Entrant details
Role or Job Title on the Project
Senoir Project Manager/ Research Assistant
Employer
VIA IMC GmbH
Berlin
Germany
Employer Role
Full Service Company (Design-Construct-Operate)
Are you or your employer a member of buildingSMART?
Yes - Chapter Member
Submission details
Submitting Party Company Name
VIA IMC GmbH
Submitting Party Company Location
Franz-Ehrlich-Straße 5, 12489 Berlin, Germany
Submitting Party Role on Project
BIM Consulting, BIM Implementation and Realization
Submitting Party Company Website
Full Project Name
BAB A7 - PPP infrastructure project management using BIM
Project Location (Country)
Germany
Project Objectives
The goal of the project is target oriented, holistic procect management with financial and time savings in the PPP project using BIM. These goals were integrated in an innovative overall process for infrastructure, which integrated not only planning and construction but also project monitoring with BIM. Drone recordings, point clouds and highly parameterized and highly networked specialist objects all play roles in this process, along with a normalized data scheme. The workflow was completed with all infrastructure-specific elements and associated constructions on a project with a length of 36 km.
openBIM Achievements
The openBIM method was selected due to the project complexity and the number of partners for planning, construction and operation of the project. Software processing of drone flights enabled all elements of the existing infrastructure to be modelled and attributized. This was an advantage both for the project management and monitoring. The removal of the existing infrastructure was similarly prepared. A data management system enabled data exchange for all project participants. During construction, site managers used the system for monthly reporting. The performance reports were linked to the model and supported by drone recordings. They enabled an economic TARGET/ACTUAL comparison.
openBIM used
IFC 2x3, IFC4, ifcXML, BCF
openBIM or open standards used other than those listed above
- 040,
- 021,
- REB,
- LandXML,
- D66,
- ISYBAU,
- TIF,
- ECW
Software used
- KorFin
- iTWO 5D
- iTWO 4.0
- ArcGIS
- Grasshopper - Rhinoceros
- Bentley – OpenRoads Connect Edition
- iTWOCivil
- Desite MD Pro
- Autodesk Revit - Dynamo
- MS Project
- Powerproject
Data Base:
- Thinkproject
- Autodesk BIM360
- ProjectWise
- Oracle-aconex
Strategic Alignment
The number of project partners made openBIM the only promising project management methodology. This was especially true during construction, coordinating three consortiums and numerous subcontractors. The development of the workflow took 1.5 years and successively replaced conventional project management. This change was made due to disatisfaction with the results of conventional management. After the rapid construction of a BIM-TARGET model, model-based controlling was introduced. Project partners provided data for an ACTUAL model. Comparing TARGET and ACTUAL made it possible to immediately react to errors. With the new workflow, the project delivered an always-verifiable, cross-company proejct flow for future large projects.
Highlights
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Parametric, implicit plannng volumes fro standard interfaces.
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Dispensing with segmented (split) volumes for process description.
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Instead, innovating dynamic segmentation with process specific time behavior (and thus abandonment of processes for segmented construction processes.)
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Integration of constrution reports for model-based ACTUAL data acquisition as construction delta.
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Schedule with 20,000 entries.
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Implicit volumes from 5 million triangles (at runtime).
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Complete preservation of linkages during scheduling or construction changes or from external construction messages.
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Complete referencing of components and specialist data (with exclusion of geometry or attribute copies)
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Complete, normed data scheme for all specialist data and components.
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Linked 6D software evaluation.
Project Website
Project Address
Harzstraße 10, 38723 Seesen, Germany
Project Type
Civil
Size of Project
The project comprises the six-lane expansion of a previously four-lane section over a total length of 29 kilometres as well as the operation and maintenance of the project line over a period of 30 years.
In addition to the expansion of the A7 motorway by the end of 2021, the infrastructure project also includes 170 structures, including 2 major bridges, 9 junctions, 12 parking and toilet facilities and 2 refuelling and rest areas, as well as around 40,000 square meters of noise barriers and walls. In addition, there are rainwater retention basins and drainage pipes as well as environmental protection and landscaping measures.
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Project length 60 km
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Project duration 30 years
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Financial volume approx. 1 billion EUR over 30 years
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Construction coss (expansion) approx. 330 million EUR
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Expansion from 4 to 6 lanes, 29 km
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Three lanes in each direction
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9 junctions
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12 parking and toilet facilities
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2 refuelling and rest areas
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Bridge constructions, 7 x removal, 35 x removal/new construction
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400,000 m² noise protection wall
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800,000 m³ earthworks
Detailed description of the project
The A7 motorway is the longest north-south transit motorway in Germany, covering around 1,000 kilometers. It stretches from the Danish border near Flensburg to Füssen on the Austrian border and is Germany’s most important trans-European traffic artery-highly frequented by heavy goods traffic as well as weekend and holiday traffic. By the end of 2020, 29.2 kilometers of the projects total length of 60 kilometers will be expanded and modernized during ongoing operations.
Following a Europe-wide tendering process, the Federal Ministry of Transport and Digital Infrastructure (BMVI), represented by the Lower Saxony State Authority for Road Construction (NLStBV), awarded the project company VIA NIDERSACHSEN GmbH & Co. KG on 17, February 2017 for the expansion, modernization, operation and maintenance of the federal motorway between Bockenem and Göttingen within the framework of a public-private partnership (PPP). The shareholders of VIA NIEDERSACHSEN are Vinci Concessions Deutschland GmbH (50%) and Meridiam Investments SAS (50%). The private company is financed by several national and international banks, including KfW, European Investment Bank, DZ Bank and DBJ.
VIA NIEDERSACHSEN is responsible for the operation and maintenance of the A7 motorway. To this end, SPV moved into the motorway maintenance department in Seesen at the beginning of the contract and has since then employed several road maintenance staff, a motorway maintenance supervisor, maintenance engineers and has the corresponding technical equipment.
For the expansion of the A7 motorway at the start of the concession, the project company awarded the design and build to a subcontractor. This subcontractor is made up of several companies. The CJV A7 consortium consists of Eurovia, a subsidiary of the Vinci Group, and two mid-sized companies from the region, the Rohde Group and Stutz-Bau. The services to be provided were defined in a functional contract specification. The basis for this is the planning approval and the associated environmental and technical regulations.
Thus, the construction consortium can optimize its work in order to achieve the most cost-effective construction price, while ensuring that the specifications are adhered to. For example, a road superstructure corresponding to the traffic forecasts was dimensioned mathematically by means of RDO (“computational dimensioning of superstruc-tures”), in order to enable the greatest possible reuse of the existing pavement as recycling and an optimization of the structures to be built in order to optimize time and money. This means the construction company has a certain amount of freedom and innovation to complete the construction within the specified time and economic framework.
The project company is interested in high quality during construction in order to keep the operating and mainte-nance costs as low as possible during the 30-year concession and to maintain refinancing income without default. To this end, Via Niedersachsen employs a quality control (“QC”), which acts as construction supervision. The QC monitors all work and actively participates in acceptances for the project company. The criteria for this are the ZTV function A7 enclosed with the tender. This defines the acceptance criteria of the construction consortium to the project company for completion of the construction. On the other hand, the ZTV Function A7 defines the criteria for the transfer from Via Niedersachsen to the state of Lower Saxony at the end of the concession. Failure to meet the criteria is deemed a service not ready for handover and must be remedied.
The special feature of the PPP A7 is the refinancing of the loans taken out by the project company. The “availabil-ity model” (V-Model) applied on the A7 is based exclusively on the availability of the motorway for traffic. The concessionaire receives a regular “availability fee” for the complete provision of the concession route. If necessary, operating and maintenance measures result in a restriction of the road cross-section or speed, the availability fee is reduced. During the construction phase, this regulation is not effective.
The project cormpises the six-lane expansion of a previously four-lane section over a total length of 29 kilometers as well as the operation and maintenance of the project line over the specified period of 30 years.
In addition to the expansion of the A7 motorway by the end of 2021, the infrastructure project also includes 170 structures, including 2 major bridges, 42 bridge structures, 35 of which will be demolished and rebuilt, as well as 7 which are due for demolition due to the new routing, 9 junctions, 12 parking and toilet facilities, 2 fuel stations and rest areas, and around 40,000 square metrs of noise barriers and walls. In addition, there are rainwater retention basins and drainage pipes as well as environmental protection and landscaping measures. The required earthworks cover 800,000 m³ of soil moved, which was determined using a digital terrain model. These quantities were derived from a point cloud by drone flights and integrated into the BIM model for further use. The relocation of the B248 is also part of the project. Various temporary construction aides, construction roads and storage areas guarantee a smooth project flow and must be taken into account in the overall BIM process.
Construction work is carried out on behalf of Via Niedersachsen by the construction consortium “CJV A7”. After its completion, the project section of the A7 will be one of Germany’s most modern traffic arteries and will be operated by Via Niedersachsen for a period of 30 years.
The openBIM methodology is in use for the satisfactory performance of the expansion currently being performed on this line. All data is already being structured accordingly so that it can be used for the subsequent operator phase and the PPP project will be implemented over a total period of 30 years using the BIM methodology.
Detailed description of openBIM on the project
KorFin uses all common interfaces currently used in infrastructure and, after integrated modeling, transfers the result to IFC with attributes in a clear, unambiguous and consistent database structure. In particular, the possibilities of IFC for using referenced attribute sets as well as references in attributes are used to enable direct further pro-cessing in constructive and database-oriented tools of the workflow pipeline (and thus to make them usable for component tracking, construction, and maintenance). This consistent data-oriented format usage is currently a unique selling point and fully exploits the potential of openBIM, since IFC is used directly for the transport of tech-nical data.
To create a digital terrain model (DGM), the entire route was surveyed by drone. These photographs were taken during various deployments. On the one hand, a point cloud (.las file) was generated for a large-area as-built survey, and on the other hand a digital meshed terrain model was calculated from the point cloud in order to calculate the necessary excavation and fill work for the project. The surveys and evaluations were carried out by the platform AVUS.DIGITAL.
From the external terrain model, KorFin creates a dense elevation network from the point cloud, which can evaluate the survey in real time. The aerial photographs serve as documentation and are also incorporated into the overall model via the textured terrain.
In the following, the elevation network forms the basis for the following planning steps for the construction and of the individual inventory and planning volumes: by linking to external axes, gradients (Da-40, Da-21 or IFC 4x1) and their cross profiles (DA-66, OKSTRA or LandXML) all planning volumes are defined parametrically. This pa-rameterization now generates the volumes implicitly. This means that the planning volumes are automatically ad-justed when the route is changed externally or when the survey is updated.
In this phase, the results of the internal KorFin modelling can be output in a database structure as a result with quantity calculation and classification as IFC or CPIXML.
The models of the buildings and excavation pits were generated with the “BRIDGE BUILDER LOD 200” software developed b VIA IMC. The software imports the relevant CAD files of the track as well as the planning documents. Based on this, bridge structure models can be placed in LOD 200 detail level and user-defined. For example, pa-rameters such as position, angle to the route, component dimensions and material types can be selected. The struc-tures created in this way are each provided as a separate model with full attribution as IFC and integrated into the overall KorFin model. For this purpose, the attributes are transferred to the standardized KorFin data world fully automatically and verified again. The explicit planning volumes externally available thus behave exactly like the implicit planning volumes created by KorFin itself. They are added directly and loss-free to the entire KorFin work-flow with the full life cycle of the individual technical objects and networking. IFC works here in both direction without any loss of content.
The quantities are then immediately incorporated into the 4D workflow with the associated processes (resource deployment, ordering, transport logistics). The parallel representation of the entire model (with all networked tech-nical models) in real time and with integrative evaluation of partial volumes and the attached factual database serves to directly identify conflicts and the need to adapt the 4D processes to be planned. The 4D planning itself can be done in KorFin or externally with scheduling tools. In both cases, the specialist objects (models) remain correctly linked, even in the event of subsequent external changes. The stable life cycle of the models and the linkages are unique selling points of the workflow presented here; IDs of the specialist objects (planning) and processes are con-sistently retained. Accordingly, the domain object is liked with the 4D process either automatically (selection para-metric) or manually exactly once.
One innovation is the dynamic segmentation, which allows reactions to--now, in the construction phase--partial volumes to be realized after planning: for this purpose no large number of partial volumes is calculated during planning via a fixed segmentation (every 5 meters), but the total volume of the planning is left as a volume body (specialized object), which is only divided when 4D is required and necessary. And even then, it is divided internally--invisibly to the user. This innovation is the direct further development of implicitly defined intelligent specialized objects in road infrastructure (which should also be mapped with IFC Road in the future).
The result of the combination of all partial planning results in a 5D model with the temporal connection of the spe-cialist objects (frost protection layer, drainage, etc.) with the corresponding processes from the construction schedule (approx. 20k). Thus, each planning volume is assigned its production period. Each construction period has its own separate time behavior and thus the exact sequence of construction work for the entire planning volume. If there were no dynamic segmentation or integrative time behavior, the number of planning objects and the number of activities would explode and lead to a situation that could not be planned or to models and schedules that could not be maintained.
As a result, a TARGET model, ACTUAL model (green), model of construction delays (red), model of services al-ready rendered (yellow) for any past, current or future date can be output, visualized and evaluated in real time. For each specialized object (planning volume), the completion on a past or future date can be evaluated or calculated. This completion can be calculated from the quantities in terms of built lengths, areas or volumes, or can be deter-mined by the estimation of the site manager. Here, dynamic segmentation again plays a role, since the ACTUAL area of completion does not have to correspond to the TARGET area of planning, but a reliable statement on par-tial volumes must still be determined. The monthly performance report based on the comparison between TARGET and ACTUAL in the KorFin “6D” overall model supports the budget and risk planning of the construction project.
Benefits from using openBIM
In this large-scale infrastructure construction project, a functioning control system could only be realized with an openBIM strategy that included all project participants. The project was completely realigned starting from classic workflows. Costs and deadlines are now traceable and model-based. The original budget and the original schedule cannot be met due to the delayed implementation of the openBIM method. However, all those involved assume that bottlenecks in terms of deadlines and costs could have been completely avoided if the new workflow had been available from the beginning. The two-stage controlling process, in which the site managers first report their performance directly in the TARGET model and this performance is checked independently quarterly by drone flight and evaluation as a semi-automated ACTUAL model, shows positive and clear results through and through.
"We were able to innovate using openBIM."
The innovation in this project is the model-based process of building the parameterized target model, the 5D networking of the schedule and actual data and the final target/actual comparison directly from the performance reports and directly via the model. The technical innovations were integrated in a consistent overall workflow and installed as a process in the company. Site manager and drone recording and semi-automated model generation and model comparison lead to objective parameters of the project status (at any time)
BIM Uses were defined on the project
I agree to be contacted about the project BIM uses outside of this awards program.
Stakeholders
A+S Consult GmbH, Dresden, Germany,
https://www.apluss.de, Software-Development, SaaS, Felix Kretschmann
EUROVIA GmbH, Berlin, Germany,
https://www.eurovia.de, Construction, Construction Management, Philipp Richter
