Multi crane lift simulation using Building Information Modeling

Developing heavy-lift studies is a vital task in heavy congested industrial projects such as modular projects where it is necessary to lift modules with mobile cranes. However, preparing these lift studies can be time-consuming. Hence, automating this process is a great step in saving time, and reducing the percentage of errors, having the practitioner focus on lift planning rather than tedious tasks. A significant step in the pre-construction and construction phase of an industrial project is creating the 4D animation of lift processes. Such an animation develops a better understanding of the process and streamlines finding the best path for the mobile crane movements to avoid collisions. Such a 4D lift animation (i.e., simulation) can be a mandate when the lifting process is performed in a congested construction site involving more than one crane. This research study aims to propose a comprehensive framework for creating the 4D animation of a multi mobile crane lift process. The proposed approach can connect to a comprehensive model, in Building Information Modeling (BIM) terminologies, or can auto-generate the simplified CAD model containing the lifting objects (i.e., modules in modular construction) and obstructions by interacting with a central database. It can also auto-generate the 3D model of cranes in the set and pick positions. Then, the lift animation can be developed quickly in an automated manner by employing a customized Application Programming Interface (API). The developed API generates the lift animation of the cranes based on the defined timeline and lifting path by reading the required data (e.g., site information, modules information, cranes information, object models, and lift sequences) from the database. The proposed framework is validated by applying in a portion of a real modular industrial project in Alberta, Canada. The results show that the developed system has enough flexibility to simulate multi-mobile crane movements with various types of mobile cranes, multiple kinds of movements, and various site conditions.