One of the major advantages of using BIM (Building Information Modelling) methodology in the construction sector in general and, in particular, in the design and construction of water parks, theme parks, hotels and resorts, campsites, shopping centres and other leisure and tourism facilities, is that it favours cost savings. One of the ways in which BIM methodology helps to reduce costs is by detecting collisions and interferences between disciplines in the design phase prior to construction.
BIM working environments allow multidisciplinary and collaborative work on a three-dimensional visual model, in which the position of each element or component of the project is observed. In this way, modellers can adapt the geometry and position of elements in real time to avoid collisions. By avoiding collisions and interferences, problems on site are avoided and prevented, and by circumventing problems in construction, the costs associated with them are also avoided and prevented.
But there is also the possibility to implement and create specific tools for the detection of hidden collisions, which might otherwise go unnoticed. These tools generate reports notifying each designer of the elements that need to be checked or resolved. However, not all problems will have the same level of importance. For this reason, there are strategies that allow the filtering of the information that is included in this collision report according to its degree of importance.
For example, collisions between structural and plumbing elements can be obtained. Therefore, thanks to this methodology, we obtain an interference matrix, in other words. a table in which the names of the groupings are crossed, in columns and rows, and where the encounters between them are marked. In this way, we obtain an ordered collision report that prioritises the resolution of critical conflicts.
By Eduardo Hernández García, senior structural modeller in the Logic Architecture Dept.
