The management of construction projects requires adequate techniques to support the continual exchange of information across disciplines. Recent advances in Building Information Modelling (BIM) have exposed new ways for process and data integration with open data formats, process mapping, and terminology. In construction projects where multiple disciplines produce and share BIM data, mechanisms for defining information priority, provenance and suitability become necessary in order to have consistent and traceable use of data. This includes objects or collection of attributes for data objects that are associated with a discipline or organisation including clear identification of the transaction that has introduced the information. Blockchain can be used to record metadata of BIM objects such as the issuing discipline, object version and responsibility/ liability associated with the data. Blockchain can offer the capability to apply levels of “trust” to individual BIM objects and a more secured framework of collaboration across stakeholders. This paper proposes a Blockchain-based BIM data provenance model to support information exchange in construction projects. By testing the solution in a real-world bridge construction scenario, it has been shown that the approach can recognise the levels of competence and can improve the process of BIM implementation. The proposed approach gives stakeholders more confidence when sharing their BIM data, reduces costs, and improves risk contingencies in construction projects. The paper provides a cost analysis to evidence the implications of using Blockchain for BIM data provenance through an experimental framework supported by an Ethereum public test network. A front-end web page has also been created to facilitate interaction with smart contracts and to monitor the BIM data provenance process.
M S Kiu, Kai Wen Lai, Fah Choy Chia, Phui Fung Wong
Purpose The digitization of electronic document management (EDM) in the construction industry has become more common in nature with the evolution of technology. However, there are still some limitations in EDM in the common data environment which can be improved with the integration of blockchain technology. The purpose of this paper is to identify the limitations of the current EDM system in the construction industry, to determine the potential of blockchain in improving the EDM system in the construction industry and challenges towards blockchain-based EDM. Design/methodology/approach Semi-structured interviews were conducted with nine (9) respondents with background from the construction industry and blockchain expertise. Content analysis was used to analyze the primary data. Findings Current EDM system in the construction industry possessed limitations such as system maturity, high cost, slow adoption of technology and security concerns. Blockchain is able to make improvements in the current EDM system in terms of data integrity, data tracking, data immutability, data security, data trustability, and data accountability. Several challenges such as costs, blockchain scalability and industry knowledge, industry culture and hardware need to overcome prior blockchain-based EDM systems can be widely applied in the construction industry. Originality/value The research findings provide insight on future EDM in the construction industry and aids future research in this field.
Andrew Ebekozien, Clinton Aigbavboa, Mohamad Shaharudin Samsurijan
Purpose Studies show that the fourth industrial revolution (4IR) technologies can be used to transform the built environment sector in the 21st century. Blockchain technology has been identified as one of the drivers of 4IR that could be a channel of innovation in the built environment. Studies concerning the application of blockchain technology in Nigeria’s built environment are scarce. Thus, this study aims to investigate the relevance of blockchain technology to the Nigerian built environment professionals (BEP) in the 21st century and proffer ways to promote the applications in the sector. Design/methodology/approach Given the unexplored nature of the issue in Nigeria’s context, 20 semi-structured virtual interviews were conducted across Lagos and Abuja cities. The participants were knowledgeable in construction-related information technology, from construction contracting firms and construction consulting firms, academicians in construction consultancy and internet and communication technology experts. The collated data were coded, analysed and presented in themes via a thematic approach. Findings Automating construction progress payments in smart contracts, financial management and supply chain management reduces transaction costs emerged as the key areas where blockchain technology can benefit the Nigerian BEP if well implemented. Others are blockchain-based BIM and prevents forgery and alteration of data, contract management and blockchain-based building information modelling (BIM). Blockchain technology applications are not without some hindrances. The 22 perceived hindrances were government, employer and employee related in Nigeria’s built environment. Research limitations/implications This research is restricted to the relevance and encumbrances facing the applications of blockchain technology in Nigeria’s built environment. Also, this study proffers policy solutions to promote the application of blockchain technology in the built environment via a qualitative method. Future study becomes pertinent to explore other components of the 4IR and their relevance within Nigeria’s built environment. Practical implications Results from this paper will strengthen and offer a rich insight into the relevance of blockchain technology in the Nigerian built environment. Other developing nations with similar challenges may consider the recommendations from this study. This study will contribute towards stirring the parties to create a good platform and supporting policies to promote the applications and implementation of blockchain technology across the industry. Originality/value This paper is one of the few papers that attempted to uncover issues that hinder blockchain technology applications in the Nigerian built environment via a qualitative approach and proffer feasible solutions from the practitioners’ perspective.
Potentials of 5D BIM with Blockchain-enabled Smart Contracts for Expediting Cash Flow in Construction Projects Jong Han Yoon and Pardis Pishdad-Bozorgi Pages 238-245 (2022 Proceedings of the 39th ISARC, Bogotá, Colombia, ISBN 978-952-69524-2-0, ISSN 2413-5844) Abstract: The low level of digitization in sharing information and the fragmented processes in the construction supply chain negatively affects cash flow across the supply chain, resulting in non- and late-payment issues. Even though a cloud-based 5D BIM platform and Blockchain-enabled smart contracts have the potential to address the issues, their applications for expediting the cash flow are still in their exploration stages in the construction industry. The main objective of this study is to contribute to this transformation by examining one of the most advanced cloud-based 5D BIM platforms, MTWO, to analyze its potential in expediting cash flow when used in conjunction with the blockchain-enabled smart contract. This study contributes to the body of knowledge by proposing an improved way of processing pay applications that leverage blockchain-enabled smart contracts with the 5D BIM platform to expedite the construction projects' cash flow through a semi-automatic payment process. Keywords: 5D BIM; Automation; Blockchain; Smart Contract; Construction Payment DOI: https://doi.org/10.22260/ISARC2022/0034 Download fulltext Download BibTex Download Endnote (RIS) TeX Import to Mendeley
Giulia Pattini, Mirko Locatelli, Lavinia Chiara Tagliabue, Giuseppe Martino Di Giuda
The paper provides a theoretical framework that aims at improving BIM validation by automating the verification of information quality and consistency and integrating blockchain-based smart contracts to track the process and shorten the appointment completion. Despite information management using BIM is currently leading the digitalisation in construction, especially in the design phase, misunderstandings about requirements, non-compliant information and late deliveries were detected. For these reasons, the proposed framework integrates innovative technologies and points out their potential impact on automatic information validation, reduction of late deliveries and overdue payments. Though the framework is not yet fully tested, potential outcomes are discussed.
Amer A. Hijazi, Srinath Perera, Rodrigo N. Calheiros, Ali Mohammed Alashwal
Purpose Despite a large amount of BIM data at the handover stage, it is still difficult to identify and effectively isolate valuable construction supply chain (CSC) data that need to be reliably handed over for operation. Moreover, the role of reconciling disparate data is usually played by one party. The integration of blockchain and BIM is a plausible framework for building a reliable digital asset lifecycle. This paper proposes a BIM single source of truth (BIMSSoT) data model using blockchain for ensuring a reliable CSC data delivery. Design/methodology/approach This paper utilises a blended methodology, the foundation of which is ingrained in business and management research with elements of information and communication technology (ICT) research wherever required. Knowledge elicitation case studies utilising novel interventions such as a data flow diagram (DFD), taxonomy and entity-relationship diagram (ERD) were used in this paper to develop the BIMSSoT data model. The model was validated using an expert forum, and its technological feasibility was established by developing a proof of concept. Findings The practical contribution of this research leads to the progression of BIM towards digital engineering to go beyond object-based 3D modelling by building structured and reliable datasets, transitioning from project-centric records to a digital ecosystem of linked databases by utilizing blockchain's potential for ensuring trusted data. Originality/value To the best of the author's knowledge, prior to this paper, no research had investigated a detailed data model development leveraging blockchain and BIM to integrate an immutable and complete record of CSC data as another dimension of BIM for operations.
Gongfan Chen, Huaming Li, Min Liu, Simon M. Hsiang · 5 authors
This research aims to develop an automatic incentive–penalty enforcement system for modular construction. Smart contract rules were developed for a project of 120 prefabricated bath units. The results show that the smart contract can automatically enforce rewards and penalties for all 19 scenarios. The findings can help project managers detect and reject any inappropriate or malicious operations deviated from predefined rules efficiently. The results show that if the prefabricated bathroom unit fabricator can perform at the highest reliability level following the smart contract rules, the project can save 4.7% overall cost compared with the benchmark scenario. The findings will be beneficial to modular construction project by ensuring efficient monitoring, motivating reliable performance, and improving productivity and project documentation.
Sandra Matarneh, Faris Elghaish, Farzad Pour Rahimian, Nashwan Dawood
The potential of blockchain in the construction sector has been recognized in existing literature, as well as its capacity to be integrated into construction projects to automate financial transactions for increased transparency, security, and control. Permissioned blockchain, according to existing research, can be utilized to create a business network among project participants due to its features being compatible with the nature of the construction sector. This article lays out a framework for introducing permissioned blockchain technology, notably Hyperledger fabric, into the construction delivery process. The suggested framework comprises explicit procedures that show how to develop a network during the pre-construction, construction, and closeout stages. The suggested framework also displays the flow of financial transactions across the envisaged financial system. Because of the capabilities of Building Information Modelling/Management (BIM) and cost planning. As a result, the framework determines the data needed to enter the blockchain financial system from 4D/5D BIM. The benefits of employing blockchain in the construction business were emphasized in a systematic literature review, which also selected the best blockchain platform. The framework can also be used by academics and industry practitioners to recognise the architecture of smart contracts (chaincode) in the construction sector, such as formulating endorsement and validation policies. Finally, the findings of this article will be used to develop a proof-of-concept prototype that will be used to test and confirm the suggested conceptual framework's applicability using a real-world case study.
Purpose BIM research to date has in general zeroed in on featuring the significance of BIM-enabled integration and collaboration (BIMIC) rather than giving exact proof of its occurrence. Accordingly, this research quantitatively explored the determinants of BIMIC in South Africa. Design/methodology/approach This research conceptualized a four-pillar model of BIM-enabled integration and collaboration. The speculations in the model were examined using SEM-MLE. Findings The aftereffects of the SEM-MLE demonstrated that network communication, knowledge sharing, and transfer, information sharing and exchange and trust-based relationships are critical determinants of BIMIC. The model's prescient power demonstrates an acceptable validity, and the boundary gauges showed that all the hypotheses were measurably huge. Research limitations/implications This research gives a hypothetical premise for further investigation of BIMIC by supporting the postulations on the occurrence of collaboration and integrations among the BIM-SCM. Practical implications The idea investigated involving SEM in this research gives a holistic view to the BIM managers in arranging BIM-based activities and overseeing BIM cycles and supply chain members. It likewise offers rules and structures for accomplishing and overseeing integration and collaboration among the BIM supply chain members. Originality/value Despite 20 years of exploration on the BIM concept and adoption, no idea has been given to clarify the determinants of integration and collaboration as a BIM cycle. The four-pillar model of BIMIC created and tested in this research clarified BIMIC and contributed a new model to the current literature on the BIM process.
Construction supply chains (CSC) are characterized by their converging structure and the hierarchical payment system which is inherently related. Due to the pursuit of diverging goals and mutual interdependencies, risks and trust problems between stakeholders occur. Contracts are used to govern these complex collaborations. To track compliance to contract terms, various activities are executed by involved stakeholders. These activities do not add any value to an end-product, cause intransparency, are costly and cause conflicts. Therefore, a combination of asset tracking and blockchain technology is investigated in this paper to address these problems. A plug-and-play framework of interacting applications and a workflow to operate them are proposed. Proof of this concept is provided by developing prototypical applications and by testing them in various practice-based scenarios. Simplified asset tracking throughout supply chains was realized and linked to smart contracts. This resulted in semi-automated compliance tracking and an immutable record of transactions. Therefore, this work provides more insight into combining asset tracking and blockchain for compliance checking in the construction industry. By doing so, further automation of construction processes, increased transparency between stakeholders and a reduction of conflicts can be enabled. However, it remains clear that many other variables impact on transparency and trust; and while technology can make improvements, considerable procedural security and control measures are needed in addition. Therefore, we focus on semi-automation of workflows using distributed ledger technology.
Jin Hong Tan, Siaw Chuing Loo, Nurshuhada Zainon, Nur Mardhiyah Aziz · 5 authors
Purpose Although building information modelling (BIM) brings various benefits and open up the construction industry to many new possibilities, it is not without some challenges. Blockchain has the potential to resolve some of these problems. It has shown that blockchain and BIM can potentially work together in bringing various benefits to all project stakeholders. However, there is a lack of research and knowledge in relation to blockchain-based BIM. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to close this gap by looking into the potential functionality and workability of blockchain within a BIM environment. Design/methodology/approach A four-stage preferred reporting items for systematic reviews and meta-analyses systematic literature review technique has been used to review the blockchain- and BIM-related information sources published. A total of 53 journal articles, 13 books and 27 other resources including that of reports and websites have been included in this paper. Findings Blockchain-based BIM has countless possibilities, ranging from simple tasks such as tracking of orders to automation of construction payment claims. The literatures have suggested that the several weaknesses that BIM possesses including trust issue, asset ownership issue and data reliability issue could be resolved by incorporating blockchain into its processes. Originality/value Because of the lack of researches on the workability of blockchain and BIM, this paper aims to close this gap by proposing a framework for the interaction between blockchain and BIM for a typical building project. This paper has reviewed a substantial amount of currently available knowledge on blockchain-based BIM and its relevancy to the construction industry. This paper believes that the information could be of use to potential BIM tools maker and the construction industry for the betterment of BIM implementation throughout a project life cycle.
Peng Guo, Ruoting Xiong, Gang Yu, Peisong Gong · 6 authors
Building Information Model (BIM) has been envisioned as one of the most promising technology for smart construction industry, e.g., industry 4.0 or industry digitalization. BIM data is of the most importance in the smart construction since the data can cover the whole life cycle of the building, which is somewhat also called digital twins. BIM data usually stored in cloud servers and finally BIM big data is formed. The BIM data is always required to be shared among a large number of contributors, and re-use of those data will greatly decrease the development delay. As BIM data usually encloses the intellectual property of contributors, the sharing of BIM data may be unwilling and thus difficult, especially in open data sharing over specific platforms or markets. To promote the re-use and replication of BIM data yet protect the intellectual property, we propose a blockchain and smart contract based scheme in this paper. The blockchain technology can encourage the sharing by awarding of tokens and trace the sharing behaviors. Smart contract can implement autonomous sharing with copyright registration, authentication, and verification. The experiment results justified that our proposed scheme is practical.
Onsite assembly is a critical stage for modular construction. Its success or failure depends on accurate information sharing among numerous stakeholders who, unfortunately, often possess unsynchronized information. Owing to its decentralized consensus mechanism, blockchain has the potential to improve information-sharing accuracy on construction sites. However, little research has documented how this can be done. Adopting a design science research (DSR) method, this study aimed to explore the use of blockchain technology to improve information-sharing accuracy in the onsite assembly of modular construction (OAMC). First, an OAMC business process analysis was conducted to understand the issues leading to information sharing, in particular its accuracy. Then, a blockchain-based conceptual model was developed. Its components, such as membership registration, information sharing-request, ordering service, consensus mechanism, and distributed storage, were described. Finally, a prototype system was developed and validated in a mock-up OAMC. The results show that the prototype system can improve the accuracy of information sharing in OAMC by allowing project participants to endorse information about the modules and their assembly through the blockchain’s consensus mechanism. This study explores and implements blockchain technology in a specific construction area. It can serve as a valuable reference for future endeavors in harnessing the power of blockchain technology, particularly for mobilizing information endorsement mechanisms for various value-added applications.
Abstract Code compliance checking of building designs is an essential task during the design and construction process, this process is time-consuming and laborious, and there is a risk of human manipulation, collusion and tampering with the results during the process. Existing BIM automated compliance checking technologies can reduce human errors and automatically output drawing review reports in some domains. But there are still few provisions that can be automatically reviewed, and most of the provisions still require human intervention. This research proposes a blockchain-based framework for managing both automated and manual compliance review processes in a BIM environment. The framework is developed to help improve the traceability and transparency of the compliance review process in the BIM environment. The framework includes on-chain and off-chain solutions for addressing the management issues in the code checking process. The prospects of the solution, challenges in implementation and future research directions were discussed.
Lili Zhang, Wenhao Guo, Wenwen Yang, Di Su · 5 authors
As a decentralized and distrusted distributed ledger technology, blockchain is gradually applied in the IOT. Cost overrun are inherent part of most smart “IOT+ blockchain” projects. In order to guarantee a successful delivery of a smart “IOT+ blockchain” project with the ideal budget, with respect to the minimum cost of the forward problem is still higher than the approved budget, this research proposes a re-verse optimization method of 0-1 mixed-integer, bi-level programming model for reverse-inferring duration and personnel re-assignment. Based on a numerical experiment to a “IOT+ blockchain” construction project, the comparative results show that the reverse optimization method is superior to the forward method in terms of total cost reduction and can further shorten the duration. The result indicates that the reverse optimization methodology can be applied in scenarios which need to guarantee the objective value achieved through the proposed reverse modelling methodology by optimizing parameters and decision variables.
Configuring a trustworthy Internet of Things (IoT)–enabled building information modeling (BIM) platform (IBP) is significant for modular construction to ensure transparency, traceability, and immutability throughout its fragmented supply chain management. However, most current IBPs are designed adopting a centralized system architecture, which fails to achieve a decentralized and effective one to ensure a single point of truth in BIM and prevent a single point of failure in IoT networks. To address this challenge, this study introduces permissioned blockchain with IBP and proposes a novel service-oriented system architecture of blockchain-enabled IoT-BIM platform (BIBP) for the data-information-knowledge (DIK)–driven supply chain management in modular construction. First, infrastructure as a service (IaaS) is designed with hardware, core technologies, and protocols to offer accurate data from daily practice to blockchain BIM. Blockchain BIM as a service (BaaS) is then developed within the permissioned blockchain to ease the interoperability of the information, semantics, and meaningful inferences. Furthermore, software as a service (SaaS) is configured with decentralized applications to achieve knowledgeable operations or processes with a crash fault-tolerant consensus mechanism. The demonstrative case study in a modular student residence project evaluates the proposed BIBP system prototype with the performance analysis of storage cost, throughput, latency, privacy, and feedback from stakeholders. The results indicate that BIBP has an effective system architecture with acceptable throughput and latency, can save storage costs to achieve a single point of truth in BIM, and avoid a single point of failure for IoT networks with privacy and security-preserving mechanisms.
Alessandra Corneli, Francesco Spegni, Marco Alvise Bragadin, Massimo Vaccarini
Construction management can be grouped into two different levels: strategic early planning, that provides the baseline for project monitoring, and \nshort time initiatives, based on objectives and selforganization from actors who are involved in on-site processes. This is currently managed through the \nrepresentation of many separate processes and this does not eliminate the inefficiencies that arise at the level of synchronization of the individual tasks \nperformed by different organizations. Efficiency in construction management implies to take into consideration choreographies because they better \nreflect synchronization of different organizations management processes. On the other hand, smart contracts linked to single task execution assure both promptness and irreversible tracking at single task level. The actual execution of processes depends both on what happens and on the information that flows between the subjects who actually carry out processes asynchronous to each other, so the only possibility to synchronize them is information. This research describes a framework for \napplying BPMN choreographies to construction site processes in order to better model processes and integrate them with smart contracts. Every single activity in the baseline can be modelled as a choreography at a lower level. On the other hand, process performance monitoring can be performed thanks to blockchain tasks notarization. Concrete casting quality assessment process has been chosen as use case. A BPMN choreography has been defined for this purpose and blockchain \napplication for accomplished tasks and information notarization has been developed and tested on a construction site.