Integration of BRIM and BMS to support bridge´s life-cycle management

Abstract

[Excerpt] Most of existing Bridge Management Systems (BMS) are software used during the bridge lifecycle. The adaptation of BMS to a digital environment must consider an information exchange format that allows maintaining the interoperability between different stakeholders and their daily tools. Building Information Modelling (BIM) is the main method being adopted for that. However, BIM was initially conceived for buildings, thus adaptation efforts are ongoing to also include bridges. The most widely used format for BIM interoperability is IFC. Efforts are ongoing to adapt it to bridges context, namely, with IFCBridge. This paper presents an assessment of the existing knowledge about the applicability of the IFC for modelling bridge data. A review is made to establish the necessary information to describe existing BMS. Then, the IFC schema is evaluated and main limitations are identified and opportunities are discussed.