The American Concrete Institute announced the formation of a new technical committee on Building Information Modeling of concrete structures.

“Building Information Modeling is becoming increasingly important in projects that include concrete,” said Peter Carrato, chair of the new ACI technical committee on BIM. “In projects that use multiple building materials, like steel and concrete, all materials need to be included in the BIM model. The steel industry has been using BIM consistently for about a decade, so there’s a definite need for the concrete industry to step up.”

The new ACI technical committee 131, Building Information Modeling of Concrete Structures, will hold its inaugural meeting during the ACI Fall 2009 Convention in New Orleans, Nov. 8-12, 2009. Individuals interested in applying to join this new committee or attending the meetings are encouraged to visit the ACI Web site at www.concrete.org and click on “Committees.”

“The committee members are very excited to get to work on identifying a standard that can be used for BIM throughout the concrete industry,” said Carrato. “Currently, the committee membership includes engineers, architects, software developers, academia, contractors, and government entities-proving that there is a tremendous interest for BIM across all fields of the concrete industry-and we welcome anyone who is interested in getting involved with this very important initiative.”

BIM allows project designers to create a digital model that represents a building or structure to ensure proper interface among building systems and materials before construction begins. BIM’s main advantage lies in the fact that the digital model is data-rich and intelligent, not merely lines representing a structure. Its clash detection feature is of an immediate economic benefit since it identifies conflicts during design, eliminating errors that would have then been fixed during construction.

For more information on the ACI Building Information Modeling for Concrete Structures technical committee, visit the “Committee” page atwww.concrete.org.