It would be the only half-witted decision of general contractors to put profits on priority during infrastructure development and civilians’ safety, secondary, against natural calamities such as earthquakes, floods, blizzards etc. To construct disaster-resilient buildings and infrastructure; structural engineers, civil engineers, steel and rebar detailers keep themselves updated with constantly evolving earthquake engineering and sciences of seismic natural occurrences.

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E-mail ID : info@siliconinfo.com

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Researchers have designed fibre-reinforced concrete beams, base
isolated buildings and what not. However, these AEC professionals
forget the most widely used technology, BIM for Structural Engineers, in
today’s construction practices.

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BIM technology holds all the four aces to turn the game of
infrastructure development in favour of structural and civil
engineers.

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With continuous population explosion, the lateral expansion of
buildings has in fact shifted to vertical rise. Skyscrapers and high-
rises have become an increasing necessity of urban infrastructure
development along with flyovers, bridges and underground tubes.
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Building Information Modeling incorporates early seismic needs, to
eliminate design modification once the construction starts. Information
rich intelligent BIM ready 3D models of infrastructure designs are
critical when complying with the seismic specification.

5. Compliance to designs and building codes in BIM
environment minimizes seismic effect damages

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Regulations call for a two-inch space between ducts to prevent
damages in the earthquake and its inclusion in 3D models is an
example of how neatly BIM ensures correctness of designs and
compliance to codes.
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Fundamentally, with BIM, any hanger, brace etc. can be modelled;
designs of sleeves, decks, roofs, beams, columns etc. can also be
validated using BIM. Alongside, by developing more custom
plugins and tools that offer access to their APIs, tasks are
automated and code compliance checking is streamlined.

7. Retrofitting of Earthquake Affected Infrastructure

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BIM not only aids structural engineers while working on the preparation
of designs from scratch but also ensures that structure is revamped as
it was before the earthquake. Having said this, BIM plays a significant
role while working on retrofitting of earthquake affected infrastructure
and buildings. It captures the reality of the as built condition of any
structure with help of point cloud information and converting it to 3D
BIM models or photogrammetry.
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It is impressive to see how AEC professionals are using unmanned
aerial vehicles (UAV) and a high-resolution camera to get exact as-built
conditions of roads, bridges, and tunnels. Upon modelling and analysis
of this captured information in BIM structural software such as
Autodesk Revit Structure, it shows the displacement under seismic load
when virtually simulated.

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However, while retrofitting, just knowing the particle displacement of structure
material is not enough. Other challenge lies in meeting the supply and demand of
material as envisioned for retrofitting project. The other challenge lies in how to
coordinate all the energy in a choreographed construction methodology that
ensures timely completion and fall within financial budgets in earthquake affected
geography. BIM plays a pivotal role in programming and sequencing all
construction activity, aligning materials on sites and optimizing supply and delivery.
BIM thus removes inefficiencies and inaccuracies that are caused due to the
piecemeal ordering of materials.
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BIM was initially meant to upgrade fundamental ways in which designing was done
and bring efficiency to the overall construction process. But with the gradual advent
of technology, BIM now serves Construction Management processes as well.
Also when stakeholders and the public can see proposed building designs in form
of 3D models and can walk through a virtual prototype of intended infrastructure
piece, decisions can be streamlined and retrofit earthquake affected infrastructure
can be accelerated.

10. Fiber and Steel Columns and Base Isolation Methods for
Sustaining Seismic Vibration

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These beams, when reinforced with concrete and steel fiber, can sustain
seismic loads at higher levels. Such innovations find applications in bridges,
flyover, and high-rise construction. Besides, there are several other popular
facilities constructed, such as Taipei 101 in China, that are built on the
separate foundation which acts as a shock absorber. It essentially allows
the building to stay stationary relative to the ground even during seismic
vibrations.
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Adopting such modern approaches based on a static nonlinear algorithm,
also known as dynamic analysis; give the more exact representation of
buildings when simulated for seismic conditions. This pushover analysis
delivers erecting a stronger foundation for high-risk construction. Using BIM
is a cost-effective solution for infrastructure project development and it is
unarguable. As the industry enters the next decade, it will have the ability to
perform with a single BIM model. BIM itself will soon become the new
normal for structural engineers to deal with earthquake engineering as well.

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