Abstract:
The advancement made in the field of Building Information Modelling (BIM)
are not limited only to buildings but are also contributing a major portion to other
construction fields like bridges, underground spaces, and tunnel modelling. Tunnel
modelling is a complex and tiresome process as several different software’s are used
simultaneously for tunnel modelling. In this research, a prototype is developed for the
tunnel modelling process and keeping the process of tunnel modelling limited to only
the Autodesk Revit and an excel sheet. The prototype integrates the different formulas
and relations used to define the different tunnel geometries and rock support elements
in Revit software, which will help in modelling the tunnel according to the real ground
conditions. The main goal of the prototype is to use a single software for tunnel design
and review process that can help tunnel designer to model tunnels in Revit without
requiring to switch between different softwares, that will help to improve the
productivity of BIM models for tunnel designing process. A case study of a newly
built tunnel has been conducted using the developed prototype to model the tunnel
according to the coordinates of the ground dataa. Tunnel models are developed with
the help of this newly developed prototype which turns out to bbeneficial in
technological integrations, productivity of designers, accuracy, number of software
involved, time consumed, and the effort required for the variation of design. Three
case studies were conducted to compare the efficiency of conventional design method
(CDM) with the newly developed tunnel modelling prototype. After conducting
prototype usage comparison, Quantity take-off (QTO) comparison and statistical
analysis, the tunnel modelling prototype is proved to be increasing the efficiency,
productivity, and accuracy of tunnel designers for tunnel design and review process.
