BIM Applications of Rule-Based Checking in Construction Site Layout Planning Tasks

Site layout and logistics planning generally plays an important role for the successful execution of construction activities. The allocation of the right amount and size and the timely use of resources play critical roles. Compared to other industrial sectors the construction industry shows a lack of technological progress in site logistics and fabrication planning. The automotive or ship building industries, for example, have stringent production planning methods in place to the point that almost every step in the planning and manufacturing processes is supported by digital simulation and optimization. On the other hand, construction planning appears to remain a manual process slowly taking advantage of building information modeling (BIM) processes and techniques. Our work investigates automated rule-based checking in construction site layout planning tasks to simplify the existing manual processes. A gap analysis of the traditional site layout planning process is performed to identify key areas that are of high concern to practitioners. A rule-based checking algorithm for site layout planning embedded in a commercially-available BIM-platform was created and tested on specific cases in the site layout planning process of a realistic building. Promising results and a discussion to the existing limitations of rule-based checking approaches for site layout planning are presented. A short outlook towards future research gives a potential path forward in advanced construction site layout planning.