Parametrization and BrIM in large infrastructure projects – project study from RV3/25 Norway

RV 3/25 is a large infrastructure project consisting of a new 25 km highway in Hedmark County in Norway. The project is organized as a PPP-project and includes 20 concrete bridges and 8 timber glulam arch bridges.

In the project the use of BIM-models and parameterization has been significant and has evolved greatly throughout the project. The work ranged from macro BIM with large coordination models with all disciplines included, to micro BIM-models for bridges including all details needed for construction. For 5 concrete bridges, the BIM-model was the only product delivered to the contractor without producing design or construction drawings.

For the 8 glulam arch bridges in timber, parameterization was employed for establishing both the BIM-models and the analysis models. This was vital to achieving the goal of following the strict design schedule with a small design team. It also proved very valuable in the shaping phase of the bridges. Between 80% and 90% of the objects in the finalized BIM-models were included in the parameterization. The product delivered to the contractor was design drawings, most of which were generated directly from the BIM-model, thus benefiting from its advantages.

The use of BIM has proved to be cost and time-efficient during design. This paper presents the challenges and benefits of using parameterization and BIM in a large infrastructure project with focus on bridge design.