Pre and Post construction planning of building projects pause more challenges due to complexity in design and short timelines. Further, very limited tools are available to team members to integrate the visual representations of construction site with the progress of time, which results into more dependency on the team member's experience and imagination. In the study, the 4D Model has been developed with the hope that it will allow the planners to visualize the construction with the extra dimension of time at the planning stage itself without even starting the real work and thereby removing the flaws that might have been left out in the construction plan. The results obtained from the deployment of 4D Model for a small project are encouraging. It has the potential to show potential conflicts in a construction site and is capable to perform 'what-if' analysis which finally helps to improve the project planning and project executing strategy.

Introduction

The position of any point in space is defined by the coordinates (x, y, z). When all the elements of a structure (here building or part of it) are defined in space with the help of 3D coordinates, the result is a 3D model. When the position of the point with respect to time is not fixed, then we need to consider another dimension to describe the structure or system better, the fourth dimension time resulting in a model is known as 4D model.

During the past decades, developments in 3D-CAD technologies have created opportunities for construction planners to use 3D models to manage critical construction information by viewing their static images. However, these 3D models do not have the ability to display the exact status of a particular project at a specified period or time. Hence gives little assistance in controlling the project delays and explain complete status of the project. There is no data integration and interaction between the 3D model, project delays and other data. A 3D CAD model does not capture the reality and the need for a 4D model which can incorporate time also into account would be very much critical. The 4D model not only provides the visual aid, it also allows the manager to perform 'what-if' analysis and view the structure from different angles etc.

4D Modeling and AutoCAD

To get clear idea one has to link 3D model of the structure and construction schedule of the project, so that the status of the project can be easily reviewed in the form of 3D model at any instance of time. The model so developed can assist the planning members in visualizing the details of the construction work at any point of time. This can help them to take better decisions both during the pre and post construction stages. 4D-model construction planning provides a comprehensive information platform for project schedules and site plans to serve the objective of site management and construction planning.

Author: Bims Lee

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