BIM seems to offer a potential for people who use it to better organize and manage design and predict problems before they occur. But what about the reality?
As an innovative working method, BIM is shaking the construction industry. Some design departments in the power industry use BIM in the conceptual stage, hoping to work in this way to save time, and want to improve some of the work in the project implementation stage. By exchanging views with experts from ENGIEIneo, Legrand, TraceSoftware International and BIM&CO, we got some real feedback.
When the project involves the use of BIM, professionals in the power industry are facing practical problems.
BIM is useful for the power industry because it can predict and deal with problems before they occur. In practice, however, this is not always the case. As Philippe Aupetit, the computing and simulation manager of TraceSoftware, emphasizes, "BIM is still rarely used in the power industry, because many things are usually done away from digital models, such as load calculation, wiring, pipeline synthesis, etc. In addition, the detailed work is performed by the installer, and the design is not completed in advance using BIM. Many of today's conflicts are still mostly dealt with on-site, rather than anticipated at the project design stage.
In order to predict problems before they occur, BIM needs to be better used in the preliminary design stage, common objects are used, and manufacturer data is introduced in the detailed design stage. In addition, Patrick Kalton, BIM manager of Rogerland, pointed out on the topic of general object that "BIM general object only appears in the form of device unit at present. It is very important that it can be connected in an interactive system and between units."
Another problem with BIM design is that currently available solutions cannot deal with cable design. Cable is the most important equipment in electrical devices, which requires the use of industry-specific professional software. For example, in order to wire cables in Revit, the pipeline function must be used.
Design institutes also face the problem of lack of coordination between BIM object attributes: each industry and each manufacturer has its own specific practices. For example, power and phase are two data needed by the Electrical Industrial Design Institute, but the term BIM object varies from manufacturer to manufacturer. Because of lack of standardization, using BIM object is a difficult process, but it is a necessary data requirement in the design stage. Although PTNB (PlanTransition Numriquedansle Batiment) and the French Trade Union (FTU) are trying to standardize BIM objects, the process is still long and arduous, which is an obstacle to the application of BIM in the power industry.
Damien Sellet, BIM manager of ENGIEIneo, reminds us, "In France, digital models are not yet contractually binding. Paper contracts take precedence over digital models, especially when there are differences, such as power capacity requirements. Therefore, for the sake of practicability and convenience, the main objects used at present are general objects. In some countries, such as Britain and Singapore, digital models are contract-binding and are used by manufacturers. So we still need to prepare for the future.
Although BIM is relatively new, it has proven useful, so it is becoming more and more popular in the team. Sellet emphasized: "In the design of the control room / equipment room, you get better organization, and you save a lot of time in modeling complex devices, such as building stairs." When buildings are in use, BIM can also provide valuable help to make it easier to replace products installed in buildings, consult their maintenance guidelines or upgrade compliance.
Emerging solutions
As we have seen, due to the lack of consistency and interactivity in the information provided by manufacturers, data coordination is an obstacle to BIM, which stems from various and changing norms and standards. Fortunately, ENGIE's OnFly innovative solution provides a clever way to solve these problems, enabling us to obtain a reference system for all BIM objects, which specifically addresses the enterprise's standards requirements.
To solve the problem of file size, BIM&CO developed Smart Download technology, which allows users to select only the data they need to download. Once the model is sent to another participant in the BIM process, the third party can in turn update the object with the data they are interested in, thus keeping the file size to the optimum minimum. These features are very useful in the design and coordination of power and fluid systems. They provide a general object library for these two specialties and provide the data needed for both disciplines.
When modeling products, manufacturers must consider formats and standards so that they can assure users that their products are suitable and of high quality. As the first phase of the current work on safe lighting, Rogerland, a leading provider of electrical solutions, seeks to engage its users in France, Belgium, the Netherlands and Spain in order to obtain real and practical feedback. It is against this background that BIM&CO selected a group of experts from enterprise users. The idea of the group is to provide manufacturers with research on real-life use feedback, which can be used to develop truly useful and relevant BIM objects.
The same methodology has also been applied to trade by GEMELEC and IGNES.