Technical-economic analysis for a metro project by the integration of BIM modelling and construction schedule

An increasing number of construction projects utilizing building information modeling (BIM) have been witnessed in the past years. Research has shown that several countries worldwide started to request or enforce the adoption of BIM methodologies in construction projects especially publicly funded ones. Therefore, BIM implementing firms are now investigating possibilities to expand the use of BIM to cover more aspects of projects. This study is a real-life BIM application on a metro project to be constructed, with the main aim is to practice the BIM methodologies in integrating both 4D (time) and 5D (cost) into the project three-dimensional geo-referenced model. Throughout this article a brief background about BIM was studied. Then the BIM methodology followed to prepare a reliable 4D/5D model of the underground metro project was addressed. The methodology included the process of BIM validation, construction scheduling and cost estimation. The output of this study is separated into the 4D simulation which represents a real-time graphical simulation of construction progress against time, in addition to the 5D simulation which includes the generation of cost budget representations of the model against time. Results interpretation was also divided into two categories time and cost. In order to the interpret the 4D (time) a comparison between the initial project milestones and the final construction schedule was highlighted. However, to comprehend the 5D (cost) a literature review regarding the expected investments for mechanized tunneling was done and then compared with what was achieved during this study. Based on the output of the BIM methodology in this real case study, it can be concluded that investing in BIM should be taken into consideration by every construction firm due to its numerous advantages in the construction process especially reflecting a better project quality at the lowest possible time and cost.