Building Information Modeling - 17

SPECIAL ADVERTISING SECTION Steel Industry a BIM Model for Success BIM was critical in the design of the structural steel connections on the Denver Art Museum. Images: Structural Consultants Inc. By the American Institute of Steel Construction Most architects, contractors, and building t rades a re o nly be ginning t o r ealize the power of 3D modeling and interoperability t o int egrate the desig n and c onstruction process. But one segment of the construction indust ry - st ructural steel has been implementing these measur es with great success for years. The structural steel community was an early adopt er of interoperability, or what was known as electronic data interchange, to speed st eel deli very on pr ojects. It has also been a leader in improving the int eroperability of software utilized b y its members. The indust ry has adopt ed CIMSt eel Integration Standards/Version 2 (CIS/2) as the standar d t o ac hieve int eroperability between st ructural eng ineering analysis and design, detailing, and fabrication software syst ems. Currently the g lobal standard for st ructural st eel data e xchange, CIS/2 has br idged the use of previously incompatible systems by translating a program's nati ve for mat int o a neut ral file format that allows data interchange across multiple software programs. Looking t oward the futur e, the Chicago-based American Institute of Steel Construction (AISC) is w orking w ith the International Alliance for Interoperability (IAI) in W ashington, D.C., to harmonize the CIS/2 pr otocol with IAI's Industry F oundation Class, a neut ral file for mat t o be used b y the broader A /E/C community in the utilization of Building I nformation Modeling (BIM). Interoperability enables the st eel t eam to r educe the time r equired t o c onvert structural engineers' designs to fabricated components, minimize c onflicts and errors and r educe o verall pr oject c osts. Lead times are reduced by the ability to review and approve shop drawings as they are being de veloped; thereby, eliminating both the length y “revise and r esubmit process” as well as the r eduction of paper generation. In addition, drawings ar e more c omplete and the eng ineer can be assured that the st ructural desig n w ill be properly executed at the fabrication level. This c hange in the c onstruction process also cal ls for c hange in the wa y in whic h c ontracts ar e w ritten t o mitigate risk and compensate steel-team and other building-team members for additional services rendered. Steel teams and project managers ar e de veloping par tnership ag reements and desig n-build contracts that enable st eel t eams t o share the r isk. But owners, general contractors, and construction managers are finding that the o verall sa vings t o the project far outweighs the additional fees charged for these ser vices. Here again, AISC has tak en the lead b y adding BIM 17

Building Information Modeling

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