Trans­form­ing Teamwork With VDC

Critical infra­struc­ture upgrades are often large, complex projects with tight schedules and little room for budget overruns. Small incon­sis­ten­cies have the potential to slow project delivery with unexpected obstacles and change orders, threatening costly delays. Designers and construc­tors have histor­i­cally found themselves at odds when something needs to change mid-project; but this is now changing as project teams integrate virtual design and construc­tion (VDC) tech­nolo­gies into their workflow. Using tools that combine real-world structures with virtually planned improve­ments, project teams are honing into details in a collab­o­ra­tively shared, real-time 3D environment that’s changing the way designers and builders plan, work, interact and understand one another. 

VDC, the process of how a 3D or building information model (BIM) tool is used throughout project delivery, uses a combination of tech­nolo­gies and processes to create an accurate working model that you can add data to as project delivery progresses.  With VDC, you can accurately map existing structures without current as-built docu­men­ta­tion; compare designs across disciplines and find conflicts early on; visualize data within a model to calculate material quantity, track schedule and iteratively strategize process flow; get real-time updates; all while working in one, all-inclusive platform.

Reading the Room, Scanner Style

In some cases, the first step to creating a 3D model is to perform laser scanning—a method for mapping an existing environment and collecting data that can be processed into a highly accurate 3D model equipped with measure­ments. Complex retro­fitting jobs and facility expansions benefit most from scanning. Kerr Lake Regional Water System, located in Henderson, North Carolina is using laser scanning and VDC to help deliver a facility upgrade for its Kerr Lake Water Treatment Plant (WTP). When finished, the upgrade will expand the facility, connecting the existing structures to new structures to upgrade water treatment capacity from 10 to 20 million gallons per day. 

When existing docu­men­ta­tion is difficult to interpret or is missing, scanning helps fill in the blanks. The Kerr Lake WTP is an ideal use case for laser scanning, because the expansion will connect existing parts of the plant to new parts that have yet to be constructed. “We don’t have robust docu­men­ta­tion of changes made since the plant opened in 1974,” said Todd Smith, CDM Smith design manager and associate. “Record drawings were somewhat foreign back then.” To overcome this challenge, the project team uses a 360-degree laser scanner able to collect nearly one million measure­ments per second that can be processed to help build or add to 3D models. 

Architect and intelligent modeling coordinator Clarice Sollog recalls the nature of project delivery prior to the advent of laser scanning. “We previously relied on 2D record drawings that aren’t always current,” said Sollog. “Now, scanning gives us a snapshot of what actually exists, creating consistency across disciplines and alleviating coor­di­na­tion issues.” Throughout construc­tion, the 3D model can be updated with new scans as structures are built. In Kerr Lake’s case, the 3D model will eventually become an up-to-date as-built CAD file of the new plant when project construc­tion is completed. “That’s the as-built difference,” said CDM Smith construc­tion manager, Steve Solters. “Everyone is looking at the same thing and you’re not making inter­pre­ta­tions from an historical drawing."

A Living Dataset

Once you have a working 3D model, there’s no shortage of downstream uses and benefits. The 3D model acts as a continuous dataset with a level of accuracy most clients have never experienced. “As a team, we want to be working in 3D,” said CDM Smith client service leader Reed Barton. “Both the design team and the Owner can virtually walk through a designed space on a computer screen or using HoloLens mixed reality technology to understand the new facility before it is ever constructed.” Stake­hold­ers can visualize the end-product while project engineers, planners and construc­tors delve into the details. Working in 3D is helping the Kerr Lake team to take these tech­nolo­gies to the next level, using existing tools to encourage a new level of collab­o­ra­tion. “You see coor­di­na­tion improve working in 3D. You see real time updates from other disciplines so you’re really able to coordinate on the fly,” said Sollog.

The team used its model to compare designs between disciplines, a process known as clash detection. The model is used to overlay designs—from mechanical to structural to electric and plumbing—and identify elements that conflict or create unsafe conditions. “This is a great way to bring designers and construc­tors together in a shared ecosystem and find issues between disciplines,” said Sollog. This provides a level of trans­parency that can encourage discussion and surface concerns early in delivery, expediting collab­o­ra­tive problem-solving.

“Clash detection has defined and uncovered conflicts we didn’t anticipate. It’s better to find conflicts now rather than in the field when I’m holding four or five pipe fitters wondering how we’re going to make it work,” said Solters. The benefits are simple yet impactful: it’s far less costly to collaborate on a 3D model and change a design early on than it is to make changes to a completed structure. 

When the Kerr Lake WTP expansion is finished, the plant will have an up-to-date 3D model that can serve as an as-built. The next time KLWRS wants to make upgrades or changes, its staff can be confident that the as-built docu­men­ta­tion is current.

Designing, Construct­ing and Commu­ni­cat­ing in the Future

Sometimes, the innovation isn’t in the technology, but in the way we communicate. What VDC does is bring the whole project team together to work toward a shared goal. Whether that goal is distrib­ut­ing a dataset, reaching a key milestone or delivering an entire facility at the end of a project, this game-changing process is challenging us to redefine project execution. “I believe that in the future, everything will be virtually designed and constructed, and we'll be using virtual reality to walk stake­hold­ers through the designed plant,” said Solters. “The onsite innovation of computer design, especially 3D modeling, will revo­lu­tion­ize the construc­tion and engineering industry. And it’s already started.”