A BIM-Based Approach to Automated Prefabricated Building Construction Site Layout Planning

Construction site layout planning (CSLP) is a typical problem in construction site management that urgently needs to be solved. A reasonable construction site layout can improve efficiency and reduce costs and unnecessary loss of time. To solve the CSLP problem, some emerging optimization algorithms and enhanced mathematical models have been developed. The building information model (BIM) provides data support for the implementation of previous research. However, manually extracting and modifying parameters from the BIM for use in optimization algorithms is cumbersome in practical applications, wasting considerable time and human resources. In this paper, we propose a framework of automated prefabricated building CSLP to realize the integration of the BIM and an optimization algorithm, which utilizes the Dynamo visual programming platform to create an information channel between the BIM and the optimization algorithm. A typical and practical case, which is optimized by the genetic algorithm (GA) and particle swarm optimization (PSO), is demonstrated to validate the proposed approach and to show an effective reduction in material transportation cost and unnecessary loss of time.