Logical product models for automated scripting of process-level construction animations

Animation can add significant value to Discrete-Event Simulation by helping verify, validate, and accredit simulation analyses. This is particularly true in construction where typical decision makers are experts in their domain but are not generally proficient in simulation itself. Existing methods of animating simulated construction processes in 3D have a significant limitation. They require that spatial information about construction workspaces and geometric details of facility components being erected be both captured into simulation models, even though such information is otherwise irrelevant from the process modeling perspective. This cumbersome, time-consuming, and often impossible activity precludes the widespread use of animation in simulation analyses. This research addressed this limitation and studied the applicability of the CIMsteel Integration Standards (CIS/2) in supporting the automated scripting of process-level construction animations. Member geometry, position, and orientation of steel beams and columns were extracted from structural frames described in the CIS/2 format, and were used to automatically generate animation scripting commands. The generated script was input to a kinematically smart crane inside a 3D virtual world to demonstrate the efficacy of logical product models in supporting the automated visualization of simulated construction processes. The designed algorithms and methods were implemented in a software tool called AutoCIS2 that simulation modelers can use to automatically generate animation scripts describing modeled steel erection operations in smooth, continuous, 3D virtual worlds. 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.