The design approach for prefabricated building projects involves categorizing the concrete structures on-site into cast-in-place and prefabricated components. These prefabricated components are further divided into blocks for construction and detailed design in the manufacturing factory. As living standards improve, architectural requirements have diversified, leading to an increase in design project types.
A component library is established within the shared BIM software repository. During the design of prefabricated buildings, necessary components can be conveniently extracted from this library, reducing repetitive work, cutting down design time, and lowering construction costs. Additionally, components within the library can be defined and updated for future use.
The large-scale factory production of molds significantly enhances construction efficiency compared to traditional on-site casting, accelerating project timelines. However, this also demands higher precision standards for product manufacturing and on-site installation during later stages.
In traditional construction projects, design errors often emerge only during construction, requiring modifications that can cause rework, delays, and impact overall structural quality and stability. This negatively affects cost, schedule, and quality goals, forcing design adjustments to be made reactively to guide subsequent work.
Simultaneously, BIM enables 3D segmentation of prefabricated building projects during the design phase. This 3D segmentation process follows principles such as minimizing rules, maximizing combinations, achieving global integration, and focusing on construction-centered segmentation.
For example, when segmenting exterior walls, the wall type can be defined as sandwich insulation, with segmentation referencing the exterior wall design dimensions. When segmenting stairs, they can be designed as double-running stairs with anti-slip grooves and trapezoidal cross-sections, helping to save space and reduce costs. For prefabricated buildings containing extensive data, the segmented components must be accurately annotated with data, similar to storing components in the prefabricated component library. This data is saved in a processing center to ensure information security during construction and later maintenance phases.
The integration of prefabricated component design with traditional design forms part of a deeper design process. During early construction phases, such as the design stage, BIM tools can perform collision detection and construction simulations by incorporating component and overall project information into a unified BIM platform. These tools generate collision reports, enabling designers to modify, adjust, and optimize designs to resolve conflicts related to specific trades, collision types, and critical nodes.
Leveraging BIM’s collaborative capabilities, all stakeholders can accurately confirm molds for prefabricated components, facilitating large-scale industrial production. This shift from reactive fixes to proactive prevention reduces construction rework risks. Prefabricated components designed this way are precise, simplify construction, and improve cost, schedule, and quality outcomes.
During the early design phase, BIM can also be used for mechanical, electrical, and plumbing (MEP) pipeline design and collision checks across different disciplines. For instance, Revit MEP integrates structural, electrical, HVAC, and plumbing models into a comprehensive framework. Within this software, any detected conflicts or congestions are visualized in 3D, with conflict reports generated to guide initial adjustments.
When numerous conflicts require significant changes, they must be documented and coordinated among the various professional designers. For example, as shown in Figure 2, when beams and slabs collide, increasing the spacing of the slab’s reinforcement bars can prevent clashes and reduce rework.
BIM also supports detailed interior design. During the design phase, BIM technology can be used to develop detailed decoration models and generate precise decoration schedules, which streamline procurement and on-site construction processes.
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