Development of a virtual construction approach for steel structures considering structural and nonstructural elements, and installation equipment

Sep 13, 2026

Uploaded by Patrick

The planning phase of a construction project strongly shapes quality, efficiency, environmental performance, cost, and safety, yet real projects often exceed model assumptions due to greater complexity. The study reviews visualization methods in construction planning and evaluates techniques and tool sets to reduce the gap between modelling and real-world execution. It targets steel-structure visualization that includes structural and nonstructural elements as well as installation equipment. A three-storey steel case study from the ROBUST (Robust Building Systems) project is proposed for testing on a shaking table at ILEE.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryPresentations

FormatPDF

Pages10

Reading Time4 min

AccessFree to download

1. Introduction

Construction planning impacts and software limitations

Visualization and common applications (3D, animation, simulation)

Construction process visualization benefits (4D CAD, safety training)

2. Research Aim

Proposed visualization approach and planned evaluation

Development of a virtual construction approach for steel structures considering structural and nonstructural elements, and installation equipment Thai Phan1, Shahab Ramhormozian2, Charles Clifton3, Gregory MacRae4, Rajesh Dhakal5, Liang-Jiu Jia6, and Stefan Marks7 1,2,7Auckland University of Technology, Auckland, New Zealand [thaiphd](thaiphd1@gmail.com)[1](thaiphd1@gmail.com)[@gmail.com](thaiphd1@gmail.com), [shahab.ramhormozian](shahab.ramhormozian2@aut.ac.nz)[2](shahab.ramhormozian2@aut.ac.nz)[@aut.ac.nz](shahab.ramhormozian2@aut.ac.nz), [stefan.marks.ac](stefan.marks.ac7@gmail.com)[7](stefan.marks.ac7@gmail.com)[@gmail.com](stefan.marks.ac7@gmail.com) 3University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand [c.clifton](c.clifton3@auckland.ac.nz)[3](c.clifton3@auckland.ac.nz)[@auckland.ac.nz](c.clifton3@auckland.ac.nz) 4,5University of Canterbury, Christchurch, New Zealand {gregory.macrae4, [rajesh.dhakal](rajesh.dhakal5}@canterbury.ac.nz)[5](rajesh.dhakal5}@canterbury.ac.nz)[}@canterbury.ac.nz](rajesh.dhakal5}@canterbury.ac.nz) 6Tongji University, Shanghai, China [lj_jia](lj_jia6@tongji.edu.cn)[6](lj_jia6@tongji.edu.cn)[@tongji.edu.cn](lj_jia6@tongji.edu.cn) Abstract: The planning phase of a construction project has a crucial effect on different aspects of the project outcome. There are various software programs developed and widely used to help with construction planning, however many construction projects still grow over limits, as the reality is still much more complicated than any model. Hence, more sophisticated software and methods need to be developed in order to minimize the gap between modelling and the reality. Visualization of construction processes using building-information-models (BIM) is a new trend in construction planning. This research aims to investigate previous works on visualization of construction processes using information technology, analyse various techniques and tool sets, and choose a method to apply to the steel structures construction, considering structural and non-structural elements as well as installation equipment. The specific case study is a three-storey steel structure with a height of 4m per storey proposed via the ROBUST (Robust Building Systems) project, which is a joint NZ-China research with the intention of improving buildings’ seismic resiliency. The building will be built and tested on a shaking table at the International joint research Laboratory of Earthquake Engineering (ILEE) located inChina. Keywords: virtual construction; steel structures; construction element; game engine 1. Introduction The planning phase of a construction project has a crucial effect on different aspects of project outcome, such as quality, efficiency, environment, cost and safety, and guarantees the time frame of the project tobe achieved (Olawale and Sun, 2010) . In order to reach a specific result, the project’s planners are required to have a deep understanding of each phase of the construction project. Moreover, according to Olawale and Sun (2010), in order to support project planners, various software programs Development of a virtual construction approach for steel structures considering structural and nonstructural elements, and installation equipment. 54th International Conference of the Architectural Science Association 2020, Thai Phan, et al (eds), pp. 405–414. © 2020 and published by the Architectural Science Association (ANZAScA) . have been developed and used widely, but a great quantity of construction projects still grow over limits in terms of costs and time. Nevertheless, these software programs are still helping engineers and managers around the globe with their technical tasks. However, reality is much more complicated than any models, regardless of how advanced they are. Asa result, more sophisticated software and methods need to be developed in order to minimize the gap between modelling and the real world. One aspect of this software functionality is visualiz

FAQs

Why does construction planning significantly affect project outcomes?

The planning phase shapes quality, efficiency, environmental performance, cost, safety, and helps guarantee the project schedule. It requires planners to understand each construction phase deeply.

What gap motivates more advanced visualization software and methods?

Reality is more complex than any model, leading to projects growing beyond limits in cost and time. The research aims to minimize the difference between modelling and real-world execution.

How is construction process visualization used in practice?

Visualization supports animating construction processes in 3D, progress and safety monitoring, and applications like crane erection simulation, crane operation simulation, and work-area analysis. It also helps detect logical design and sequence errors and supports risk identification and safety training.

Sep 13, 2026

Uploaded by Patrick