Author(s)

SEBASTIAN SEIβ, BILAL SHAH

Abstract

The advancement in building information modelling (BIM) technology has largely benefited architecture, engineering, and construction (AEC) stakeholders. Automation and visualization offered by different BIM tools are regularly used by architects, engineers, and planners to make the planning and design process more efficient and accurate. However, the potential of BIM for helping construction site workers is not fully realized; the existing methods for using intelligent 3D BIM models to instruct site workers are limited and can potentially develop. A BIM-based 4D visualization is a practical use case for showing the sequence of site tasks to workers and enables them to identify their scheduled tasks. By now, 4D BIM does not support workers in the process of site implementation and work safety. The use of videos for instruction purposes has been an effective practice in other sectors, but it has not been used in AEC for facilitating site works. Thus, the research develops a method by which video tutorials are connected to task objects in a 4D model. The aim is to access instructional videos following the scheduled tasks in the 4D model to construction workers. The proposed method allows site workers to visualize a sequence of site tasks on a 4D model and to understand construction tasks by an automized displaying of linked instruction videos. The procedure is evaluated on a case study and a survey of workers and site managers. Based on the analysis of survey results, factors such as future relevance, practicality, and usability of the proposed method are clarified, and future works are recommended.

Keywords

visual education, BIM, 4D planning, health and safety, construction operations