Structural, functional, and MEP modelling of civil works within an infrastructure project to an executive level of design

The slow transition from the static components of drawing to a way of designing grounded on parametric components started in the last decade of the previous century and is encountering severe development over these years. The BIM (Building Information Modeling) methodology is a very wide term, which includes various contents, topics, procedures, descriptions of activities, software applications, and well-structured and oriented information applied within vertically integrated applications, inside a circular work-process. It allows having control of all the information related to a project, under the form of a shared digital representation, founded on open standards for interoperability. This master thesis is the perfect exemplification of the BIM genesis, which arises from the ashes of the 2D Paper-based process, to evolve into a 3D Digital Model-based process: the technical drawings provided as CAD files (Computer Aided Drafting) are used as starting information from which to build up an accurate virtual model, created digitally through the Revit software. Specifically, the thesis is developed throughout two practical strands of application: on one side, the development of the structural models of the entire future Cascine Vica subway station of the Metropolitan City of Turin and of the two ventilation shafts, belonging to the same line 1 metro station itself; on the other side, the functional and MEP models of the two mentioned ventilation wells (the Mechanical, Electrical and Plumbing systems are integrated and linked to their corresponding basic structural and functional building projects). From a practical viewpoint, there were employed tools for the modeling of structural, functional and MEP elements, tools for linking different models together, and tools for the georeferencing the Revit model with respect to the global and project local’s coordinate systems. The BIM model is fundamental in every single step of the process, all over the whole life of the opera, from the design to the maintenance: design, planning, construction, documentation, decision making, cost-estimation, future interventions and managing of resulting facilities are the main areas directly touched and largely improved by this methodology. Transferring all the data of brand new or existing constructions on a digital base is becoming a common tendency in this historical period of technological transformation of the construction industry.