DEVELOPMENT OF STRATEGIES FOR APPLICATION OF 4D MODELING IN CONSTRUCTION MANAGEMENT

In many construction projects, progress and efficiency are hampered by poor communication of discipline-specific models. For example, architects use 2D or 3D CAD models and builders use CPM diagrams, Gantt charts, and spreadsheets to show their view of the project. Nowadays, advanced computer visualization tools, 4D CAD or VR, can show these disparate models to understand cross-disciplinary impacts of design and construction decisions. In Korea, several leading companies have tried to apply these tools to their pilot projects from the design phase to the maintenance phase. These companies have expected that more project stakeholders could understand a construction schedule more quickly and completely with 4D visualization than with the traditional construction management tools. However, modeling of the 4D CAD or VR can be quite time-consuming and expensive to generate manually and has therefore limited the spread and use of these models. In order to adopt widely those models in construction industry, the areas that those tools could support to take large benefits in diverse functional areas of construction management need to be analyzed. In this study, researchers analyze the usefulness and limitations of the 4D models and VR in the construction industry, develop the strategy of application priority, and improve the 4D modeling method.