A visual tool for accessibility study of pipeline maintenance during design

Background: Pipeline maintenance is becoming an important issue in modern construction and building information model (BIM) research. An understanding of pipeline accessibility considerations in terms of operation and maintenance is essential for planning and management. Previous studies have highlighted the complexity of multi-pipes including mechanical, electrical and plumbing (MEP) pipelines and the importance of information visualization, but few have proposed a way to consider accessibility problems during operation and maintenance. Methods: Therefore, this study develops a systematic method to evaluate accessibility with respect to pipeline maintenance. We first divided pipeline accessibility into three categories: (1) visual accessibility—the visibility for an inspector to view; (2) approachable accessibility—the difficulty for an inspector to approach; and (3) operational accessibility—the pipeline that can be operated by the inspectors. We created mathematical models and discussed the ergonomic details about each category. We then developed a user interface, VAO Checker, in which V, A and O stand for visual, approachable and operational respectively, to display visual information about pipeline accessibility. Through instantaneous analysis, the system visualizes the accessibility of the pipelines. We visually represent the intersection and union of these three categories to illustrate the varying accessibility of pipe elements. Results: A usability test was conducted to validate the system’s effectiveness. The results of the usability analysis show that users have higher correctness when using VAO Checker than 2D plan drawing and 3D model, and they evaluate the performance of this tool better than 2D plan drawing. Conclusion: Pipeline designers can benefit by using this tool to sketch a suitable traffic flow for engineers to investigate. Furthermore, the substantial amount of information saved in the layout database could be referenced for future optimization.