Combined NDT data for road management through BIM models

One of the main priorities for road administrations and stakeholders is the management and monitoring of critical infrastructures, especially transportation infrastructures. In this context, Building Information Modeling (BIM) can be one of the more effective methodologies to be used to optimize the management process. In Italy, several laws and regulations have been issued, making the use of BIM procedures mandatory for the design of new infrastructures and emphasizing its role in the management of existing civil works [1, 2]. Monitoring operations of transportation infrastructures are generally conducted by on-site surveys. Non-Destructive Testing methods (i.e., GPR, LiDAR, Laser Profilometer, InSAR, etc.) have been used to perform these inspections as their outputs have been proven to be effective in determining the conditions of the infrastructure and its assets [3]. Moreover, BIM methodology could prove a valuable tool to manage the data provided by these surveys, as it consists in the creation of digital models capable of containing information related to the object that they are representing. These models can be used to store over time the different information obtained by the NDT surveys to carry out integrated analysis on the conditions of the infrastructure [4]. This study aims to analyze a potential BIM process capable of integrating different NDT surveys’ outputs, to generate an informative digital model of an infrastructure and its assets. The proposed methodology is then able to merge the data provided by the inspections, which is typically obtained by different operators and comes in different file formats, in a single BIM model. The main goal of the research is to provide a process to optimize the management procedures of transportation infrastructures, by creating digital models capable of reducing the problems typically associated with the monitoring and maintenance of these critical civil works. By merging different information in a single environment and relying on survey data that are commonly analyzed separately, an integrated analysis of the infrastructure can be carried out and data loss can be reduced. The study was developed by relying on real data, obtained from on-site surveys carried out over Italian infrastructures. As different outputs have been collected, BIM models of different assets of the analyzed infrastructures were defined. Preliminary results have shown that the proposed methodology can be a viable tool for optimizing the management process of these critical civil works.