A BIM-based approach to automate the design and coordination process of mechanical, electrical, and plumbing systems

ABSTRACT

The design and spatial coordination of mechanical, electrical, plumbing, and fire protection systems (MEP) have become a major challenge for successful project delivery. Traditionally, MEP coordination has been conducted based on overlaying 2D drawings from different trades to detect functional and spatial interferences between MEP systems. Such coordination is time consuming and of low efficiency. Recently, the advent and development of Building Information Modelling (BIM) have significantly changed this process by affording a visual and collaborative manner. However, it still needs much manual work and many rounds of coordination as the conventional 2D design was still used. Therefore, this paper proposes a well-defined approach based on BIM to improve the workflow and automate the process by developing an MEP rule-based automated engine using Revit Application Programming Interface (API) tool. The engine is developed primarily to help analyse available ceiling zone for MEP elements in the first phase and then extended to facilitate rule-based routing in the second phase. The proposed approach is verified and validated by an illustrative example, followed by a real-life MEP design case. The result shows that with the help of the proposed approach, clashes and the number of coordination iteration are reduced substantially.

KEYWORDS:

• BIM
• MEP design
• MEP coordination
• rule-based routing
• automation

Acknowledgements

The authors take this opportunity to thank Hip Hing Construction Co Ltd to fully support, and continuously fund this research project and developmental works that have been described and presented in this paper. The authors appreciate the guidance and suggestions from the directors, Mr Derek So and Mr K H Mok. In addition, the authors are grateful to Mr Joseph Lo and his building services team, who provided professional engineering knowledge and expertise that greatly assisted the research.

Additional information

Funding

This research is conducted and sponsored by Hip Hing Construction Co Ltd.

Notes on contributors

Qiqi Lu

Ms Qiqi Lu is an experienced BIM Engineer with a strong background in engineering and a demonstrated history of both BIM research and working experience. She has obtained a Master of Philosophy degree in Civil Engineering from The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology. After joining Hip Hing for more than two years, her team and she has won many awards, e.g. Autodesk Hong Kong BIM Awards 2016, Silver Award for Incubation Circle 2016/17, etc.

Yuen Hung Wong

Mr Yuen Hung Wong a professional member of The Hong Kong Institute of Building Information Modelling and Manager and Head of BIM Section in Hip Hing Construction Co Ltd, who leads his team to win an Autodesk Hong Kong BIM Awards 2016. He has obtained a Master's degree in Intelligent Building Technology and Management. He is experienced on BIM implementation, development and management in AEC industries with 10 years solid experience which includes the BIM projects in Hong Kong, Shanghai, South Korea, Australia, United Arab Emirates and Qatar.