MINIMUM DATASETS FOR 4D SIMULATION OF INFRASTRUCTURE PROJECTS AND THEIR CARBON FOOTPRINT

Rapid growth in infrastructure projects such as tunneling cause rising the demand of digitalization in this sector. Recently, building information modeling has become more common in the infrastructure field and different aspects of BIM such as 4D BIM have been used to facilitate construction. While many research works have addressed various aspects of BIM in different fields, there is no comprehensive framework that can help engineers to know which data is essential for infrastructural scheduling. Statistic shows, due to the vast amount of data, scheduling can be time taking and confusing. Moreover, constructing and refurbishing railway infrastructure projects is known as one of the critical sources of carbon footprint emissions. Hence, finding a visual and practical way for simulating carbon emissions over time could play a vital role in the construction industry. Therefore, this study identifies the minimum data sets required for the development of a 4D model with a carbon footprint that could lead to a decrease in the amount of carbon emission. As BIM can provide key input for the virtual reality (VR) applications, the methodology develops an approach for 4D modeling scheduling using BIM, which is enhanced with carbon footprint data, that allows for VR assessment of the impact of a particular railway infrastructure project on the environment over time. The approach has been demonstrated in a practical case study of a railway project for which a BIM model and point cloud was made available and upgraded with 4D and CO2 footprint. The framework is useful for BIM management of railway infrastructure projects and its impact on the environment