P2 - Project Plan - Sivertsen & Lavigne

This week we were asked to present out term project plan and comment on other students as well. For our term project we've chosen to create a database that will build on the ideas and concepts of A2. For my A2, I plan on developing a simple tool that can identify and track structural elements of a building. More specifically I will focus on steel. I will create a few tables for steel and and they will list the structural properties such as: manufacturers, AISC designation, cross-sectional area, tensile strength, unit weight and nominal/actual height etc. Our term project is as follows:

Project Title: Intelligent Building Database: Building Design Codes

Members: Drew Sivertsen and Derek Lavigne

Overview: We will build off of A2 by creating a database that will run queries to tell the engineer/designer what building codes or design specifications need to be implemented based on:

• materials used in design

• location of the project

• scope/scale of the project (i.e. green infrastructure)

• construction type/methods used

• possibly display rough quantities or estimates for steel and R.C. members based

Plan: In order to make this database feasible, a large amount of tables will need to be created with a range of varying parameters. We plan to implement an Oracle database program and use SQL to run queries to display certain information. For example, a query could be executed to display IBC for a 6-story high rise building in a city that is implementing R.C. as its primary structural feature. A table will then display the codes that must be implemented in the design. We am still in the early phases of planning the database and we may find that there are be too many building codes to account for. If that is the case, we will only include the primary codes or the sections that the engineer should reference. However, we might find that we'll need to scale down parameters to a more specific project. For example, a residential house and run queries to display codes for plumbing, electrical and HVAC.

Reference: This idea was briefly raised from B2, Interoperability, on page 83 of the BIM Handbook. This chapter discusses the “implications of IFC use” and how data models are becoming implemented to automatically check for building codes and for the review of designs. More stringent submittal requirements will need to be put into place to ensure checks of this magnitude can be carried out. Space method calculations have slowly been implemented by ANSI-BOMA (ANSI 1996). Being able to have programs instantly provide you with building codes as you are designing something can eliminate a lot of error and wasted time.

Comments:

Timothy Perdue: I think you are off to a very good start and have a solid understanding of what you want your paper on health monitoring to encompass. There is a lot of great information and ideas in your initial outline. However, I think it would benefit you and the reader to narrow down your topic to a few sensors and discuss how they function and their real world application to intelligent/digital buildings and how they can be improved. I look forward to learning more about this.

Hamad Al-Sulaiti: I have never heard of your topic before but it is interesting that there is an overlap between the medical and engineering world using this technology. From what you have explained, it seems like a very viable option in regards to civil projects. It could prove to be a great non-intrusive method for assessing conditions. I look forward to hearing more about its real world applications.

Hang Wang: Your idea of implementing your building's loading analysis and construction schedule to BIM will be a very valuable tool to learn for senior design and for future endeavors. I don't know too much about scheduling using BIM (including Revit) so I am very interested in seeing what your group uncovers.