In May 2018 the ICE (Institute of Civil Engineers) published an information sheet on BIM and its applications and benefits in the civils sector. A year later, use of BIM by consulting civil engineers is still only on a minority of projects. For civil engineers who regularly work with architects or structural engineers, BIM may already be part of their suite of tools. For those designing highways or more complex structures, BIM is something new and untried. But it is highly relevant now and will continue to grow in importance.

BIM is not just about 3D drawings, although that is part of it. As far back as 2014 Civil and Structural Engineer (C&SE) pointed out that “BIM allows engineers more easily to predict the performance of projects before they are built; respond to design changes faster; optimize designs with analysis, simulation, and visualization; and deliver higher quality construction documentation. Furthermore, it enables extended teams to extract valuable data from the model to facilitate earlier decision making and more economic project delivery.” Earlier 2D drafting-centric design processes which C&SE described as “siloed” begins with preliminary design, moves to more detailed design, and then finally creates construction documentation. Each step is completed before the next one begins, and collaboration with other participants is very limited. The requirement for design changes can easily lead to time consuming and error prone manual drafting changes, limiting its effectiveness in communicating the latest iteration of the project design.

Contrast this approach with the use of BIM, now common elsewhere in the AEC industry, where a BIM process for road design starts with the creation of coordinated, reliable design information about the project. During the project the highway profile needs adjustments to a vertical curve and the grades. By adjusting the profile, all the related design elements update automatically, allowing the designer instantly to see the impact to cut and fill and right-of-way. While the use of 3D modelling for highway design is not new BIM takes this and moves beyond traditional drafting-centric approaches, which can be as we saw above quite disconnected processes to join up the design of the physical highway structure with constructability, and particularly road safety. Safe stopping and passing sight distance analysis is another aspect that often takes place in isolation, meaning that the impact of design changes on grades, curvature, and visual obstructions such as barriers, berms, and foliage may not be immediately apparent. With BIM the effect on the road user of these design amendments is obvious straight away.

Driving Vision’s process is the ideal introduction to BIM for the Civil Engineer, and other disciplines who have yet to become fully conversant with it. The Driving Vision process is ensuring you have the best technology available to meet the needs of your practice, and the knowledge to understand how best to apply it. Get in touch to learn more about how Driving Vision can support your BIM project processes.

Implementing BIM can be daunting, but Driving Vision is here to help you at the pace you are comfortable with. Get started by getting in touch now