BIM methodology for cost analysis, sustainability, and management of steel structures with reconfigurable joints for industrial structures

Abstract

One of the main objectives set for future factories, and for Industry 4.0, is to reduce the CO2 footprint of industrial plants and their buildings as much as possible. This objective must be compatible with economic savings, an essential requirement for investments in industrial production plants and their buildings. Industrial structures represent an important part of investments in industrial facilities and equipment. In order to achieve the objectives mentioned above, it is necessary to use fully reconfigurable and reusable structures. This work aims to propose and apply a methodology using BIM (Building Information Modelling) technology that allows for the analysis, control, and monitoring of economic profitability and sustainability ratios over time (for structures with reconfigurable joints compared to those with welded joints). The proposed methodology was applied to three different case studies, where various reconfigurations of the structures were done over time, obtaining the structure’s economic profitability with reconfigurable joints from the third reconfiguration and environmental sustainability from the second reconfiguration. The results demonstrate that the BIM methodology presented in this work and applied to industrial structures is a fully adequate tool for analyzing the structures’ costs and sustainability and controlling for monitoring these structures throughout the different reconfigurations.