Streamlining Open-Channel Design with BIM Execution Plan and Automation

TAREK FARAH: So am Tarek from TPF Engenharia. I'm from Recife, Pernambuco, Brazil. And I'm now going to present to you all the case study. It's about the semi-arid canal of Alagoas, 5th Segment. And the title is Streamlining Open Channel Design with BIM Execution Plan and Automation. So these are the legal terms and we just comply to them. OK. Now proceed.

So who am I? As I said before, I am Tarek Farah. I'm a civil engineer. Graduated from Federal University of Pernambuco with 12 years of industrial experience. And my expertise is on the design of water conveyance channels, earth-retaining systems, earth dams, urban and rural drainage, and irrigation engineering. And modeling of earth and hydraulic structures in Civil 3D and Automation with Subassembly Composer.

So the key objectives of this case study are-- the key objectives of this presentation is to show how you can streamline a water conveyance canal design by implementing a business acquisition plan and promoting collaboration between the main stakeholders knowing a little more of the complexity of a canal design so you can apply 3D modeling techniques to overcome its complexities.

Automating and streamlining the design with use of Subassembly Composer and Dynamo. Managing different disciplines and simulating the construction of a long time with Navisworks. And presenting a 3D model made in Infraworks and video in Twinmotion. So let's go.

So I'm going to now tell you a little bit about the semi-arid canal of Alagoas, a vision of the entire project. So it's an initiative of the government of-- the state of Alagoas to combat the serious and constant drought in the semi-arid region, and promotes an increasing agricultural productivity in the region.

So it's going to begin with the intake of its [INAUDIBLE] hydraulic power plant. It is in the Delmiro Gouveia town. And after 250 kilometers, is going to finish its reach in Arapiraca town. So it's going to directly and indirectly serve 42 municipalities, and it's going to convey the maximum water flow rate of 32 cubic meter per second.

So the canal, to this date, it has already been implemented since its 4th Segment. So the 5th Segment beyond are to be implemented, and we will talk about the 5th Segment. So the 5th Segment has an extension of about 26 kilometers, and it's in the mesoregion of the Alagoas-- Sertao Alagoano. And it's called the semi-arid region.

And it will go through the municipalities of San Jose de Tapera, Monteiropolis, and Olho d'Agua das Flores. And it's a contract running with Secretaria of Infrastructure of Alagoas state. And it's going to be-- and it's a design and construction contract that is being played by the consortium OECI-TPF Engenharia. And its supervision consortium is from Hydros-Engeconsult.

So the main characteristics of the 5th Segment are-- its going to have-- it's going to have 22 kilometers of trapezoidal canals, four canal bridges totaling almost 1 kilometer of works, three hydraulic control structures, one inverted siphon that's going to have 240 millimeters of diameter, one channel, and two crossings under state highways. That's the scope.

So we're going to talk a little bit about the execution plan, the main challenges for its implementation. So the execution plan in TPF Engenharia, it comprises of the quality plan of the product. Every project is called a product in our company.

So before we start, we have to make the Quality Plan. It's internal instruction that it comes with the Quality Instructions 02, 03, and Internal Normative 01. So the Quality Plan, along the years, they have been changed, and it came with many other parts that make them more adapted to the BIM methodology.

So the Quality Plan itself, as we do them, it is also the execution plan of a product. So the BIM execution plan is meant to be a live document which is made from a model that was developed from a Quality Circle inside of the company.

And it also considers the normatives from NBR ISO 19650 and others. So these are the main steps that we made to develop the BIM execution plan. So at first, we refer to the terms of reference, contract, legislation, and standards. We gather all the information, make it available. So it is the part that we call project inputs.

Then we prepare the work breakdown structure of the product, and it's called Project of the Product. Then we define the model structure define the CDE structure, the document code, the level of information required, the production cell, the production flows, design technology, federated model, which software is going to be used, communication flows, the information required, the level of information required, definition of conformity, evaluation flowchart, definition of the inspection plan, and then we begin the collaborative design of the project.

So this is the execution plan document that was developed in the beginning of the contract. So it has many parts, but I think the most important to be exposed here are the project of the product, that it contains the work breakdown structure. The component codes. It also tells what are the deliverables expected in the contract.

And also, the production plan of the product is the methodology that is going to be used. So it comprises more of the model structure, production flow, production sales and technology, and the document management.

So the first part of the contract was the work breakdown structure. The work breakdown structure was divided considering the terms of reference on the date. And it also served as a main basis for all the planning of the contract and its development and design.

So the M are milestones. So the first milestone, second and third milestones comprises of these interventions that we call here, but they are most of-- they are reaches of the canal. Some reaches of each canal or some civil works specific, some special structures or common structures that have to be constructed until unspecified specific date in the terms of reference.

So the first milestone, the second and the third milestone, in its contents, you see that there is a each time bigger amount of structures because it also considers the gain productivity of the construction because it's a design and construction contract.

So we'll show you a little bit more about the Trapezoidal Canal 44 that is being dictated. And that's the main basis of all the planning, the work breakdown structure.

So the production plan of the product, inside it, we have many production flows, but I think this one can resume the main things we do in the design. And the first thing before we begin designing, we begin the preparation of the template for each discipline.

So I'm now going to show you here about the canal discipline. So at first, we have to define the infrastructure geometry with the definition of the hydraulic structure types and it reaches. The hydraulic design and sizing of each structure. And we also can make a preliminary hydrodynamic simulation.

So as we define the geometry, we also begin the topographic surveys and geological surveys. And then once we have them, we begin building the primitive terrain surface modeling of it in software, Civil 3D. And the geologic material surface also. As we say, first category, second and third category, and these are category that measures the difficulty of excavation of the cutting operations.

And as we have them, everything comes to this box here. This task here, that is 3D modeling of the canals itself. So-- themselves. So we can refine and define the alignments, we have to define the profiles, begin the preparation of the assemblies and the corridors.

So in all of these parts, we use the Data Shortcut tool, the Data Shortcut tool inside the AutoCAD Civil 3D. So that we can integrate the disciplines and everything in such a way that if we make a change in any part of it, every other designer can easily refresh the surfaces of that in Data Shortcut and the things we get up to date updated-- the things you get updated easily. So the Data Shortcut is very important tool that we use.

And then the submission of the canal model to other discipline designers, it's the beginning of everything. It's when we finish the canal's design, the first canal design of it, so we share to all others-- all the others-- other designers from other disciplines.

So I presented them here, the main disciplines of canal design. And so these disciplines can can interact with one another through the Data Shortcut. So if you make any changes in the canals, the earthworks guys will get notification, so they can easily refresh. And also, the drainage design team and the access roads team also.

But when we are outside these disciplines, we have to interact through Navisworks. So any other common canal structure like lateral dischargers, surface dischargers, [INAUDIBLE] dischargers. Hydraulic control structures, channel bridges, inverted siphons, and many others.

So let's go ahead. Sorry. So we decided that the federated model is going to be in Navisworks. So every discipline has the outer model. That is the model made by each designer. And it can be as complete as is needed by the designer.

But the coordination model is the file that's going to be sent to the coordination manager-- the manager-- the BIM manager or the BIM coordinator. So these fires are in a lean fashion with only the necessary information to the tests that are going to be taken in the federated model.

And its compatibility task is evaluations. And also presentations. So it can be in DWG extension, RVT, or IFC. Any extension the designer need, we integrate everything inside Navisworks.

And then the planned software we use now listed, and each BIM used that we define it in the action plan. So the model and design of water canals are inside AutoCAD Civil 3D. Modeling and design of commons, special kind of structures are-- most of them in Revit. Surface drainage system design are also in Civil 3D. As in corridors, part builder inside the pipe network Tools. So road system design also in Civil 3D.

Modeling of inverted siphon, it's in Revit. Design and modeling of hydraulic control structures in Revit. Compatibilization and clash detection in Navisworks. The 3D visualization presentation is often in Navisworks and Infraworks. And rendering and videos, we do this in Twinmotion, Navisworks, and Infraworks.

So one important part of the execution planning, the implementation of it, is defining the document codes. So we have a document code defined for general documents and another specific for drawings. And we also have a procedure to every version that is issued in the system.

So for example, when we are still in preliminary issues, every version code has an alphanumeric codification. So it has an A, B, C, D, et cetera along or after the numeric text of the number of the version that considers the version, that defines the version.

And as we work the files-- the preliminary files and worked inside our consortium, it always gets this letter. But when we send them to the contractor or the final client or its supervisor, so we have them only with the numbers. So that's how we standardize it. It's the word.

And the document folder also was established. Take into consideration that the WBS, the Work Breakdown Structure. So we have the General folder and each milestone folder. And inside each milestone, the structures themselves. So that's how we structure it, organized it.

And inside the Drawings folder, each intervention-- that is, each reach of the canal or each civil work has a folder for the editable files and for plotted and published files. That's how we organized it. And then in the BIM execution plan, I think I'm now talk a little bit about the challenge of implementing this because it's not only the technical things-- but it's not the hardware or the software only, but it's the peopleware also.

So the first-- the keys to the success are in the engaging of the main stakeholders. The main stakeholders involved in the design and construction have to be engaged in working in methodology on following the BIM execution plan that the consortium, the construction consortium elaborated.

So the keys to the successful engagement were, at first, the application of BIM was a contractual requirement of the state government. So the client itself thinks it's important to design and construct everything considering the BIM methodology.

So the supervision consortium-- that is, partner of the Secretariat, they are part of the Secretariat, they are subcontracted. So they also have to be engaged. And I think one of the key things to the success of the engagement was that the construction consortium have already made its business acquisition plan before the kickoff meeting.

So we had it all organized and all set inside the consortium. So everything was discussed in many meetings. And we went to the kickoff meeting, we did some.

So it was easier to make them follow the plan. So I think the adoption of CDE, the discussion that we had to choose and organize a CDE was one of the main issues discussed in the kickoff meeting. And keys, one of the main things that contributed to the success of the implementation.

So I'm going to now talk a little bit about the complexity of canals modeling. Canals modeling. So a little bit about the challenges of it. So canals in general, they can be designed with many different control regimes. And the control regime will define as it will behave along its longitudinal profile.

So the geometry of it is influenced by the control regime-- that is, defined-- so for example, in canals with upstream control, they are easier to design because the bottom of it and its top-- or its crest, they are parallel. So its size, its height can be constant along its ridge. So it's just a simple section that you can run through and it's solve the problem of the internal hyperbolic section of the canal.

But when we are talking about, for example, downstream control, in it, the bottom is sloped, but the top of it is flat. So the canal gets each time higher as it develops, as its-- OK. So as distance, it gets distant from its upstream station.

But the mid-stretch control also, BIVAL control, it's a mix of the upstream control and downstream control because it takes the upstream part of it with a constant section, but the downstream part of it doesn't have a constant section. A constant section.

And in any hydraulic structure design, the designer has to be aware of the envelope of the water surface levels. So for example, the dynamic line in the mid-stretch control-- that is, the control regime that is being used in the canal Sertao Alagoano 5th Segment, or the Semi-Arid Canal 5th Segment.

So this kind of control is the most complex, but it also-- when you see here the dynamic water surface and the static water surface, you see that the envelope of it is that determine-- determines or defines the crest of the canal. So that's why they need stretch control canal. Has so many-- is so complex. And that's why the crest is not so easily modeled. So that's it. Let's go ahead.

So another thing that is very important also is that you have to define the hydraulic section of it and how are going to be the lateral ways or the berms. And as you can see here, there are many variables that are to be considered in the design.

And also, you have to define the lining of it. So in Canal Sertao Alagoano, the 5th Segment, we're going to have the lining as geomembrane with 1 millimeter on a bottom, and it's going to be protected by 5 centimeters of concrete layer.

And then we have also to consider that it's going to be [INAUDIBLE] here. I don't know how to say this. But it's the development of the geomembrane. So it can be-- so this geomembrane has to be fixed in here. So the way it's fixed on each side also is important.

And there's the choice of the linings-- of the type of lining that you should use. It must be evaluated in many aspects. As you can see here, the construction productivity, durability, robustness, ease of maintenance, impermeability, and many other things. And the susceptibility to damage also.

And also, you have to optimize the-- you have to try to optimize the canal section. For example, if you are in a place that there is a good amount of soil, you could use the optimal weather parameter. So you can have the optimum amount of a lining that is, many of the times, the most cost-- has the most cost-- biggest cost of the canals.

So I'm just showing here three kinds of linings and its properties evaluated in many aspects. So for example, the type I is the one that we use it in our case. And the exposed geomembrane is the cheaper solution, but it also is the one that is most susceptible to damage.

And it should be taken into consideration when you are about to choose it, about to choose the kind of lining solution you're going to take in canals.

Now I'm going to show you a typical section of a canal in a cut earthworks-- earthworks in cut. So as you can see here, we in Brazil, most of the times we have at least these three layers considered in the design. The first category is the soil itself, second category is the weathered rock, and the third category is what do you say salt rock.

So they are profiles that consider the capability, the easiness to escape each part. And it has to be considered in the design because in canals, we can't be making its grade-- get a elevator or reduce the grade or anything like that that you can use in roads.

So in roads, you can elevate your grade to avoid a rock cut, but in canals, you can't. In canals, you have to follow its grade and face the different geologic materials. So as you can see here, we have many, many variables. The slopes, the lights, they are different-- in two different materials.

Also, the width of the side ways and these berms that can change with the width of the surface drains also. And also, we have the variable height and everything. So it's a little bit more complex than designing a road, particularly in these aspects.

So it also in-- canal-- in the 5th Segment of the Semi-Arid Canal at Alagoas, we have the problem of these earth fields, that in the region, we don't have so much soil available. The rocks are very shallow depth-- in very shallow depth. So we have to use the rocks to build the fields, the earthwork fields. The embankments.

So we use them most of the times in the bases of the fields, the earth fields. And we have to build a transition material layer, and then we have to put up the soil or the best materials in the region that's going to be developed the hydraulic section of the canal. So this also is a difficulty to model, one more difficulty to be modeled. And also, we have to consider the construction of berms laterally, et cetera. So let's move on.

And then we have the canals that are mixed sections. One part in earthworks, of fields, another in cuts. And we also-- where we are in cuts, we have to make the internal drainage or in depth. So in depth the drainage-- that is, longitudinal drainage. That is used to avoid the events of water pressure.

So you have to design the bottom drainage. I think you can see this, or internal drainage of the canals just to avoid the water upwards pressure.

So you can't combat the floating itself by the weight of the canal. You can't because you can always have no weight. When they are dried, they can't handle upwards forces of the water. So you have to avoid them. You can't combat it, but you can avoid it. So you have always to develop the longitudinal internal drainage.

So OK. So this time you saw a little bit about the challenges of it. So how we streamline it the canals? How we make them easier to design? So let's talk a little bit about it. So first thing, we created a simple canal subassembly. Very simple, this one.

But it can handle different layer thickness of lining, it can handle the drainage layer on the bottom part of it, it can have variable height. So most of the simple canals are very nicely modeled with these simple subassembly. But it's not the case of the a Semi-Arid Canal of Alagoas 5th Segment as you see soon.

But there is a thing here that it was a challenge to do so because what happened in this assembly, you have to follow-- when you are inside the assembly composer, you have to follow a single-- serial instructions, single serial instructions.

So you have to decide, OK I'll, begin from the upper part of the canal. So I began making this part. Then I come to this point, then I come to this one, this one, this one. So the intersection of these parts, for example, on the bottom and from-- on the bottom and the top, this intersection here, it had to be mathematically determinated.

And the main problem is that we had to use the slope of the canal to do this calculation. But the slope is not a number, it's not a double type of text, is it's just a slope. So it cannot be used to the calculations. So we had to develop a way of using this.

So we tried many things. We tried to use the tangents, we tried to use many other things, but they didn't work. And then we discovered that if we multiply this slope by 1, multiply it by 1, and the subassembly composer magically let us use the slope-- the slope number.

So we multiply it by 1, and then we use it-- the invert of this to do the calculation, and then we could reach this solution. So it's a trick. If you want to use a slope number in your calculations, you just have to multiply it by 1.

And-- OK, so this assembly can handle it different border thicknesses, sizes, et cetera. And it can handle most of the canal's problems. But in our case, the problem, as you saw before, is a little bit harder to overcome. So as you can see here, this is the assembly that we made to handle these kind of sections. So this is a section that we obtained in Civil 3D.

And it's not so easy because it's a left field section that has different materials on its base, on its transition, and also in the hydraulics section region of the canal. OK, the main requirements of these section, and it's called inside the project, and it's tout-venant because the total valley, everything is worth-- it's because you have to use everything you find in the-- again, the area, every geologic material in the area to compose this section.

So he had to handle its variable height, had to define different thicknesses for each layers, had to be good enough to provide the quantities. So we had to define shapes, define codes, everything else. And then it has to identify the minimum height of the field.

So you can use this kind of section, this tout-venant session, because if you don't have enough height, you can't consider the use of the rocks, the [INAUDIBLE] rocks in here. The rock field on the bases. So we automated everything inside these subassembly-- the subassembly to make us reach a very leaner solution.

And we could make a map distribution of the materials with much more precision than we use it before. So it also was important to our bid proposal because we want this canal design and construction contract because we had a link canal. We had a streamlined design, and the bid could be more precise. And we could-- so make a bid so we could win the bid.

So that's this. And it also has to handle with these shoulders, these berms, et cetera. We also, in the cut sections, as you saw, we have many different kind of materials. So we had to compose a subassemble that could handle with the cut sections with many different slopes applied.

And also, it considers one important thing here. That is the transition berms. When we change from, for example, the salt rock to weathered rock, we should make a berm, an intermediate berm. And also, we should make intermediate worm because of the height of the excavation.

So these two considerations had to be handled so we could-- so it had to be handled because-- so we couldn't let it happen, something like-- we have a transition berm, and then 20 centimeters after, we have a maximum height berm. So it could make the earthworks be less economic.

So we also consider the subassembly composer, that we could choose a height that when you make a transition berm, you can have a-- OK, a height that the next berm wasn't constructed. For example, 2 meters was constructed only if it has to be 2 meters upper than the intermediate berms, the transition berms. OK, I'm sorry. This part is kind of confusing to explain.

So we also had to create customized codes, everything just because everything must be quantified. And it's the main vision, general vision of a subassembly that will compose-- the subassembly that we'll compose it. It's one of the biggest we made.

We also used Dynamo automation. This automation was designed-- was programmed by our collaborator from TPF-- that is, a Rafael Prado. So he shared it with our team this programmation. And he could make us-- give volumetry to the cadastral survey.

So we could make, for example, every building to become a 3D element. We could make every tree to become 3D element. Electrical poles, et cetera. So this simple automation in Dynamo, it goes like this. So you create point groups for each kind of-- there's a cadastral element.

So you create the point groups. And you associate a 3D block it's for each group of point groups. So when you run these Dynamo programmation, it makes the magic happen.

So you come from just a flat terrain, a rough, primitive terrain to a terrain with all the elements that were surveyed in the cadastral survey. So, yes. So that's one of the important parts of our designs. And then when we have everything dug, we choose the disciplines that we will take clash detections.

So we can see here, for example, clash detection between the earthworks and drainage works. So you can see here that the drainage could take a little bit. We take a little bit more beyond. So the daylight wouldn't invade the concrete structure here, the outlet structure here, for example. It was made in Navisworks.

And then we make the presentations in Infraworks. Also in Navisworks, we made a link between the digital modeling of the canal and the schedule, the main schedule of the construction. So we're going to show you later a little bit.

But also we made-- we chose as presentation software the Infraworks. So we had many problems to get into our main design models, to get them into Navisworks, but also into Infraworks. So we could get them in perfect condition. So that we can make the presentation of the designs in Infraworks, we made these flowchart, and I'm about to explain it.

So it was made to guarantee that we have a consistent, constant model inside Infraworks, and we can show it as smooth and as good as you can. So we first apply the georeference system in the area that is to be modeled. We set a canal corridor. And in this, we include the lining and lateral berm.

We only include the lining area and the lateral ground. Then we set the water surface as a corridor. We set the daylight as surface element. Inside the corridors of the surface drains, the finished ground with primitive drain, canal and drains. And set the culverts as solids, 3D blocks, the common, and special structures, and then we apply the materials.

And for using the Twinmotion, we tried two ways. We tried through Navisworks using the Datasmith Export. But the best solution was using Infraworks exported in FBX file. So that's how we use it. That's how we did to make the [INAUDIBLE] and the video. The final video.

And for quality assurance, we have this flowchart. And it is within the action plan. And every box of it is a state of the files. So it can be sent between the main stakeholders, and we have a good idea of each advanced party each stage. Each stage is each file.

And we had a inside conformity step and two outside conformity steps. So we-- OK, that's how we program our CDE. So we could and we can take it to-- so yes, we can run the design and know how it's being developed.

And then I just want to finish telling a little bit about the benefits of using BIM in this project. So we got better productivity in modeling, better capacity to rapidly answer to modification requests, better project compatibility, qualitative validation of the model, quantity abstraction, 4D planning, and automation in the generation of technical documentation. And I'm now just going to make a presentation of the video-- to the presentation of the video, and want to thank you.

So this first part is the Navisworks running with the schedule of the canal. So we can see an upstream and-- an upstream-to-downstream and a downstream-to-upstream team running. And now we are seeing the model in Infraworks.

So you can see, again, a good gain in presentation capacity. And then we're going to show you this presentation being made in twinmotion. So the gain is even better. So that was a very good thing to sell the project to show clients that.

OK. Thank you. I just want to say thanks also to all the TPF team and the directors, and also OECI team. Say thanks to Autodesk. And also to our client, the Infrastructure Secretariat in Alagoas, and thank you all. Yes, that's the last slide. Thank you.