Construction Research Congress 2018 759

Development of a BIM-Based Framework to Support the Analysis of “Design-

for-Disassembly” Strategies

Justin K. W. Yeoh1; Sum Leng Lee2; and K. C. G. Ong3

1
Dept. of Civil and Environmental Engineering, National Univ. of Singapore, 1
Engineering Dr. 2, E1A-07-03, Singapore 117576. E-mail: justinyeoh@nus.edu.sg
2
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Dept. of Civil and Environmental Engineering, National Univ. of Singapore, 1

Engineering Dr. 2, E1A-07-03, Singapore 117576. E-mail: leesumleng@u.nus.edu
3
Dept. of Civil and Environmental Engineering, National Univ. of Singapore, 1
Engineering Dr. 2, E1A-07-03, Singapore 117576. E-mail: ceeongkc@nus.edu.sg

Abstract

Increased construction material demand has forced Singapore’s construction

industry to turn towards DfD (design-for-disassembly) solutions. The current barriers
to DfD adoption include a lack of information to ascertain the remaining structural
integrity of reused DfD components. The implication is that regulatory requirements
become difficult to meet. This paper addresses these challenges by leveraging on
BIM (building information model) as a central data repository of component
information. The contributions of the paper include identifying additional attributes to
support DfD, as well as proposing a rule-based compatibility analysis. This will allow
potential matches of DfD components between the current building and the future
reuse to be automatically identified. A public housing project is analyzed using the
proposed framework, and it is concluded that the optimal DfD strategy would be to
overdesign the structural capacities by 1.25 times of a quarter (25%) of the largest
columns.

INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND REVIEW

Singapore is a land-scare city-state of about 700km2, supporting a population

of about 5.4 million people. To ensure a high standard of living, Singapore is
characterized by a rapid rate of urban development and construction. Having almost
no natural resources, construction materials have to be imported to sustain this urban
development. Moreover, this continued cycle of development and construction has
created resource depletion problems, as well as environmental sustainability issues
(Kein et al. 1999). This has led to a scenario where the only viable path forward for
the industry is to adopt sustainable construction techniques.

Against this backdrop, ‘Design-for-Disassembly’ (DfD) has emerged as one

such sustainable design strategy to alleviate this resource depletion problem, by
ensuring that construction components are designed to be reused. Also called
‘Design-for-Deconstruction’, DfD refers to the deliberate consideration of the end-of-
life disassembly, recovery and reuse of construction materials and components
(Crowther 2005). One critical success factor for DfD is the suitability of the building

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material (Akinade et al. 2017). Traditionally, steel is an ideal candidate due to its
inherent properties. Research has shown that a 94% recovery of steel has been
achieved in the UK (Burgan and Sansom 2006).
Despite the advantages of steel, precast concrete is widely adopted in
Singapore in particular due to its maintainability and low cost, leading to strong
demand from the public housing sector (Lim et al. 2002). Hence, incorporating DfD
capabilities into prefabricated concrete construction methods has been a research
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priority in Singapore. In response, Ong et al. (2013) developed a demountable beam-

column connection with moment-resisting capacity, as shown in Figure 1.

Figure 1. Example of Column-Beam DfD joint

By reusing a prefabricated concrete column or beam according to its

designated function, developers of a construction project would not need to consume
new primary resources to produce the column. It also reduces the carbon emissions
resulting from the transportation of the demolished debris to recycling plants,
incineration of materials and soil pollution due to the burial of debris. While
promising, the practice of reusing construction materials is still in its preliminary
stages, where research is ongoing in attempts to answer the difficult questions that
impede the materialization of works (Lin et al. 2013). One of which is the structural
integrity of components when the components are disassembled and transported. The
lack of a good understanding of the structural changes that have taken place prior to
disassembly of the structural component is one of the major causes of difficulty in
meeting regulatory requirements. Further, the time taken and extra cost to verify the
structural integrity of the components is another barrier to adoption (Ong et al. 2012).
For components to be reused at the end of their life cycle, these components must be
designed according to certain criteria.
To address the aforementioned barriers, one of the technical challenges is to
overcome the lack of information. It is hypothesized that keeping additional
component information like maintenance and inspection data will help to ascertain
the remaining structural capacity and integrity of the DfD component. Akbarnezhad
et al. (2014) proposed a BIM-based approach to compare different DfD strategies. In
their approach, they propose additional general attributes of: 1) Recyclability, 2)
Reusability, 3) Structural, 4) Handling, Installation and Disassembly, 5) Geographic,

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as well as 6) Condition-Related. Building Information Models (BIMs) are utilized as

data repositories of the building geometry, topological relationships, geographic
information, quantities and material properties of the building components. These
additional attributes are entered in BIM to store extra information that enable the
determination of recyclability and reusability of the DfD component.
Unfortunately, the abovementioned determination of reusability utilized in
their approach is a manual process. This makes the process of analyzing DfD
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buildings impractical for large projects. A typical public housing project can contain
thousands of components, and each component can subsequently have multiple
possibilities of reuse in future scenarios, giving rise to a combinatorial problem.
Hence, the objective of this paper is to develop a BIM-based framework to support
the analysis of DfD strategies. This entails the development of a rule-based
compatibility analysis for DfD components. The rule-based compatibility analysis is
developed on top of the BIM platform, and is a necessary step to enable more cost
effective DfD strategies to be analyzed.
This paper introduces the rule-based compatibility analysis framework and
validates this through a case study. Preliminary insights from the case study indicate
that in situations where not all DfD components are reused, increasing the flexibility
of DfD components can lead to higher rate of utilization of the components in a future
reuse scenario, simultaneously achieving greater cost savings.

PROPOSED RULE-BASED COMPATIBILITY ANALYSIS FRAMEWORK

Supply BIM vs Demand BIM

To enable the analysis of DfD, two BIMs are generated: a ‘Supply’ BIM that
contains information relating to the existing DfD components in the lifecycle, and a
‘Demand’ BIM that contains the component reuse information during the second
lifecycle. Both BIMs contain the same custom-built attributes, but the usage of the
attributes differ. From a functional requirements perspective, the Demand BIM is the
required behavior of the system, while the Supply BIM serves as a potential means of
achieving the required behavior.

Custom-built DfD attributes

Unlike 2D drawings which use combinations of lines to represent components
in a building (e.g. column, beam etc.), BIM stores three-dimensional object-oriented
data where each element of the building is represented as a generic or product
specific object with their own geometry, relations and attributes. Many attributes such
as finishing, material and strength class have been predefined, most of which relate to
the conventional components for construction. However to support DfD, additional
attributes unique to disassembly need to be identified and stored.

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Figure 2. Examplee of Concrette Column w

with custom
m Dfd attribu
utes

To achieve this, th he Structuraal attribute identified bby Akbarneezhad et al.

(20
014) is expan nded in greaater detail. Figure 2 show ws some of these attribuutes defined
in Tekla Structures (a BIM M software)) for a preccast concretee column exxample. As
notted in the prrevious sectiion, these saame attributees serve a duual purpose,, depending
on whether theey are a speccification off the requireed behavior (Demand B BIM), or the
pro
ovider of the behavior (SSupply BIM)). In general,, these attribbutes can be generalized
for prefabricateed concrete components
c (see Table 11).

Table 1. DfD attributes for conc rete componeents

Attributte Name Descriptioon

Main
M Reinforrcement Type Informmation pertaiining to reinnforcement aand stirrup
detailss within the component, including stteel grade
aand bar diam
meters
Componen nt Material Concrete ggrade and coover thickness
Componen nt Design Comp ponent designn capacity (B Bending Mooment and
Capaacity Shear)
Top/Bottom
T Connectionn and bottom connections
Informaation pertainning to top an
Detail (for Columns) for thee column, inncluding rebaar diameterss and type
End
E Detail / Connection Informaation pertainning to DfD connectionss, including
plate thicckness and boolt diameterrs
Connectio
on Design Conn nection maxim mum bendinng moment aand shear
Capaacity design capacity

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Rule-based Compatibility Analysis

In order to reuse disassembled building components in another project, only
compatible components between the 'Demand' BIM and 'Supply' BIM are selected for
reuse. At the present stage of the research, compatibility check is done for
components of the same type (i.e. columns matched with columns, or beams matched
with beams, etc) although there is a possibility of reusing DfD components with
different functions. For instance, a beam that has adequate axial resistance and
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moment capacities may serve as a column while a column may be able to be reused
as a beam given the necessary structural capacities. However, such cases are not
considered.
The rule-based compatibility analysis is carried out as per Table 2. For every
component demanded, the compatibility criteria only selects the components in the
supply which satisfies the physical criteria of the demanded component in the
Geometry rule. From there, other structural rules involving connections, cover
thickness, axial resistance and moment capacities are taken into consideration
between the Supply and Demand.

Table 2. Rule-based Compatibility Analysis for DfD Components

Rule Rule Description

Geometry (mm) Length, Width and Height of component in 'Demand'
must be fulfilled by 'Supply'
Connections Available Connections in 'Demand' must be available in 'Supply'
Thickness of concrete Concrete cover thickness in 'Demand' must be less than
cover (mm) in 'Supply'
Max major-axis
Maximum design major-axis moment capacity of
moment capacity of
connection in 'Demand' must be less than in 'Supply'
connection (kNm)
Max minor-axis
Maximum design minor-axis moment capacity of
moment capacity of
connection in 'Demand' must be less than in 'Supply'
connection (kNm)
Maximum axial Maximum design axial resistance of column in 'Demand'
resistance (kN) must be less than in 'Supply'
Concrete grade Concrete grade required in 'Demand' must be less than
in 'Supply'

The results of the rule-based compatibility analysis is a binary matrix. The

columns of the binary matrix show the components of the Supply, while the rows
shows the components in Demand. A value of 1 indicates that the component in
Supply fulfils all the rules in the rule-based compatibility analysis, while a value of 0
indicates that it is incompatible with the Demand (Figure 3).

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Figure 3.. Output Bin

nary Matrix
x of Rule-baased Compaatibility Analysis

RELIMINAR
PR RY VALIAT
TION: CAS
SE STUDY OF PUBLIIC HOUSIN
NG
BU
UILDING

Validation of Rule-based
R Compatibillity Analysiss
To validate the rule-based com mpatibility aanalysis, an expert was engaged to
assess the accu uracy of sysstem. Using two small bbuilding proojects (one aas a Supply
BIM
M and anoth her as a Deemand BIM M), the experrt first studied the com
mponents to
determine whicch componen nts could bee reused. Thhe system waas then usedd to analyze
the two projectts, and a simmilar list of components
c was generaated. The twoo lists were
ntical, indicaating a 100%
iden % accuracy of o the system
m.

Application off the BIM-based Frameework on a Case Studyy of Public H Housing

Building
Two ty ypical publicc housing projects are used in thiss case studyy. The first
pro
oject is an example
e of a current puublic housinng building layout. This project is
dessignated the “Supply” (ssee Figure 4 top). The ssecond is a future buildding layout,
and
d designated d as the “DDemand” (seee Figure 4 bottom). For the purppose of this
anaalysis, only the
t concrete columns wiill be used. T The “Supplyy” contains 440 columns
of varying
v typees and sizes, while the “D
Demand” reqquires 38 collumns.

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Figu
ure 4. ‘Supp
ply BIM’ (T
Top) and ‘D
Demand BIM
M’ (Bottom))

A high h percentagee of compatibility betw ween the Suupply and Demand is

dessirable, as it would transslate to less fabrication ccosts of new
w elements tto fulfill the
req
quirements of o Demand d. One straategy to acchieve this higher perrcentage off
com
mpatibility iss to carry ou ut overdesiggn. Overdesiign means thhat Supply ccomponents
are initially deesigned to take greater loads. All the columnns are also ddesigned to
max ximize conn nectivity: alll columns are
a affixed w with joints iin all four oorientations.

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Thiis means thaat a column initially dessigned as ann internal coolumn can bbe used as a
corrner column, as the corneer column on nly requires connectionss in two orienntations.
A parammetric analyssis is conduccted where tthe '% of Dim mension Ovverdesign' is
incrreased fromm 100% to 200%, whiile the '% of Componnents' (referrring to the
pro
oportion of overdesigned
o d componen nts) is also increased frrom 0% to 100%. The
resuults of the parametric
p analysis are shown
s in Fiigure 5. It iss observed tthat without
oveerdesign, thee matching between
b 'Dem
mand' and 'SSupply' was iinitially 47.55%, and this
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incrreased to 77.5%
7 n 100% of columns inn the first bbuilding liffecycle was
when
oveerdesigned too 200% theirr original cappacities.

Figure 5. Graphs
G show
wing Percenntage of Dem
mand Matched and Vaariation
of To om 'Supply' to 'Demand
otal Cost fro d'

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Analysing the total cost under the same parametric analysis also provided
some insight into the cost variances. It was found that the two main contributions to
the total cost are the initial overdesign cost (cost incurred to increase the design
capacity of the component beyond its original design) and the fabrication cost of new
unmatched columns which varied with the percentage of demand matched
corresponding to different overdesign strategies. Where the percentage of matches
showed little increase with increasing overdesign, it was found that the increase in
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overdesign cost outweighed the cost savings due to need for less fabrication of new
columns. This resulted in a net increase of total cost. On the other hand, where the
percentage of matches showed a significant increase with increasing overdesign, it
was found that the cost savings due to less fabrication outweighed the increase in
overdesign cost, resulting in a net decrease in total cost. The variation in total cost
thus depended on the degree of similarity between the profiles of the columns in the
inventory and those that are demanded in the upcoming building.
Based on the above analysis, it was found that the minimum cost
corresponded to the combined strategy of overdesigning the structural capacities of a
quarter (25%) of the largest columns by 125%.

CONCLUSION AND FUTURE WORK

Increased construction material demand has forced Singapore's construction
industry to turn towards DfD solutions. Technical challenges notwithstanding,
adopting DfD solutions entails considerable additional costs, which can be justified
from a building lifecycle perspective. Major barriers to adoption include the lack of
information regarding the remaining structural integrity of the DfD component to be
reused. BIM recommends itself as a useful solution to overcome this barrier. This
paper thus leverages on a BIM-based framework which acts as a data repository for
additional DfD attributes, and computes the compatibility of DfD components
between its Supply and Demand.
The contributions of this paper include: the identification of the structural
attributes which drive the DfD analysis, as well as a rule-based compatibility analysis
to determine if a DfD component can be reused in the future.
A public housing case study was carried out to validate the proposed
framework. Based on the findings reported in this paper an optimal strategy would be
to overdesign the structural capacities by 1.25 times of a quarter (25%) of the total
number of columns, targeting the largest ones.
The results of this paper is expected to be of interest and value to structural
designers. One major assumption made in lifecycle analysis involving DfD is that all
the components are reused. This is not necessarily always true. The developed
compatibility analysis and BIM-based framework will form the tools to further
analyze such scenarios where DfD components are not always reused, and hence
determining the most cost effective strategies.

REFERENCES
Akbarnezhad, A., Ong, K. C. G., and Chandra, L. R. (2014). “Economic and
environmental assessment of deconstruction strategies using building
information modeling.” Automation in Construction, 37, 131–144.

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Akinade, O. O., Oyedele, L. O., Ajayi, S. O., Bilal, M., Alaka, H. A., Owolabi, H. A.,
Bello, S. A., Jaiyeoba, B. E., and Kadiri, K. O. (2017). “Design for
Deconstruction (DfD): Critical success factors for diverting end-of-life waste
from landfills.” Waste Management, Elsevier Ltd, 60, 3–13.
Burgan, B. A., and Sansom, M. R. (2006). “Sustainable steel construction.” Journal
of Constructional Steel Research, 62(11), 1178–1183.
Crowther, P. (2005). Design for disassembly - themes and principles. RAIA/BDP
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Environment Design Guide.

Kein, A. T. T., Ofori, G., and Briffett, C. (1999). “ISO 14000: its relevance to the
construction industry of Singapore and its potential as the next industry
milestone.” Construction Management and Economics, 17(4), 449–461.
Lim, J. Y., Wang, S. Q., and Tiong, R. (2002). “Precasting in Singapore’s Design &
Build Projects.” International Journal of Construction Management,
2(September 2014), 1–12.
Lin, Z. S., Ong, K. C. G., Chandra, L. R., Tan, B. H. A., Tam, C. T., and Pang, S.
(2013). “Finite Element Study of a DfD Beam-Column Connection.”
International Journal of Civil, Environmental, Structural, Construction and
Architectural Engineering, 7(3), 154–160.
Ong, K. C. G., Lin, Z., Chandra, L. R., Tam, C. T., and Pang, S. (2012). “Conceptual
Design and Numerical Analysis of a DfD Beam-Column Connection for
Application in Apartment Blocks.” 37th Conference on Our World in Concrete
& Structures, Singapore.
Ong, K. C. G., Lin, Z. S., Chandra, L. R., Tam, C. T., and Pang, S. D. (2013).
“Experimental investigation of a DfD moment-resisting beam-column
connection.” Engineering Structures, Elsevier Ltd, 56, 1676–1683.

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