Usage and interaction of synchronous 4D simulation for collaborative decision support in Architecture, Engineering and Construction – 4DCollab

The method is organized on three phases :
* The first phase “Identification of initial and innovative usages of 4D collaborative simulation” will be realize through different dimensions:
- Economical, through a literature review and state of knowledge on the business value of emerging 4D practices in the Architectural Engineering and Construction sector,
- Technical, by inventorying existing interaction techniques implemented on operational technological supports bases on natural user interfaces and that can be used synchronously by several participants,
- Theoretical, by questioning the user-centred methods of IHM design to propose an adapted prospective ergonomics method for the identification of innovative interaction in synchronous collaborative activity,
- Professional, by questioning actors of the profession on their collaborative practices about time management in their project,
- Experimental, with the observation of a collaborative situational application using current existing 4D simulation tool in a real AEC projects,
- Creative and Innovative, by identifying 4D innovative usages on new natural interactive device supports with the use of an adapted prospective ergonomics method.
* The second phase is the production of an experimental prototype. The development of this new collaborative tool will be based on the functional and technical specifications writing from scenarios. It will be developed using an iterative and incremental process and involving scenarios writers who will play the role of future users of the tools.
* The last phase is to validate the usages of 4D in collaborative design phases of an architectural project by implementing an experiment with real businesses actors and a real AEC project. This experiment relies on the use of 4DCollabTool prototype designed on NUI technical support selected. It will feature the usages identified.

Following the identification of uses for 4D BIM modeling through a series of surveys and interviews, and the discovery of new functionalities from creativity sessions, the project focused on : 1) The formulation of an ontology that extends the IFC standard. 2) The development of a collaborative platform integrating a 4D BIM server. 3) Two interactive clients dedicated to the interactive and collective manipulation of these models. The two clients, 4DToolNavigation and 4DToolDecision, were designed and developed using a user-centered approach. The former enables interactive simulation of the 4D model, while the latter enables collective decision-making following a simulation. In addition, the work led to the defense of a thesis in which an alternative approach was proposed, based on the principles of “lean construction”. These principles have been implemented in a prototype 4D-based worksite monitoring tool.

The methodological approach underpinning this work has proved its worth, and the results obtained are entirely satisfactory. However, a number of hurdles still need to be overcome before these developments can be put into practice in the hands of professionals. The prototypes produced and tested are only a first step, and will need to be consolidated as tools in their own right, or integrated into existing tools. In addition, the team is considering a wider application to construction management methods, notably in support of lean management practices. In terms of the usability of interactive systems for construction users, the results are highly relevant to 3D+Time. New forms of interaction have been explored and documented, responding to the ideas expressed by users during the creativity sessions, and opening the door to future implementations in existing systems. Scientifically, the Web Semantics approach to data management is particularly promising, opening up numerous avenues of development for future research. On the other hand, it is not yet sufficiently effective for implementation in commercial systems, and particular attention will be paid to future developments.

Boje, C.; Bolshakova, V.; Guerriero, A.; Kubicki, S.; Halin, G. Semantics for linking data from 4D BIM to digital collaborative support. Front. Eng. Manag. 2019.

Bolshakova, V.; Guerriero, A.; Carvalho, H.; Halin, G. Collective Decision-Making with 4D BIM: Collaboration Group Persona Study. In: Advances in Informatics and Computing in Civil and Construction Engineering. Springer International Publishing, Cham 2019, 455–462.

Boje, C.; Kubicki, S.; Guerriero, A. A 4D BIM System Architecture for the Semantic Web. In Proceedings of the 18th International Conference on Computing in Civil and Building Engineering. January 2021.

Bolshakova, V.; Halin, G.; Humbert, P.; Boton, C. Digital synchronous collaboration workspace and 3D interactions for an AEC project. Decision-making scenario evaluation. In: Cooperative Design, Visualization, and Engineering : 14th International Conference, CDVE 2017, Sep 2017, Mallorca, Spain. 168-176.

Présentation des résultats : youtu.be/ErkIHeDV8dc

3D semantics modeling through business-oriented CAD tools facilitates the achievement of design tasks in Architecture and Construction Engineering. Practices and usages of BIM "Building Information Modelling" allow an enrichment of 3D semantic models with information useful for implementation, evaluation and design and construction processes. The usage of 4D modeling (ie 3D + time), integrating 3D modeling semantic phases and temporal enrichment, simulates the stages of construction of a building by merging construction tasks of building elements with their 3D visualization. However, the construction industry has not really integrated all these new practices into its work processes. It is recognized by the scientific community that the usage of 4D technologies provides support to decision-making during the pre-construction phase and in construction monitoring. However this technology is little known. Many research papers assert that 4D simulation improves the quality of collaborations between actors before and during the construction phase. But this is demonstrated by few empirical analyses. Moreover collaboration is difficult when the 4D simulation is used by a group of actors using laptops: the screens are small, the type of interactions keyboard / mouse with 4D models are delicates in synchronous collaborative sessions. The adding value to business practices provided by the integration of 4D modeling (3D and time) to establish the schedule of construction tasks needs to be further demonstrated. The research project "4DCollab" has the objective of analyzing collaborative practices and usages of 4D technics during the pre-construction phase and evaluating its contribution to construction projects. The first objective is to identify and understand emerging practices for collaboration using both 3D semantic modeling and time during the pre-construction phase and to measure the contribution in terms of value and quality of projects. Secondly it plans to identify and define innovative usages and interactions with 4D models through suitable devices (touch table and wall) in a prospective ergonomics approach. Third, these new interactions dedicated to uses of 4D will be specified and integrated to the synchronous collaborative platform "Shariiing" of Immersion company. Iterative development of this prototype will implement these new interaction techniques oriented to collective and synchronous handling of 4D models. Two experiments of this system in pre-building phase of a real construction project are envisaged: the first one with our French industrial partner and the second one with our Luxembourgish industrial partner. After these two experiments, we will evaluate the usability of the innovative interaction technics implemented but also the added value of these usages and practices of the 4D in a construction project. They will allow us to question the articulation of user centered methods in a prospective ergonomics approach. Scientific publications are expected to disseminate the scientific results to AEC and HCI research communities. Sectorial communications are planned with professional publications and conferences. Our industrial partner specializing in design of collaborative and immersive 3D technologies will ensure sectorial communications of technical results of this project.