Various smart applications are needed to address complex problems in construction falling under the broad categories of safety at work, construction site management, management of resources, waste and assets and construction progress monitoring. Fog computing emerges as a new computing paradigm for Edge-to-Cloud computing that integrates Internet of Things (IoT), Artificial Intelligence (AI), and Blockchain technologies to facilitate the development and operation of smart applications. However, a comprehensive methodology that applies Fog computing to construction projects is currently missing. In our work, we use the novel DECENTER Fog Computing and Brokerage Platform to address requirements for flexible use of AI methods in construction projects and develop a relevant methodology. Evaluation is performed through all application development phases at a real construction site in Ljubljana, Slovenia. Testing results show that the use of Fog computing contributes to high response rates, privacy and security when processing sensitive worker and company data.
COBISS.SI-ID: 48826627
We present the four-field (of displacements, velocities, stresses and strains) and the three-field (of displacements, velocitiesand stresses) mixed variational formulations for structural dynamics, which can be used to derive in an elegant way the energy-decaying and momentum-conserving (EDMC) time-stepping schemes for transient simulations with mixed solid and structuralfinite elements. These mixed variational formulations are in this work applied for the derivation of EDMC schemes for thegeometrically exact, recently proposed, mixed-hybrid, shell finite elements (with excellent performance), which combine mixedinterpolations of the Hu Washizu type or the Hellinger Reissner type with the assumed natural strain concept. To this end, thefirst-order and the second-order accurate EDMC schemes are designed. The superior properties of the considered mixed-hybridshell finite elements, which are reflected in statics by excellent convergence properties, ability to take very large solution steps,and low-sensitivity to mesh distortion, are in this manner extended for (long-term) transient simulations. Numerical examples,which illustrate transient simulations with the EDMC schemes and mixed-hybrid shell finite elements, show (among othereffects) that the underlying structure of the shell motion is numerically preserved even for very large time steps.
COBISS.SI-ID: 45180419
The paper presents digital methodology that can gradually and efficiently streamline the energy renovation of office buildings. Building Information Modelling (BIM) and energy simulations are widely used to facilitate informed decision-making. Significant data collections may be accrued that do not meet the information needs of energy renovation design, performance evaluation, (re)construction and operations. Ineffective managed information often leads to sub-standard project deliverables, re-work, errors, budget deficits, and delays. The progressive BIM methodology proposed suggests specifying adequate information to match the purpose of an evolving renovation design process - with emphasis on energy performance - while addressing aspects of multiple sustainability. This approach is based on firm methodological principles and validated on the actual refurbishment of office buildings. Results show that progressive BIM methodology can improve design, more accurately predict energy consumption, reduce investment costs, prevent design and planning errors, and prevent construction delays. This study is a valuable contribution to renovation design research and development, especially to practitioners (architects and engineers) in aligning client requirements and design and project outcomes, with clear profiling of the information requirements for different levels of design services in renovations.
COBISS.SI-ID: 32144679
Building information models (BIM) provide a way to represent buildings and communicate about them. In teaching engineering, we also need representations of buildings and are communicating knowledge about them. While teaching engineering we refer to the very same real-world objects that have an explicit conceptualization in BIM. This explicit conceptualization did not exist in the age when design communication relied on drawings and documents. The question that this paper asks is this: Due to BIM, communication in the industry has changed. Should communication of engineering knowledge teaching change as well and how? While much has been written about teaching BIM and incorporating BIM into the curricula, this paper is exploring the general impact of BIM on engineering education. It grounds earlier work (Turk, 2018) on insights from pedagogy. Five scenarios of the interplay between BIM-influenced engineering communication and teaching are presented. The paper argues that ignoring BIM may create a cognitive dissonance between academic learning and industrial work. We are finding that the impact of BIM is twofold: vertically there is a need to establish a reference between knowledge concepts (in teaching building) and information objects (in building information models). Horizontally BIM is an integration technology that allows for a more holistic design and planning. Both the language of individual courses as well as cross references and synergies among courses should change.
COBISS.SI-ID: 8808801
This paper introduces a new framework for understanding, modelling and software engineering in construction information activities. The current framework is based on understanding that products are the results of processes, which are performed by actors. Such frameworks are influenced by the available technology. The Internet of today is supporting also other kinds of human activities: communication and social interactions among humans. The construction industry uses them as well but without having a proper understanding of their role. There is a gap in the current framework. In this paper, the relevant theories to specify this gap in terms of what could exist in theory and what is offered by technology are analysed. As a result, a new framework of construction information activities that fills the gap is proposed. The key concepts and relations among them are identified and elaborated within the existing framework. The framework introduces the third major integrative element of the otherwise fragmented construction information activities % the social network % the existing two being the physical building and its digital twin. The framework provides a theoretical and conceptual basis for designing, planning, creating, monitoring and evaluating construction-related online services that include a strong social component and use social media services.
COBISS.SI-ID: 8961121