Zhou, H and Rezazadeh Azar, E (2019) BIM-based energy consumption assessment of the on-site construction of building structural systems. Built Environment Project and Asset Management, 9(1), pp. 2-14. ISSN 2044-124X
Abstract
Purpose: Steel and reinforced concrete are among the most common structural materials used in the construction industry. Cost and the speed of construction have been usually the main criteria when selecting a building’s structural system, whereby the environmental impact of the structural material is sometimes ignored. Availability of an easy-to-use tool for environmental assessment of the structural alternatives could encourage this evaluation in the decision making. The purpose of this paper is to introduce an automated tool for the environmental assessment of the on-site construction processes of a building structural system, which calculates the energy consumption and carbon emissions of the structural system as a parameter for comparison. Design/methodology/approach: This assessment tool is implemented using a building information modeling (BIM) platform to extract structural elements and their key attributes, such as type, geometrical and locational data. These data are processed together with a productivity database to calculate machine hours, and then predefined energy and carbon inventories are used to assess the energy consumption of the structural system in the erection/installation stage. Findings: This assessment tool provides an automated and easy-to-use approach to estimate energy consumption and carbon emissions of different structural systems that are modeled in a BIM platform. The results of this tool were within the ranges reported by the available studies. Originality/value: This research project presents a novel approach to use BIM-based attributes of the structural elements to calculate the required efforts, i.e. machine hours, and assess their energy consumption and carbon emissions during construction processes.
| Item Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | building information modelling; carbon emissions; energy consumption; on-site construction; reinforced concrete; steel structure; structural system |
| Index terms: | environmental assessment, steel structure, construction industry, estimate, environmental impact, reinforced concrete, methodology, decision-making, construction process, energy consumption, database, productivity, platform, carbon emission, key attribute, building information modelling, inventory |
| Subjects: | management, specialized materials and systems, research methods, inventory management, digital design, data management, building construction, decision analysis, industry analysis, information systems, risk assessment, environmental impact, climate science, building materials, energy systems, financial and cost management |
| Topics: | Supply Chain Management, Digital Applications, Site Management, Research Practice, Construction Materials, Cost Management, Business Strategy, Sustainability, Risk Management |
| Descriptive scope: | 3 PCT |
N.B. Descriptive scope is a count of how many of the five facets of empirical research are indicated by the words used in title, abstract and keywords. It is not intended as a judgement on the research; merely a count of the kind of word we would expect to indicate Phenomenon, Concepts, Theoretical framing, Empirical techniques, Analytical techniques. If all five are present, then a code of “5 PCTEA” will indicate this. If you feel the coding for this record is questionable, we welcome discussion around the terms we matched or the way we categorized them. The facet you would expect may not be coded, or a facet may be coded inappropriately. This can also bear on a larger question, of which facets should be treated as defining in construction management research. Please get in touch, and we will look at it. More details here