Representation and Integration of As-Built Information to IFC Based Product and Process Models for Automated Assessment of As-Built Conditions

Abstract

Frequent assessment of as-built conditions is necessary for activeproject control during construction. Assessment of as-built conditionsinvolves collecting accurate as-built information and comparing theas-built information collected with given design and schedule information.Currently, different technologies exist for collecting accurate andcomprehensive as-built information. The as-built information generatedthrough these technologies is then manually evaluated by comparingit to the design information. This process is time-consuming anderror prone. Therefore, there is a need for an automated assessmentof as-built conditions. This paper discusses the applicability ofthe Industry Foundation Classes (IFC) in their current version 2xto support the assessment of as-built conditions of constructionprojects. The goal is to create a project model that represents andintegrates as-built and design information. In this paper, we statedifferent types of information that need to be represented in thisintegrated model, describe common ways of representing this informationin IFC Rel.2x, and highlight the limitations of current IFC Rel.2xspecifications in representing an integrated design and as-builtmodel. The paper concludes with a proposal for extending the IFCspecifications to enable the automated assessment of as-built conditions.