Management of Information Workflows in HBIM Processes for Structural Analysis: Interoperability and Open Exchange Formats

The current AECO sector is heavily reliant on the adoption of proprietary software that limits the sharing and use of information among the various players in the supply chain. But interoperability is one of the pillars on which the new BIM methodology is based and is also one of the cornerstones from the international buildingSMART association, which promotes the use of a standard language that can increase efficiency and information exchange throughout the building process. The present study aims to investigate the issue of interoperability between software in the context of openBIM methodologies applied to the structural analysis of historic architecture built using traditional constructive techniques. The experimentation was conducted using the open-source software Code_Aster, based on the finite element method (FEM) of calculation, to which must be added the graphical interface Salome-Meca, offering together an integrated working platform. The reported case study is related to the Romanesque Church of Santa Giusta, in the Campidano region of Simaxis in Sardinia. The historic building was modeled through a Scan-to-BIM process using Autodesk’s proprietary software, ReCap and Revit, then through Rhinoceros software and finally into the numerical solver via interoperable exchange formats. The research involved at first only some of the main elements of the structure such as the cross vaults, and then moved on to more complex “compound” elements,which required both ad hoc modeling-side simplification strategies and reworkings within the analysis software.