Automated rebar fabrication, which requires effective information exchange between model designers and fabricators, has brought the integration and interoperability of data from different sources to the notice of both academics and industry practitioners. Industry Foundation Classes (IFC) was one of the most commonly used data formats to represent the semantic information of prefabricated components in buildings, whereas the data format utilized by rebar fabrication machine is BundesVereinigung der Bausoftware (BVBS), which is a numerical data structure exchanging reinforcement information through ASCII encoded files. Seamless transformation between IFC and BVBS empowers the automated rebar fabrication and improve the construction productivity. In order to improve data interoperability between IFC and BVBS, this study presents an IFC extension based on the attributes required by automated rebar fabrication machines with the help of Information Delivery Manual (IDM) and Model View Definition (MVD). IDM is applied to describe and display the information needed for the design, construction and operation of projects, whereas MVD is a subset of IFC schema used to describe the automated rebar fabrication workflow. Firstly, with a rich pool of vocabularies practitioners, OmniClass is used in information exchange between IFC and BVBS, providing a hierarchy classification structure for reinforcing elements. Then, using International Framework for Dictionaries (IFD), the usage of each attribute is defined in a more consistent manner to assist the data mapping process. Besides, in order to address missing information within automated fabrication process, a schematic data mapping diagram has been made to deliver IFC information from BIM models to BVBS format for better data interoperability among different software agents. A case study based on the data mapping will be presented to demonstrate the proposed IFC extension and how it could assist/facilitate the information management.
The authors would like to acknowledge the support by the Hong Kong Construction Industry Council, Grant No. CIC19EG03. Any opinions and findings are those of the authors, and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Hong Kong Construction Industry Council.