Keywords

1 Introduction

As a new construction method, prefabricated building has been widely concerned and applied in the construction industry in recent years [1, 2]. However, with the continuous promotion and development of prefabricated buildings, the whole process management and coordination are faced with many challenges [3].

In the past research, many scholars have carried out in-depth research on the development of prefabricated buildings and obtained some important conclusions. For example, Wen Y’s research shows that based on BIM5D intelligent construction of prefabricated buildings and personnel training research, prefabricated buildings have significant advantages in reducing construction cycle, improving construction quality and reducing costs [4]. Through research on BIM technology integration in prefabricated buildings, Wang Y found that prefabricated buildings can effectively reduce the carbon emissions of construction sites, which has positive significance for environmental protection [5]. Li Z studied the obstacles to the development of prefabricated buildings in China, and found that prefabricated buildings have obvious advantages [6]. However, although the research of these scholars has achieved some results, the current research still has some shortcomings.

This paper would analyze the relationship between prefabricated buildings and BIM.The paper put forward corresponding solutions and suggestions to promote the sustainable development of prefabricated buildings.

2 Prefabricated Building Overview

2.1 Definition of Prefabricated Buildings

Prefabricated building, also known as prefabricated building or modular building, is an emerging construction method [7, 8]. The prefabricated building adopts advanced design and manufacturing technology, industrializes the building process, and realizes the whole process management and collaboration of the building life cycle [9].

The core idea of prefabricated construction is to break down the construction process into modular parts, each of which is precisely manufactured in a factory and then quickly assembled on site [10, 11]. By studying the whole process management and collaboration of prefabricated buildings, they explored how to optimize the design, manufacturing, transportation, assembly and other links in order to improve the efficiency and feasibility of prefabricated buildings [12, 13].

2.2 Characteristics of Prefabricated Buildings

Prefabricated buildings adopt factory production mode, after the components or modules of prefabricated buildings are manufactured in the factory, they can be quickly transported to the site for assembly [14]. Prefabricated buildings can be flexibly designed and customized according to different needs. By adjusting and combining different components or modules, the architectural with various functions and styles can be realized [15, 16]. Prefabricated buildings adopt prefabricated components or modules, which can realize the efficient utilization of building materials and resource saving of [17]. Since prefabricated buildings are manufactured in factories, construction quality and construction safety can be better controlled [18]. The production environment in the factory is more stable, which can avoid being affected by the weather and other factors. [19, 20].

3 Application of BIM in the Construction Industry

3.1 Definition and Principle of BIM

The principle of BIM is to model all aspects of the construction project, including geometry, materials, construction, time schedule, cost budget, etc., in a digital form, and to store and manage this information in the model. With BIM, virtual design and construction simulation can be performed to reduce design errors and conflicts and optimize the performance of buildings.

3.2 Application Fields of BIM in the Construction Industry

BIM has a wide range of application fields in the construction industry, and several aspects of the application fields are shown in Table 1.

Table 1. Application fields of BIM in the construction industry
Full size table

3.3 Combination and Application of Prefabricated Building and BIM

The combination of prefabricated construction and BIM technology can bring many advantages and improvements. Through BIM technology, designers can design and optimize building models in a virtual environment, thereby reducing design errors and conflicts. The combination of prefabricated construction and BIM can achieve synergies in design, construction and management, improving the efficiency and quality of projects. This combination can reduce errors and conflicts, provide accurate and comprehensive information, and reduce costs and risks.

3.4 Engineering Research and Analysis

In this paper, we use BIM technology and genetic algorithm to optimize the design of prefabricated buildings to improve their performance and efficiency. Using the BIM model and construction simulation software, the construction process of prefabricated buildings is simulated and analyzed to optimize the construction sequence, resource allocation and schedule planning. The formula of the genetic algorithm is as follows:

$$ F{\text{itness}} = {\text{f}}(x) $$
(1)

where x represents the chromosome of the individual, and f (x) represents the fitness assessment function as defined by the question.

$$ P(i) = \frac{Fitness(i)}{{\sum_{i = 1}^n {Fitness(j)} }} $$
(2)

where P (i) represents the probability that individual i is selected, Σ (Fitness (j)) represents the sum of the fitness values of all individuals, and n represents the population size.

4 Data Collection and Prefabricated Buildings

This paper will collect from the BIM model and project management software and BIM prefabricated building construction time, cost, error quantity data. Through descriptive statistical analysis, the evaluation value includes the average and standard deviation, so as to determine the advantages and disadvantages between the two. The traditional data were collected in Fig. 1, and the BIM-based data are shown in Fig. 2.

Fig. 1.
figure 1

Traditional prefabricated building data

Full size image
Fig. 2.
figure 2

BIM-based prefabricated building data

Full size image

As from the data from Figs. 1 and 2, it is clear that BIM based prefabricated buildings have significantly less construction time, cost and errors in terms of construction time and cost than traditional prefabricated buildings. BIM technology provides more accurate and comprehensive building information, including component dimensions, location and installation sequence. BIM models can help design and construction teams work better together to reduce errors and conflicts. During the design phase, BIM can detect and resolve design errors and conflicts, avoiding construction problems caused by design inconsistencies in traditional methods.

In order to comprehensively evaluate the advantages and disadvantages of traditional prefabricated buildings and BIM based prefabricated buildings in the construction process, this paper not only makes statistics on time and cost, but also collects data on user satisfaction.

Fig. 3.
figure 3

User satisfaction survey data

Full size image

The application of BIM in prefabricated buildings can improve user satisfaction. According to the data in Fig. 3, except for the tenth group of data, the BIM application methods of other groups have improved user satisfaction compared with traditional methods. This shows that the application of BIM in prefabricated buildings can provide users with a better experience and satisfaction.

5 Conclusions

When BIM technology is combined with prefabricated building management and collaboration, more efficient and precise design, construction and maintenance processes can be achieved. BIM based prefabricated buildings not only have obvious advantages in terms of construction time and cost, but also can improve user satisfaction. The application of BIM in the management and collaboration of prefabricated buildings has brought great advantages to the industry, driving the development and innovation of prefabricated buildings.