2018 4th IEEE International Conference on Information Management
Application of BIM Technology in the Construction Management of Shield Tunnel
Peng Zhi, Tianyun Shi, Wanqi Wang and Huilin Wang
Institute of Computing Technology
China Academy of Railway Sciences
Beijing, China
e-mail: 28572322@qq.com
Abstract—Aiming at the current situations of shield tunnel
construction such as surrounding environment complexity,
high risks, severe construction difficulties, high technical
requirements, and urgent project schedules, innovatively using
new technologies of BIM, 3D-based laser scanning, mobile
internet, and WebGL to solve engineering problems is
proposed. First, based on the BIM standard distributed by the
international organization buildingSMART, a BIM application
and implementation standard and an encoding specification
for railway shield tunnel are proposed to build a visualization
encoding system for tunnel model elements. Second, refined
BIM-based modeling and information attachment of related
shield tunnel majors have been achieved by utilizing the
professional modeling software such as Bentley and Revit, as
well as model assembling, model lightweighting, and separate
storing of models and data. Last, a self-developed WebGL-
based graphics engine is used to achieve the implementation of
progress, quality and safety for the tunnel construction. It has
been verified through practical engineering that the BIM
technology can help to increase the collaboration efficiency and
the informatization management level for tunnel engineering,
also laying the data and technical foundation for exploring the
BIM-based full digital archive of shield tunneling methodology.
Keywords-Shield tunnel; Building information modeling
(BIM); 3D laser scanning; BIM application management
platform
I. INTRODUCTION
The importance and difficulties of shield tunnel
construction include:
A. Vertical Shaft Excavation Engineering
Vertical shafts generally have characteristics such as
great depth, strata instability, easy deformability, and the
possibility to cause the surrounding strata settlement. These
are the important points in the engineering control.
B. Open Excavation Range Engineering
Risk sources are relatively concentrated that affect the
surrounding building structures and environment of the city.
Therefore, to control the deformation, sedimentation and
high demand of foundation pit are the emphasis and difficult
parts for project control.
C. Waterproof Structure
There are more joints in the tunnel’s main structure
which will result in large corrosion on the steel structure if
there is a water leakage and will also influence the future
978-1-5386-6147-5/18/$31.00 ©2018 IEEE 284
traffic operation safety in the tunnel. This is the one the
importance of engineering control.
D. Shield Construction Engineering
The tunnel is to go through regions which are very close
to those multiple sensitive buildings, pipelines, and some
other risk sources nearby. How to protect the existing lines,
pipelines, and buildings, and how to ensure the existing
operations and passengers’ safety in the tunnel construction
process are the key points of the shielding control for the
tunnel boring machine.
Based on the situations of complex structure and
abnormally complex environmental implication in the shield
tunnel engineering mentioned above, it is necessary to
introduce the BIM technology to solve a series of problems
including the ‘red line’ of the progress, safety risk, quality
problems in the process of shield tunnel construction so as to
achieve the purpose to increasing the work efficiency,
reducing safety risks, improving project quality and cutting
down construction costs.
The overall workflow of the BIM application in the
shield tunnel engineering is shown in Fig. 1. First, a BIM
related application and implementation standard and an
encoding specification for shield tunnel engineering are
innovatively proposed, as well as the conduct of unified
encoding of tunnel’s relevant model elements to provide a
visualization encoding architecture system for the BIM
application. Then, the mainstream modeling software
Bentley has been chosen to create the BIM models of shield
tunnel, tunnel segments, and the geological landform while
another popular modeling software Revit has been used to
build models of vertical shaft pit, surrounding risk sources,
and monitoring points. All the models have the precision of
LOD350 and are attached geometry and attribute data. After
that, based on the modeling software plug-ins and the
graphics engine, which are all self-developed, the
interconversion between the two model formats, .dgn
and .rvt, as well as the graphical lightweighting with a
segment separating method, along with a way of separately
storing model and data in database, is utilized to solve the
high threshold difficulties of handling models. Furthermore,
combined with some new technologies of 3D laser scanning
and internet of things, the informatization implementation of
shield tunnel construction management could be carried out
to solve practical application difficulties based on the
independently developed graphics engine platform, which is

Figure 1. Overall Workflow of the BIM Application in the Shield Tunnel
Engineering
cross-platformed and plug-in-free. With the on-site
engineering verification, from the shield tunnel construction
aspects, such as progress, safety, and quality, the 3D
visualized managing and controlling can be achieved, as
well as the improvement of both construction collaboration
efficiency and informationalized management level. This
will lay the data and technical foundation for exploring the
BIM-based full digital archive of shield tunneling
methodology.
II. RESEARCH ON BIM APPLICATION CRITERIA OF
SHIELD TUNNEL
According to the "Railway engineering information
modeling technology standard" [1] and "Railway engineering
entity structural decomposition guide-EBS(Engineering
Breakdown Structure)" [2] issued by the China Railway BIM
alliance, combining with the construction situation in the
work field, the BIM application standard in the major of
shield tunnel has been made, including work range division,
engineering entity structure decomposition and level of detail
(LOD) in modeling (as shown in Fig. 2).
Figure 2. Research and Application of LOD Management Based on BIM.
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Meanwhile, combined with the application requirements
of BIM construction in the late stage of the project, various
unique components of shield tunneling are constructed and
each professional model is modeled quickly according to the
LOD of modeling. Corresponding EBS, IFC, and IFD codes
are also added to provide a visual model and basis for BIM
application [4, 5].
III. MODEL LIGHTWEIGHTING PRINCIPLE OF MULTIPLE
FORMATS
By using the 3D model lightweighting plug-in, BIM
models which originally require large storing and calculating
resources now could be greatly simplified. The process of
lightweighting is shown in Fig. 3, containing 3 purposes,
data compression, data storage, and model presentation.
A. Data Compression
When the lightweighting is done, the model source file is
simplified and compressed, occupying much less space.
B. Data Extraction and Storage
All the attribute data, attribute type information, and the
relation between model elements and portions could be
extracted and stored in a database concentratedly.
C. Model Presentation
Model exhibition and operation include viewpoint
switching, scaling, profiling, border blanking, hyalinizing,
labeling, and measuring.
IV. RESEARCH OF KEY TECHNOLOGIES FOR BIM
APPLICATION
Key technologies used in BIM-based shield tunnel
engineering include 3D visualization, fine-grained progress
management, visualized early warning for safety risks,
visualized shielding monitoring, and 3D quality management.
A. 3D Visualization Technology for Tunnel Construction
Using the 3D visualization techniques of BIM + GIS to
achieve 3D technical submission, such as key process in
tunneling, construction solution and specific techniques, can
help to acknowledge the 360°perspective visualization
effect in the important and difficult parts of a project, which
also has advantages in foreseeing the problems, improved
comprehensibility, better comprehensiveness and the
obviousness effect. It not only reduces the difficulty for
construction workers to understand the drawings and to
effectively avoid the understanding mistakes, it also
improves the efficiency and effectiveness of the technical
submission, guaranteeing the construction quality.
Moreover, the application effect of 3d visualization for the
Figure 3. Flowchart of the Model Lightweighting Principle
important and difficult parts of tunnel engineering can be
attained [6-10] (as shown in Fig. 4).
Figure 4. BIM Model Application Criteria for Shield Tunnel.
1) Technological process simulation
By loading BIM models using the dynamic simulation
technology, the three-dimensional representation, dynamic
simulation, and simulation roaming of the starting shaft and
starting section can be implemented, which can make it
possible to effectively forecast and identify hazard sources.
With the accomplishment of the construction risk control and
the solution optimization of both the shield starting shaft and
complicated nodes in the starting section, the goal to improve
construction quality and management efficiency can be
achieved.
2) Structural visualization for the specific plan
Through the BIM model, the spatial geometry, position,
and function of the nodes of engineering structure are truly
expressed. The design in complex space will become more
intuitive, accomplishing the structural visualization.
3) Attribute visualization for model elements
Utilizing the characteristics of information completeness
and visualization of the parametric BIM model, the macro
information and the microscopic information of the structure
of the project can be displayed to the user, helping the user to
grasp the construction information more conveniently and
accurately.
B. Fine-Grained Progress Management Based on BIM
The BIM technology is used to assist in the progress
management of tunnel construction, and the construction
progress daily report ("Briefing" system management
module) is used to achieve the dynamic management and
timely comparative analysis of all parties involved in the
project, providing follow-up construction staffing, equipment
and equipment deployment, mass material purchase, storage
yarding material (tunnel segment) admission control, as well
as the construction plan of adjacent processes [10]. Providing
a practical and reliable basis, the construction progress will
be guaranteed as firmly as possible (as shown in Fig. 5).
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Figure 5. Visualization of Shield Tunnel Progress Control.
1) Rehearsal schedule
Using 3D visualization and simulation features of the
BIM technology, the dynamic simulation of construction
organization progress through NAVIGATOR software
technology enables the user to judge the rationality of the
construction progress schedule very intuitively, providing the
most effective help for the next process of the project
construction.
2) Schedule analysis
Based on the BIM model to divide the work tasks, the
progress information interacts with the BIM model, and the
comparison between the actual and planned progress is made
based on the 3D electronic construction logbook and the
construction organization plan to determine the advance or
lag of the progress in real time, and then getting the reason
[11]. Moreover, a relatively complete progress analysis
report is provided to the user for the sake of the follow-up
key operation decision.
3) Schedule early warning
The key path analysis is used to form the critical path and
mission-critical nodes. The results of real-time analysis of
the progress lagging and serious delay are timely pre-warned
based on the BIM model according to the preset warning
rules. Through the SMS and E-mail notification function in
the BIM application platform, warning messages are sent to
the manager, which apparently improves the immediacy of
the progress warning management.
C. Dynamic Visualized Early Warning for Safety Risks
Based on BIM and Internet of Things
The safety risk warning is aimed to analyze and early
report safety problems that are discovered in environmental
risk sources, the construction site, and the surrounding
environment monitoring during the construction process and
the inspection process. The safety risk warning can help to
improve the risk controlling ability in the construction
engineering.
Based on the information exchange among
heterogeneous information systems and the data throughout
the different stages of the whole life cycle of the construction
project, the ontology-based heterogeneous exchange model
is proposed to explore the method of mapping both the IFC
data and the relationship database with the ontology model,
putting forward the ontology-based reasoning model.
By using the BIM characteristics of 3D visualization,
information relevance and information consistency, the
network sensing technology is widely utilized to achieve the
automatic collection and uploading of risk monitoring data
[12,13]. With the ‘red/orange/yellow’ three-level pre-alarm
mechanism, the early warning information of the analysis
results, along with the real-time status, can be instantly
reflected on the BIM model [14-16], which provides users
with the intuitive and queryable risk warning information
through the mobile network. The information distribution
function in the BIM system generates and delivers the early
warning information to the users through the mobile phone
network, which improves the user’s capability of risk
managing.
In the traditional scheme of risk early warning and
management, people have to carry out the risk controlling
and management by using construction drawings, on-site
verification and manual analysis of monitored data. On one
hand, the data analysis and results are not intuitive enough.
On the other hand, the information transmission is always
delayed. These disadvantages can be resolved by using the
risk early warning module of the BIM system (as shown in
Fig. 6 and Fig. 7).
D. Shielding Visualization Monitoring Based on BIM and
Figure 7. Risk Early Warning Based on BIM.
Big Data
The traditional shield monitoring system mainly focuses
on the video surveillance. The parameters of the tunnel
boring machine can only be viewed, brought to statistics and
analysis in the monitor room. Other people can never be able
to master the tunnel boring machine’s real-time working
status.
The BIM management platform receives real-time
working parameters, machine status, boring parameters and
alarming information from the PLC system in the tunnel
boring machine. The data are used along with the big data
technology to generate all kinds of parameter curves from
multiple aspects for analyzing and decision making. The
tunnel boring machine’s information can be dynamically
demonstrated, located, prewarned based on the 3D
visualization of the BIM model [17], which will help
managers to master the tunnel boring machine’s work status
and to make judgments and decisions (shown in Fig. 8 and
Fig. 9).

Figure 6. Environmental Risk Source Monitoring Based on BIM. Figure 8. Shielding Visualization Monitoring Based on BIM.

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Figure 9. Shielding Efficiency Analysis Based on Big Data.
E. Quality Management Based on 3D Visualization
The tunnel and segments’ quality data, obtained from the
tunnel boring machine’s monitoring system, cloud data of
three-dimensional laser scanning points, and collected data in
a mobile phone, are regularly uploaded to the BIM based
tunnel quality management platform for the sake of 3D
visualized quality analysis of tunneling engineering,
including segment assembly quality and influence factors,
the tunnel axis, the segment ring ovality, the segment
damages and hidden dangers, etc. [18-20], which can also
provide a practical and reliable information for the next
step’s shield tunneling, segment assembly, grouting and
other related work. Better than the two-dimension mode,
such as drawings and charts as shown in Fig. 10, the three-
dimensional visualization analysis helps managers
comprehensively master the construction quality at the very
first moment, containing management of quality issue
database, segment assembly quality, hidden project, and
inspection reports [21,22], which is shown in Fig. 11.
Figure 10. 2D Quality Management of Shield Tunnel.
Figure 11. 3D Quality Management of Shield Tunnel Based on BIM.
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V. CONCLUSIONS
Combined with the verification of actual engineering
application, the BIM visualization features are used to realize
the key process engineering methods for shield tunnels and
the visualization disclosures of complex nodes. The BIM
simulation characteristics are used to realize the virtual
construction of shield tunnels projects and optimization of
construction organization deduction. The implementation of
collaborative construction of all parties involved in
construction, the dynamic allocation of resources, and the
refinement of construction schedules are achieved through
the coordination and optimization characteristics of BIM.
And then, through the integration of BIM with the internet of
things and 3D scanning technology, the closed-loop quality
control management and the early warning of safety risk
monitoring of the shield tunnel engineering were
accomplished. Finally, a three-dimensional visualization map
of the construction management for the shield tunnel projects
based on BIM is formed to provide comprehensive auxiliary
decision support for users through full-procedure and
comprehensive data analysis from multiple perspectives of
engineering construction such as safety, quality, and progress,
etc. The technology and data foundation is laid for the
further exploration of all digital files for BIM-based shield
tunnel.
In the actual application process, the size of model files is
huge due to the large scale of the tunnel project. During the
process of model compressing and lightweighting, there are
problems of information loss and graphics distortion, so it is
necessary to further study new graphics algorithms to
improve information integrity. Furthermore, the problems of
inconsistent format and poor compatibility exist in the
process of converting different formats of models. It is
necessary to further study the international standard of data
storing of IFC format based on BIM to achieve a better
model compatibility. In addition, the current BIM model
cannot adaptively be integrated with the finite element
analysis software for tunnel engineering, which is another
motivation to study the integration pattern and the technical
route in the future work.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
We gratefully thank the anonymous reviews for their
valuable feedback. This research was supported by the
Science and Technology Research and Development Key
Program of China Railway Corporation (CRC) under grants
No. 2016X002 and No. 2017G001-B. This research was also
supported by the Science and Research Major Program of
China Railway Research Institute (CRRI) under grants No.
2016YJ098. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions
expressed in this material are those of the authors and do not
necessarily reflect the views of the CRC and CRRI.
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