comparing the worth

of load which truck transports.

The truckload could be compared

with data that stay „captured“ in a

BIM model of a specific discipline.

Unfortunately, in the vast

majority of projects, the data

generated in a BIM model of a

certain discipline stays useful

only for that discipline in a

project. The data arranged similar

to the truckload, loses worth

significantly, and substantially

limiting full BIM potential,

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keeping in mind that almost

every project is multidisciplinary

in the investor’s perspective.

Basically, without data exchange

between different disciplines in a

project, we cannot even say that

BIM workflow is applied in full

capacity in a particular project.

It should not be mistaken that

only sharing parameters and data

is enough by itself, because it

may seem very chaotic, like an

example on the following image:

Exchanging the BIM data of a

particular discipline with other

disciplines in a project makes

sense only if the data and

parameters are shared with other

disciplines in an optimized and

arranged way.

I often point out in my

presentations and speeches in

different professional

conferences that I in BIM is the

most crucial thing and that

information in a model of a

certain discipline worth if and

only if it is shared in a right

moment of the design process.

To sum up, the essential

prerequisite for the successful

BIM workflow implementation in

the design process of the

multidisciplinary project are:

• Establishing the efficient BIM

workflow inside a specific

discipline and efficient data flow

within different disciplines in a

multidisciplinary design process;

• Excellent communication in the

whole project team;

• Efficient and arranged data

sharing at the right moment of

the design process.

It is possible to achieve the

prerequisite mentioned above

only with the BIM workflow

automatization, both inside the

discipline in a project and data

sharing in a multidisciplinary

design process. I am going to

write about the BIM workflow

automatization in the few

following articles.

BIM Implementation

From The Investor

Perspective

I often hear opinions that it is

effortless to cover this topic

because each of us finds

ourselves in the role of investor

several dozen times every day.

By definition, when you buy

goods, it is in the interest of the

buyer of the goods or services to

obtain the highest quality

product and to pay as little

money as possible for that

product. There is, however, a

problem with placing investors in

the project in an appropriate

context.

If the investor is not BIM

educated, he will very often be

satisfied with a project printed in

a paper, most commonly A0 and

with the different calculations,

that he would pass to the

contractor to build a building

which is a subject of the

investment.

The not BIM educated investor is

going to be satisfied by delivering

a project in paper format and by

building construction.

The problem is that he will not

even be aware that such a project

format would cost him much

more than a BIM project, and

there are many reasons for this. I

am going to state some of the

reasons:

• Inadequate coordination

between disciplines in a project,

which means more construction

site issues, more construction

delays and very often need for

“additional works” which makes

construction financially difficult

for the investor;

• Impossibility of building’s

lifecycle simulation;

• Impossibility of calculating

facility operational use expenses;

• Impossibility of giving or selling

the digital model to the facility

manager, who is going to use that

building for maintenance

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planning and continual updates

of the completed state of the

building.

All of the lacks mentioned above,

and many more others that I did

not count, the BIM educated

investor would avoid. He would

be aware of the BIM workflow

advantages, and he would

actively participate in BIM

workflow and engage BIM

manager, who would work in its

interest.

I am going to process the topic of

"digital twin" in one of the

following articles individually and

explain in detail the optimal way

of creating and handing over a

digital twin to newly designed

objects. I am also going to explain

the need and value of digitizing

existing buildings, all for that

more efficient management of

the building's operating costs and

the cost of the life cycle of the

building mentioned above.

BIM Implementation

From The Contractor

Perspective

Several drawings of elaboration

of one detail cost the cost of

paper and toner for the printer or

plotter, while on the construction

site, every mistake is very costly,

as it often requires additional

work and additional costs when

constructing the building.

With the document „BIM

Execution Plan“ or abbreviated

BEP, BIM educated investor

would formulate BIM

requirements, both for designers

of different disciplines and for the

contractor, who would hand over

the digital models to the investor

after design and construction

phases. These models would

then be handed over or sold by

the BIM educated investor to the

facility manager to manage the

operational maintenance costs of

the facility as efficiently as

possible.

This type of design process and

the construction completion

results in ownership of a digital

model of the completed state of

the building, which can often be

classified as having a "digital

twin" of a building that is under

construction or of the already

constructed building.

When, as a very young engineer, I

started working at a small

contracting firm, the boss often

criticized my laziness. It was

because before undertaking a

specific operation on a

construction site, I did not draw

that detail and elaborate it in CAD

in many ways and more variants.

I have to be honest that at first, I

didn't even realize the need for it.

I remember his definition vividly

that a drawing serves to make

errors several times in suggesting

a solution until the best option is

reached. His conclusion, which I

now completely agree with, was

that a mistake in a drawing is

much cheaper than a mistake in

the construction site itself.

The story, which I started the

section on BIM implementation

from the contractor’s perspective,

was intended to explain, through

a straightforward example, the

meaning of the most ordinary

drawing of details and the

construction of that part of the

construction site.

I hope you noticed in the

introductory section about BIM

implementation from a

contractor perspective that I

indicated that I elaborated on the

detail in CAD and try to imagine

how much savings can be made

by applying a BIM workflow over

a traditional contracting project

made in two dimensions and

paper format.

If we try to make a comparison

between a CAD project drawing

and a fully coordinated

multidisciplinary BIM model, it

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would be easiest to make such a

comparison by racing motors

through dense forest and racing

along a well-maintained Formula

1 race track, where motor racing

along track with Formula 1 race

track quality is, of course, the

construction of a building using

the BIM workflow.

Here are just a few of the key

benefits that the BIM workflow

provides, without going into a

detailed explanation of each

item, which I am going to do in

one of the following articles:

• 4D – digital simulation of the

construction and simulation of

the construction phases;

• 5D - digital simulation of

building construction, which also

takes into account the cost of

each element in the building. It

allows us not only the making of

the bill of quantities before the

start of construction works but

also an expense summary at any

time during the construction. If

the contractor has more than one

active construction site, in simple

terms, it allows the 5D contractor

to manage the money and supply

of materials in a simulated digital

process of building multiple

facilities, which would

significantly benefit the

contractor during the

construction of the facilities;

• 6D - facility life cycle cost

calculation or facility

maintenance cost management.

By itself, developing a 6D model

is not necessarily the obligation

of the contractor.

Still, it largely depends on the

desire of the investor to whom

they would entrust the creation

of the 6D model.

I must mention that all of the

benefits mentioned above of

implementing a BIM workflow

when building a facility cannot be

implemented without a

previously fully coordinated

multidisciplinary BIM model.

This leads to the logical

conclusion that there should be

an arranged relationship and

trust between the designer and

the contractor in the data they

both generate during the design

process.

Based on professional

experience, I can say that in

many cases, the role of defining

BIM requirements and managing

the generated BIM data between

the designer and the contractor

is taken over by the investor.

The logical reason is that he

finances the design of the project

and the construction of the

building, and therefore an

arranged and efficient data

management during the design

process brings significant savings

to the investor.

In the case where the investor is

also the end-user of the

constructed facility, the arranged

and efficient management of all

the generated data by the

designer and contractor seems

to be the only logical solution

that brings significant savings to

the investor, and in this case to

the owner of the facility during

the design process, construction

process and in managing the

operational cost of maintaining

the facility.

Having defined, and thus

rounded up, data management

and relationships between the

designer, contractor, and

investor in the domain of the BIM

workflow and advanced BIM data

management, I would like to

finish this first article and

announce more of them in which

I am going to go deeper and in

more detail in the topics I started

with this one. In the following

articles, I am going to cover the

topic of "BIM Project Process

Automation".

There, I am going to discuss

efficient data generation

workflows, the role of Dynamo /

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Python scripts in more efficient

data exchange within the BIM

model of a specific discipline, and

optimized data exchange

between BIM discipline models in

a multidisciplinary project

environment.

If you have any questions,

comments or want to know more

about the topic I covered in

Advanced BIM Data

Management, please contact

TeamCAD, who would be happy

to provide you with additional

information.

Until next time,

Predrag Jovanović

BIM manager Arup

Predrag Jovanović – short biography

Predrag Jovanović is a civil engineer with over sixteen years of

experience in BIM technologies and over 2,500,000 square

meters of BIM modeling and multidisciplinary coordination.

Predrag has much experience in BIM coordination and BIM

management, which he gained while working at the

international company "Arup" in the position of "Project BIM

Coordinator".

In addition to designing, managing data, and BIM

coordination on multidisciplinary projects, Predrag has been

organizing and managing various BIM workshops for more

than ten years, in which knowledge and experience in

applying the latest BIM technologies and problems in

implementing them are exchanged between employees. He is

characterized by great enthusiasm for ongoing professional

development, improving, and learning of the latest BIM

technologies. He focuses on finding new and better ways to

work, more efficient automation, and improving the BIM

workflow.

forum.TeamCAD.rs

Predrag is a BIM champion for the Arup Germany group. In

addition to designing and BIM coordination, Predrag currently

organizes and manages Skype Dynamo / Python workshops

for the European region and BIM multidisciplinary workshops

for Arup Germany. He has extensive experience in Revit

Structure, Revit Architecture, Navisworks, Solibri, Reizto, Revit

/ Sofistik / GSA interoperability, data management (Dynamo,

Revit / Excel link). He also has extensive experience in various

project environments such as BIM 360, Aconex, BIMcloud, etc.

BIM | DIGITAL TWINS | BIG DATA |

VR | AR | 360 | RENDERING

008 TeamCAD BIM

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BIM Workflow

Automation


BACK TO CONTENTS

WE WILL CONTINUE TO

COVER INTERESTING

TOPICS RELATED TO THE

BIM WORKFLOW.

AS ANNOUNCED IN MY

PREVIOUS ARTICLE,

“ADVANCED BIM DATA

MANAGEMENT“, I WILL BE

COVERING THE

AUTOMATION OF BIM

WORKFLOW IN THIS

ARTICLE.

IT IS LOGICAL THAT,

BEFORE WE GO DEEPER

INTO THE ANALYSIS OF

THE BIM WORKFLOW

AUTOMATION, WE FIRST

DEFINE WHAT BIM MEANS

PRECISELY AND WHAT THE

TERM AUTOMATION

MEANS, AND THEN

CONSIDER LATER WHAT

WE REALLY WANT TO

AUTOMATE.

In my opinion, the best definition

of the BIM workflow is the one

saying: “BIM workflow is a

methodology that relies on an

intelligent, data-rich 3D model, as

a basis for designing, simulating

and collaborating between

designer, contractor, and investor

through the various phases of

project process “.

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Automation can be defined as

“product making technique,

process or system that works

automatically “or as “creating and

implementing technology and

workflow that oversees or

controls the production of

products and services and their

delivery “(definition is translated

from “International Society for

Automation “– ISA).

After defining what a BIM

workflow is and what automation

is, we are facing an issue of

defining the relation between

BIM workflow and automation.

The questions such as – is not the

BIM workflow itself a design

process automation? Is

automation a tool for improving

BIM workflow? How can process

automation in the BIM workflow

itself add value to the BIM

workflow and bring savings to

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project participants? are

imposed.

If you have read the questions

carefully and then thought

through them, you will admit that

it is not so easy to give a short

and simple answer to any of the

questions asked. Therefore, I am

going to elaborate on each of the

questions raised below and

provide a detailed answer to each

one.

Is the BIM Workflow

Itself A Design

Process

Automation?

If you go back to the introductory

section of this article and read

the BIM workflow definition, I

think you could agree with me

that the BIM workflow does not

mean automation of the project

process by itself.

We can say that BIM automates

the project process only partially.

Still, we cannot consider it as a

tool for the full automation of

generating and exchanging data

in the BIM workflow itself. Here is

an explanation for such a claim:

We already know that every BIM

model of discipline, within the

BIM multidisciplinary project,

generates a large amount of data

during the project process.

To give a more precise answer to

the question - is the BIM

workflow itself a design process

automation, in my opinion, it is

necessary to roughly classify the

generated data in the BIM model

of discipline into data related to

the BIM model geometry, data

related for analytics and different

calculations in the BIM discipline

model and the data generated to

exchange between various

disciplines in the project to

optimize the multidisciplinary

BIM workflow. Then it is

necessary to consider how they

are generated and what they are

worth in terms of automating a

multidisciplinary BIM workflow:

Data related to the geometry of

the BIM discipline model:

• Generated partially automated

during the modeling of the BIM

discipline model;

• Have value mainly related to

multidisciplinary coordination

between BIM models of different

disciplines;

Data related to materials,

analytics, and various calculations

in the BIM discipline model:

• Not automatically generated;

• To be of value within the

discipline, it is generally

necessary to manually add data;

Data generated for the exchange

between different disciplines to

optimize the multidisciplinary

BIM workflow:

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• Generally not automatically

generated;

• To have value in the data

exchange in a multidisciplinary

project process, it is generally

necessary to manually add data.

After analyzing the generated

data during the BIM workflow,

classified according to how they

were generated and their value, it

is clear that there is plenty of

room for improvement of the

BIM workflow.

Is it possible to achieve this by

using different digital tools to

optimize and automate the BIM

workflow?

Is Automation A Tool

For Improving BIM

Workflow?

The answer to this question is

significantly more straightforward

compared to the previous one,

and it does not require an

extensive explanation.

Automation of the BIM workflow

with different digital tools has

become necessary and, as such,

brings many benefits and savings

to all participants in the project.

During the BIM workflow,

considerable savings are

achieved through the use of

various digital tools that

automate non-standard

parametric modeling, generation

of additional BIM data,

processing and manipulation of

generated BIM data, automated

and regulated exchange of BIM

data between different

disciplines.

However, by definition, the

automation of the BIM workflow

benefits the most for the

investor, because by

implementing the automation of

the BIM workflow, the investor

receives much more data for the

same number of hours spent by

the designer and contractor. The

data generated in this way is also

very accurate since manual and

human error are minimized when

the BIM workflow is automated.

To better understand how the


can be helpful, we must first

identify which digital tools are

most commonly used in the BIM

workflow automation process

and the BIM workflow

optimization process in general:

• Dynamo is a digital tool used for

non-standard parametric

modeling, generating additional

and non-standard data for more

efficient calculations within the

BIM discipline model; to process,

manipulate and facilitate the

visualization of the generated

data in the BIM model and the

arranged data exchange between

different disciplines in a

multidisciplinary BIM workflow.

Dynamo is a programming

language and is based on the

principle of visual programming.

The reason that makes it a

favorite digital tool for

automating the BIM project

process is that it is integrated

with the Revit platform and does

not require any additional

procurement costs. It is easy to

learn and does not require

extensive programming

experience. The massive

advantage of including Dynamo

as a digital tool to automate the

BIM project process is that once

written Dynamo script, which

automates a specific logical part

of the BIM workflow, can be used

on an unlimited number of

projects. This, with a

well-designed Dynamo script

applicable to multiple projects,

gives tremendous value and

brings great savings to project

participants.

• Python is an object-oriented

programming language most

commonly used to generate,

transfer, and process data in the

BIM workflow. Python helps as

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effectively as Revit plugin

(PyRevit) or as part of Dynamo

scripts integrated into Dynamo

“Node”.

What characterizes Python is that

it is also a favorite tool in data

science, system automation, API

development, etc. Otherwise, the

first book written to learn

developers on using the Python

programming language is called

“Automate the Boring Stuff.” This

fact simplifies any further

explanation of why Python serves

the domain of BIM workflow

automation, both for operations

in the BIM discipline model and in

a multidisciplinary BIM project

environment.

• The Revit / Excel link is a digital

tool for automating data entry

into the BIM model, as well as for

data processing, different

calculations, and data

visualization of the BIM model

discipline or multidisciplinary BIM

model. The Revit / Excel link can

also be used for an arranged

exchange of data between

different disciplines in a

multidisciplinary BIM workflow.

trying to find the best digital tools

for BIM workflow automation and

optimization.

How Can Process

Automation In The

BIM Workflow Itself

Add Value To The

BIM Workflow And

Bring Savings To

Project Participants?

Process automation in the BIM

workflow itself can bring

significant savings to all

participants, provided that the

regulated data exchange is

predefined in the BIM Execution

Plan (BEP) itself. Discipline

designers and contractors in a

multidisciplinary project then

only have to follow the BIM

requirements, most often set by

the investor.

As I mentioned earlier, besides

the time savings during the BIM

workflow, automation brings

entering specific values into the

BIM model parameters, as well as

in the larger amount of digital

data in the BIM disciplines

generated without the extra

hours spent on manual data

entry.

Before I continue about how

process automation in the BIM

workflow itself can add value to

the project process and bring

savings to project participants, I

need to remember my

colleague’s discussions during

one BIM forum, where he

explained the best way to

excellent optimization and

savings in the BIM workflow.

Namely, he metaphorically

introduced me with the


as a long-lasting war, in which to

win, one must win many small

battles. Dynamo and Python

scripts can be taken similarly, as

well as the Revit / Excel link.

It is simply not possible to write a

very complex script and expect it

The digital tools mentioned

above are the most powerful

tools for automating the BIM

workflow. Of course, there are

many more digital tools that are

very useful for successfully

implementing the automation of

the BIM workflow.

However, the goal of the text is

not to present all possible tools

for successful implementation of

BIM workflow automation, but to

give you an idea of what direction

you should be considering when

additional value to the project

itself by minimizing the possibility

of human error when manually

to automatically automate the

complete BIM workflow with the

click of a button.

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But with multiple smaller

Dynamo and Python scripts, as

well as Excel files linked to the

Revit model, which automate

logical entities in the BIM

workflow, it is possible to

optimize the BIM workflow and

reduce the sheer amount of

manual work. Then it is possible

to embed the formulas in

Dynamo and Python scripts and

an Excel file linked to the Revit

model and obtain results from

them that will help us in the

further BIM workflow. Last but

not least, with the help of

Dynamo and Python scripts, as

well as Excel file, it is possible to

link data both for the exchange

between disciplines and for

linking additional data related to

elements in the BIM discipline

model, which can be of great help

with the BIM model for

calculating facility maintenance

operating costs.

I have attended many

presentations where the

spectacular capabilities of specific

digital tools have been

announced. Still, since I have not

seen them with my own eyes or

seen them working in a real

project environment, I have not

been wholly convinced of the

capabilities that were presented

at the presentation. Since this

text can also be seen as a kind of

presentation, I would not leave

readers disappointed.

Therefore, I give you a link to

examples of the successful

implementation of automation

tools in the BIM project layout:

http://bit.ly/3qcwUy6

In the following text, “Small but

Big Savings in the BIM Workflow”,

I am going to give you many

more examples of successful


with Dynamo / Python / Excel.

And it is hopefully going to give

you an idea of how you can

automate BIM workflow on your

next project by yourself.

With this said, I would like to

finish the article on the

automation of the BIM workflow.



about the topic I covered in the

article “BIM Workflow

Automation”, please contact

TeamCAD, who will be happy to

provide you with additional

information.

Until next time,

Predrag Jovanović

Representing

BIM Software -

Autodesk Revit

CREATE

COORDINATED,

CONSISTENT, AND

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015

Small But Big Savings in The

BIM Workflow - Examples


BACK TO CONTENTS

WE CONTINUE TO COVER

INTERESTING TOPICS

RELATED TO THE BIM

WORKFLOW. AS I

ANNOUNCED IN THE

PREVIOUS ARTICLE "BIM

WORKFLOW

AUTOMATION", IN THIS

ARTICLE, I AM GOING TO

ADDRESS THE SAVINGS

THAT CAN BE MADE BY

OPTIMIZING THE BIM

WORKFLOW.

IF YOU HAVE READ MY

PREVIOUS ARTICLE, AT THE

VERY END, I MENTIONED

THAT I HAD ATTENDED

MANY PRESENTATIONS

ANNOUNCING THE

SPECTACULAR

CAPABILITIES OF SPECIFIC

DIGITAL TOOLS. SINCE I

HAVE NOT SEEN THEM

WITH MY OWN EYES NOR

SEEN THEM WORKING IN A

REAL PROJECT

ENVIRONMENT, THAT IS

WHY I WAS NOT WHOLLY

CONVINCED OF THE

OPPORTUNITIES THAT

WERE PRESENTED AT THE

PRESENTATION. IN THIS

ARTICLE, I WILL DO MY

BEST TO IMPROVE THE

IMPRESSION AND TO GIVE

SOLUTIONS TO CONCRETE

PROBLEMS THAT OCCUR IN

MANY REAL PROJECTS IN A

MULTIDISCIPLINARY BIM

WORK ENVIRONMENT.

I will start with the most

straightforward cases, where it is

necessary to accelerate the

generation of the BIM discipline

model geometry. I am going to

deal with the situations where it

is required to generate data

effectively in the BIM discipline

model to optimize the design

016 TeamCAD BIM

JAN 2021

process of the same discipline.

Finally, I am going to elaborate on

the establishment of an efficient

BIM workflow, which would give

data "captured" in BIM discipline

models (which I wrote about in

the introductory article

"Advanced BIM Data

Management" ) value through the

exchange of data between BIM

models of different disciplines.

Optimization Of

Generating BIM

Discipline Model

Geometry

Example 1

In projects, it is prevalent that

you need to arrange certain BIM

elements along a specific

direction at equal distances. The

elements could be columns, piles,

lights, diffusers, etc., and

practically all of the elements

whose coordinates are defined

with a particular point or vertical

line.

The simplest scenario is when

let’s say, we have a straight line of

a certain length, along which it is

necessary to arrange certain

elements - we will use "Array"

and, in a straightforward way,

allocate certain BIM elements to

the desired positions.

However, if a line of a given

length is crooked or changes

direction several times, then we

are talking about the

arrangement of elements along

the “spline”. Such a request can

give us a lot of headaches and

problems, take a lot of BIM

modeling time, and it will always

be questionable whether we have

arranged the elements according

to the given criterion with

sufficient precision.

Notably, Dynamo script can help

us with this. It will very quickly,

efficiently, and, most importantly,

in a perfectly precise manner,

distribute a certain number of

BIM elements along an irregular

finite-length line.

Please watch the video:

Example 2

In each project, there is a

problem of coordinating

openings between different BIM

discipline models. It is typical for

the BIM model of construction

and MEP (mechanical, electrical,

and plumbing) installations to

follow the given openings that

are generated in the BIM model

of architecture. Take, for

example, the need to coordinate

door openings between the BIM

architecture model and the BIM

structure model.

In this example, take the

assumption that it is necessary to

coordinate and model 168 door

openings in the BIM construction

model (a very realistic

assumption for a 20-story

building project), previously

generated in the BIM model of

architecture.

It would take in classic BIM

workflows between half an hour

and one hour to model openings

in a BIM construction model. The

issue of coordination between

the BIM model of structure and

the BIM model of architecture

with the standard BIM workflow,

i.e., classical modeling, would be

highly questionable because of

the possibility of human error in

the process of BIM modeling.

A Dynamo script, which by

clicking a button copies the type

of opening selected by the BIM

operator (doors, windows,

generic openings) from the linked

BIM architecture model to the

BIM construction model, can also

help us with this.


Example 3

When designing buildings, most

often, the architect first

generates a BIM model. Except

for the beams and foundations,

the finished BIM architecture

model contains almost all the

essential elements needed by the

structural engineer to begin

modeling the BIM structural model.

The process of modeling a

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"preliminary" BIM structural

model usually consists of the fact

that the BIM structural modeler

models elements of identical

physical characteristics and that

the BIM structural elements are

modeled at the same place as in

the BIM architecture model.

This scenario is very reminiscent

of Example 2, where I showed

that by clicking „Run“ in Dynamo

scripts, it is possible to copy

elements from a linked BIM

architecture model to a BIM

construction model.

So why not do the same with

columns, walls, and slabs and get

a "preliminary" BIM construction

model in a very fast and efficient

way?

Assuming that you like the idea of

copying columns, walls, and slabs

from a BIM architecture model to

a BIM construction model, the

problem remains in "translating"

BIM architectural elements into

BIM structural elements.

This can be helped, you can

guess, by Dynamo, which

translates the columns, walls, and

slabs from the „Architectural“

category into the „Structural“

category.

Of course, it is further possible to

adapt the generated constituent

elements in the BIM construction

model to the families loaded into

the BIM construction model

template.

Only two Dynamo scripts are

required for such a thing.


If you want to optimize the design

process further and get from the

BIM structural model to the

structural model to perform a

preliminary static structural

stability check, you need to

model the foundations and

beams, and your BIM structural

model is ready for a preliminary

static analysis.

Of course, the process itself from

exporting the BIM construction

model to generating the FEM

model can be optimized, and

Dynamo and Python can

significantly assist you in this. It is

also possible with Dynamo and

Python to return data from an

analytical model to a BIM

structural model to visualize data

obtained in a static analysis, to

generate reinforcement for

concrete construction projects,

and much more.

Here I have to limit myself to the

examples for BIM modeling

automation since it is not my

intention to present you a

complete workflow related to

optimization and automation of

model generation of a particular

discipline in a project, but to give

you an idea what are the

capabilities of Dynamo and

Python, as the main tools in

automating BIM modeling in the

BIM workflow.

Effective Data

Generation In The

BIM Discipline

Model

Example 4

Generation of surface and line

loads from the drawings of

loading diagrams - it is very

debatable where exactly this

example belongs. Namely, static

loads in the construction model

do not fall within geometry, and

on the other hand, it is

impossible to classify them as

real data either.

But, as they are far closer to the

data, here I am going to address

the automation of load input in

the BIM construction model.

If you want to input loads into the

BIM construction model, which

often requires a lot of manual

work, and which can further

result in a BIM model with input

loads whose accuracy and

precision are questionable, a

possible solution may be to take

load values from load diagrams

in the BIM construction model

and generate surface and line

loads directly from load

diagrams. Depending on the

project complexity, only inputting

the load into the BIM

construction model can take up

to several hours, while using the

Dynamo script, after completing

load diagrams and reading the

load values from the diagrams

with Dynamo, you can generate

surface and line loads literally for

a few seconds.

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Example 5

In this example, I am going to try

to show you how quickly you can

generate information about the

distance of two groups of BIM

elements.

You can understand this example

as a functional check of the BIM

model of architecture and other

disciplines, in this particular case,

a useful check between an

architecture project and an

electrical installation project.

In this example, the idea is to

check if it is possible to plug a

laptop into a socket from any

chair in a particular room. Let's

say that we have the classroom

and that the project requirement

is that every student, during

class, can plug their laptop into a

socket. The length of the cable

that charges the laptop is three

meters.

I have no idea how long it would

take if the process were done

manually. Depending on the size

of the room, a functional check

would probably take more than

an hour.

Again, the problem of data

accuracy arises if a BIM modeler

measures the distance of each

chair to each socket. Fortunately,

for such a thing, you can find help

in applying a Dynamo script that

will, instead of a modeler,

measure the distance of each

chair from each socket and paint

all the chairs more than three

meters away from all the sockets

in red, which means that it is not

possible to plug the laptop cable

into no single socket.


Example 6

Another excellent example of

how we can fully automate data

generation, but also processing

them further through different

calculations and visualization of

the data obtained, I can give you

an example of room occupant

load calculations.

Namely, using the Dynamo script,

it is possible to collect data on the

room's area and then calculate

the room occupant load using the

room occupant load factor.

Actually, this avoids any manual

work that was traditionally done

in Excel since the value of the

room occupant load is

automatically changed every time

the room area changes with the

change in the room geometry in

the BIM architecture model.


Data Exchange

Between BIM

Models Of Different

Disciplines

I want to start this part of the

article with a brief introduction

about the relationship between

BIM generated data and their use

by other disciplines, participants

in a multidisciplinary project in

the BIM environment.

I hope that every BIM

architecture model you have

encountered so far in the BIM

project environment contains

data for each room. In the

architectural category "Room",

the architect typically input data

related to the purpose of the

room, and then the BIM software

automatically generates

information about the area and

volume of the room. Indeed, the

purpose of the room also affects

the expected load, which will be

used by the structural engineer in

his analysis.

I hope that you come to the idea

that such data should be used

and somehow downloaded into

the BIM construction model, or

BIM model of mechanical,

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019

electrical, or plumbing

installations and speed up the

process of data generation for

these disciplines. Also, remember

that importing data instead of

manually entering data minimizes

the possibility of human error.

I hope that by reading the

introductory part of the data

exchange between BIM models of

different disciplines, you have

come to realize that such an

exchange is indeed possible by

clicking on the “Run” button of a

specific Dynamo script. So let's

start with the examples.

Example 7

Take, for instance, the necessary

exchange of data related to a

room in the BIM architecture

model - "Room" and a room in

the BIM mechanical installations

model - "Space".

Using the Dynamo script, it is

possible to transfer data from the

Room to the Space in a

straightforward way.


Example 8

It is also possible to use data

from the architectural category

"Room" related to the room

purpose and then generate

surface loads using them. Please

see an example:

With this example, I would finish

the article on the BIM workflow

automation and give some

conclusions.

I hope that by reading the article

"Small But Big Savings in The BIM

Workflow" and looking at the

examples, you have seen the

potential of the BIM workflow

automation tool, and how much

time can be saved by automating

BIM modeling, generating data

for a BIM model of your own

discipline, and what is the

potential of automated and

arranged data exchange between

different disciplines in the BIM

workflow.

Always keep in mind that by

using the BIM workflow

automation tool, you minimize

the potential for human error

when generating or entering

incorrect data.

The purpose of automation by

using its tools is to relieve the

people from the tedious, manual

tasks of the BIM workflow, and to

enable spending the time spent

in manual work on tasks that

require creative, intelligent,

human-only solutions that

automation tools could not reach.

If you look at the possibilities of

BIM workflow automation and

that once written script can be

applied to an unlimited number

of projects, it practically means

that any script or other BIM

workflow automation tool will pay

you off through subsequent

projects.

Always keep in mind that the

limits of your imagination are the

only limiting factor in the ideas of

how to optimize and automate

BIM modeling since, in the tools

related to the automation and

optimization of the BIM workflow,

there are practically no

limitations.


comments, or want to know more

about the topic I covered in the

article "Small, But Big Savings in

The BIM Workflow", please

contact TeamCAD, who will be

happy to provide you with

additional information.

Also, if you want to automate the

BIM workflow on your projects

and you are not sure which way

to do it or what tools are best for

something like that, TeamCAD

will be happy to help you.

I thank you for reading "Small,

But Big Savings in The BIM

Workflow", and I am announcing

my next article "What are Digital

Twins".

Respectfully,

Predrag Jovanović

020 TeamCAD BIM

JAN 2021

What Are

The Digital Twins?


BACK TO CONTENTS

CONTINUING WITH

INTERESTING TOPICS

RELATED TO THE BIM

WORKFLOW IN THIS

ARTICLE, I AM GOING TO

COVER A VERY

INTERESTING TOPIC

ABOUT DIGITAL TWINS.

LET'S START BY DEFINING

WHAT THE DIGITAL TWINS

ARE. THERE ARE MANY

DIFFERENT

INTERPRETATIONS OF

WHAT A DIGITAL TWIN IS,

DEPENDING ON THE POINT

OF VIEW.

THE SITUATION WITH

DIGITAL TWINS IS VERY

SIMILAR, TO DIFFERENT

VIEWS OF THE BIM MODEL

WHICH I DESCRIBED IN

PREVIOUS ARTICLES,

WHERE SEEING A DIGITAL

TWIN DEPENDS HEAVILY

ON WHETHER IT IS VIEWED

FROM A DESIGNER,

CONTRACTOR, OR

INVESTOR POINT OF VIEW.

TO MAKE THINGS MORE

INTERESTING, WITH

DIGITAL TWINS WE OFTEN

HAVE A CASE WHERE

"DESIGNER, CONTRACTOR

AND INVESTOR" ARE

COMBINED INTO ONE

VIEW OF THE DIGITAL TWIN

MODEL, FOR EXAMPLE

WORKING WITH

MANUFACTURERS IN THE

AUTOMOTIVE AND

AVIATION INDUSTRIES,

THEN IN SHIPBUILDING, IN

THE PRODUCTION OF

MECHANICAL SYSTEMS,

PROCESS LINES, ETC.

The most common definition of a

digital twin is that it is "a digital

replica of physical data,

processes, systems and digital

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simulation of reality, which can

be used for various purposes."

After defining the term digital

twin, many BIM specialists will

recognize that the BIM model can

easily be placed in the context of

the digital twin, which is not so

far from the truth.

In chronological terms, the BIM

model can be seen as the very

beginning of digital twin

generation, i.e., as his starting

point.

If you go back to the definition of

a digital twin, the BIM model can

be conditionally viewed as a

digital replica of real data.

However, the BIM model cannot

adequately meet the

requirements of the digital twin

model, which can be a simulation

of the life cycle of a building,

different types of industrial

process simulation, simulation of

building behavior during a fire,

evacuation of people during a

fire, simulation of crash tests in

the automotive industry, particle

motion and their behavior during

movement, etc.

It is important to note a few other

things related to the digital twin.

The digital twin represents one of

the pillars of the fourth industrial

revolution, and the potential and

savings of such an approach are

increasingly evident.

Digital twins can be classified in

many ways depending on the

person’s point of view.

I think the best way to classify

digital twins is to digital twin

objects that are under fabrication

or construction and to objects

that are already made or built.

Still, we need additional

information about those objects.

What we will not be able to avoid

in this article as topics closely

related to digital twins are the

digital tools of simulation, the

involvement of machine learning,

and artificial intelligence.

Digital Twins Of

Objects Being

Fabricated Or

Constructed

With this type of digital twin, we

typically mean objects that are

subject to future fabrication or

construction. In this digital twin

generation workflow, we first

mean creating a BIM model,

which is almost always an object

or part of it being design.

By object or part of a designed

object, I mean objects such as

buildings or parts thereof, cars or

parts thereof, production line or

parts of a production line,

dynamic objects, simulation of

the destruction of a building

(progressive collapse), etc.

All of the above objects or parts

of objects that are subject to

future fabrication or construction,

if you have noticed, are

characterized by the fact that

from a BIM point of view they can

be considered as fully static BIM

022 TeamCAD BIM

JAN 2021

Let’s compare what information

the rotary dial phone contained

about its owner versus the

smartphone.

models and cannot be attributed

to the dynamic properties that

underlie any simulation process.

This further leads us to the

conclusion that the critical

difference between the BIM

model and the object's digital

twin, which is the object of

fabrication or construction, is the

ability to simulate with different

digital tools the influences from

the real environment, that is, to

apply different dynamic

influences to the BIM model.

Practically, digital tools that

enable different simulations

modify the BIM model into a

digital twin model.

Digital Twins of

Objects That Are

Made or Built

With this type of digital twin, we

typically mean objects that are

already made or built.

At the very beginning, I face the

question of the skeptic in himself,

who asks me the question: “And

why would you create a digital

model or digital twin for anything

that is already made or built?

Apart from the additional cost,

which cannot be considered as

any benefit, what economic

benefit can one expect from such

a model? The digital realist in me

has a ready answer, which will

hopefully easily disarm the

skeptic in me through a

straightforward example from

everyday life.

I belong to a generation that used

rotary dial phones daily in

childhood.

Later, of course, I used cordless

home phones, and here I am in

the modern era in which I happily

use all the benefits of human

achievement, and therefore

"smartphones".

Apart from the phone number, to

which you could call not me but

my family, there was virtually no

information regarding the phone

owner. With the advent of

smartphones, a wealth of

information about the phone

owner and the number assigned

to the owner is available.

Free international communication

is possible via the telephone

number and specific applications.

The information about himself

that the smartphone user wants

to share is accessible to

everyone.

It's important to note that the

first iPhone came out in

mid-2007. From a smartphone

user perspective of just twelve

years, we can't imagine going

back to the old handsets with the

rotary dial, since the capabilities

between it and the smartphone

are merely hard to compare -

both devices are phones, but they

do not necessarily belong to the

same device category.

In a very similar way, we can look

at an already made or built object

that has its own digital twin and

an object that does not have its

own digital twin. Namely, even

though the object already exists,

we really know little about it since

the made or constructed object

contains very little data in itself.

The skeptic in me wonders if it is

necessary that now, even though

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we have new and very effective

digital tools to digitize existing

objects, we need the facilities we

have already built to be digitized?

Quite simply, why do we need it,

and what will the digital twin of

the made and built object serve

us in the first place?

Take the existing building as an

example and imagine the

situation when walking through a

building to ask the building

owner or facility manager what

are the properties of a wall -

what is its thickness, what

material is it made of, what is the

brand of the concrete wall, is it

bearing wall, whether it has a

finish and of which thickness,

from which material the finish is

made, is the load-bearing

capacity of the wall such that we

can hang brackets for pipes of a

certain weight, which is the fire

resistance of the wall, whether

we can make a hole in the wall to

accommodate the damper and

"pull-in" the cooling or heating

duct when planning a wall

painting, what is the wall area in

order to calculate the cost of wall

painting, etc.

I am convinced that it would take

a few days for the building owner

or facility manager to answer the

above questions if we assume

that he did not have a digital twin

model of the building.

Simply, the owner of the building

or the facility manager would

have to go through a pile of

paper to get the information I

needed, he would have to contact

the archive for some information,

and I am sure he would not be

able to find some information.

However, if the building owner or

the facility manager had a digital

twin building model, I am

confident that for some

questions, I would get answers

within minutes, and for slightly

more complex questions, such as

wall openings and wall-mounted

pipe holders I believe I would get

the answer in a few hours.

I think that you have, through a

straightforward example of an

ordinary wall, seen the potential

of a digital twin of an existing

facility, which, for example, can

save you significant financial

resources by optimizing the cost

of maintaining the facility, finding

the best option for renovating,

upgrading and adapting

industrial facilities to a different

purpose and finally when

calculating the operating costs

and life cycle of the facility.

Try to imagine how much savings

you can make when maintaining

mechanical and electrical

installations, production lines in

factories, maintaining fire

installations, etc.

I am going to write much more

about digital twins of objects that

have already been made or built

in the following article: "Digital

Twins in The Construction

Industry," since my wish for this

article is to stay focused on the

concept of the digital twin in the

broad sense. So let's move on to

a topic that combines the need

for making a digital twin in both

objects that are subject to

fabrication or construction and in

objects that are made or built.

Digital Simulation

Tools for Digital

Twins

When talking about digital

simulation tools for the digital

twin, keep in mind that we are

entering the rainforest, and it is

very difficult to capture all the

tools available. Therefore, I am

going to list just a few of the most

024 TeamCAD BIM

JAN 2021

the deficiencies to give the

building user adequate comfort.

Machine learning

A digital tool that is defined as a

sub-area of artificial intelligence.

important digital simulation tools

for digital twins and write a few

sentences about each tool:

CFD (Computational fluid

dynamics)

This is a calculation of fluid

dynamics and is part of fluid

mechanics, which uses numerical

analysis and structured data to

solve problems related to fluid

and gaseous fluid behavior. CFD

analysis has an extensive

application including forces and

moments on various digital

models, pressure in tubes caused

by liquid and gaseous substances

contained in the tubes, explosion

analysis, simulation of motion

and flow of different types of

particles, temperature action,

simulation of weather, the

behavior of digital models in an

air tunnel, etc.

Dynamo and Python

Digital tools that are detailed in

the article "BIM Workflow

Automation". Here, I would like to

avoid a more detailed description

of Dynamo and Python as digital

tools that, in addition to

automating the BIM workflow,

are also widely used in data

processing for digital twin

models.

If you would like more

information about Dynamo and

Python, please select this link.

Sensors

For made or built objects,

different types of sensors are

used to measure the values

needed to optimize pre-existing

elements within an existing

object. For example, sensors can

measure the number of people in

a particular room. Then the data

obtained can be compared with

the data assumed by the

architect during project design. If

the number of people in a given

room is consistently higher than

the projected number, the

building owner can optimize the

machine's system of fresh air

injection.

Similar is possible with measuring

the brightness of rooms. By

comparing the data thus

obtained, if an error is detected,

the building owner can correct

Machine learning is a process

where a machine is learning

things based on the experience

and imitation of human actions in

certain repetitive circumstances.

In simple terms, machine

learning is based on observing

the actions a person performs

when encountering a specific

typical problem.

After several repetitions, the

program that "monitors the

human" learns and adopts the

algorithm of human behavior and

assumes the execution of the

same operation that he learned

"monitoring the human".

Given that artificial intelligence is

not yet able to make very

complex decisions and look at

the problems that occur with

data generated by different

simulations. I think that we

cannot yet speak of the massive

and default use of artificial

intelligence as a digital tool to

simulate the process in a digital

twin.

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The Savings That

Digital Twins Bring

• By applying BIM workflow and

digital tools used in various

simulations on the digital twin

model, and with proper BIM

management of the complete

BIM project process, there are

between 5% and 15% more

problems in the early stages of

the project process, that is, long

before the contracting project

and the construction of the

facility itself, which brings

significant savings to the investor

financially;

• The use of different sensors in

buildings, which generate data

through data processing

platforms, helps to automate the

equipment in the facility more

easily and efficiently, which

improves the energy efficiency of

the building and at the same time

improves the comfort of the

building occupants;

• By analyzing the data collected

through sensors in already

fabricated and constructed

objects and incorporating such

data in the design process of

future objects, the investor

makes significant savings in the

speed of fabrication or

construction of the object, in the

selection and installation of

equipment, which, as a

consequence, brings significant

financial savings to the investor;

different sensors into existing

objects and processing the data

obtained from them, the investor

receives "collective knowledge

and experience" classified by

object type, which in future

projects of objects classified by

type and purpose, brings

significant financial savings at all

stages of the project, then during

the construction of the facility

and in the life cycle of the facility

itself;

• Given that it is difficult to expect

a price drop of urban

construction land and site fitting,

the only segment where an

investor of building construction

can make savings is to optimize

the implementation of the BIM

workflow and to produce digital

twins, in which the digital

performance of the simulation

tools will permanently improve

the performance of the building

in all stages of project design,

during and after construction.

This would end the article on

digital twins and my view of how

they can help in many areas

through cost optimization and

better functionality, both for

objects that are not fabricated or

built, and for objects that are

fabricated or built.

I would also like to take this

opportunity to announce my next

article "Digital Twins in The

Construction Industry", in which I

hope to bring you even closer to

the concept of digital twins and to

indicate the need for you to think

about the need to design a digital

twin of your object.



details about the topic I covered

in "What Are The Digital Twins",

please contact TeamCAD, who

will be happy to provide

additional information.

Also, if you need any help in

designing the process of how to

get a digital twin model, or you

need to create a digital twin

model yourself, TeamCAD will be

happy to support you.

Until the next article,

Predrag Jovanović

• By developing and permanently

implementing a digital strategy,

which involves developing digital

twin models, incorporating

026 TeamCAD BIM

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TeamCAD BIM MAGAZINE 027

Digital Twins In The

Construction Industry


BACK TO CONTENTS

IN THIS ARTICLE, I AM

GOING TO COVER AN

EXCITING TOPIC ABOUT

DIGITAL TWINS IN THE

CONSTRUCTION

INDUSTRY.

FOR THE BEGINNING OF

THE TEXT, ONE

INTERESTING QUESTION -

DO YOU KNOW WHEN AND

HOW DIGITAL TWINNING

TECHNOLOGY WAS

DEVELOPED? I THINK THE

ANSWER WILL AMUSE YOU

- THE TECHNOLOGY OF

CREATING A DIGITAL TWIN

MODEL, IN THE FORMAT

WE KNOW TODAY, WHICH

IS AN EXISTING OR

DESIGNED OBJECT AND AN

IDENTICAL COPY OF THE

OBJECT IN DIGITAL

FORMAT, WAS CREATED IN

2002 AND WAS FIRST USED

IN ASTRONOMY BY NASA

FOR THE PRODUCTION OR

PROCUREMENT OF

VARIOUS COMPONENTS

AND SYSTEMS FROM

DIFFERENT SUPPLIERS.

Digital twin models have been

used primarily to calculate the life

cycle of components, systems,

and various assemblies and

structures after installation,

production, and construction.

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Primarily, digital twins were used

to estimate the cost of maintaining

different components,

systems, circuits, and buildings by

making various simulations of

phenomena and processes that

would occur on existing objects

using their digital format replicas.

I assume that you have concluded

that by accessing a digital

replica of an existing building,

component or system and

simulating the various real-world

impacts on them we come to the

information on all aspects and

causes of the life cycle costs of a

particular object, component, or

systems in a real environment

and in the real-world impacts of

different phenomena that interact

with an building, component,

or system in a much cheaper

way.

the meaning of digital twin

models, I want to focus on the

very topic of this article, which is

the purpose of digital twin

models in the construction

industry.

For a start, we must bear in mind

that we have more participants in

the building construction, namely

the designer, contractor, and

investor. Depending on the role

in the project process, I am sure

that you have in mind that their

interests may not be identical

when it comes to designing a

digital twin. The interests of the

designer and contractor in

designing the digital twin in the

design process are mainly related

to the optimization of their own

work.

They have no primary interest in

passing on the digital twin model

of the constructed building to the

investor after completing the

project and building construction,

i.e., something like that represents

an additional cost to them.

After having fun with the interesting

facts in the introductory part

of the article and also learning

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On the other hand, the investor

should be very interested in

getting a digital twin model of the

finished building for reasons that

I will list below.

Unfortunately, it often happens

that the investor does not require

the making of a digital twin

model of the constructed building

at the end of the design process.

Most often, he does not realize its

value and the potential savings in

operating costs and life cycle

costs of the built facility, which it

will bring to the investor, the

owner of the facility, the user of

the building or facility manager.

Also, a common cause for the

absence of a digital twin model of

a built facility is a certain skepticism

with the investor, owner, or

user of the facility or facility

manager.

The most common questions I

hear in discussions about the

need to build digital twin models

in the construction industry are:

• Why do I need a digital twin

model of a building, if I have a

construction stage project?

• Why do I need a digital twin

model of a building, if I have an

as built project?

• What additional value does the

digital twin model give me?

• How to manage the project

process so that the investor will

eventually get a cheap but quality

digital twin model?

• Does it make sense to create a

digital twin model if the building

is already built?

• What to do with a digital model

of a digital twin after making and

purchasing it?

Before giving detailed answers to

each of the questions asked by

the investor, the owner, the user,

or the facility manager, the basic

question is asked - who should

fund the creation of the digital

twin model of the facility? It is not

grateful to go into this dilemma

from this position and to advise

who should finance the digital

twin model, as this may depend

on the contractual obligations

between the investor, the owner,

the user, and the facility manager.

However, I am going to be free to

suggest to the investor that, in

the case of the construction of a

brand new building, if it has a

capable BIM manager who

manages the BIM project process

from the start of the project to

the completion of the construction,

it can have significant

financial benefits if he gets the

digital twin model at the end of

the project. He can accomplish

this by "refining" the BIM model

of the construction stage project,

which he could then hand over or

sell to the owner, user, or facility

manager. On the other hand,

when it comes to creating a

digital twin model of an existing

building, it seems most logical to

me that the costs of making the

digital twin model should be

taken over by the person who

manages the life cycle and pays

for the maintenance costs of the

building and its equipment, which

is usually the owner or user of a

facility.

To simplify the terminology and

relations between the investor,

the owner of the building, the

user of the building and the

facility manager, below, I will look

at the issue of the need to design

a digital twin of the building

through the prism of the user of

the facility, since the user is the

one who will pay the costs of

operating the facility, it’s life cycle

costs and the equipment in it,

and the one should be most

interested in the design and

procurement of a digital twin

model of the facility.

Why Do I Need A

Digital Twin Model

Of A Building, If I

Have A Construction

Stage Project?

By definition, the construction

stage project is a detailed design

of the main design with all the

necessary details defined for the

project to be constructed. The

problem with the construction

stage project is that, in practice,

the built facility is almost always

significantly different from the

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solution given in the construction

stage project for various justified

or unjustified reasons, which the

designer and contractor did not

consider when designing the

construction stage project.

Therefore, we can conclude that a

construction stage project cannot

give an entirely exact digital or

paper 2D replica of the completed

state of a newly constructed

building.

When considering building

structures that were built before

the advent of digital twin model

technology, this puts the facility

user in a worse position, since

from the 2D drawings on the

paper sheets he is not able to

grasp every detail of the building

that he uses or in an orderly

fashion track the changes, maintenance

and life cycle costs of

each element in the building.

Also, it is almost impossible to

imagine that the contractor was

so conscientious during construction

that everything, even the

slightest deviation from the

construction stage project, was

documented by an additional

graphic revision.

Why Do I Need A

Digital Twin Model

Of A Building, If I

Have An As Built

Project?

To better address this issue, it is

best to look at the very definition

of an as built project.

"The as built project is being

made to obtain the use permit,

use, and maintenance of the

facility.

The as built project of a completed

facility is a set of mutually

synced projects showing all the

details of the constructed facility

necessary to determine its

suitability for use.

The as built project can be made

for parts of the building which, in

the opinion of the technical

inspection committee, or following

the technical documentation,

represent the technical and

technological unit and can be

used as such independently, and

for which the suitability for use is

determined in accordance with

the rulebook governing the

technical inspection of facilities

and for which a special use

permit is issued. " (definition is

taken from the site paragraf.rs

from the Rulebook On The

Content, Manner, and Procedure

Of Preparation And Method Of

Control Of Technical Documentation

According To The Class And

Purpose Of The Facility - Official

Gazette RS number73/2019.

From the very definition, we can

see that the as built project,

whether in digital or paper

format, somewhat considers the

facility maintenance, but does not

provide clear guidance on how to

document the maintenance of

the facility, how to assess the

monthly, quarterly, annual life

cycle costs of the facility and

installed equipment.

From a law point of view, it's

enough to do an as built project

that would document all deviations

of the building from the

construction stage project, which

completely ignores the process of

the complete life cycle of the

building and the installed equipment.

What may be good about the

overall story of an as built project

is that in newly designed and

constructed buildings and equipment,

if the BIM workflow is

implemented appropriately in all

project stages, the BIM as built

model can be taken as a starting

model for development of a

digital twin model of the building

and the installed equipment. In

simpler terms, adding attributes

relevant to monitoring the

operating life cycle cost of a

facility to the BIM as built model

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is the most financially viable way

to obtain a digital twin model of

the construction facility and the

equipment built into it.

What precisely all this means, I

will explain in answer to the next

question.

What Additional

Value Does The

Digital Twin Model

Give Me?

If we are talking about a BIM

project, the simplest explanation

for the difference between a BIM

as built model and a digital twin

model is that the BIM as built

model provides static information

about a built object, such as its

geometry, equipment capacity,

properties of used materials and

equipment, etc.

The digital twin of a building and

its built-in equipment enables the

cost anticipation of each element

during its life cycle. These costs

can be predicted on a monthly,

quarterly, yearly, or multi-year

basis, which can provide valuable

information to the investor or

user of the facility to optimize

and more effectively manage its

own finance.

How To Manage The

Project Process So

That The Investor

Will Eventually Get A

Cheap But Quality

Digital Twin Model?

Assuming we are talking about a

BIM project, the most straightforward

answer to the asked question

is that the investor, during

the preparation of all project

phases, has in his team an

experienced BIM manager

(employed by the investor or

hired as a BIM consultant), who

will manage the BIM requirements

in the interest of the

investor during all stages of the

BIM workflow. The starting

document, which should also

form part of the contract

between the designer and the

In contrast, the digital twin model

contains dynamic data such as

maintenance costs and the life

cycle of all elements of a building

and equipment installed, as well

as elements that simulate various

“real-world” impacts on them.

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contractor with the investor, is

called the "BIM Execution Plan", a

BIM project execution plan, which

manages the delivery of the BIM

project at different stages of the

project.

This document, usually drafted by

an investor, defines what BIM

models need to contain at different

stages of the BIM project

process, protocols for names of

varying BIM elements in discipline

models to optimize and

automate the BIM project

process (naming convention),

collision definitions for each of

the stages of the BIM project

process, the platform on which

the BIM combined model will

operate, the "level of detail"

(LOD) of the discipline elements

throughout all stages of the BIM

project process and many other

things.

I think it should be reiterated

here that the process itself

between the BIM as built model

and the facility digital twin model

should be an integral part of the

BIM Execution Plan, since it is

more than evident that something

is in the investor's interest.

I am going to write about the BIM

Execution Plan in detail in one of

the following articles.

The previous brief description of

what the BIM Execution Plan

should contain, I just wanted to

give an idea of why the investor

needed it. It seems logical that

the ultimate goal of the investor

should be to create a digital twin

to use after the construction. An

experienced BIM manager or BIM

consultant can assist him greatly

by developing a BIM Execution

Plan and managing the complete

BIM workflow.

Does It Make Sense

To Create A Digital

Twin Model If The

Building Is Already

Built?

I think there is much need for a

digital twin model for an already

built facility, and there are many

reasons for this.

The first and foremost reason is

that as time goes on, every

building and installation requires

more money for maintenance,

more frequent failures in

mechanical, electrical, and

plumbing installations.

Also, every change in the building

regulations involves specific

works, and there are more of

them as the building structure or

equipment in it is older.

With this in mind, it is almost

impossible to see all the changes

that have taken place over the

years of using the building, and

every user of the building is

aware that there will be many

more changes, alterations,

replacements, and upgrades in

the future.

The logical conclusion is that in

order to consider the cost of

maintaining a building, it is

almost necessary to create a

digital twin model of an existing

building.

Practically, there are no substantial

differences in explaining why

a digital twin model of an existing

building is needed compared to

the building being designed. In

both cases, the essence of the

digital twin model is to enable the

facility user to view the life cycle

costs of the facility and the

installed equipment.

The only difference is that as time

goes on, the cost of maintaining

older buildings is increasing, so

the digital twin model is very

precious in assessing the cost-effectiveness

of further investment

in existing facilities and equipment

built into it.

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from the real - physical world -

are transferred to the digital

world, i.e., into the digital twin

model of the existing building

and the equipment built into it.

What To Do With A

Digital Model Of A

Digital Twin After

Making And

Purchasing It?

The answer to the last question I

am going to discuss in this article

should be, at the same time, a

recapitulation of everything we

have learned about the need for

digital twinning in the construction

industry.

First and foremost, the purpose

of developing a digital twin model

in the construction industry is to

obtain, in a digital format, and in

a much cheaper way, a user of a

facility about all aspects of the life

cycle cost of a particular building,

component or system in a real

environment and the real effects

of different phenomena that

interact with a building, component,

or system.

When a facility user purchases a

digital twin model of a facility and

built-in equipment, it would be

best to do monthly, quarterly,

annual, and multi-year cross-sections

of building and equipment

maintenance costs so that tenant

can manage finances in the best

possible way.

Any changes to the building itself

or the equipment built into it

must be updated in the digital

twin model as well since future

changes cannot be properly

tracked nor can the costs of

future maintenance work be

monitored unless the digital twin

model is a perfect digital copy of

the building current state and the

equipment built into it.

And at the very end of the article,

I will make a personal comment

and my more free-standing view

of the digital twin model in the

construction industry.

The digital twin model of a

building and equipment built into

it is essentially a BIM as built

model, with added functionality

that can be used for tracking the

life cycle cost of the building and

the equipment built into it. In

order to maintain the status of a

digital twin model of a facility, it is

necessary that it is continuously

updated and that all changes

I would also like to conclude this

article on digital twins in the

construction industry and my

view of how they can help the

construction industry through

cost optimization and better

functionality, both for under

construction facilities and already

built facilities.

Finally, I would like to take this


article, "Data Management In The

Digital Twin", in which, through

the examples, I will try to show

you the need to think for yourself

about the need to design a digital

twin of your building.

If you need any help in designing

the process of how to get a digital

twin model, or you need to create

a digital twin model yourself,

TeamCAD BIM Consultants will be


Until next time,

Predrag Jovanović

034 HTTPS://WWW.TEA

TeamCAD BIM

JAN 2021

KOMPANIJA

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Data Management In The

Digital Twin Of The Building


BACK TO CONTENTS


GOING TO FOCUS ON AN

EXCITING TOPIC ABOUT

DATA MANAGEMENT IN

DIGITAL TWINS.

IN THE PREVIOUS, I HAVE

TRIED TO EXPLAIN IN THE

BEST POSSIBLE WAY WHAT

DIGITAL TWINS ARE IN A

BROAD SENSE, WHAT IS

THEIR POTENTIAL, IN

WHAT AREAS THEY CAN BE

USED AND MAKE

SIGNIFICANT SAVINGS AND

FINALLY - WHAT DIGITAL

TWIN REPRESENTS AND

WHAT ITS VALUE IS,

WHETHER IT IS ABOUT

BUILDING PROJECT OR THE

ALREADY CONSTRUCTED

BUILDING. IN THIS

ARTICLE, I HAVE THE

INTENTION TO COMPLETE

THE STORY OF DIGITAL

TWINS AND TO GIVE YOU

AN IDEA OF HOW TO

MANAGE DATA AFTER THE

CREATION OF A BUILDING

DIGITAL TWIN IN THE BEST

WAY.

Let's start with the assumption

that the investor, owner, user of

the facility, and / or facility

manager is interested in creating

a digital twin model of the building

he is using, as well as interested

in monitoring, forecasting and

managing the facility's maintenance

and life cycle costs. For

such a thing he needs:

• The contract and the BIM

Execution Plan, which clearly

defines the obligations of the

investor and the legal entity that

will create and maintain the

digital twin model. I am going to

give more details on this topic

below;

• BIM as built model, which

038 TeamCAD BIM

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reflects a perfect, as built copy of

the constructed building and the

equipment built into it (digital

twin model);

• A digital twin model containing

parameters valuable for

monitoring the life cycle of a

building and the equipment built

into it;

• Permanent maintenance of the

geometry and parameters of the

digital twin model after each

intervention on the building and

the equipment built into it;

• Generation and labeling of

elements QR codes in a building

or part of equipment over which

an intervention is performed and

labeling with an identical QR code

of an identical element in a digital

twin model to coordinate

real-world building data and its

digital twin model in the digital

world.

The Building’s Digital

Twin Creating and

Maintenance

Contract and BIM

Execution Plan

The primary role of the building’s

digital twin creating and

maintenance contract is to clearly

define the rights and obligations

of the building user on the one

hand and the company that will

be engaged in the creation and

maintenance of the digital twin

on the other. It turned out very

useful to include in the creating

and maintenance contract a

company that will provide

maintenance services for the

constructed facility and the

equipment built into it, i.e., facility

manager. This greatly minimizes

the possibility of communication

problems on the relation building

user - facility manager -

maintaining the digital twin of the

building.

Namely, in contracts that clearly

define the rights and obligations

between the interested legal

entities engaged in the

maintenance of the existing

building, it is crucial to define

clearly and unambiguously the

procedures from the appearance

of the need for intervention on

the building to noting it in the

digital twin model, i.e., to update

it.

BIM Execution Plan, in addition to

the building’s digital twin creating

and maintenance contract,

represents a document which has

the power of the contract and it is

written in the form of contract

addition where it is defined:

• Methodology for creating

building digital twin model;

• Level of Detail (LOD) i.e., the

level of detail of the geometry of

each type of graphic element

within the digital twin model;

• Elements of the building and

equipment that will be subject to

processing in the digital building

twin model database;

• The parameters in the digital

twin model that will be assigned

to the graphic elements of the

model to track them in terms of

maintenance costs and the life

cycle of the facility and the

equipment built into it;

• The manner of issuing orders

and labeling for intervention on

the constructed facility;

• A way to update the digital twin

and the data itself in the building

database after the intervention;

• Documenting all changes made

to the building and the

equipment built into it in the

digital twin model, not only by

changing the geometry of the

digital twin model, but also

establishing a link between the

element in the digital twin model

that was the subject of the

intervention and the

attachments, invoice scans,

textual description of the work

and how to make changes, as

well as other relevant

documentation related to that

element in the digital twin model.

In the end, it is essential to note

in the contract that it is desirable

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Even more complicated is the

situation where the owner or

user of the building does not own

the as built project, so before

creating a digital twin, it is necessary

to perform a building observation,

which requires a lot of

manual and not so intellectual

work.

Finally, there is the possibility of

laser scanning of an existing

object. Still, the purpose of the

generated point-cloud 3D model

of a digital twin of an existing

building is highly questionable

from a BIM point of view.

to define the costs of maintaining

a digital twin model. In most

cases, the item in the

maintenance contract involves

paying by the facility user after an

intervention order is issued,

which is a less favorable option

for the user. The second most

common option is the annual

subscription of the facility user to

a company that is contractually

obliged to update the model and

document any changes to the

digital twin model after each

order and intervention.

Creating Of The

Digital Twin Of The

Building

To understand how digital twin

data of the building is managed, I

must indicate to you that the

methodology for generating data

is not the same for the digital

twin that is the subject of the

project and the digital twin that is

generated based on data from

the as built project if the owner

or user of the building has it.

Let’s consider these four cases:

• The digital twin model generated

during the BIM workflow is

essentially a model generated

after the building construction

and can be considered as an as

built project. As I mentioned in

the previous article, if the investor

adequately hired his BIM

manager, who constantly

checked the coordination of the

constructed building with the

digital as built model, it can be

said that with certain, not so large

additional works on the digital as

built model, the investor can

easily have the digital twin model;

• Digital twin model generated

from the as built project using 2D

drawings and additional project

documentation is a far more

complicated case since it requires

a lot of BIM modeling, assigning

adequate parameters to the

elements in the digital twin and

linking those parameters to a

database that documents all

future repairs and works on the

facility. I must mention that the

040 TeamCAD BIM

JAN 2021

responsibility for the validity of

the drawings, as well as possible

disagreements between the

drawings of the as built project

and the real constructed building,

is the responsibility of the facility’s

owner or user and that he is

obliged to document all differences

to the company engaged in the

development of a digital twin

model of that facility. To put it

simply, any discrepancy between

the current state of the facility

concerning the as built project is

the sole responsibility of the

facility’s owner or user. Unless

the user of the facility has documented

the difference between

the constructed facility and the as

built project, the digital twin

model cannot be described as a

mistake by the company engaged

in the digital twin creation.

• The digital twin model generated

from the observation of the

constructed building involves the

engagement of a company or

individuals who will record the

complete facility and document

that recording in a format acceptable

to the company engaged in

the creation of the digital twin

model of the constructed building.

The process itself places

much responsibility on the

company or individuals hired for

observation of an as built facility.

It should be borne in mind that

such a scenario can only be

imagined in buildings that were

built in the distant past. Therefore,

the propensity to malfunction

and repairs is significantly

higher than the recently

constructed facilities whose

owners or users own the as built

project.

• The digital twin model

generated from laser scanning is

a highly debatable digital twin

model format.

In my opinion, it cannot be

considered an adequate model of

a facility’s digital twin. It provides

a visually acceptable model,

where its elements can get some

attributes through their labeling.

The problem with the digital twin

models thus generated is that the

elements in that model are not

intelligent and do not know

whether they are a column, wall,

or diffuser, so their

systematization and data

structuring in such models is

challenging to achieve and very

unreliable.

Issue An Order For

Intervention Using

The Digital Twin

Model On The BIM

360 Cloud Platform

Does it seem too futuristic for

you, as the facility’s owner or

user, to order the maintenance

technician of your facility to go

to a specific location of your

facility, identify the element on

which to intervene, and then

follow the instructions given to

you by voice or text message to

his smart phone, all from a

digital twin model found on the

BIM 360 cloud platform?

This technology is actually

possible, feasible and easily

applicable.

What is particularly fascinating

is that when generating a ticket

for a particular intervention, a

QR Code or Unique ID number

is automatically generated and

assigned on the one hand to

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the element of the facility over

which was intervened and, on

the other, to an identical

element in the digital twin

model stored in the BIM 360.

A once generated QR Code or

Unique ID assigned to a specific

element in a facility and an

identical element in the facility's

digital twin model allows you to

track all interventions and

history of all interventions on

one or more elements in the

facility and the facility's digital

twin model.

More description of digital twin

model maintenance in the BIM

360 cloud service, can be found

if you follow this link:

https://bit.ly/36qfyGm

Issuing A Ticket

Using The Digital

Twin Model In Bim

360 And Database

Related To The

Digital Twin Model

If you have read the text in the

previous subtitle and watched

the BIM 360 Ops video, I believe

you are fascinated with how

easily any change made to a

real-world facility and a digital

twin model in the digital world

can be documented. In a very

similar way, it is possible to

create a ticket and monitor its

implementation using databases

and specific procedures.

What is very convenient about

databases is that it is possible to

look at all interventions that

have happened in the past, but

also to write tickets that will be

executed in the future based on

the life cycle data of a particular

element in an existing facility

and a digital twin model of an

existing facility. Tracking

incoming and previous costs

with the help of a database,

whether it is regular work,

renovations, repairs, upgrades,

or adaptation of a building to

new regulations, allows the

facility user the opportunity to

view all the life cycle costs of the

building. Doing so will

significantly enable him to

optimize his finances and

provide significant savings.

Which Data Should

The Digital Twin

Model Contain?

The most straightforward answer

to this question is - the building's

digital twin model should contain

all of the data that is valuable to

the facility user and the facility

042 TeamCAD BIM

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manager for the effective

maintenance of the constructed

facility and the equipment built

into it.

Practically, there are no

restrictions on the parameters of

the digital twin model, so it can

be said that the user, the facility

manager and the company in

charge of creating and

maintaining the digital twin

model in the BIM Execution Plan

define all the parameters that are

valuable primarily to the facility

user.

However, it proved to be that the

data that are most often the

default parameters in the digital

twin model are related to the life

cycle costs of certain elements of

the facility and equipment,

different parameters that can

provide a quick response

regarding the cost of any changes

to the facility in terms of

upgrading, adaptation or change

of purpose of the facility or part

thereof and finally, the

parameters of the elements that

will signal incoming regular

construction work on the

maintenance of the facility and

the regular replacement of

equipment or parts of equipment

by the specifications of their

manufacturers.

It should be added that it is

possible to install different

sensors in a facility, which continuously

monitor and collect data

during the life cycle and the

facility exploitation, as well as the

equipment built into it, but this

requires the participation of

machine learning and Internet of

Things, for valid data processing,

which is a vast topic and I am

going to explain that workflow in

one of the following articles.

At the very end, I would like to

make a few observations and

conclusions about digital twin

technologies. The capabilities of

modern technologies are increasing,

and therefore the benefits

that digital tools provide us with

data processing, whether generated

by human labor, automation

tools or machine learning, are

increasingly apparent.

Essentially, any real-world flaws

can be remedied in digital

models, including the digital twin

model of a building.

The advantage of a digital model

of a building is that its elements

can be assigned much more

readily available data than the

elements of the building in the

real world.

It should be borne in mind that

the use of digital maintenance

technologies for an existing

facility, in addition to better

communication between the

facility manager and facility users,

also improves communication

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and documentation within the

facility management team.

The result is transparency in the

maintenance work of the

constructed facility, as well as

significant savings by reducing

the number of participants in the

process of issuing a ticket, during

the intervention itself, and finally

documenting the ticket execution

for any intervention at the

existing facility.

I hope you found the articles

about digital twins interesting

("What Are The Digital Twins?"

and "Digital Twins In The

Construction Industry").

With this article, I would also

conclude a series of articles on

digital twin technology and

announce the following text

"What Is BEP And What Should It

Contain".



about the topic I covered in "Data

Management In The Digital Twin

Of The Building", please contact


provide you with additional

information.

Also, if you need any help in

designing the process of how to

get a digital twin model, or you

need to create a digital twin

model yourself, TeamCAD will be


Until next time,

Predrag Jovanovićhttp://

bit.ly/3qcwUy6z z

044 TeamCAD BIM

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What Is BEP And

What Should It Contain?


BACK TO CONTENTS


INTERESTING TOPICS

RELATED TO THE BIM

WORKFLOW. AS I

ANNOUNCED IN MY

PREVIOUS ARTICLE, "DATA

MANAGEMENT IN THE

DIGITAL TWIN OF THE

BUILDING",


GOING TO COVER A TOPIC

ABOUT BIM EXECUTION

PLAN – BEP.

I THINK IT WOULD BE VERY

USEFUL TO DEFINE THE

TERMS AT THE VERY

BEGINNING OF THIS

ARTICLE THAT I WILL USE

EXTENSIVELY THROUGHOUT

THIS ARTICLE.

What Is BEP?

BIM Execution Plan - BEP is the

default and necessary document

of every BIM project in the

construction industry. The role of

BEP is to define various aspects

of the BIM project process

implementation, in addition to

the contract between the designer,

contractor and investor.

Since BEP does not yet have the

power of a contract, it is usually

attached as an addendum to the

contract between the designer,

contractor and investor, thus

introducing an orderly and

predefined relationship between

participants in the BIM project

process.

At the very beginning of the

article, it is important to note that

BEP development is entrusted to

the BIM manager on the project,

which is, in most cases, employed

or hired by the investor himself. It

is important to note that no clear

recommendation or law is

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which at the end of the design

process will allow the investor to

efficiently reach the digital twin of

the facility and the equipment

built into it.

A characteristic BEP usually

contains the following typical BIM

project management chapters:

• Project management;

• Format for delivery and

exchange of BIM documentation;

• Technical details of the BIM

project;

• BIM multidisciplinary

collaboration;

• LOD - level of development of

BIM elements

• CDE - a common data

environment;

governing the obligations of


process, regarding obligations on

the responsibility of BEP design,

but it seems most logical that BEP

design falls into the domain of

investors for the following

reasons:

• The investor finances the entire

project process, including the

preparation of project

documentation at all project

stages, then the construction

itself and finally the development

of a BIM as built model, which the

investor will use as a digital twin

to calculate the operating life

cycle costs of the facility and the

equipment built into it;

• By designing a BEP, the investor

clearly and unambiguously sets

the required BIM standards to be

applied by the designer and

contractor, which will best fit into

the formats and workflows of the

investor;

• By designing BEP, the investor

ensures the consistency of

modeling, convention of naming

objects or parameters in BIM

model disciplines to establish a

process of automation of data

generation;

• By designing BEP, the investor

ensures consistency of BIM data

generation and BIM modeling,

Below, we are going to look at

each typical BEP chapter

individually by giving a detailed

explanation of their purpose as

well as their content.

Project

Management

The purpose of the BEP chapter

on project management is to

define the scope of

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implementation of BIM

technologies, for all participants

and disciplines in the BIM project

process. This chapter also assigns

investor requirements and roles

to teams and disciplines in the

BIM project process and key

dates for the start, completion

and delivery of BIM project

documentation.

Also, the project management

chapter defines the process of

approval of BIM project

documentation by investors.

Format For Delivery

And Exchange Of

BIM Documentation

The BEP chapter on the BIM

documentation delivery format is

intended to define in the BIM

project process all aspects

necessary for the successful and

optimized functioning of the

entire project team in all

disciplines in the project. In this

chapter of BEP, the most

commonly defined are units that

will be used during all project

phases.

Then, the BIM model formats

(.rvt, IFC, nwd, xlms, etc.) are

defined to be exchanged

between disciplines during the

project process and later, BIM

model formats to be delivered to

the investor.

Other BIM project documentation

formats such as data formats

(.xlsx, db, odbc, etc.) and various

reports and specifications (.doc,

xlsx, pdf, bcf, etc.) are also

defined.

Technical Details Of

The BIM Project

The chapter on the technical

details of a BIM project aims to

standardize and classify data, to

regulate how it is generated and

delivered at the end of each

project phase or the end of the

BIM project process.

It is common for this chapter to

include "BIM modeling

convention ", which defines

naming conventions for BIM

elements to achieve BIM design

process automation and the

ability to update and monitor all

BIM data parameters after

handing over a BIM digital twin

model to an investor at the end

of the BIM design process. In

addition to the aforementioned

parts of the chapter on technical

details of the project, in this

chapter, it is also desirable to

define the geographical data of

the building that is the subject of

the project design.

Then, it is useful to define the

software that will be used in the

BIM project process. Last but not

least, In the chapter on technical

details of the BIM project

process, it is common to see a

detailed description of the output

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047

standard related to graphic

documentation and data from

the BIM model of all disciplines

participating in the BIM project

process.

BIM Multidisciplinary

Collaboration

I believe that the goal of the

investor is to get a fully coordinated

project at the end of the

BIM project process without

collision between different

disciplines in the project. In

reality, that implies that the

investor is going to get a fully

coordinated multidisciplinary BIM

model at the “as built project”

stage done by the contractor.

This BIM model means the BIM

model of each discipline in the

project process, which is combined

into a multidisciplinary BIM

model and where all BIM discipline

models are fully coordinated

ie. have the status of "zero

clash BIM multidisciplinary

model“.

This kind of makes perfect sense,

given that the building and the

equipment built into it are

completely collision-free, so it is

quite expected that the BIM

model will be a perfect digital

replica, ie. a digital twin of the

building.

I have written three articles on

the topic of digital twins and their

purpose, which detail the

purpose and methodology of

their creation - "What Are The

Digital Twins?", "Digital Twins In

The Construction Industry", "Data

Management In The Digital Twin

Of The Building".

However, it should be borne in

mind that during the BIM project

process, starting from the

conceptual design, at the end of

each project phase (except the as

built project), the BIM multidisciplinary

model does not imply a

multidisciplinary BIM model

without collision between different

disciplines in the project.

The process of moving from

coarse BIM discipline models to a

fully coordinated multidisciplinary

BIM model is achieved by

BIM virtual coordination meetings

(VDRs ), where a visual

review of the BIM discipline

model is performed and a

collision detection test is

performed.

It is expected that as project

phases progress, there is going to

be fewer collisions, but it is

unrealistic to expect a BIM

multidisciplinary model without

collisions between different

disciplines until the as built

project, because many collisions

can be solved on the construction

site, while on the other hand

there is no sense in solving some

of the collisions in the early

stages of the project due to the

investor costs, as long as those

048 TeamCAD BIM

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collisions do not significantly

compromise the coherence of the

project of different disciplines.

It would be best if the whole

process of BIM virtual coordination

meetings (VDRs) is managed

by a BIM Manager or a BIM

Consultant on a project, either

employed or hired by the investor.

The process from coarse BIM

models to a fully coordinated

multidisciplinary BIM model can

save a lot of money for an investor

if it is managed by an experienced

BIM Manager or BIM

Consultant.

The frequency of BIM virtual

coordination meetings cannot

generally be defined, but it is

common for BIM virtual coordination

meetings to be held once a

week or once every two weeks. It

is desirable for the BIM Manager

or BIM Consultant to keep a

record during the BIM virtual

coordination meeting and, after

the meeting, to report on the

progress of the BIM discipline

models and project coordination

ie. coordinate the BIM disciplines

with each other and submit that

report to the investor.

attached as an integral part of

the BEP. The level of development

of BIM elements is going to

be discussed in the next chapter.

LOD - Level Of

Development Of

BIM Elements

This chapter defines the level of

development of BIM elements

according to the project phase in

which the project teams of each

discipline in the BIM project

process are. In this BEP chapter,

the investor defines the levels of

development of BIM elements

during all stages of the design

process and places them before

the designer and contractor, not

only in terms of the graphic

requirements of the BIM model

but also in terms of the data that

the BIM elements contain.

The consistency of the level of

development of the BIM

elements and the project phases

is a very broad topic, of which I

am going to give much more

detail in my next article, and

therefore I ask the readers for

some patience on this subject.

CDE - A Common

Data Environment

The last typical BEP chapter, as its

name clearly suggests, defines

the environment where the BIM

project will be done. This means

in practice that this chapter

defines how to exchange models

of different disciplines in the BIM

project process, then the

frequency of BIM model

exchange, the server where the

BIM models and the data related

to them will be uploaded, etc.

The traditional way of exchanging

BIM models, data from the BIM

models and generally the

complete project process does

not give the investor the ability to

check the progress of the BIM

project process at any time


However, this can be

At the very end of the chapter on

BIM multidisciplinary collaboration,

we should mention that

there are LOD (Level Of Development)

Engagement Protocols,

which in some countries respect

the predefined format of BIM

parts, during the various project

phases. However, most commonly,

the level of development of

the BIM elements in the project

process is related to the different

project phases and is usually

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compensated by an investor

hiring a BIM Manager or BIM

Consultant. herefore, it is very

useful for all participants in the

BIM project process - including

designers of different disciplines,

contractor and investor - to work

in a cloud-based project

environment where there is no

upload of updated BIM discipline

models. In a cloud-based project

environment, BIM discipline

models remain virtually in the

cloud all the time and are

updated in real-time, and BIM

models can be considered "alive".

This means that every change in

the BIM model made by the

participants in the project is

reflected in the BIM model of

discipline in the cloud. This

provides maximum transparency

to all participants in the BIM

project process and helps to

identify multidisciplinary

problems in the project process

faster and to solve them in the

early project stages.

It is not my intention to give a

final judgment or impose my own

opinion, but after really many

projects in different cloud

common project environments,

my opinion is that the BIM 360

provides the best opportunities

for permanent coordination

between different BIM discipline

models in the BIM project

process, because all changes are

visible after the data in the BIM

discipline model is synchronized.

Such a BIM workflow enables the

investor or his BIM Consultant to

constantly monitor the progress

of the project and the level of

compatibility of the BIM model

disciplines at any point in the

project process. At the very end

of the article, I would like to make

a summary of everything I have

outlined in the article.

BEP is a necessary document for

the successful implementation of

BIM technology on a project

where the investor places a BIM

claim on the project participants.

It is logical that BEP development

is the responsibility of the

investor, as he pays for all project

life cycle costs - from the

conceptual design to the as built

project. Depending on the

experience of the BIM Manager

or BIM Consultant hired by the

investor to design the BEP and

oversee the implementation of

the requirements contained in

the BEP, the investor himself can

make significant savings at all

stages of the project process.

In the end, it is possible to have a

BIM as built model with

installations - a future digital twin

of the facility, which he can hand

over or sell to a future facility

user to track the life cycle cost of

the facility and the equipment

built into it. If an investor is also a

future user of a facility, creating a

BEP by the investor, by hiring a

BIM Manager or BIM Consultant

and overseeing the

implementation of the

requirements contained in it,

seems like the only logical option.

I would like to conclude with an

article on "What Is BEP And What

Should It Contain?" and my view

of how it can help an investor in

many areas by optimizing costs

and achieving better

functionality, both for facilities

that are not made or built and for

facilities that are built.

Until next time,

Predrag Jovanovic

050 HTTPS://WWW.TEA

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JAN 2021

Whati Is LOD - The Level Of

Detail of BIM Elements


BACK TO CONTENTS


INTERESTING TOPICS

RELATED TO THE BIM

WORKFLOW. AS I

ANNOUNCED IN MY

PREVIOUS ARTICLE, "WHAT

IS BEP AND WHAT SHOULD

IT CONTAIN?", IN THIS

ARTICLE, WE ARE

FOCUSING ON A TOPIC

CONCERNING LOD - LEVEL

OF DETAIL OF BIM MODEL

ELEMENTS.

What Is LOD - The

Level Of Detail Of

BIM Elements?

The Level of Detail of BIM

elements or LOD is a chapter of

BEP (BIM Execution Plan). In BIM

terminology, it presents a precise

description of all typical elements

in the BIM model, both in terms

of graphic details of BIM

elements and in terms of quantity

type data that the BIM element

should contain. The level of detail

of BIM elements is usually

directly related to the work and

data delivery at certain phases of

the project, so it can be safely

concluded that the level of detail

of BIM elements defines the

graphical appearance of BIM

elements and the type and

quantity of data allocated to BIM

052 TeamCAD BIM

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elements during and at the end

of each project phase.

All of the above leads us to the

logical conclusion that the levels

of detail of the BIM elements

change at each project phase

during the project life cycle.

One has to be very careful about

the required level of detail of BIM

elements during each project

phase, primarily for coordinated

exchange of BIM data during the

BIM project process and then for

financial reasons, since all

participants in the project

process should be aware of the

fact that the higher requirement

in terms of the level of detail of

BIM elements at some phase of

the project, the higher work, and

therefore the higher cost of

generating BIM geometry and

data in the BIM discipline model.

After defining exactly what the

LOD or the level of detail of BIM

elements means and explaining

in principle the relationship

between the level of detail of BIM

elements and project phases,

logical questions arise:

of data have to match?

• How to verify the

implementation of BIM element

LOD?

• Is the chapter on the LOD of the

BIM elements sufficient to ensure

efficient coordination of the BIM

model and the exchange of data

from all participants in the BIM

project process?

Below, I will give you a detailed

answer and explanation for each

question asked.

Who Defines The

Level Of Detail Of

Bim Elements?

Bearing in mind that the interests

of the designer, contractor and

investor do not completely

coincide during the BIM project

process, I do not think it is

possible to give a simple answer

to the question which party in the

project process needs to define

precisely the level of detail of the

BIM elements.

First, it should also be borne in

mind that the BEP chapter, which

deals with the level of detail of

BIM elements, most commonly

defines the graphical layout of

BIM elements and the data

assigned to those elements in

BIM discipline models. Indirectly,

the BIM element LOD also affects

the multidisciplinary BIM

workflow and data sharing in a

multidisciplinary BIM

environment by placing clear

requirements on the BIM

element LOD in front of the

disciplines designers, both

graphically and in terms of data

that the BIM discipline model

should include.

All this provides a framework for

discipline designers to exchange

information efficiently from the

BIM discipline model, and it is

therefore very valuable to set the

level of detail of the BIM

elements to the discipline

designers, which would allow

them to exchange data as

efficiently as possible within the

BIM project process during a

particular project phase.

Considering all the above in the

article section on who defines the

level of detail of BIM elements, I

think it is most logical that the

investor is a participant in the

project whose interest is to

manage the LOD requirements of

BIM elements for each discipline

in the BIM project process.

• Who defines the level of detail

of BIM elements?

• How to define the level of detail

of BIM elements depending on

the project phases?

• Do the graphic level of detail of

BIM elements and level of detail

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053

The reasons for this are many,

and I m going to list only the

most important:

• Better control over the process

of generating graphic

documentation and data in BIM

discipline models at each project

phase;

• Optimized transition to the

next phase of the project in the

BIM project process;

• Easier establishment of

automation of the BIM project

process, which results in the

absolute accuracy of the

generated data and more

efficient exchange of data

between different disciplines in

the BIM project process; more on

that topic, you can find in the

article „BIM Workflow

Automation“

• Reduction of design costs

through automation of the BIM

project process;

• By controlling and managing

the LOD requirements of BIM

elements, the investor gets a

cheaper BIM as built model,

which can serve as a very good

basis for the FM model and

digital twin model; read more in

the article "What Are The Digital

Twins?"

Following the reasons why an

investor should manage the LOD

requirements of BIM elements, it

is important to note that it is very

easy for an investor to achieve

the above goals by hiring a BIM

Manager or BIM Consultant, who

with his knowledge and experience

could bring significant

financial savings to the investor

through optimization of requirements

of the LOD of BIM

elements at all phases of the

project in order to establish the

most efficient BIM project

process.

How To Define The

Level Of Detail Of

Bim Elements Depending

On The

Project Phases?

Fortunately, the answer to this

question is not that complicated.

Specifically, the BIM project

process monitors the requirements

of each project phase, so

the direct relationship between

the LOD of the BIM elements and

each project phase is more than

obvious, with some exceptions.

I m going to try in a very simple

way to explain the requirements

of each LOD of BIM elements

during the project phases

through a very simple example -

the evolution of the door LOD

through the different phases of

the project:

After a very simplified way of

reviewing the requirements of

the LOD of the BIM elements

according to the project phases, I

think it would be useful to also

make a description of each level

of detail of the BIM elements -

LOD level:

• LOD 100:

• graphic requirements - the

most basic 3D geometry;

• parameters - the most basic

geometry without material data;

• LOD 200:

• graphic requirements – 3D

geometry;

• parameters - the most basic

data of elements materials;

• LOD 300/350:

• graphic requirements - 3D

geometry with details sufficient

for the preparation of tender

documents;

• parameters - information on

the materials of the elements

sufficient for the preparation of

the tender documentation;

• LOD 400:

• graphic requirements -

detailed 3D geometry with details

sufficient for the construction

state project;

• parameters - information on

the elements materials sufficient

for the construction state project;

• LOD 500:

• graphic requirements -

detailed 3D geometry with details

sufficient to produce the as built

project, FM model and digital

twin;

054 TeamCAD BIM

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• parameters - data on the

materials of the elements sufficient

to produce the as built

project, FM model and digital

twin;

Do The Graphic

Level Of Detail Of

Bim Elements And

Level Of Detail Of

Data Have To

Match?

The answer to this question may

be a conditional yes.

Namely, in practice, I often

encountered different requirements

in terms of the LOD of BIM

elements which were not strictly

following the typical requirements

of the project phase ie.

according to the brief overview

given in the previous chapter of

the article - comparing the BIM

element level of detail from LOD

100 to LOD 500.

To tickle your imagination, I am

going to give you a typical

example that completely deviates

from the schedule view of the

LOD 500 of BIM elements during

the various phases of the project.

Take elevator geometry and

elevator data, for example. In the

FM model and the digital twin

model of a constructed building,

for example, the elevator can be

presented geometrically as a

simple prism, while in terms of

parameters and data it must be

presented in much more detail.

Elevator data in the FM model

and digital twin model must

provide information about who

the elevator manufacturer is,

what material the elevator was

made of in the BIM model, when

the previous elevator service was,

when the next elevator service is,

how many people can fit in the

elevator, cable data and other

details related to elevator

lifecycle monitoring, etc.

After this very simple example

regarding the LOD requirements

of the BIM element related to the

elevator in the FM phase of the

project or the digital twin model, I

think it is clear to you why I

initially answered the question as

a conditional yes.

In this regard, I hope you

understand that LOD 200 or LOD

300 is sufficient for the graphic

requirements of the elevator,

while the LOD 500 is required for

parameters and data for the FM

model or the digital twin model

to fulfill all requirements for an

adequate LOD of the BIM

elements.

How To Verify The

Implementation Of

Bim Element Lod?

The most logical answer to this

question is that the investor

should verify that all

requirements related to the LOD

of BIM elements in the BIM

project process have been met.

The simplest way for an investor

to do this is to hire an experienced

BIM Manager or BIM Consultant,

who would check, in the interest

of the investor, the degree of

implementation of the BIM

element LOD in the BIM discipline

models.

To avoid any complications and

to identify any shortcomings in

the BIM discipline models on

time, it is best to organize

periodic virtual multidisciplinary

BIM meetings, where a mutual

review of all BIM discipline

models is conducted.

Such a process would prevent

any problems in reaching the

required LOD of BIM elements in

the BIM model of any discipline

and would give sufficient time to

all project participants to remedy

any deficiencies if they were

noticed at any time during the


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Is The Chapter On

The Lod Of The Bim

Elements Sufficient

To Ensure Efficient

Coordination Of The

Bim Model And The

Exchange Of Data

From All Participants

In The Bim Project

Process?

The answer to this question is

short and simple - no.

Although the chapter on the

LOD of BIM elements can serve

as a very good starting point for

effective coordination of the

BIM model and the exchange of

data of all participants in the

BIM project process, the

process of BIM workflow

coordination between

disciplines, as well as the data

exchange between participants

in the BIM project process

belongs much more to the BEP

addition called "BIM Modeling

Convention".

This document describes in

detail the way and techniques

of BIM modeling of each

discipline, BIM workflows for

automated and optimized data

exchange between disciplines,

the process of BIM

multidisciplinary coordination,

ways of data visualization, etc.

article on LOD - Level of detail

of BIM elements. The level of

detail of BIM elements is an

integral part of BEP, which

further clarifies the required

LOD of BIM elements, both

graphical, parameters and data.

The BIM element detail levels

are usually defined from LOD

100 to LOD 500

It is common for the LOD of the

BIM element to match the

project phase in which it is

generated, but this rule may not

always apply.

The most common discrepancies

in this regard are with the FM

and digital twin models.

The LOD of BIM elements is an

excellent starting point in

defining and coordinating the

BIM model of disciplines, both

graphically and in terms of a

framework for coordinating and

exchanging data of all


process.

However, the LOD of the BIM

elements does not fully regulate

the multidisciplinary BIM

workflow, but rather it is

governed in the best way by the

"BIM Modeling Convention", of

which I will provide much more

information in the following

article.

I would also like to conclude

this article "What Is LOD - The

Level Of Detail Of BIM

Elements?" and my understanding

of how it can assist the

investor in all phases of the

project process through optimization

and automation of the

BIM project process, optimization

of multidisciplinary coordination

and improved implementation

of the BIM project

process.


opportunity to announce my

next article, „The BIM Modeling

Convention“.

Until next time,

Predrag Jovanović

At the very end of the article, I

would like to give a brief

recapitulation related to the

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The BIM

Modeling Convention


BACK TO CONTENTS

IN ORDER TO BE ABLE TO

DELVE DEEPER INTO THE

ANALYSIS OF THE BIM

ASPECT RELATED TO THE

TOPIC WE ARE GOING TO

COVER, I THINK IT WOULD

BE VERY USEFUL TO DEFINE,

AT THE VERY BEGINNING OF

THE ARTICLE, THE CONTEXT

AND DEFINITION OF THE

WORD „CONVENTION“ PUT

IN THE CONTEXT OF BIM

WORKFLOW. THERE ARE

INDEED MANY DEFINITIONS

OF WHAT THE WORD

CONVENTION MEANS

EXACTLY, DEPENDING ON

THE CONTEXT IN WHICH

THE WORD CONVENTION IS

USED. IN TRYING TO FIND

THE CORRECT DEFINITION

OF THE WORD

CONVENTIONS, WHICH

WOULD BEST FIT INTO THE

CONTEXT OF A BIM

WORKFLOW, I CAME

ACROSS TWO DEFINITIONS

THAT, IN MY OPINION, BEST

FIT THIS PURPOSE.

By the first definition, the word

„convention“ in the context of a

BIM workflow can be defined as:

"A rule, methodology or common

practice established by long-term

use by users."

Another very appropriate definition

of the word „convention“,

which can help us put the word in

the right context within the BIM

workflow, is: "A convention is an

agreement, an agreed use, and a

standard procedure established

by long-term use by users."

Both of the above-mentioned

definitions of the word „convention“

meaning fit perfectly in the

context of the BIM workflow, and

I took and translated them from

Dictionary.com.

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modelling process, it is common

to define:

After defining the meaning of the

word "convention" in the context

of a BIM workflow, questions

such as the following are

imposing:

• What is the BIM modelling

convention?

• What is the purpose of the BIM

modelling convention?

• Is it possible to successfully

automate the BIM project

process and visualize data

without the BIM modelling

convention?

• Can the BIM modelling

convention become part of the

BIM standard?

Below, I will do my best to answer

each of the questions raised.

What Is The

BIM Modelling

Convention?

The BIM modelling convention is,

in my opinion, an integral part of

the BIM design process.

The BIM modelling convention is

a set of agreements, rules,

methodologies and standard

procedures concerning both the

BIM modelling process itself and

the naming of parameters and

attributes in BIM discipline

models and in a multidisciplinary

BIM project environment.

It is common for the BIM

modelling convention to be

attached as a separate to BIM

Execution Plan.

What Is The

Purpose Of The

BIM Modelling

Convention?

The purpose of the BIM

modelling convention is to ensure

consistency of both aspects of

the BIM project process - the BIM

modelling process itself and the

generation and management of

data, whether we are talking

about a multidisciplinary BIM

environment or a BIM discipline

model.

What exactly does that mean?

As for the part of the BIM

modelling convention on the BIM

• Coordinates and the project

base point;

• Methodology for modelling BIM

elements in discipline models;

• Coordination of the BIM

discipline models in a


environment;

• Division of project zones, if it is

a complex and large project;

• Levels height in each of the BIM

discipline models.

The above-mentioned part of the

BIM modelling convention is not

as complicated to implement as it

is mainly related to the skills of

BIM modelers and BIM discipline

coordinators in a


environment.

What requires a much more

serious approach from


environment of disciplines and in

a multidisciplinary BIM

environment is the part

concerning data and parameter

management. Therefore,

particular attention should be

paid to this aspect within the BIM

modelling convention framework.

Namely, the part of the BIM

modelling convention about data

and parameter management

within the BIM discipline model

and in a multidisciplinary BIM

environment is of the utmost

importance when talking about

the successful establishment of

BIM design process automation,

since only the preliminary

definition and consistency of

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parameter naming ensures

successful implementation of BIM

design process automation and

visualization of data obtained

from that process. So, in the part

of the BIM modelling convention

about the generation and

management of BIM data, the

most commonly defined are:

• BIM elements naming convention;

• The naming convention of

parameters of BIM elements;

• Data management methodology

in a multidisciplinary BIM

environment;

• Filter color coding as preparation

for BIM data visualization;

• BIM data visualization methodology.

Unlike the part of the BIM

modelling convention related to

the BIM modelling process, which

is more concerned with geometric

data, the part of the BIM

modelling convention on the

methodology of generating and

managing BIM data forms the

core of successful or unsuccessful

BIM implementation, because

information - data in the BIM

model make the key difference

between 3D models and BIM

models.

Therefore, we are going also to

consider the issue of interaction,

on the one hand, the BIM design

process automation and data

visualization, and on the other,

the BIM modelling convention.

Is It Possible To

Successfully

Automate The BIM

Project Process And

Visualize Data

Without The

BIM Modelling

Convention?

I have a very simple answer to

this question and it says NO. Why

is it not possible to automate the

BIM project process and visualize

data without a modleling

convention? I think I am going to

answer this question in one very

simple example.

About half a year ago, I attended

a very interesting webinar on

data, where one of the

presenters was a programmer

from a company that wrote a

package for the visual

programming language Dynamo.

Because part of the presentation

also included a live

demonstration of the Dynamo

package tool, at one point the

presenter wanted to filter and

isolate all the trees in his BIM

model to further process the data

and then visualize that data.

He chose the „tree“ parameter as

the criterion for filtering elements

in his BIM model and hit the

"Run" button in his script. We all

naturally expected that after the

"Run" button in the Dynamo

script was pressed, only the trees

would be visible. However, this

did not happen, the screen

remained completely blank, so

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nothing was selected after the

Dynamo script and the script

reported that the number of

elements that could be selected

by the given criteria was zero...

What actually happened? The

criterion in the Dynamo script

("Node" code block = tree;) for

element selection in the BIM

model was set to search for all

elements containing the word

"tree" in its name.

The presenter typed "tre" in the

name of its element - a tree - and

made a mistake in naming the

element. It turns out that the

script looked for BIM elements -

trees named "tree", but in the

BIM model used in the

presentation, there was no such

element.

The reason is that the element

tree in the BIM model is called

"tre" by mistake of the BIM

modeler. Therefore, since no

element met the criteria of the

predefined filter for the selection

of the BIM element tree – „tree“,

therefore the tree could not even

be selected.

If we analyze this problem from a

purely human - common sense,

not programming or automation

perspective, we come to the

paradoxical situation that the

object we see on screen is a tree.

So we want to select a tree and

know what a tree is in the BIM

model, but scripts and

automation tools do not allow us

to select all trees in the model by

a given criterion, for procedural

reasons.

I hope this very simple example,

in a picturesque and easy to

understand way, explains the

importance of the BIM modelling

convention above all, and the

predefined BIM element naming

convention in a BIM discipline

model and multidisciplinary BIM

environment, and then the

accuracy of data entry and filter

use that give you the ability to

visualize data from the BIM

discipline model and

multidisciplinary BIM data.

And about the data visualization

from the BIM discipline model

and the multidisciplinary BIM

environment, more in the

following articles…

Can The BIM

Modelling

Convention Become

Part Of The BIM

Standard?

The question posed does not

require a vast BIM knowledge

and experience, but is a more

common sense question. If we

look at the entire history of the

human civilization development,

it is clear that the very beginnings

of the first language on our

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planet, used by the human

species, are certainly based on

the convention of naming objects

in nature, phenomena and

characteristics that surround us.

Every word that is in use today, in

any language in the world, has its

roots in the distant past, where

the then members of the human

species have agreed, or in the

spirit of this article, have made a

convention to name the objects

that surround them.

From the agreed names for

particular objects, phenomena

and characteristics for natural

phenomena, we have come to

standardized languages, which

have a set of default rules, which

can be called a standard. Do you

notice any similarities in the

process, from agreement and

convention to the standardization

of the language creation process

described above with the BIM

modelling convention and the

BIM element naming convention?

I think you can see for yourself

the answer to the question of

whether the BIM modelling

convention can become part of

the BIM standard. After all, let's

remember the CAD naming

convention of a layer in AutoCAD,

at the level of each company,

when the CAD standard began to

apply, and compare it with

today's AIA CAD standard for the

layer naming.

I think it is quite clear that one

day, instead of the BIM modelling

convention, we will talk about the

BIM modelling standard and that

this article will be ridiculed, but to

be honest, I cannot wait for that

to happen, since the standardization

of BIM modelling will bring us

great benefits and savings in the

BIM project process in the future.

At the very end of the article, I

would like to give a recapitulation

of the topic and give personal

conclusions based on years of

practice in implementing BIM

technologies.

The BIM modelling convention is

more often an integral and

default part of the BIM Execution

Plan and helps all participants in

a multidisciplinary BIM environment

to standardize both the BIM

modelling process and the

naming of BIM elements in BIM

discipline models.

The predefined naming convention

for BIM elements is not an

administrative or bureaucratic

requirement on the part of the

BIM Project Manager but aims at

establishing data generation

automation in BIM discipline

models, which brings significant

savings to all participants in the

BIM project process. Also, the BIM

modelling convention also significantly

helps to automate the

exchange of data between

different BIM model disciplines in

a multidisciplinary BIM project

environment.

Finally, the BIM modelling

convention largely optimizes the

establishment of data generation

automation, which is later used to

visualize data obtained from BIM

models.

It can be said that the BIM modelling

convention, mostly its part on

the BIM elements naming, is the

basis for the successful implementation

of the BIM design

process automation in a multidisciplinary

BIM environment and

the automation of data generation

to visualize data obtained

from the BIM disciplines or

multidisciplinary BIM model.

I would like to conclude with the

article on the topic „The BIM

Modelling Convention“ and my

view of how this document can

help us to establish the automation

of the BIM project process at

all stages of the BIM project

process, then to optimize multidisciplinary

coordination, and

ultimately to advance the implementation

of the entire BIM

project process.


Predrag Jovanović

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The Big Savings BEP

Brings To The Investor


BACK TO CONTENTS

IF YOU READ ONE OF MY

PREVIOUS ARTICLES, „WHAT

IS BEP AND WHAT SHOULD

IT CONTAIN?“, I HOPE I

ASSURED YOU BEP IS NOT

ONE MORE BUREAUCRATIC

DOCUMENT IN BIM

PROJECT DOCUMENTATION,

THAT „BOTHERS DISCIPLINE

DESIGNERS AND

CONTRACTOR TO EXPRESS

THEIR CREATIVITY“,

BUT THE KEY DOCUMENT

THAT IN CLEARLY AND

UNAMBIGUOUSLY, FROM

BIM IMPLEMENTATION

POINT OF VIEW, DEFINES

ROLES AND ARRANGES

RELATIONS BETWEEN

DISCIPLINES DESIGNERS,

THE CONTRACTOR AND THE

INVESTOR IN BIM PROJECT

PROCESS.

In my opinion, writing BEP should

be investor’s obligation, either by

hiring BIM Manager or BIM

Consultant, because the quality

and consistent BIM model

generated during different

project phases and organized

data generated in it could serve

as an excellent base for

transforming the BIM model in

the digital twin model at the very

end of BIM project process.

Furthermore, the digital twin

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model enables big savings in

facility maintenance through the

cost optimization of facility

lifecycle and equipment built into

it.

After the introduction, let me

continue with considering what

way the investor can make

considerable savings with BEP

making and the control of its

implementation in the BIM

project process. I am going to

present a few ideas and

conclusions, which, I am sure,

bring considering benefit to the

investor:

• The consistency of the BIM

discipline models during all

phases of the BIM project process

allows the investor large savings;

• Well designed and implemented

BIM modelling convention brings

the investor big savings;

• By optimizing the

multidisciplinary coordination of

the BIM discipline models, the

investor achieves great savings;

• By optimizing BIM elements

LOD, the investor achieves big

savings;

• By optimizing CDE (Common

Data Environment), the investor

achieves great savings.

All the above-mentioned

recommendations and

conclusions can bring significant

savings in the BIM project

process to the investor and they

can be explained in detail. Also, I

think that the above-mentioned

conclusions need to be confirmed

with some examples from the

real BIM project environment,

which I am going to do below.

So let's go in order…

Note: In the following text, I am

going to explain in detail all the

above-mentioned conclusions

and recommendations based on

my personal experience and very

successful BIM project process

implementation for one of the

biggest investors and data center

owners in the world.

The Consistency Of

The BIM Discipline

Models During All

Phases Of The

BIMProject Process

Allows The Investor

Large Savings

I am not sure that the vast

majority of readers understand

why it is necessary to ensure the

consistency of the BIM discipline

models during all project phases

and how this allows the investor

great savings, so I think it is

necessary to explain this

conclusion in detail.

For a start, it would be good to try

to put yourself in the role of an

investor and consider what would

be in your interest, and that is

related to the consistency of the

BIM discipline models during all

phases of the BIM project

process.

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Let's take the example that the

investor, although this is usually

not the case, foresaw the same

designers of disciplines during all

phases of the project, from the

concept phase, all the way to the

construction stage project.

Furthermore, it usually happens

that, after the tender phase of

the project, BIM discipline models

are handed over to the

contractor, who extracts from

these BIM models the necessary

data related to construction

dynamics, bill of quantities,

quantities of materials needed

for construction, materials and

equipment that are going to be

installed in a building, etc.

If the investor, with the help of

his BIM Manager or BIM

Consultant engaged in the

project, did not monitor the

consistency of the BIM discipline

models during the previous

project phases and if it turns out

that BIM discipline models are

not usable for the contractor for

various reasons, justified or

unjustified, the investor can easily

face the problem that the

contractor requires him to

develop completely new BIM

discipline models for the

construction phase of the project,

which exposes the investor to

additional and unplanned costs.

An additional absurdity of this

situation is that the investor has

already paid the designers of the

disciplines designing and making

BIM models of disciplines, so the

investor, in case the BIM models

of disciplines generated by the

designer are not consistent with

the contractor's requirements,

would practically pay the same

thing twice.

So, in this very simple example,

you can see how important it is to

have consistency and continuity

of BIM disciplines models during

all phases of BIM project process,

regardless of whether BIM model

is in the hands of designer,

contractor, investor, company

engaged in facility maintenance

as a facility manager or the user

of the building.

In answer to the question - how

an investor can achieve

significant savings during all


process, we can say - by

monitoring the consistency of the

BIM disciplines models from

conceptual BIM model to digital

twin model of the building and

equipment built into it with the

help of BIM Manager or BIM

Consultant on the project.

And how can BEP help us in the

consistency of the BIM modelling

process? You are going to get the

answer to this question in the

next few sentences…

Well Designed And

Implemented BIM

Modeling

Convention Brings

The Investor Big

Savings

It is this part of BEP - the BIM

modeling convention - that

ensures the consistency of the

BIM modeling process during all


process. You can find much

more information about the

BIM modeling convention if you

read the article "BIM modelling

convention" where I covered

this topic in detail.

In this article, it is not my

intention to go into too much

detail on that topic. However, I

think it is important to note that

this part of the BEP largely

regulates the manner and

consistency of data and

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information generation in BIM

models of disciplines.

This further leads us to the

conclusion that special

attention must be paid to the

field of data and information in

BIM models because the

transfer of BIM disciplines

models by the designers of

disciplines to the contractor, as

well as the transfer of BIM as

built model by the contractor to

the investor ensures

consistency in the BIM model of

the digital twin.

And what is most important to

me, the investor thus, through

BEP and hiring an experienced

BIM Manager, gains complete

control over the consistency of

the process of BIM modelling

and generating data and

information in BIM models, and

thus gains confidence in the

data generated at the end of

the as built project, ie. at the

beginning of the digital twin life

cycle.

By Optimizing The

Multidisciplinary

Coordination Of The

BIM Discipline

Models, The

Investor Achieves

Great Savings

Let’s start on this topic with one

simple question. Is full

coordination between the BIM

models of disciplines expected at

the end of the project conceptual

phase? The answer is extremely

simple and it says no. It should be

borne in mind that at the

conceptual design stage, BIM

disciplines models are located in

the very early project phase and

that major changes are possible,

both in the conceptual design

phase and in subsequent phases

of the project. The same answer

can be expected for all

subsequent phases up to the as

built project.

Namely, even in the construction

phase of the project, it is not

expected that all BIM models of

disciplines are perfectly

coordinated and do not have the

slightest collisions (Zero clash

model), as it often happens that

changes occur on the

construction site due to

unforeseen circumstances -

justified or unjustified. The BIM

multidisciplinary model of the

construction phase of the project

can be said to be the "liveliest"

and to be the one to experience

the most changes. It also requires

daily coordination due to the high

cost of every mistake on the

construction site and so on until

the construction is performed

satisfactorily. In the end, we can

conclude that an ideally

coordinated BIM multidisciplinary

model is expected only in the

as-built project, which is also an

excellent basis for the model of

the digital twin of the building.

And what is the connection

between BEP, investors, savings

and coordination? Well, the

answer is simple and I am going

to give it through a practical

example. Suppose a scenario

where an investor in BEP stated

that in the main project the

frequency of VDR - Virtual Design

Review is once a week. This

exposes the investor to

unnecessary additional costs, as

It may not be necessary, but I

am going to mention that the

digital twin model of the

constructed building and the

ownership of it should most

often be the ultimate goal of

the investor.

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each discipline designer and the

BIM Manager himself will add the

cost of too frequent


coordination meetings to the

project price. Also, there is no

significant progress in project

terms at VDR, especially in the

early project stages to benefit

from frequent VDR on a weekly

basis.

Therefore, it is common practice

to organize VDR every two to

three weeks and as the project

progresses to the next phases,

VDR becomes more frequent.

Since the frequency of VDRs is

most often the responsibility of

BIM Manager and each project is

a story for itself, I would not give

me the freedom to give a strict

recommendation on the

frequency of VDRs, but would

leave the decision to the BIM

Manager or BIM Consultant.

By Optimizing BIM

Elements LOD, The

Investor Achieves

Big Savings

This conclusion does not require

much explanation. If you read the

article "What Is LOD - The Level

Of Detail Of BIM Elements?", I

believe you could easily conclude

that, the higher the LOD of BIM

elements, the more demanding it

is, both from the BIM modeling

perspective and from the

perspective of generating data

and information related to BIM

elements, so we come to the very

simple conclusion that the more

demanding the LOD of BIM

elements, the model

development will require more

resources, and this will result in a

more expensive BIM model for

the investor.

Very often, to explain this

conclusion, I take the BIM

element - the elevator car as an

example. Let's look at the BIM

model of the elevator car in the

BIM context and what you need

to know about it. It is good to

know the dimensions of the

elevator car, for the FM model

and for the digital twin model it is

good to know the basic geometric

information, but also information

related to regular and

extraordinary elevator servicing. I

consider all additional

information related to the

detailed geometry of the elevator

completely unnecessary because

apart from the visual effect, they

have no practical application

from a BIM perspective.

Let's ask ourselves why it is

necessary to go into the very

detailed geometry of the elevator

car when in the model it only has

the role of "information holder"

for service information? Okay, I

have to admit that it's nice to see

a perfect digital replica of an

elevator car, but someone has to

pay for it, the investor in this

case. Often in BIM models, we

find very detailed models of

certain BIM components. The

most common reason for this is

that they can be downloaded

from the websites of equipment

manufacturers completely free of

charge. If the perfectly modeled

elevator car reached the BIM

model in that way, it is quite okay

to see it in the BIM model,

because making such a digital

replica of the elevator car is not

expensive and is cost-effective for

both the designer and the

contractor, as well as the

investor.

I hope that after this short and

simple example of the elevator

car, you came to the conclusion

that it is not necessary to model

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all the elements in the BIM model

in great detail if they are used

only as "information holders", as

such an approach saves time and

money to the designer,

contractor and the investor as

well.

By Optimizing CDE

(Common Data

Environment), The

Investor Achieves

Great Savings

This conclusion is perhaps the

most significant because it

explains to the investor how in a

very simple way he can achieve

full control over the entire BIM

project process. In short, a

common BIM project

environment usually involves

working in the cloud. During my

career, I used the Autodesk BIM

360 platform the most and it

allows all participants, and most

of all the investor, complete

control over the BIM project

process.

In such a BIM project

environment, all BIM models of

disciplines are located on the BIM

360 cloud and are available to

authorized persons participating

in the project, both for virtual

verification of BIM models and

for verification of data and

information.

which greatly helps in the early

stages of the project and in the

process of finding the most

optimal solutions for all


process.

I will give you much more

information about the common

BIM project environment and BIM

360 platform in one of my

following articles.

At the very end of this article, also

at the very end of the series of

articles about BEP, I would like to

make a short summary of this

topic.

BEP is a necessary document of

every BIM project and its purpose

is to regulate and arrange the

relations between the designers

of disciplines, contractors and

investors. Based on my

experience, it is most logical for

the investor to be engaged and

responsible for the preparation

and development of the BEP,

because it brings the most

savings to him. If the investor is

not able to compile a valid BEP or

has no experience in it, it is the

best to hire a professional BIM

Manager or BIM Consultant for

such work, who will carry out all

activities on the BEP

development and control the

implementation of BEP

requirements in the investor’s

interest.

This would also conclude the

article "The Big Savings BEP

Brings To The Investor" and my

view on how BEP, as the most

important BIM document, can

help us establish automation of

BIM project process in all phases

of BIM project process, then

optimize multidisciplinary

coordination and finally improve

the implementation of the entire


At the same time, I would like to

take this opportunity to

announce my next article "Data Is

The New Gold, Does The Same

Apply To Data In Digital Twins?".




in the article "The Big Savings BEP

Brings To The Investor", please


pleased to give you additional

information.


Predrag Jovanović

The multidisciplinary BIM model

is also located on the BIM 360

cloud, all BIM models of

disciplines are linked, so BIM

multidisciplinary coordination is

always and at any time possible,

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Data Is The New Gold, Does

The Same Apply To Data In DT?


BACK TO CONTENTS

IN THIS ARTICLE I AM GOING

TO COVER THE TOPIC “DATA

IS THE NEW GOLD, DOES

THE SAME APPLY TO DATA

IN DIGITAL TWINS?”.

HAVE YOU HEARD THAT THE

DATA IS THE NEW GOLD OR

NEW BLACK GOLD?

If you take a good look at the

image above, you are going to

admit that these claims come

from very competent portals and

from very competent companies

and institutions. The claim that

data is new gold raises many

questions, as information and

data in themselves have no

material or market value, such as

gold or oil. Therefore, we must

keep in mind that when claiming

that data is "new gold", we do not

mean comparing the market

value of information and data on

the one hand and gold on the

other, but something completely

different.

Namely, during the development

of the human civilization, gold

imposed itself as the most

reliable form of preserving the

value of property and capital,

because, until the seventies of

the last century, gold was the

basis for the entire money supply

on the planet. Practically, every

banknote on the planet had a

base in the gold bars of central

banks around the world, and that

is what still gives gold great value

today and makes it a very reliable

form of preserving the capital

value.

But how to compare the value of

information and data with the

gold value? In which way to

compare them?

I think we can easily compare the

value of information or data and

068 TeamCAD BIM

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the gold value if we compare the

potential they carry with

themselves.

If we know that gold has a limited

price, where the factor that limits

the value of a gram or ounce of

gold is its current price on the

international market, the

information or data has no such

limitations and its value is

measured by the potential

benefit that the information or

data provides to its owner.

him for a lifetime." Therefore,

data and information have a

supreme value and their value is

much greater than anything

material, even gold itself.

I am of the opinion that, precisely

because of the views expressed

in the previous part of the article,

there are today's comparisons of

the value of information, data,

and thus skills on the one hand

and the value of gold on the

other.

are based not only on 3D

geometry but on something

much larger and more valuable -

on their majesty information and

data.

Below, I m going to try to support

the above thoughts and attitudes

related to the potential and value

of information and data in digital

twin technology and answer

some of the questions that, I am

sure, arise for every reader of this

article:

If we add that information and

data as an integral part of data

science, along with digital twin

technology, are one of the main

hopes of the fourth industrial

revolution, the high value of

information and data becomes

more than obvious to us.

You have probably heard the

saying of the Chinese philosopher

Confucius: "Give a man a fish,

and you feed him for a day.

Teach a man to fish, and you feed

If we now return to the world of

BIM technologies and digital

twins and look at the value of

information, data, and skills from

that perspective, we come to the

true meaning of today's popular

claim that "data is the new gold".

Although this claim stems from

Data Science, it is absolutely

applicable to today's BIM

technologies (Building

Information Modelling) and

digital twin technologies, which

• Why is data so valuable in

digital twin technology?

• How to generate data in the

digital twin model in the most

efficient way?

• How to efficiently process data

in a digital twin model?

• How to visualize data most

efficiently?

• How to turn the data in the

digital twin model into concrete

savings?

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It is also important to note that

currently the cheapest option

obtained based on data from

various digital simulation tools,

using digital twin technologies,

does not always mean the

cheapest option during a certain

period of a facility operating in

the real world.

Why Is Data So

Valuable In Digital

Twin Technology?

As you could read in one of my

previous articles "What Are The

Digital Twins?", we defined digital

twins as a digital replica of

physical data, processes, systems,

and a digital simulation of reality

that can be used for a variety of

purposes.

This practically means that we

can test a digital replica of a

real-world object for various

dynamic influences without any

damage to the physical object

itself and make perfectly

objective decisions based on

comparing different results

obtained from simulations in

digital twin models.

If we take into account that

simulations on a digital replica of

real-world objects can be done an

unlimited number of times and in

different variants, the information

and data generated from the

various options and solutions

considered allow us great

savings. Also, the data allow us to

make decisions based on data

obtained from simulations, ie.

Data-Driven Decisions.

For example, if the designer's

criterion is to choose the

cheapest chiller for the investor,

without considering energy

consumption during his work as a

very important criterion in

choosing building equipment, the

investor would achieve certain

savings in the first years of

operation due to lower costs of

purchase and chillers installation,

but in the following years, the

chiller operation would lose

significant funds due to higher

consumption of electricity for

heating and cooling, and thus

higher expenditures to pay the

bills for consumed electricity.

I hope that with the help of a few

previous examples I gave you an

idea of why the data are

generated by different

simulations and processed in

order to optimize operating costs,

very valuable in digital twin

technology, and have great

potential to bring significant

savings to the investor.

Of course, one of the important

parameters in digital twin

technology is the way in which

information and data are

generated, processed, and

visualized, which you are going to

find out more about below.

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How To Generate

Data In The Digital

Twin Model In The

Most Efficient Way

In Order To Achieve

Savings?

When we talk about the most

efficient way to generate data in a

digital twin model, we must

consider that there are two

typical scenarios:

• Data generated during the BIM

project process,

• Data generated during the

operational use of the facility and

the equipment installed in it.

In the first case, when we

generate data during the BIM

project process, the most

efficient way of collecting data is

good communication in project

teams of different disciplines on

the project, timely data exchange

between disciplines in the BIM

project process, BIM project

process automation and BIM data

exchange, and then

implementation of different

digital simulation tools within

digital twin models generated

based on BIM models in different

phases of the project process.

When we talk about the data

generated during the facility

operational use, things are a bit

more complicated. It is often the

case that we do not have access

to any data from the BIM

discipline models, it is a very

common case that the investor

himself does not have a BIM

as-built model, and we are often

forced to invest great effort in

data collection. The fastest way is

to create BIM as-built models of

the different disciplines, and then

it is necessary to install different

sensors in the constructed

buildings, which would collect

data over a longer period of time.

The data collected in this way,

using the "Internet of Things", are

transferred to the digital twin

model for further processing and

analysis, and based on them, we

get the opportunity to optimize

the data obtained in the digital

twin model.

How To Efficiently

Process Data In A

Digital Twin Model?

Depending on the purpose for

which the digital twin model was

created, different tools can be

used to process the data in the

digital twin model in the most

efficient way. However, the data

processing methodology in the

digital twin model can be roughly

divided into:

• CFD (Computational fluid

dynamics) is a calculation of fluid

dynamics and is part of fluid

mechanics which takes numerical

analysis and structured data as a

basis for analysis to solve

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problems related to fluid

behavior in liquid and gaseous

state. CFD analysis has a very

wide application including forces

and moments on various digital

models, pressure in pipes caused

by substances in liquid and

gaseous state that are in the

pipes, explosion analysis,

simulation of motion and flow of

different types of particles,

temperature action, weather

simulation, the behavior of digital

models in the air tunnel, etc.

• Dynamo and Python are digital

tools that are explained in detail

in the article "BIM Workflow

Automation". Here I would like to

avoid a more detailed description

of Dynamo and Python as digital

tools which, in addition to

automating the BIM project

process, have great application in

data processing in digital twin

models. If you want more

information about Dynamo and

Python, please select this link.

• Machine learning is a digital tool

that is defined as a sub-area of

artificial intelligence. Machine

learning is based on learning a

machine based on experience

and imitation of human actions in

certain repetitive circumstances.

Simply put, machine learning is

based on observing the actions

that a person performs when he

encounters a certain typical

problem. After a certain number

of repetitions, the program that

"monitors a person" learns and

adopts the algorithm of human

behavior and takes over the

execution of the same operation

that he learned by "monitoring a

person".

Given that artificial intelligence is

still not able to make very

complex decisions and see the

problems that arise with data

generated by different

simulations, I think we still can

not talk about the massive and

implied use of artificial

intelligence as a digital tool for

process simulation in digital

twins.

How To

Visualize Data

Most Efficiently?

After we have collected relevant

data, then processed them and

obtained parameters from

various calculations and results

that can help us optimize the

digital twin model, there is a need

to visualize the obtained data in a

clear and acceptable and

understandable way. It should be

borne in mind that, when we act

from the perspective of the

service provider to the client, we

must take into account that the

information we provide to the

client at meetings, where to

decide on certain changes in the

project or built facility, is easy to

understand. It often happened to

me to present data at the

meeting which, although relevant

and that would bring savings to

the client, would not be accepted

because I did not format them in

a way that is easily understood by

the client, who does not

necessarily have to be of

engineering or technical

profession. That is why, in my

opinion, data visualization is just

as important as the accuracy of

data generated by different

methodologies, because the data

must be as simple to understand

as possible.

I will give you a couple of

examples:

• During the preparation for the

meeting with the client, it was

necessary to prepare and present

data on the physical

characteristics of steel beams in

the platform model. It was

necessary to give the profile of

the steel beam, the upper

elevation of the steel beams, and

show the client all steel beams

longer than 6.0 m due to the

specific transport requirements

and the limited space for the

construction of the steel

platform. The required data

would traditionally be presented

using multiple drawings. It would

be necessary to mark the upper

elevation of each steel beam, to

tag each steel beam and

dimension the drawing of steel

beams to present the required

data in an appropriate traditional

way. But why not do something

like this - directly from the Revit

model without any drawings,

doesn't the construction model

look simpler and easier to

understand?

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• Using sensors in an already

constructed building,

temperature measurements were

performed in each room during a

one month period. After data

transfer via the "Internet of

Things" and processing of the

obtained data, the average

temperature in each room was

obtained during a predefined

time interval. The obtained data

indicated that the average

temperature in some rooms

deviated from the expected

values predicted by the project. In

this case, the lower temperature

than predicted in the project was

an obstacle for the tenant of the

business space to achieve full

comfort. To more easily present

the measured data, the data

obtained from the sensors were

visualized in a digital twin model

using the Power BI data

visualization program.

• Using sensors on the bridge,

vibration data was collected

during regular traffic. According

to the project documentation

made following the norms from

1975, the bridge needed to be

reconstructed. The client turned

to us to check whether it is

possible to postpone the

reconstruction of the bridge for

some time if the current norms

are respected. Instead of the

classical approach, where we

would do static calculations

according to existing norms,

sensor data and measured

vibrations showed that, with

minimal interventions where only

one sensor showed higher

vibrations than the prescribed

norms, it is possible to postpone

bridge reconstruction for at least

seven years. If we take into

account that the bridge is located

near the port, which has very

intensive ship traffic, the client is

provided with great savings,

because it was not necessary to

close the port during the

two-month minimum works on

the reconstruction of the bridge.

I hope that based on the previous

examples you saw the need to

visualize the data in the digital

twin model in the simplest

possible way and that the whole

point in the story about the data

in the digital twin model is that

each participant in the project

process easily and simply

understands data through a

maximally simplified

representation using the various

visualization software solutions

available to us today.

How To Turn The

Data In The Digital

Twin Model Into

Concrete Savings?

We have come a long way in

being able to turn the data in the

digital twin model into concrete

savings for the client.

First, it was necessary to generate

relevant data, then process them

in a valid way and finally visualize

them in a way that is easily

understood by the client.

In the case of buildings that are

now the subject of the project

and that are done according to

current standards, the best

advice is to do periodic

simulations in digital twin models


Today, the biggest problem are

buildings that were already built

in the middle and end of the last

century.

What should be especially kept in

mind is the fact that the price of

energy has jumped enormously

in the last couple of decades,

which makes older buildings very

energy inefficient.

Most often, energy efficiency is

the main reason for investing in

constructed buildings.

The technology of digital twins

and the application of digital

simulation tools provides us with

great opportunities to achieve

significant savings for the client

by improving the energy

efficiency of constructed facilities.

Estimates based on previous

experience are that without any

investment in the purchase of

new equipment in the building,

i.e. only by optimizing the turning

the heating on and off, cooling,

water heating, lighting, etc., the

minimum savings that an

investor or tenant can achieve is

5% of the energy price which the

investor or tenant pays without

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optimizing the energy efficiency

of the building.

So, only in that segment of the

building life cycle, enormous

money could be saved on an

annual basis.

If we add to that the predictability

of the expenditure on the

maintenance of the building and

the equipment built into it

through data collection using

sensors, "Internet of Things" and

other tools provided by digital

twin technology,

I think it is more than clear to any

reader what the savings is

possible to achieve with the help

of digital twin technology and on

objective Data-Driven Decisions.

This concludes the article "Data Is

The New Gold, Does The Same

Apply To Data In Digital Twins?"

and my view of whether

information and data in digital

twins are the new gold, as is the

case with information and data

within the data science. At the

same time, In the next article we

will look into more interesting

stuff - "Sensors and IoT in The

Digital Twin Technology".




in the article "Data Is The New

Gold, Does The Same Apply To

Data In Digital Twins?", please



information.

Until the next time,

Predrag Jovanovic

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Sensors and IoT In

The Digital Twin Technology


BACK TO CONTENTS

IN THE PREVIOUS ARTICLE

„DATA IS THE NEW GOLD,

DOES THE SAME APPLY TO

DATA IN DIGITAL TWINS?",

I DEALT WITH DATA IN

DIGITAL TWINS IN GENER-

AL AND TRIED TO EXPLAIN

THEIR VALUE AND

POTENTIAL. I HOPE I HAVE

BEEN ABLE TO PROVE THAT

WITHOUT DATA IN DIGITAL

FORM, GENERATED

DURING THE BIM PROJECT

PROCESS OR AFTER THE

BUILDING CONSTRUCTION

OR OBJECT MAKING, WE

WOULD NOT BE ABLE TO

CONSIDER THE POTENTIAL

OF DIGITAL TWIN TECH-

NOLOGY AVAILABLE

TODAY.

When we consider the data

generation process and its

processing in the digital twin

model, two scenarios are the

most common:

1. Digital twin model created by

the transformation of the BIM

model,

2. Digital twin model of an

already existing object (building,

plane, car…).

When we consider the first

scenario, I am sure that the vast

majority of readers are familiar

with the workflow of how to

transform data from the BIM

model into digital twin data.

So, we have a situation that from

one digital format we convert the

data generated for the needs of

the BIM project process into the

data of the digital twin model.

From the point of view of the

process of data generation and

processing, this scenario does not

seem so complicated.

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data-related processes can be

roughly divided into:

• Data collection;

• Data storage;

Data analysis;

• Data visualization;

• Decisions and actions based on

the results of data analysis.

Unlike the first scenario, the

digital twin model of an already

existing object seems a bit more

complicated. First, in order to

convert an existing object from

the real world into a digital twin

model, it is necessary to make a

BIM as-built model of the

constructed object and add

parameters from the real world

to such a model. Then sensors

and IoT (Internet of Things) come

on the scene, which transfers

relevant data measured by

different sensors to parameters

and components in the digital

twin model. Let me mention right

away, I am going to discuss this

scenario in today's article. But

let's go back to His Majesty first -

the data.

To make sure that all the

processes related to data will be

completely clear to every reader

of the article, let's look at the data

in the digital twin model from the

perspective of data science.If we

start from the point of view that

there is no essential difference

between data in data science and

data in digital twin technology,

Given the fact that a detailed

consideration of all data-related

processes would be very difficult

to fit into one article, my

intention in today's article is to

consider in detail the data

collection process in digital twin

technology of constructed

facilities, while in future articles I

will consider other data-related

processes.

Data Collection

Assuming that the reader of

this article is completely clear

about the way data is

generated in the BIM project

076 TeamCAD BIM

JAN 2021

process, I am not sure that it

is completely clear to

everyone what the purpose of

sensors and IoT is and how

they support digital twin

technology.

In order to help readers better

understand the role of

sensors and IoT in digital twin

technology, I will provide

answers to the following

fundamental questions

regarding data collection in

digital twins:

• What are the sensors?

• What are sensors used for

and what is their purpose?

• What is IoT (Internet of

Things) and what is IIoT

(Industrial Internet of Things)?

• What is the connection

between the sensor and the

IoT?

• How and where to store the

collected data from the

analysis sensor?

What Are The

Sensors?

In digital twin technology, sensors

are defined as digital devices,

which artificially represent certain

sensations that are defined in

biology as senses. With the help

of sensors, various information

and data from the environment

can be collected for the purpose

of their further processing and

analysis.

The main role of the sensor is to

perform various measurements

for the influences from its

environment, in given time

intervals, and to convert physical

data from the real world into

digital data, which are further

analyzed and result in great

savings for investors and clients.

The purpose of using the sensor

is to, by constant or periodic

measurements at predetermined

intervals, measure all changes

and events that are defined as

valuable for observation. The

data thus collected is later

converted into digital data for the

purpose of data processing and

analysis.

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The number of sensors around

us is constantly increasing, due to

the potential savings that sensors

can bring. In addition, the sensors

provide us with a lot of valuable

data and parameters from the

real world that can be used for

various purposes.

It is difficult to define all the

parameters from the real world,

which can be measured using

sensors because the technology

is advancing very fast, so I run the

risk of failing to list some

important parameters from the

real world that can be measured

with sensors. ut, I am going to list

some very important parameters

from the real world that today

can be measured and converted

into digital parameters for further

use in digital twin technology.

Namely, sensors are most often

used today to measure the

following parameters from the

real world: temperature

measurement, motion

registration, location and

movement registration, pressure

measurement, sound or noise

level, humidity, voltage, vibration

measurement, etc.

From the listed parameters that

sensors can measure, it can be

concluded that sensors can be

applied in different industries

and for a large number of

purposes.

What Are Sensors

Used For And What

Is Their Purpose?

Have you heard of the "smart

house"? It is understood that the

house itself cannot be smart or

intelligent, but it is made smart

by devices equipped with

different sensors that provide

input data, which are further

processed and based on the

processed data, certain decisions

are made and different actions

are taken. A system that makes

different decisions and applies

actions can be autonomous or

based on a human decision, but

the basis for making any decision

and action, whether made

autonomously or based on a

human decision, is based on data

from various sensors set in a

“smart house ". How does it all

work together?

Take, for example, that for

optimal working conditions, it is

necessary to provide a brightness

of 400 flux and a temperature of

25 degrees Celsius at the table at

which the student is sitting, who

is preparing for an exam in a

certain field of Data Science.

The student is sitting at a desk

and is not able to accurately

assess, based on human senses,

whether the brightness at his

desk is 400 flux or the

temperature is 25 degrees

Celsius. If we know that the

assessment of brightness and

temperature can be done by

078 TeamCAD BIM

JAN 2021

sensors instead of the student,

we will be sure that it is possible

to provide the student with ideal

conditions for preparing for the

exam.

However, I hope you will agree

with me that, without taking into

account energy efficiency in

creating optimal conditions for

the student, an autonomous

system that makes different

decisions and takes actions will

not make the best possible

decision.

For example, if the student

studies during the day and the

sun illuminates the table with

which he sits and prepares for

the exam, the autonomous

system for making various

decisions and actions will not

automatically turn off the light

and increase cooling, if such a

decision involves more energy to

create optimal conditions for

student learning.

Perhaps by lowering the blinds

and creating artificial shade, to a

level to which the student's desk

will have a brightness of 400

fluxes and at the same time

reducing the cooling, an

autonomous system for making

various decisions and actions can

provide the required criteria for

optimal student comfort.

I hope that this extremely simple

example gave you an idea of the

role of the sensors in data

collection.

The sensor purpose in the "smart

house" is to provide us with data

that will provide the most optimal

required comfort conditions after

data processing, taking into

account various parameters, of

which in my opinion the most

important is energy efficiency

and energy savings, not only for

money savings but also due to

environmental reasons and

meeting the criteria set by the UN

Convention on Sustainable

Development Goals (SDG) that

you can see on the previous

page.

And besides the "smart houses",

with which I tried to give you an

example of the complexity of not

only collecting data through

sensors but also the way

different decision-making

systems and procedures make

their decisions, where else are

sensors used?

I am going to list only some fields

in which sensors are most used

today:

• Informatics;

• Car industry;

• Airplane industry;

• Construction industry;

• Process lines;

• Conveyor belts.

At the very end of this chapter, I

must say that this article was

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written in mid-2020. I believe that

in five years, given the beginning

of the application of 5G

technology and the beginning of

the fourth industrial revolution,

the list of areas where sensors

are used is going to look much

different and that the list of areas

of sensors application, which I

have listed in this article, is going

to be much longer.

What Is IoT (Internet

Of Things) And What

Is IIoI (Industrial

Internet Of Things)?

IoT (Internet of Things) can be

defined as a system of

interconnected digital devices,

connected computer devices,

mechanical and digital

machines that transmit

information through a unique

system of identifiers. IoT

enables transferring data over a

network without the need for

human-human or

human-computer interaction.

IoT is a digital tool that allows

unlimited transmission,

conversion to the desired

format, and reading various

data and information from

sensors.

With IoT, we are able to

permanently record different

readings and measurements

from different sensors.

Constant measurements and

readings allow us to predict

events and to act in such a way

as to prevent unwanted events

that await us in the future.

IoT can also be considered as a

medium that transmits data,

information, and alerts from

various sensors that monitor

certain behaviors, processes,

and properties of the objects

that are the subject of

observation.

IoT is the hope of achieving

greater energy efficiency in the

future than is the case today

and the longer life cycle of

various products. IoT also

enables greater automation of

the various decision-making

systems.

Not so far in the future,

Machine Learning will, to a

much greater extent, replace

the need for human

decision-making with the often

recurring needs for simple

decision-making.

IIoT (Industrial Internet of

Things) can be defined very

similarly to IoT, but the

essential difference between

IoT and IIoT is that IIoT is

primarily applied in industry

and industrial products.

In practice, IIoT can be

considered an IoT whose focus

is on optimizing industrial

production and extending the

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life cycle of manufactured

industrial products.

What Is The

Connection

Between The Sensor

And The IoT?

All devices connected to the IoT

are equipped with different

sensors. Sensors built into various

devices are able to send data to

the IoT using WiFi or some other

network. We can say that IoT is a

digital tool or medium that enables

the data exchange of all devices

whose sensors have collected data

and which are connected to IoT.

However, consistent application of

sensor measurements and data

storage using IoT creates a

problem that, after an enormous

amount of data, there are

difficulties in data processing, so

the frequency of reading data

becomes a very important factor in

data processing, which I am going

to write about in one of the

following articles.

How And Where To

Store The Collected

Data From The

Analysis Sensor?

In answering this question, it

should be borne in mind that IoT

and sensors collect an enormous

amount of data on a daily basis. By

applying constant sensor

measurements and exchanging

data via IoT, the problem of how in

the most optimal way to store

such a large amount of collected

data arises very quickly. The

solution to this problem is offered

by cloud solutions, which, in

addition to the data storage

infrastructure, also offer digital

tools for processing data collected

with the help of sensors and IoT.

There are different solutions to the

problem of data storage and

processing in cloud solutions and I

am going to give many more

details about them in the following

article.

This concludes the article “Sensors

and IoT in The Digital Twin

Technology” and my view of how

sensors and IoT contribute to data

generation in the digitalv twin

technology. At the same time, I

would like to take this opportunity

to announce my next article

"Storing And Availability Of Digital

Twin Model Data - Are The Forge

And The Cloud The Best

Solutions?".



details about the topic I covered in

the article “Sensors and IoT in The

Digital Twin Technology”, please



information.

Also, if you need advice on how to

best apply digital twin technology

or you want to apply digital twin

technology to your project or

constructed facility, please contact


help you.


Predrag Jovanovic

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Storing And Availability Of

Digital Twin Model Data


BACK TO CONTENTS

LET’S SEE, ARE THE FORGE

AND THE CLOUD THE BEST

SOLUTIONS?

IN THE PREVIOUS ARTICLE

„SENSORS AND IOT IN THE

DIGITAL TWIN TECHNOLO-

GY", I DEALT WITH THE

TOPIC OF COLLECTING

DATA USING SENSORS AND

IOT (INTERNET OF THINGS).

I HAVE DEALT WITH THE

TOPIC OF DATA GENERA-

TION DURING THE BIM

PROJECT PROCESS IN

MANY PREVIOUS ARTICLES,

FOR EXAMPLE, "ADVANCED

BIM DATA MANAGEMENT",

"BIM WORKFLOW AUTO-

MATION", "DATA MAN-

AGEMENT OF THE DIGITAL

TWIN OF THE BUILDING",

ITD

I THINK THAT WITH THE

PREVIOUSLY MENTIONED

ARTICLES I HAVE ROUNDED

OFF THE TOPIC OF DATA

COLLECTION SO THAT IN

TODAY'S ARTICLE WE CAN

CONSIDER FURTHER DATA

PROCESSING IN THE DIGI-

TAL TWIN MODEL.

Regardless of the way the data is

generated, whether during the

BIM project process or using

sensors and IoT, the question

arises how to store this data and

make it available to all interested

project participants at any time

during all phases of the project,

but also during life cycle of the

constructed building. Therefore,

in today's article, I am very

intensively going to discuss the

BIM project process, digital twin

technology, cloud and the

Autodesk Forge platform, so I am

going to define these terms at the

very beginning of the article.

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• BIM is a project process that

relies on 3D data-rich model,

which serves as a starting point

for design within disciplines, as

well as for multidisciplinary

cooperation in all contracted

phases of the project. Also, it can

be said that BIM technology is the

starting point of every digital twin

model and that it is actually BIM

(that is a 3D data-rich model) the

basis for the transformation of

the BIM model into a digital twin

model.

• Digital twin technology is a

technology that relies on a digital

replica of physical data,

processes, systems and digital

reality simulation, which can be

used for various purposes.

• Cloud is a technology that relies

on external servers that are

accessed via the Internet, which

can contain various model

formats, databases, software

solutions for data processing and

analysis, etc. The key advantage

of cloud technology over the

traditional approach of storing

data on internal servers is that an

enormous amount of data can be

stored in the cloud and that the

data in the cloud is available to all

project participants in the way it

is agreed and regulated by a

protocol on data access between

different participants in the

project. In the construction

industry, cloud solutions enable

the continuity of application of

the BIM technology and the

digital twin technology from the

conceptual solution and all

subsequent phases of the project

until construction, and then

during the maintenance of the

constructed building throughout

its life cycle.

• Autodesk Forge is a web service

application-based platform,

which enables the integration of

SaaS solutions (Fusion Team, BIM

360, etc.) into the user's workflow

and / or the installation of some

of the components used in these

Autodesk user solutions for web

or tablet and smart phones.

Having defined the technologies

that we are going to consider the

most in today's article, let's return

to the data. To make sure that

every reader of the article is

going to be completely clear

about all the processes related to

data, let's look at the data in the

digital twin model from the

perspective of data science. If we

start from the point of view that

there is no essential difference

between data in data science and

data in digital twin technology,

data-related processes can be

roughly divided into:

• Data collection;

• Data storage and availability;

• Data analysis;

• Data visualization;


the data analysis results.

Given the fact that a detailed

consideration of all data-related

processes would be very difficult

to fit into one article, my

intention in today's article is to

consider in detail the process of

storage, availability and analysis

of data in digital twin technology,

while in future articles I am going

to consider other processes

related to data.

Data Storage And

Availability

Storing data, at first glance,

seems like a very simple process.

Anyone familiar with the BIM

project process will immediately

think that storing data is

assigning values and data to

certain parameters in the BIM

model.

However, the problem of data

storage and availability becomes

much more complex if we look at

the BIM project process and the

transformation of the BIM model

into a digital twin model from

different perspectives of the


process. As we know, when we

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involves their exchange between

different designers of disciplines

in a certain time interval, defined

by BEP (BIM Execution Plan), in a

way enables an orderly exchange

of information and data between

the participants in the project.

talk about the BIM project

process, we usually have the case

that the participants in the

project process are the designers

of the discipline, the contractor,

the investor and the legal entity

engaged in the maintenance of

the constructed building. Their

view of the BIM project process,

as well as the transformation of

the BIM model into a digital twin

model, and the availability of data

and information in the digital

twin model are very different.

Therefore, I think it would be

good to consider each of the

mentioned views below:

• Data Storage And Availability

From The Designer’s Perspective


From The Contractor’s

Perspective


From The Investor’s Perspective


From The Facility Manager’s

Perspective

• How does the cloud solution

help with data storage and

availability?

• How does the Autodesk Forge

platform help with data storage

and availability?

Data Storage And

Availability From The

Designer’s

Perspective

In digital twin technology, similar

to the BIM workflow, data can be

viewed in two ways. When we

consider data in the BIM model

or in the digital twin model, it can

be intended for different

calculations within the project of

a certain discipline, then for

different simulations and

predictions of how certain digital

objects will behave in the real

world, etc.

But, we must not lose sight of the

fact that the BIM model or the

digital twin model must also be

intended for exchange with other

disciplines in the project. So how

do you best place them in the

BIM model or in the digital twin

model and make them available

to all participants in the project

process?

The current traditional approach

of exchanging BIM models or

digital twin models, which

However, a major problem in

such an approach to the project

process is that changes made by

a particular discipline in its BIM

model or digital twin model are

not available to all project

participants at the time they are

made.

This further implies that it is

possible for an architect, for

example, to make certain

changes in his BIM model, to

even inform other participants in

the project, but that these

changes may be visible in the BIM

model or digital twin model only

in a few days, when all


process exchange their models

and data in them.

I have found myself countless

times in a situation where my

project team was informed that

certain changes would occur in

the BIM model or the digital twin

model, which created big

problems for us in terms of

disrupting the design dynamics of

the discipline I was part of and

questions whether to continue

designing until an updated BIM

model or digital twin model

arrives.

When we talk about the problem

of storage and availability of data

in BIM models of all participants

in the BIM project process, cloud

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technology seems to be the best

solution. Such an approach

allows all discipline designers to

see changes in discipline models

at agreed intervals in a quite

simple way.

When we talk about cloud

technology, it is possible to work

in a live model, where all changes

in the models of disciplines can

be seen by simply updating the

linked models.

This makes the project process

much more dynamic and

intensive in the early stages of

the project, but such an approach

has the key advantage in

providing all project participants

with much better project

solutions in the early stages of

the project and results in a much

more optimal project solution at

the end of the project life cycle.

Data Storage And


Contractor’s

Perspective

In considering the placement and

availability of data from the

contractor’s perspective, things

seem simpler than is the case

with the storage and availability

of data during the project

process.

The traditional approach meant

that the contractor took the

graphic documentation from the

designer and then created his

brand new BIM model or a digital

twin model tailored to his needs.

From the point of view of the

continuity of the project process,

the moment when the contractor

entered the project usually

meant the interruption of the

previously mentioned continuity

of the project process. Practically,

all data generated during the

earlier project phases, from the

conceptual solution to the tender

phase of the project, lose their

value and the contractor

completely ignores the generated

model and start to make his

completely new BIM model for

construction.

The problem with this approach

is that the investor, who paid the

designer to create the BIM model

of the tender project phase, now

pays the contractor, who

re-creates the BIM model for his

needs.

The investor can prevent this

problem if the BEP defines the

criteria of the BIM model tender

project phase, which would be of

sufficient quality and meet the

needs of the contractor to the

extent that the contractor will not

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make a completely new BIM

model for his needs.

When we consider the

contractor's interest in using

cloud technology, I think that

such an approach is far more

efficient for both the contractor

and the investor, since we must

keep in mind that the most

common case is that we usually

have contractors and many

subcontractors in the

construction.

Thus, the conclusion is that

during the construction of the

building, ie. during the

construction phase of the project,

there are identical reasons as in

the previous part of the article,

which recommend cloud

technology as the best solution

for cooperation between


project process from the

conceptual solution and all

following phases of the project

until construction, and then

during maintenance, throughout

its entire life cycle.

Data Storage And


Investor’s

Perspective

On the storing and availability of

data from the investor's

perspective, I don't think I'm

wrong to say the following - if I

were an investor or his

representative, I would insist that

all project phases - from the

conceptual design and all

following phases of the project to

construction and maintenance of

the constructed building during

its entire life cycle, they work in

the cloud. Why?

So if you go back to the very

beginning of the article and read

the definition and possibilities of

the cloud solution, it will be clear

to you why I made such a claim.

The cloud solution provides to

the investor insight into the

entire project documentation at

any time of the entire project life

cycle. During the various phases

of the project before the

construction of the building, the

investor has an insight into the

complete project process and can

see all the problems that occur

during the design. When we talk

about construction, if the investor

has regulated in a good way with

BEP the transition from the

tender phase of the project to the

construction phase, there will be

no need to create a completely

new BIM model or digital twin

model for the contractor. Finally,

after the building is built, the

facility manager can take over the

BIM model or the digital twin

model by the contractor at the

end of the design phase of the

completed building. This will

again relieve the investor in

financial and organizational

terms and enable him to

continue to supervise all phases

of the project life cycle and the

life cycle of the constructed

building. Practically, complete

documentation during any phase

of the project process, then


facility and finally during the

maintenance of the full

functionality of the facility using

digital twin technology and cloud

solutions make the investor sure

to hold all the ends of the project

life cycle.

Data Storage And


Facility Manager’s

Perspective

When considering the storage

and availability of data from the

perspective of a facility manager,

we must take into account that it

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How Does The

Cloud Solution Help

With Data Storage

And Availability?

I hope you have come to your

own conclusions about how the

cloud solution helps with data

storage and availability by

reading the previous chapters.

appears at the very end of the

project process and that its tasks

are significantly different from

other participants in the project

process.

In addition to the necessary

repairs to maintain the full

functionality of the building and

care for the full comfort of

building users, modern

technologies allow the facility

manager to document every

change in the building in a digital

twin model, but also to store all

documentation related to certain

activities during the maintenance

of the facility.

Also, modern technologies allow

the facility manager to be more

active in proposing different

solutions to the user of the

building using digital twin

technology.

The question arises - where to

store all the documentation for

the facility maintenance, the

digital twin model and how to

provide the user of the building

with full insight into all the

documentation related to the

building maintenance?

It seems to me that the cloud

solution again imposes itself as

the best option, because it

enables complete transparency

of all data and documentation

related to the facility

maintenance.

I am going to present the most

obvious advantages of creating a

project in the cloud during the

entire project life cycle, from the

conceptual solution and all the

following phases of the project all

the way to construction, and then

during the maintenance of the

constructed building throughout

its life cycle.

We can say that the cloud

solutions application in the

project process is the best

available project environment

because they are characterized

by:

• Cost-effectiveness, because

they save resources to all

participants in the project;

• Transparency of all processes

and always available

documentation during all project

phases;

• The possibility for the investor

to have an insight into the project

status at any time during the

project life cycle;

• Reliability of data generated in

the cloud solution

• Access to data, BIM models and

digital twin models from the web

or applications for tablets and

smartphones;

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• Constant backups, and thus the

reliability of the entire

documenting process of all

project activities;

• Freedom to provide visibility of

models and documentation to


project process…

How Does The

Autodesk Forge

Platform Help With

Data Storage And

Availability?

Unlike the cloud solution, which

can be considered as an

environment for collaboration

during the project process,

Autodesk Forge imposes itself as

the best platform in case you

need to make a web BIM model

or a web version of the digital

twin.

The capabilities of the Autodesk

Forge platform are limited solely

by the imagination of the team

making the digital twin model on

the Autodesk Forge platform.

Autodesk Forge allows a large

number of users to access the

digital twin model in a web

format and does not require

much knowledge of digital and

BIM technologies.

applications or smartphone and

tablet applications.

Virtually all information from the

BIM model and digital twin

models can be transferred to a

web model built on the Autodesk

Forge platform, the digital twin

model can be completely

disassembled into components

and all data related to each

component in the model is

available in such a representation

of the digital twin model.

A key advantage of the Autodesk

Forge platform is data

transparency for users who do

not require extensive knowledge

of digital and BIM skills. Simply

put, a web model built on the

Autodesk Forge platform enables

Revit functionality in a web model

without any knowledge of Revit.

Want to learn more about the

Autodesk Forge platform and its

capabilities? Visit the following

links:

http://bit.ly/2MZJ8Me

http://bit.ly/3d38ELb

https://bit.ly/3aTADdL

I would like to conclude this

article containing my opinion on

which today-available solutions

are the best for storing and

availability of data in the digital

twins technology.



article "Analysis And Visualization

Of Data In Digital Twin

Technology - Cloud and Autodesk

Forge".




please contact TeamCAD, which

will be pleased to provide you

with additional information.

Also, if you need advice on how

to best apply digital twin

technology or you want to apply

digital twin technology to your

project or constructed facility,

please contact TeamCAD, who

will be happy to help you.


Predrag Jovanović

The Autodesk Forge platform

enables the integration of SaaS

solutions (Fusion Team, A 360,

BIM 360, etc.) into the user's

workflow and / or the

incorporation of some of the

components used in these


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Analysis And Visualization Of

Data In Digital Twins Technology


BACK TO CONTENTS

IN THE PREVIOUS

ARTICLE I HAVE TRIED TO

GIVE AN EXPLANATION

ABOUT THE OPTIONS TO

STORE DATA AND MAKE

THEM ALWAYS

ACCESSIBLE TO ALL OF

THE BIM PROJECT

PROCESS

STAKEHOLDERS.

JUST AS A REMINDER – I

HAVE COVERED THE

SUBJECT OF STORING

AND AVAILABILITY OF

DATA DURING THE BIM

PROJECT PROCESS IN A

COUPLE OF PREVIOUS

ARTICLES: “DATA

MANAGEMENT IN THE

DIGITAL TWIN OF THE

BUILDING”, “ADVANCED

BIM DATA

MANAGEMENT”, ETC.

I AM OF THE OPINION

THAT I HAVE ROUNDED

UP THE SUBJECT OF DATA

STORING AND

AVAILABILITY DURING

THE BIM PROJECT

PROCESS IN MY

PREVIOUS ARTICLES, SO

TODAY I WILL BE

CONSIDERING FURTHER

PROCESSING OF DATA IN

THE DIGITAL TWIN

MODEL.

No matter the source of

generated data, during the BIM

project process or coming from

sensors or IoT, the question is

how to analyze this data, how to

visualize and make them

available to all project

stakeholders, at any given

moment during all project

phases, but also during the

completed building project

lifecycle.

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After we have defined these

technologies that will be the

focus of today`s article, let us get

back to data. In order to be sure

that all of the readers will be

completely confident with all of

the processes associated with

data, let us look at the data in the

Digital Twin model from the Data

Science perspective.

Therefore, in today`s article, I

will be intensively focusing on

BIM project process, Digital

Twins technology, Cloud and

Autodesk Forge platform, and

project environments.

To start, I will define the meaning

of the mentioned terms:

• BIM is a project process that

relies on a data-rich 3D model,

serving as a starting point for

design in various engineering

disciplines, as well as for multidisciplinary

collaboration in all of

the project phases. Also, we may

say that BIM technology is the

basis of every Digital Twin model

and that in fact, BIM data-rich

model is the starting point of

transforming the BIM model into

the Digital Twin model.

• Digital Twins technology is the

technology that is based on the

digital replica of the physical

data, processes, and systems

and represents the digital

simulation of the reality that can

be used for various purposes.

• Cloud technology is relying on

the external set of servers that

can be accessed via the internet.

These can hold different model

types, databases, software for

data processing and analysis,

etc. The key advantage of the

Cloud technology compared to

traditional internal servers is

that the Cloud can handle an

enormous amount of data while

it is available to all stakeholders

in the way it is set up in the data

access protocol between the

project participants. In the

building and construction industry,

Cloud solutions enable the

usage continuity of the BIM

technology and Digital Twins

technology, from the conceptual

design throughout the following

project phases up to finished

construction, and afterward

during maintenance of the

building during its complete

lifecycle.

• Autodesk Forge platform is

based on the web service application

that enables the integration

of SaaS solutions (Fusion

Team, BIM 360, etc.) in user

workflow and/or implementation

of any components used in these


applications or mobile phone

and tablet apps.

If we take that there is no core

difference between the data in

the Data Science and data in the

Digital Twins technology, processes

connected to data can be

roughly divided in this way:

• Data collection

• Data storage and availability.

• Data analysis and visualization.


the data analysis results.

Based on the fact that the

detailed consideration of all the

data connected processes would

very hardly fit into one article, my

intention in today`s article is to

precisely consider process of data

analysis and data visualization in

the Digital Twins technology,

while in the following articles I

will write about other processes

connected to data.

Data Analysis And

Visualization

No matter where was the BIM or

Digital Twin model data

generated, whether during the

BIM project process, by different

sensor measurements or by

using IoT, I believe that every

reader of this article is aware

that its analysis and

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visualization can be considered

as the key tool which enables us

to achieve considerable savings.

It is equally possible to save

during the BIM project process,

but also in the scenario when

we strive to optimize economic

and ecological aspect of building

exploitation.

But, Cloud and Autodesk Forge

platforms do not give us the

possibility of maximum

optimization only in the

industries in which we are used

to presence of BIM and Digital

Twins technology – like airplane

industry, shipbuilding,

construction, bio-mechanics,

etc.

Cloud based models using the

Autodesk Forge platform

enables us to, besides desktop

applications, make the

necessary analysis and

visualization of data in the

Cloud project environment, as

well as on the Autodesk Forge

platform.

When we want to analyze and

visualize the data from the BIM

or Digital Twins model, we can

use many tools and access

points, but in today`s article I

will focus on the most efficient

and mostly used data analysis

and visualization methods with

the potentially widest

application in various areas and

disciplines.

In the following part of the

article, I will address both

desktop solutions, as well as

Cloud solutions that give the

possibility of efficient BIM or

Digital Twins model data

analysis and visualization.

For the very end of this text, I

will write about Autodesk Forge,

as the platform where

everything is possible.

Mostly Used Tools

For BIM And Digital

Twin Model Analysis

And Visualization

Depending on the purpose for

which the Digital Twin model was

made, we can use different tools

that help us to process data most

efficiently in the Digital Twin

model. Despite mentioned, we

can roughly divide the Digital

Twin model data processing

methodology like so:

• CFD (Computational Fluid

Dynamics) is the calculation of

the fluid dynamics and it

represents part of the fluid

mechanics that as the basis of

the analysis considers numerical

analysis and structured data to

solve the problems connected to

fluid behavior in a liquid or

gaseous state. CFD analysis has

wide application including force

and force moments on various

digital models, pipe pressure

caused by matters in liquid and

gaseous state present in the

pipeline, explosion analysis,

motion and flow of different

particle types, temperature

impact, weather condition

simulations, the behavior of

digital models in air tunnel, etc.

• Dynamo is the digital tool that

is used for parametric

non-standard modeling,

generating of additional and

non-standard data for more

efficient calculations in the area

of BIM model, for processing,

manipulation and easier

visualization of generated data in

the BIM model, and for managed

data exchange between different

disciplines in the

multidisciplinary BIM project

process. Dynamo is the

programming language based on

the principle of visual

programming. The reason why it

is popular as a tool for BIM and

Digital Twin model data analysis

and visualization is that it is

integrated with the Autodesk

Revit platform and that there are

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no additional charges. It is easy

to learn and it does not require

big programming experience.

Huge advantage of including

Dynamo as the BIM project

process automatization is that,

once written Dynamo script that

processes data of a particular

logical group of the BIM project

process, can be used on an

unlimited number of projects,

gives great value and brings

significant savings to the project

stakeholders.

• Python is the object-oriented

programming language most

frequently used for generating,

transferring, analysis and

visualization of the BIM and

Digital Twins model data. Python

equally efficiently helps as the

Revit plugin (PyRevit) or as the

part of Dynamo scripts

integrated in the Dynamo

“Node”. What characterizes

Python is that it is the favorite

tool also in the Data Science,

system automation, API

development, etc. Also, the first

book, which was teaching

programmers about the Python

language was titled “Automate

the boring stuff”. This fact

maximally simplifies every

further explanation what is

Python used for in the domain of

automated analysis and

visualization of BIM data, in both

BIM discipline models and a

multidisciplinary BIM project

environment.

• Power BI is the digital tool that

in the very simple manner does

the analysis and visualization of

data, not just in the domain of

BIM and Digital Twins technologies,

but also in Data Science

wider contest. It has embedded

tools that very efficiently systematize

data from various sources

and environments, then put

them on their own platform,

which was intended for analysis

and visualization of data. Power

BI enables us also to more

efficiently address all the problems

from the data angle and to

make decisions in an easier and

safer way, but also act upon

them based on the data generated

in the BIM or Digital Twins

model. This platform is characterized

by a very simple user

interface and ease of learning

and analysis and visualization of

data.

• Machine learning is the digital

tool defined as the sub-discipline

of artificial intelligence. It is

based on machine learning

based on human experience an

impersonation of human activities

that repeat over time. To put

it simply, machine learning is

based on watching actions

performed by humans while

addressing the typical problems.

After a certain number of repetitions,

the program “overlooks

humans” while learning and

acquiring behavioral algorithms

and takes over the execution of

the same operation in the future.

The above mentioned tools are

the most powerful tools for

analysis and visualization of data

generated during the BIM project

process or by developing model

of the Digital Twin.

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JAN 2021

Of course, there are many other

digital tools that are very useful

for successful analysis and

visualization of data, but, the goal

of this article is not representation

of all the possible tools for

successful implementation of BIM

project process automation.

My idea is to give you the idea in

what direction you should consider

when trying to find the best

digital tools for analysis and

visualization of data generated

during BIM project process or

during development of the Digital

Twin model.

The Best And The

Most Compact Tools

For Data Analysis

And Visualization In

The Cloud Solutions

When talking about the best and

the brightest, the most compact

Cloud tools for analysis and

visualization of data, generated

during the BIM project process or

development of the Digital Twins

model, we cannot go around

mentioning the following Cloud

solutions:

• BIM 360 is the Cloud solution

that can be considered the best

option at this moment for the

BIM project environment. Key

advantage of the BIM 360 Cloud

project environment is that it

provides the same project user

experience to all of the stakeholders

in the BIM project

process during all of the phases,


building object, and finally during

the whole lifecycle of the completed

building during its

exploitation. Huge advantage

while working in BIM 360 project

interface is that it enables handover

of the BIM models during all

phases of the project, which gives

the investor huge savings and

consistency of the data throughout

the project lifecycle. Different

modules give insight in the

various types of data at any given

moment of the BIM project

process, where data is represented

in the very simple, understandable

manner. With additional

analysis and visualization of

the data it is possible to make

conclusions and decisions and

visualize them in the BIM 360

project environment, while

making everything available to all

of the stakeholders.

*REMARK: In the meantime

Autodesk BIM 360 has become

Autodesk BIM Collaborate Pro

• Fusion 360 is the Cloud project

environment very similar to the

BIM 360, but as the BIM 360 is

intended for the BIM workflow,

Fusion 360 is intended for

development and design of the

various products. It also, very

efficiently, supports iterations

during the design and virtual

testing of the object, product or

assembly. We can say that Fusion

360 is the most complete Cloud

project solution during all phases

of the development of products,

assemblies, industrial solutions,

etc.

• Configurator 360 is the Cloud

solution that gives the possibility

of development of any type of

product based on client`s needs.

Product that the potential buyers

can order in the Cloud

environment Configurator 360 is

based on component parts and

basically the potential buyer

configures the product it wants to

order, choosing between the

offered parts that the seller offers

on the Configurator 360 Cloud

platform. This Cloud solution has

a huge application in the

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093

furniture industry, parts and

components of complicated

systems and in many other

industries.

*REMARK: In the meantime

Autodesk Configurator 360 Cloud

Service is being retired at the end of

May 2021. It will be further available

through the Autodesk Forge API.

His Majesty –

Autodesk Forge

If you have carefully read the

description and possibilities of

the above mentioned Cloud

solutions I hope that you have

noticed that all three Cloud

options are connected by one

thing. Namely, all three Cloud

project solutions are

characterized by a mutual project

environment for all of the

stakeholders, transparency of the

generated data, compatibility of

different formats integrated on

one platform, access to data

generated during all project

phases for all participants,

possibility of analysis and

visualization of data in the

common project environment,

etc. Does it seem to you that all

three before mentioned Cloud

solution are based on the same

platform? If your answer is “YES!”

you have guessed it right.

BIM 360, Fusion 360 and

Configurator 360 are all based on

the Autodesk Forge technology

and practically represent

different variations of Autodesk

Forge intended for different

demands when considering

project environment and data

type that are processed during

the project lifecycle.

But, despite the similarities with

BIM 360, Fusion 360 and

Configurator 360, Autodesk Forge

platform gives the possibility of

making web models, where all

the functionality of the BIM or

Digital Twin model, on all levels,

including the analysis and

visualization level, remains

available to all users, despite the

fact that it changes the format

when transforming from BIM or

Digital Twin model to Autodesk

Forge model. In this way,

Autodesk Forge gives the top

level management an option to

see all of the advantages of the

BIM and Digital Twins

technologies, without additional

learning in an easy and simple

way. Web model generated on

the Autodesk Forge platform, in

this way, really enables all project

process stakeholders, to check

any segment of the model, piece

of data or current state of the

project, via web model, using a

desktop computer, tablet or

smartphone.

We can safely conclude, thanks to

the Autodesk Forge platform it is

possible to realize full

cooperation and collaboration on

all levels, between all

stakeholders in the project

process, in a very simple intuitive

way, without huge effort to learn

BIM or Digital Twins technologies.


Predrag Jovanović

094 TeamCAD BIM

JAN 2021

A Digital Twin

Of A Shopping Mall

AUTHOR: Vladimir Guteša, TeamCAD Development Director

BACK TO CONTENTS

TEAMCAD ENGINEERS

WORKED ON THE

CREATION AND

DEVELOPMENT OF THE

FIRST DIGITAL TWIN IN

SERBIA.

SHOPPING MALL „SAD

NOVI BAZAAR“ IS

SITUATED IN THE

CENTER OF THE NOVI

SAD CITY, AT THE

BEGINNING OF THE

PEDESTRIAN AREA AND

IS CONSIDERED AS ONE

OF THE TOP SHOPPING

SPOTS.

THE BUILDING IS SPREAD

ON 4 LEVELS AND 9.000

SQUARE METERS OF

COMMERCIAL REAL

ESTATE.

"Sad Novi Bazaar"

Shopping Mall

Opened to customers in 1984

while being considered one of the

architectural jewels in former

Yugoslavia.

Company for architectural design

and engineering “ME.COM” from

Belgrade did a reconstruction

project in 2005. Responsible

engineer on the project was Ms.

Ksenija Bulatović, M.Arch. The

reconstructed object was

reopened in 2006.

Today, “SAD NOVI BAZAAR”

Shopping Mall is managed by

Mat-real Estate, part of Matijevic

company from Novi Sad.

Project Challenges

Some of the standard challenges

when managing this type of

objects were:

096 TeamCAD BIM

JAN 2021

• Providing energy efficiency of

the object and lower AC costs

• Having exact information about

the quantity and locations of the

equipment )(AC systems

elements, fire protection systems,

electrical installations…)

• Information about the

warranties, service intervals, life

expectancy for the

above-mentioned equipment.

• Real-time information about the

real estate renting possibilities

and vacancies for potential

commercial clients.

• In case that the clients adapt

rented space, they need to

promptly access information

about the movable and

immovable walls.

• In case of any changes in the

building or inside the building,

accordingly entering new data in

the 3D model and technical

documentation.

The additional challenge was the

fact that the original building was

designed by an architect Milan

Mihelič in the now distant 1972,

so there was no existing digital

documentation present.

Solution For The

Problem

As TeamCAD and Matijević

companies are successfully

cooperating for years, and event

Novi Sad branch office of

TeamCAD is situated in the

business part of the “SAD NOVI

BAZAAR” Shopping mall, we have

decided to continue our

partnership on this project as

well.

We have created the first phase

of the building`s Digital Twin

model and used several other

newest technologies, which

enable the user to view and move

throughout the Digital Twin

object, using just an internet

browser. There is no need

whatsoever to install any type of

3D software.

If you would like to take a walk

through the Digital Twin model of

the “SAD NOVI BAZAAR” Shopping

mall please click here.

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097

BIM Real Estate App

For Simplified Sales & Rentals

AUTHOR: Vladimir Guteša, TeamCAD Development Director

BACK TO CONTENTS

WHEN LOOKING FOR A

NEW PROPERTY,

WHETHER YOU ARE

BUYING OR RENTING IT,

DO YOU NEED MORE

INFORMATION THAN

WHAT IS OFFERED AS

STANDARD? DO YOU

WANT TO KNOW WHICH

APARTMENTS ARE

AVAILABLE?

OR DO YOU NEED

INFORMATION ABOUT

ROOM AREAS? DO YOU

WANT TO MEASURE THE

DIMENSIONS OF A

CERTAIN ROOM OR

ELEMENTS IN THE ROOM?

OR YOU JUST WANT TO

WALK AROUND THE

APARTMENT LIKE IN THE

FIRST-PERSON VIDEO

GAMES?

HAVE YOU, AS A PROPERTY

OWNER, THOUGHT ABOUT

HOW MUCH TIME YOU

WOULD SAVE IF THE

POTENTIAL CUSTOMERS

COULD FIND ALL NEEDED

INFORMATION IN ONE

PLACE?

Purchasing and

renting real estate

has become simple

As a response to all these, and

many other questions, TeamCAD

has developed The BIM Real

Estate (BRE).

BRE is a web app that contains

BIM 3D model made in Autodesk

Revit. Because it is a web app,

anyone who has internet

connection and internet browser,

could access the 3D model and

find out the information he wants.

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JAN 2021

No Need For

Specialised Software

There is no need for any

specialised software solution, or

high performance hardware, if

you know how to use an internet

browser.

The first implemented building in

The BIM Real Estate app is

residential building in Đevđelijska

Street in Belgrade. The investor

of the building is GP

Zlatibor-Gradnja a.d., and the

architect is Ivana Milinković.

The BIM Real Estate app enables

the customer to experience the

property in 3D surrounding, in

first or third-person point of view

and to get certain information

about it.

Real-life Application

Some of the most important

advantages of The BIM Real

Estate app are availability of

information to all interested

parties and facilitated

communication between them.

By this we mean, for example,

the case when the customer

wants to know the dimension

between a wall and a column, to

check if he can put his

wardrobe there.

In some everyday, frequent

scenario, he would have to call

the owner, then the owner

would call the designer, and

then designer would check it a

project

documentation.

With the BIM Real Estate app

the customer has the possibility

to check it on his own.

We have developed and added

new features as a result of the

market research we have

conducted and constant

dialogue with the clients.

The following functionalities will

be very useful to the investors

and owners from the sales

management perspective, as

well as to the app users in the

area of improving their

browsing experience.

The Panoramic View

(360 Photography)

The BIM Real Estate App’s focus

is on data availability, at the

partial expense of view quality

in order to obtain the best

model loading speed. As we

wanted to make the best

possible experience for the

clients, we have implemented a

panoramic view in the app. With

a click of a button, the client

can activate the apartment’s

render or 360 photography in

the panoramic view.

If you would like to test this

new feature head to the BRE

App.

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099

Once it loads, click on the

“Show levels” button and

choose one of the floors.

This mode can be activated by

clicking on the “Panoramic

View” button (tool represented

by the eye icon in the main 3D

view window).

Rooms that contain the

panoramic view will be shaded.

By clicking on one of the rooms

you are opening the panoramic

view, whereby holding click and

moving your mouse you can

view the area in 360 degrees.

Statistics for Sales or

Rental Management

The second new feature in the

BIM Real Estate App was made

for the investors or owners of

the property. From the app

administrator or selling/renting

manager’s point of view, we

have added a part with the

statistics of available or

unavailable properties, and

with simple property status

management. It is a special part

of the app, available only to

users who have access to the

app’s backend for managing the

app.

From the “Info” tab, the investor

or owner of the property can

see the stats on (un)available

properties for each level or the

whole building.

Because of this feature, there is

no need for the implementation

of additional software solutions

for statistics.

From the “Status” tab, the

investor or owner of the

property can change the status

of the property from “available”

to “unavailable” or vice versa,

simply by choosing a certain

button. The properties are

grouped by status, which

increases the clarity of the view.

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The Most Popular

Units Stats

W e have implemented another

set of statistics, which represent

the most popular apartments

and floors in the building.

The building owner can see the

most wanted apartments or

floors, based on users’ choices,

which could in the end affect the

apartment’s price.

The App Features

• Real Estate 3D detailed view of the whole building or some specific parts

• Panoramic view of the room render or photography

• First or third person view

• Control the data presented

• Change the rental/sales status via your personalized back end app

• All the stats of the property rental/sale status are already available to you

• Use your own BIM 3D model or let us help you build it

• All parts of the 3D BIM model are measurable, let your clients or other

stakeholders plan the interior on their own

• Based on Autodesk Revit BIM models

www.BIM-DT.com

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101

TeamCAD Ltd.

10v Mihaila Pupina Boulevard

4th floor / suite 423

11070 Belgrade, Serbia

+381 11 301 5043

+381 11 313 1864

TeamCAD.rs

BIM-DT.com

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