Interoperability between Building Information Modelling (BIM) and Building Energy Model (BEM)
Building information modelling (BIM) is the first step towards the implementation of the industrial revolution 4.0, in which virtual reality and digital twins are key elements. At present, buildings are responsible for 40% of the energy consumption in Europe and, so, there is a growing interest in r...
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doaj-7e2d9861b62d469bb0cca2186ce264072021-03-02T00:03:40ZengMDPI AGApplied Sciences2076-34172021-03-01112167216710.3390/app11052167Interoperability between Building Information Modelling (BIM) and Building Energy Model (BEM)Gabriela Bastos Porsani0Kattalin Del Valle de Lersundi1Ana Sánchez-Ostiz Gutiérrez2Carlos Fernández Bandera3School of Architecture, University of Navarra, 31009 Pamplona, SpainSchool of Architecture, University of Navarra, 31009 Pamplona, SpainSchool of Architecture, University of Navarra, 31009 Pamplona, SpainSchool of Architecture, University of Navarra, 31009 Pamplona, SpainBuilding information modelling (BIM) is the first step towards the implementation of the industrial revolution 4.0, in which virtual reality and digital twins are key elements. At present, buildings are responsible for 40% of the energy consumption in Europe and, so, there is a growing interest in reducing their energy use. In this context, proper interoperability between BIM and building energy model (BEM) is paramount for integrating the digital world into the construction sector and, therefore, increasing competitiveness by saving costs. This paper evaluates whether there is an automated or semi-automated BIM to BEM workflow that could improve the building design process. For this purpose, a residential building and a warehouse are constructed using the same BIM authoring tool (Revit), where two open schemas were used: green building extensible markup language (gbXML) and industry foundation classes (IFC). These transfer files were imported into software compatible with the EnergyPlus engine—Design Builder, Open Studio, and CYPETHERM HE—in which simulations were performed. Our results showed that the energy models were built up to 7.50% smaller than in the BIM and with missing elements in their thermal envelope. Nevertheless, the materials were properly transferred to gbXML and IFC formats. Moreover, the simulation results revealed a huge difference in values between the models generated by the open schemas, in the range of 6 to 900 times. Overall, we conclude that there exists a semi-automated workflow from BIM to BEM which does not work well for big and complex buildings, as they present major problems when creating the energy model. Furthermore, most of the issues encountered in BEM were errors in the transfer of BIM data to gbXML and IFC files. Therefore, we emphasise the need to improve compatibility between BIM and model exchange formats by their developers, in order to promote BIM–BEM interoperability.https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3417/11/5/2167building information modelling (BIM)building energy model (BEM)green building extensible markup language (gbXML)industry foundation classes (IFC)interoperabilitydigital twin |
collection |
DOAJ |
language |
English |
format |
Article |
sources |
DOAJ |
author |
Gabriela Bastos Porsani Kattalin Del Valle de Lersundi Ana Sánchez-Ostiz Gutiérrez Carlos Fernández Bandera |
spellingShingle |
Gabriela Bastos Porsani Kattalin Del Valle de Lersundi Ana Sánchez-Ostiz Gutiérrez Carlos Fernández Bandera Interoperability between Building Information Modelling (BIM) and Building Energy Model (BEM) Applied Sciences building information modelling (BIM) building energy model (BEM) green building extensible markup language (gbXML) industry foundation classes (IFC) interoperability digital twin |
author_facet |
Gabriela Bastos Porsani Kattalin Del Valle de Lersundi Ana Sánchez-Ostiz Gutiérrez Carlos Fernández Bandera |
author_sort |
Gabriela Bastos Porsani |
title |
Interoperability between Building Information Modelling (BIM) and Building Energy Model (BEM) |
title_short |
Interoperability between Building Information Modelling (BIM) and Building Energy Model (BEM) |
title_full |
Interoperability between Building Information Modelling (BIM) and Building Energy Model (BEM) |
title_fullStr |
Interoperability between Building Information Modelling (BIM) and Building Energy Model (BEM) |
title_full_unstemmed |
Interoperability between Building Information Modelling (BIM) and Building Energy Model (BEM) |
title_sort |
interoperability between building information modelling (bim) and building energy model (bem) |
publisher |
MDPI AG |
series |
Applied Sciences |
issn |
2076-3417 |
publishDate |
2021-03-01 |
description |
Building information modelling (BIM) is the first step towards the implementation of the industrial revolution 4.0, in which virtual reality and digital twins are key elements. At present, buildings are responsible for 40% of the energy consumption in Europe and, so, there is a growing interest in reducing their energy use. In this context, proper interoperability between BIM and building energy model (BEM) is paramount for integrating the digital world into the construction sector and, therefore, increasing competitiveness by saving costs. This paper evaluates whether there is an automated or semi-automated BIM to BEM workflow that could improve the building design process. For this purpose, a residential building and a warehouse are constructed using the same BIM authoring tool (Revit), where two open schemas were used: green building extensible markup language (gbXML) and industry foundation classes (IFC). These transfer files were imported into software compatible with the EnergyPlus engine—Design Builder, Open Studio, and CYPETHERM HE—in which simulations were performed. Our results showed that the energy models were built up to 7.50% smaller than in the BIM and with missing elements in their thermal envelope. Nevertheless, the materials were properly transferred to gbXML and IFC formats. Moreover, the simulation results revealed a huge difference in values between the models generated by the open schemas, in the range of 6 to 900 times. Overall, we conclude that there exists a semi-automated workflow from BIM to BEM which does not work well for big and complex buildings, as they present major problems when creating the energy model. Furthermore, most of the issues encountered in BEM were errors in the transfer of BIM data to gbXML and IFC files. Therefore, we emphasise the need to improve compatibility between BIM and model exchange formats by their developers, in order to promote BIM–BEM interoperability. |
topic |
building information modelling (BIM) building energy model (BEM) green building extensible markup language (gbXML) industry foundation classes (IFC) interoperability digital twin |
url |
https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3417/11/5/2167 |
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