Building Information Modelling for Transport Infrastructure

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Contents

4 - Preliminary Design (including Tender Design)

6 - Integrated Detailed Design and Construction

8 - M25 DBFO – a case study for Detailed Design and Construction

10 – Management and Refurbishment

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Introduction

Atkins is the UK’s leading engineering and design consultancy and one of the world’s biggest global design firms. We have the expertise to deliver the most technically challenging and programme-critical infrastructure projects. From innovative transport planning and design, to the management of highway and rail structures, we plan, design and enable transportation solutions.

Atkins has cutting edge capability in the development of BIM solutions across all phases of road and bridge design. We also recognise that there are many ways that a BIM solution can be created and many commercial software packages available for use, so we pride ourselves in being flexible in our working practices to adapt to each client’s particular preferences and solution requirements.

We have policy, systems and the people in place to achieve “Level 2 BIM” maturity supported by Atkins’ UK Chief Executive. We also play an active role in steering the BIM infrastructure agenda in the UK (through Atkins role as Chair of ICE BIM Action Group, Chair of AGI and Vice-chair of BIM4Infrastructure) alongside work undertaken with infrastructure related Government Departments and with UK BuildSmart.

Our BIM capability drives many benefits in delivering schemes at all stages of their lifecycle including:

• Creating visual representations of schemes to gain planning consents.• Improving buildability of designs through clash detection.• Providing data-rich 3D models to support the construction phase.• Improving construction planning and safety risk management through

visualisation of construction sequences.• Facilitating collaborative planning.• Capturing data needed to facilitate maintenance planning.

This brochure illustrates the depth and breadth of our capability in BIM solutions from scheme conception to management of the asset through its service life.

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Our approach to delivery at this stage includes:

• Choosing the right tools and right level of detail to deliver the project requirements efficiently at early stages.

• Development of scheme options for required infrastructure elements.

• 3D modelling for early visualisation of schemes and aesthetic refinement.

• 3D interactive PDFs for easy distribution of scheme visualisations.

• 4D timeline movies to provide early clarity of construction sequencing.

• Working collaboratively using a Common Data Environment, such as ProjectWise.

• Virtual reality modelling to show real time traffic flows.• Combining multiple survey sources including point

clouds from laser scanning to add existing terrain and infrastructure to our models.

The benefits of our service include:

• Flexibility - tailoring our approach to modelling each phase of a project, rather than using one inflexible approach throughout, ensures we can accommodate change at the early stages with relative ease.

• Simplicity – the rapid visualisation of schemes we provide leads to easier and quicker understanding of the scheme by technical and non-technical people alike.

• Greater Certainty that we have the right solution – by working in a truly collaborative environment with one version of the truth, all parties have early sight of the impact of constraints and assumptions and can make appropriate design and construction decisions.

• Enhanced Safety – early visualisation of the design and its surrounding infrastructure facilitates better construction planning.

Construction Sequencing at Tender Design

Atkins, as Designer is part of a team bidding for the design & build of a new dual two lane carriageway.To aid planning, buildability and integration of structures into the landform, certain key structures were modelled in 3D. This gave the benefit of easily demonstrating to the client the practicalities of the design solution and temporary works impacts during construction with the construction sequencing as shown.

Preliminary Design (including Tender Design)

A483 Newtown Bypass, tender stage BIM

Atkins as the ECI Contractor’s designer produced a number of 3D models using Autodesk Civil3D and Revit to assess different cut and fill options and to ensure feasibility of construction in difficult areas. The models were also used to check levels and buildability for the structures. An App was developed using the 3D visuals for portable interactivity for the Welsh Government. Tablet technology enabled 3D visualisation to be taken from 2D highway plans.

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A465 Heads of Valley Section 2Atkins is part of a design team that is responsible for the preliminary design to upgrade the road from a single three lane carriageway to a dual two lane carriageway. This Section has significant engineering and environmental challenges as the road passes through Clydach Gorge within the Brecon Beacons National park. A 3D model was developed to include all of the infrastructure design services using: Autodesk Revit and Autocad to model structures and culverts; and Bentley Navigator to collate and view the i-models and produce 3D PDF’s, which have proved invaluable in design discussions with the project team, clients and stakeholders.

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Our approach to delivery at this stage includes:

• Incorporation of increased detail in the 3D environment including major infrastructure assets such as gantries and CCTV cameras, underground services and other existing infrastructure.

• Clash detection and clash prevention between individual assets and services.

• Ensuring the design is buildable through providing visualisation and virtual construction.

• Incorporation of detailed construction sequencing to assist with construction planning.

• Facilitation of detailed quantities take-offs directly from the 3D model.

• Provision of unique object labelling to facilitate attachment of property data, traceability and automatic component scheduling.

• Ability to supply data in IFC format (where available for transport infrastructure components) for interoperability between software packages.

• Direct supply of 3D setting out information.• Virtual Reality animation of people, vehicles and

construction plant.• Facilitation by the use of QR codes and iPads on site.

The benefits of our service include:

• Improved Buildability – clashes and construction difficulties can be readily identified and eliminated within the 3D environment, whilst supply of 3D setting out information assists with construction.

• Enhanced Safety – visualisation of the scheme makes early identification of hazards easier, including facilitation of early Road Safety Audit, and allows better construction sequencing and planning.

• Reduced Programme – scheme visualisation accelerates the design approval and departures from standard process and facilitates Environmental Impact Assessment.

• Increased Accuracy and Economy – automatic generation of scheduling and quantities reduces scope for error in design, whilst unique object labelling reduces potential error on site.

• Better Asset Management information – again the unique object labelling can be used to attach asset as-built information and maintenance plans for handover upon completion.

Integrated Detailed Design and Construction

M62 Managed Motorway, J25 to J30

Prestressed Bridge Design

Atkins developed a 3D model to combine all design elements together to position sign gantries, hard shoulder monitoring cameras and CCTV cameras. The models were created using the MX design model as a base and applying images and aerial photographs.

Atkins has developed tools which allow gantry structures to be moved along the chainage of the road to optimise location. The model has allowed accurate checking of visibility from the drivers eye view and in the process has reduced the number of gantries, saving around £9m with a reduction in the approval process of around 3 months. The model has been used to great success and is being maintained to allow accurate information to be passed over to the Area maintainers at handover.

For the Dubai Metro viaducts 3D modelling, incorporating rules limiting duct spacing, was the key to providing rapid assurance that tendon design requirements could be achieved with standardised duct locations at segment ends. The data was then transferred to the contractor to inform casting geometry, including the casting precambers.

The method was developed further to include variation in required spacing with curvature for Hong Kong’s Aberdeen Channel bridge (pictured).

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M4 M5 Almondsbury Interchange Managed MotorwayThe project scope involved the preparation of a VR model using MX survey models of existing features, design models of proposed Emergency Refuge Area and Maintenance Access Points. The VR model also incorporated the 4-level Almondsbury Interchange, vehicle paths and surrounding terrain. All Bridge decks within the interchange and along the M4 and M5 were also modelled in VR to impart greater accuracy to the model.

The application of the model for this scheme has been continually developing during the design development and construction phases. It has assisted in the preparation of contract schedules for safety fencing, drainage, road markings, signs, street lighting, communications and ducting to enhance efficiency of the design process.

Managing the change process has been made simpler due to the single model approach and this has reduced design time in the construction phase. Projecting forward, the project team are currently looking at various ways to present a ‘smart’ model for the handover process. This will include dynamic links to H&S file and documentation, including asset data.

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The contract required capacity to be increased along 64km of the M25 from 3 to 4 lanes, from J16 to J23 and J27 to 30. Working collaboratively for client Skanska Balfour Beatty, BIM and 3D visualisation techniques were used extensively yielding significant cost savings in programme efficiencies bybuilding a design without clashes.

Project challenges to overcome included:

• Design and construction had to be fast and right first time to meet a completion date before the London 2012 Olympic Games;

• Extensive lengths of retained cut and fill were required to ensure the works could be built within existing fence lines;

• Requirement to upgrade the road to Controlled Motorway standards with gantry-mounted signs and signalling;

• Maintaining 3 lanes of live traffic throughout the working day.

Feedback and continuous improvement over the duration of the project have added further aspects of BIM methodology to the process. Initially the aim was purely to achieve a build-able design without clashes. Later models have far more data structure, enabling property data (stored within the model or in external databases) to be attached to recognisably named objects.

Atkins and Skanska Balfour Beatty Joint Venture were jointly awarded an Autodesk BIM Experience Award for use of BIM through Design and Construction in April 2011.

3D model from below

Berry Lane Viaduct

M25 Widening DBFO – a case study for Detailed Design and Construction

3D model from above

BIM Applications

The models were maintained through the construction phase to show any design changes that were made. Greater realism was added to make the models more intuitively comprehensible/understandable, for example, showing all the posts and rails in the fences. The temporary works and traffic management were added in by SBB and the BIM model used for various applications, e.g. scanning QR codes to locate design data and accessing information by iPads on site.

Collaborative working around a 3D Model

One of the main challenges was to fit far more infrastructure, from many disciplines, into highly constrained verges between the new lanes and retaining walls. Teams from different dis-ciplines worked together to ensure that the final design was free from inter-disciplinary conflicts. All above and below ground infrastructure was modelled the model went through several iterations in developing optimal solutions to minimise abortive work.

There are as yet no international or national BIM standards for geometry and data adequate for civil infrastructure, therefore, the project defined its own standards for each discipline and Atkins created automated software tools, methods and ob-jects to achieve this. Bespoke software tools tailored to each discipline generated 3D representations, which were brought together in Autodesk Navisworks to detect and track any conflicts between disciplines.

Other bespoke tools simplified the task of location by precise chainage and offset from features and generated consistent schedules and other structured data.

Highway Constraints

The highway design involved meticulous attention to lane widths and hard shoulder provision, given the constantly varying constraints of underbridges, overbridges, fence lines and infrastructure. As far as possible the central reserve works were minimised to reduce traffic management changes.

The biggest structural challenge was widening Berry Lane Viaduct near Chorleywood, where the extra lane had to be stitched onto either side of the existing structure. The piers, abutments and foundations were particularly important for both new and existing structures and most had to be mod-elled from the original as-built drawings.

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A structural asset management strategy will need to consider in particular:

• Overall strength and the point in time when the structure will no longer be adequate.

• Condition information such as:- amounts of corrosion- contamination (such as by chlorides)- concrete delamination- cracking

• Deterioration rates (such as due to corrosion).• Public safety risks, such as posed by spalling concrete.• Traffic management requirements, access issues and

disruption to the travelling public.

Our BIM solutions allow this information to be interrogated and displayed graphically in a 3D environment to facilitate rapid understanding of asset condition, priorities for intervention and access to detailed maintenance and refurbishment plans.

When refurbishment becomes necessary, to design and build a solution it is important to have:

• Certainty of existing structural geometry.• Clarity of access issues.• Understanding of what are often complex construction

sequencing requirements.• Identification of potential clashes and the ability to

design in tolerance.• The ability to rehearse construction in a virtual

environment.• Many of the same facilities offered at the detailed

design for new assets.

Our BIM solutions permit us to fulfil all the above requirements within a 3D virtual environment.

M4 Elevated Section Junctions 1 - 3, West London

Management of the M4 Elevated Section required design of contingency propping measures, strengthening works and collation of detailed asset condition information upon which to plan an intervention strategy. The crossheads and surrounding infrastructure were laser scanned and a 3D model created from the point cloud data. This provided essential as-built information to assist with design of temporary propping systems. At the detailed design phase for the strengthening, as-built reinforcement was incorporated in the 3D models which allowed virtual coring for new reinforcement and cathodic protection anodes to be undertaken to minimise potential clashes with existing reinforcement. Essential data for the ongoing asset management of the viaducts was also attached to the 3D model including:

• Condition information including chloride levels, half cell readings, corrosion amounts, crack widths and spalled concrete.

• Strength utilisation.• Condition score.• Proposed maintenance plan and intervention date.

Management and Refurbishment

Irwell Valley Bridge Strengthening

Laser scan image of the M4 Elevated Section

Complex geometry and construction sequencing made BIM essential on the Irwell Valley Viaduct strengthening project. Some key benefits realised included:

• Enhancing visualisation and understanding of the strengthening works.

• Facilitating quick location of elements referenced on the drawings – each element had a unique reference number in the 3D model and the same referencing was used to mark

the real physical components.• Detection of clashes and fit

problems.• Warning of highly stressed

elements at each stage through colour coding.

• Keeping track of traffic management requirements – at each stage of construction, the traffic management requirements could be graphically viewed to ensure that the correct load restrictions were in place.

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Forth Road Bridge RefurbishmentBIM and 3D virtual reality techniques were used extensively on the Forth Road Bridge to assist in the optioneering, heritage approval by Historic Scotland, design and construction sequencing of bearing replacement works and new under-deck access provision. For bearing replacement works, 3D modelling of the pier head and box girders enabled pier head widening, temporary works and associated additional girder stiffening to be coordinated around existing reinforcement, steelwork and service cabling. The complex construction sequence, some 1500 stages, was also modelled allowing construction teams to get up to speed rapidly. For under-deck access, 3D interactive modelling allowed the design to be checked for clashes with the existing structure and virtual inspection to be carried out to verify all areas could indeed be accessed.

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transportation@atkinsglobal.com

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Chris HendyHighways & TransportationDirectorT: 01372 75 6307E: Chris.Hendy@atkinsglobal.com