Understanding the BIM concept, in the case of Bentley Systems

In simplified terms, BIM (Building Information Modeling) Is the evolution of traditional concept called CAD (Computer Aided Design) And although there are whole books written about this after Jerry Laiserin popularized the term, for educational purposes we will try to be as simplistic as possible:

Before, In designing a building, the architect after a good joint of marijuana made a sketch freehand and modeled the expected volumes, then made isolated strokes that were defining distribution, and finally some details that reached the level of environments. He closed his portfolio and went swimming in the pool while in the office the other architects and engineers were looking for a way on a board to translate that information so that specialists could give it shape with structural, constructive, mechanical and economic characteristics ... in short, a process Long and disconnected in which many disciplines ended in PLANS to achieve construction.

The BIM concept is based on carrying the whole process under digital models, georeferenced from the first day, with lighting analysis, energy saving, geotectonic conditions since the first volumes are conceived. And the whole process of design and construction is linked. So tasks that were before and painful as the As-built planes are generated on the progress of construction. The process does not end in construction but is just the beginning of the operation, such that the object seems more a subject that is born, grows, generates well-being and also one day will die.

There is a world of difference between saying it and doing it, and someone could think that it is the effect of cannabis. AutoDesk users who previously played with Architectural Desktop and now know Revit will more or less know that the concept is not that far away, and those of us who have seen Bentley's I-model (digital twin) also understand that things are heading there more beyond the buildings and the reasons that make the topic popular every day:

• The power of software development for simulation
• The need for digital data interoperability standards
• The urge to bring real cities to virtual models
• The dissolution of boundaries between disciplines such as construction, topography, remote sensing, electromechanics, design ...
• ... nor should we discard that human emotion by dreams smoked to the sublime.

I insist that this theme of 3D cadastres and modeled cities is enough for many of our countries that suffer from basic tasks, but I admit that the issue should not be unknown, since many of our cities such as Bogotá, Sao Paulo, Buenos Aires, Mexico, to give examples can be pilot scenarios of something that developed countries of Europe and the United States see as an entertaining fashion. Online games such as City Ville bring to practice planning concepts that become chewable, so that those of us who come from the CAD concept and have been excited by the disciplines associated with the geospatial theme must keep our eyes on the BIM, because it will be included in an intrusive way almost as it is now the spatial georeference and possibly will have us entertained the next 15 years.

How Bentley Systems sees the term BIM

One way to see BIM working is by identifying how software manufacturers plan to implement it. AutoDesk has its own line, in this case I will show it as it is being visualized by Bentley for being a subject that I have been observing for more than three years in the wedge digital twin.

Bentley Has focused on three tools that has led to stardom:

• Microstation for modeling information, the equivalent to AutoCAD, a drawing board on which tools of structural analysis, geotectonic, architecture, topography, road networks, modeling, etc. operate.
• ProjectWise for project integration, which is an information manager integrated into models built with Microstation
• AssetWise for asset lifecycle management, Which controls the operation of real life objects, taking their life history.

Everything, seeking the ultimate end, that the Infrastructure and its life cycle be the primary point of interest, but no longer as an inert object but as a subject with life and is reflected in how all the platforms have aligned for their geoengineering approach:

So, the I-Model (digital twin) is nothing more than a container of files of the infrastructures as they are in a person.

• I was born one day ... I have a record that gives me a unique identity and registers my age. One day he will record my death.
• I went to kindergarten and I finished with a masters degree ... I have an academic record that reflects my education.
• I undertook projects ... I have a record that made me mix my knowledge with my skills, skills, complement with others who were my partners and collaborators
• I got married, I had two children, a mother-in-law ... I have a family file
• I worked in 3 companies ... I have a work file
• I had the appendix removed ... I have a medical record
• They caught me peeing in a roundabout ... I have a behavioral file before society

And so, our life is but a set of records that carry our history from the time we were conceived until we died. If we go to the doctor, we must refer to the file, if we pay taxes, if we sell a vehicle ... everything is part of being born, growing, reproducing, generating wealth and dying.

For Bentley, BIM is a parallel to this about the I-model (digital twin) as a file container:

• An infrastructure is conceived at a time ... the design dossier, which is analyzed with AECOsim Buliding Designer, Energy Simulator, Compliance Manager ...
• It defines the possible place where it will be located ... the geotechnical file, which is analyzed with PowerCivil, gINT ...
• Information on nearby infrastructures, high voltage cables, pipelines ... obtained with Descartes, Raceway, Cable Management ...
• Structural design works ... with STAAD, RAM ...
• The electromechanical system is designed ... AECOsim, OpenPlants ...
• It integrates to the hydro-sanitary system ... WaterGEMS, SewerGEMS ...
• One day his operation (AssetWise) will be controlled, including his demolition when he dies.

Bentley's big win is in a unique format: the DGN now With BIM capabilities and that is known as I-model (digital twin). I understand, it is smoked, astral and even naive. But I must admit, he is worthy of admiration.

Where Bentley goes in the topic BIM

Let's see it in a scenario where a whole city is embedded within a virtual model:

A gang goes out in the field to solve a call from a broken sewer. The technician takes his tablet and captures the point where it is, the coordinate indicates that at that point it coincides with a related infrastructure: a street with a hydraulic folder of 20 cm, down a base of 20 cm and a sub-base of 35 cms. Further down is a PVC wastewater line, 8 "built 11 years ago and received maintenance for 13 months ago.

If everything was inserted within a standard BIM model, no matter what software was designed or at what time it was built, your record will be the same. 2012 acquisitions now have a logical sense: SpecWave, SITEOPS, FormSys, elcoSystems. Bentley seeks to standardize, position, make the format friendly, make the term BIM a reality.

What is Bentley's expectations with BIM?

While ESRI prioritizes the GIS theme and its applications, AutoDesk includes the range from building design to cinema animation, Intergraph integrates with ERDAS, Leica and the other EXAGON family, Bentley decides to focus on infrastructures from its construction to its operation: roads, buildings, industrial plants, maritime platforms, railways, power plants, mining, hydro-sanitary systems, 3D cities, etc. That makes us understand what you are looking for with your recent alliances with Trimble, SIEMENS And why open interoperability with Revit.

Hammering with the I-model (digital twin) comes from being called Be-Inspired in Baltimore. The portfolio of projects, the scope of recent awards such as Bangalore in India, the insistence on CAPEX, OPEX, the balanced portfolio in which licenses can be exchanged according to demand ... everything points to having enough data for infrastructures to speak for half of his files:

• The agreement with Trimble of 2012 that made them insert the concept of georeference x, y, z associated to an object with unique spatial identifier.
• The modeling of the underground infrastructures realized with radar probe and generated with Pointools of Descartes
• The inclusion of the lifetime of the work in AssetWise, which warned that maintenance should be done due to the seismic movement of 4 years ago that decreased its life time and structural revision of the street.
• The insertion of the maintenance contract made to that line within ProjectWise, that allows to check if it is within the time of guarantee or corresponds to be realized under a new cost.
• Entering the road to maintenance implies affecting the traffic of a lane in a road artery that will cause congestion at peak times ... etc, etc and all the other implications that the system may have predetermined at a time when all nodes are connected.

In conclusion, every day we will see more the BIM in our technical and administrative task, although not with that name specifically and as we see, beyond the buildings that was the term to which the idea was first coined. The connectivity that we now enjoy and the trend that computer applications have will make this, which I'm just exemplifying with the Bentley model, real.

According to Wikipdedia: BIM is the process of generating and managing data of an infrastructure during its life cycle using dynamic real-time three-dimensional building modeling software to reduce the loss of time and resources in design and construction . This process produces the infrastructure information model (also abbreviated BIM), which covers building geometry, spatial relationships, geographic information, as well as the quantities and properties of the infrastructure components.

For Bentley, BIM is intelligent infrastructures.