A working group of the American Concrete Institute’s
Committee 131 on building information modeling is actively developing an
Information Delivery Manual for cast-in-place concrete. The IDM will capture in
written form the interaction that occurs in the design and construction of
concrete structures by identifying the parties involved in information
exchange, what information is exchanged and when, based on a typical
construction project timeline.
This IDM project is the outcome of ACI’s Strategic
Development Council’s initiative to focus the concrete industry on developing
interoperability standards, and represents the first step in the development of
data exchanges into the buildingSMART’s Industry Foundation Classes. IFC is an
open and neutral data exchange format that covers construction information
related to procurement, design, construction, and operations. IFCs will allow
project information to be entered once, and then to be available and usable by every
project team member across any software platform. The improved communication,
coordination, and collaboration afforded by BIM implementation have already
been shown to save time and money in projects.
A $60,000 grant from the Charles Pankow Foundation accounts
for the majority of the $90,000 funding for this IDM project. Remaining funding
is provided by Bechtel, Tekla, Bentley, Applied Systems Associates, RMC
Research & Education Foundation, CRSI Education & Research Foundation,
ASCC Foundation, Post Tensioning Institute, and two of the ACI Foundation’s
Councils-the Concrete Research Council and the Strategic Development
Council.
“Obviously this level of support indicates the commitment of
the entire cast-in-place concrete industry to this effort,” said Peter Carrato,
Chair of ACI Committee 131.
A team from Georgia Technological University’s Digital
Building Laboratory headed by Professor Chuck Eastman will assist the ACI IDM
working group. The group’s first meeting took place during December of 2011 in
Atlanta. Peter Carrato expressed confidence that the group will meet its goal
of completing the IDM by the end of 2012. The next meeting will be held in
conjunction with the ACI Spring 2012 Convention in Dallas.
ACI Development of BIM Manual Receives Support
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