zdroj : geoinformační křižovatka

Cities Leverage Digital Twin Initiatives to Advance BIM and GIS Improving the Quality of Life for Their Constituents

21.10.2019 2:00 Bentley Systems

Local governments around the world are finding ways to work more collaboratively in innovative digital initiatives. They are gaining new insights by simulating real-world situations, optimizing systems and processes, and monitoring the performance and condition of assets. The results are improved public safety and smarter, more resilient city infrastructure. Among the cities going digital are Chengdu, China and Oporto, Portugal. These projects are represented as finalists in this year’s Year in Infrastructure Awards for their innovative use of digital context for digital twins and for their strategies in implementing digital workflows.

Chengdu, the capital of China’s Sichuan province, is undergoing a CNY 1.38 billion road reconstruction project in the Shanbanquio area of the city. The project includes constructing 4.3 kilometers of roads, as well as bridges, tunnels, an underground pedestrian passageway, and pipeline and auxiliary works. The design of the main road needed to accommodate cars traveling at 60 kilometers per hour while the auxiliary roads had to support speeds of 40 kilometers per hour.

The project team faced several design challenges, including space constraints between the elevated and lower portions of the roadway and the connectors. It also had to determine the horizontal distances between pile foundations, the extended overpass bridge, and the boundary conditions, and consider a power tunnel, two subway stations, and three sections of subway line 8. Moreover, the designs had to ensure smooth traffic flow on the connectors as well as the slower lanes that connect to commercial businesses along both sides of the roadway. Finally, the project team had to consider how it would design and construct a safe pedestrian passage system along the green space and parks that are next to the high traffic areas. Chengdu Urban Construction Investment Management Group Co., Ltd. required a high level of coordination at the design stage to avoid mistakes, omissions, and collisions.

To help with these challenges, the team used Bentley’s open modeling and simulation applications, all managed by ProjectWise, and created digital twins of all the project assets. OpenBridge Modeler was used to model bridge structures and develop a strategy to minimize the impact on local traffic, while OpenRoads was used to design 64 different roads. ProjectWise was chosen to store the road network information required for the traffic simulation, and helped the team to increase internal work efficiency by 20%, detect and resolve 16 collisions, and reduce construction drawing time by 120 hours. Using LumenRT for visualization shortened the approval process by 15%, saving additional time and cost.

“Intelligent transportation and the digital model are the foundation of a digital city. Digital twins provide a lightweight model, which expands the use of BIM applications beyond the project to the delivery of digital assets. Digital twins can be directly applied to the owner’s planning, construction, demolition, and other management,” said Yanxiang Wang, BIM engineer, Chengdu Urban Construction Investment Management Group Co., Ltd.

Águas do Porto (Oporto Water Utility - AdP) is responsible for the sustainable and integrated management of the entire urban water cycle in the coastal community of Oporto, Portugal. AdP delivers an average of 45,490 cubic meters of water daily and collects approximately the same amount for treatment. The density and complexity of the hydraulic infrastructure and water resources in Oporto drive the need for integrated management of the urban water cycle and complicate the integration requirements for the varied existing systems throughout the company.

To integrate information across multiple software systems, AdP decided to leverage digital twins in what they called the Integrated Water Management of the Urban Water Cycle – H2Porto. The overall solution integrated multiple systems, including OpenFlows FLOOD, OpenFlows WaterGEMS, OpenFlows SewerGEMS, and ACTION Server. The team produced fully integrated digital twins of the city water supply and the wastewater, stormwater, and beaches and bathing water systems. The digital twins were then used to forecast flooding and water quality issues, improve city services and responsiveness, and ensure resilience of water infrastructure.

Phase 1 of the project saw the creation of a federated environment from more than 20 sources to integrate data from customer service management, billing, maintenance, project management, asset accounting, operational systems, lab management, GIS, SCADA, and more. Instrumentation data integration, which was addressed in phase II, required integrating data from sensors, telemetry, and remote management, including 30,000 telemetry meters and more than 200 devices.

The digital twins provide digital representations of all water systems of the city and include three meteorological models: Combined sewer and storm models for the sea front; estuary, coastal area, and wave models; and forecasting models. The digital twins are leveraged to provide access to this information in real time, produce forecasts and to automatically update boundary conditions from water consumption and network sensors, run network scenario analysis for pipe bursts and valve and pump shut-downs, and to publish flows, velocity, water level, meteorology and currents. This digital twin environment has resulted in operating gains of 25% and has reduced water supply failures by around 30% and duration of pipe bursts repairs by 8%. The immediacy of sensor readings improved decision-making, and increased stability and reliability of data to close to 99%.

Phase III is underway and is focused on installing sensors and automating the decision-making tools and interfaces, autonomous systems and new liability models. Some of H2Porto’s priorities include sensor analysis, water supply model, burst simulation, meter operational management, and KPIs, as well as hydrodynamic model, faecal coliform prediction, and coastal hydrometeorology.

“H2Porto is an important catalyst for the digital transformation supporting changes in people, process, and technology and most importantly, helps us with operational mobility and the provision of information in real time on any device,” said Pedro Vieira, IT and innovation director, with Águas do Porto.

Bentley Systems’ New ProjectWise 365 and Comprehensive SYNCHRO Offerings Advance 4D Digital Twins for Project Delivery

21.10.2019 2:00 Bentley Systems

ARC Advisory Group names Bentley Systems’ ProjectWise #1 for Collaborative BIM

SINGAPORE – The Year in Infrastructure 2019 Conference – 21 October 2019 – Bentley Systems, Incorporated, the leading global provider of comprehensive software and digital twin cloud services for advancing the design, construction, and operations of infrastructure, today announced new capabilities for its industry-leading ProjectWise collaboration platform and comprehensive expansion of its SYNCHRO 4D construction environment. Together, these robust offerings extend the value of project digital twins across the entire project delivery ecosystem, improving design and constructability coordination workflows. New ProjectWise 365 cloud services, leveraging Microsoft 365 technology and office productivity tools, extend the reach, affordability, and accessibility of BIM and infrastructure design data for organizations of all sizes. In addition, with Bentley’s new SYNCHRO cloud services, contractors can 4D-visualize design data and construction models for project and field management, advanced work packaging, and Microsoft HoloLens 2 augmented reality solutions.

Noah Eckhouse, senior vice president, project delivery for Bentley Systems, said, “Project digital twins for infrastructure engineering and construction surge forward with these announcements, particularly with our new cloud services. Users of ProjectWise, the #1 BIM collaboration software in ARC’s new market study, have made Bentley one of the largest ISV users of Azure. We are expanding our instant-on, web-based ProjectWise 365 cloud services; making iTwin cloud services broadly available for both practitioner- and project-level design reviews; and comprehensively expanding the scope of SYNCHRO through cloud services. Infrastructure project delivery is fundamentally about time, as well as space. Bentley’s 4D project and construction digital twins are driving digital advancement for infrastructure engineering, today, worldwide!”

#1 in Software for Collaborative BIM: ProjectWise
ARC Advisory Group, the leading technology research and advisory firm for industry, infrastructure, and cities, has cited Bentley as the leading provider of Collaborative BIM Software in their recently published report, Engineering Design Tools for Plants, Infrastructure, and BIM 2018-2023.

“Bentley has a strong relationship with Microsoft and applies the chief technologies that bring together engineering and office information for improved project delivery. This has borne fruit in the EDT/BIM market as evidenced by their leading position in the BIM Collaborative software category,” said Ralph Rio, vice president, Enterprise Software, ARC Advisory Group.

In Engineering News Record’s 2019 Top Design Firms report, 43 among the top 50 firms rely upon Bentley’s ProjectWise for work sharing and design integration, and more than half of the top 640 firms are ProjectWise users.

New ProjectWise 365 Cloud Services
Purpose-built for design teams, ProjectWise 365 is an innovative, 100 percent SaaS-based offering enabling teams involved in design and engineering, from practitioner and design leads to stakeholders, to readily store and find designs, accelerate content sharing and collaborative workflows, and manage feedback, for maximum team productivity. The new ProjectWise 365 cloud services will be generally available by the end of 2019.

iTwin Design Review (for practitioners) enables ProjectWise 365 users to initiate ad hoc design reviews in a 2D/3D environment. It provides workflows to markup and comment directly on elements of 3D models and to immersively link between 2D and 3D views.

iTwin Design Review (for projects) enables project teams using ProjectWise Design Integration services to capture engineering changes throughout the lifecycle of project digital twins, providing a record of who-changed-what-and-when. Multi-discipline design reviews can be conducted continuously and comprehensively, for design coordination through “4D” visualization.

New SYNCHRO Cloud Services for Construction
In 2019, Microsoft named Bentley as a finalist in the Mixed Reality category of its Partner of the Year awards for Bentley’s SYNCHRO/HoloLens 2 solution for 4D visualization of project digital twins. New SYNCHRO cloud services comprehensively extend SYNCHRO’s market-leading 4D construction modeling to span construction project management and execution, and to assimilate ConstructSim advanced work packaging. The new SYNCHRO cloud services, released in September 2019, are further advancing innovation in construction. Learn more about SYNCHRO.

SYNCHRO Field offers task, plan, model, and map views to accelerate field data capture for timely progress updates and issue identification.

SYNCHRO Control provides a single web interface for construction teams to capture, manage, access, and collaborate on design and construction data. It enables easier and faster design document access from ProjectWise 365, and complete submittal and RFI management and issues resolution capabilities.

Completions accelerates and validates project system readiness through collaborative workflows expediting closeout items for construction and commissioning teams.

Digital Co-ventures for Project Delivery
(With Siemens) Teamcenter for Capital Asset Lifecycle Management (CALM), available exclusively from Siemens, works within Siemens’ Teamcenter across the enterprise to advance and improve capital program decision making. Using Bentley’s services, it enables users to extend project advancement to the enterprise level.

(With Topcon Positioning Group) Digital Construction Works is a joint-venture “digital integration” company newly launched by Bentley Systems and Topcon Positioning Group. Digital Construction Works provides, for constructor enterprises and supply chains, digital automation, integration, and “twinning” services around a portfolio of fit-for-purpose software and cloud services from Topcon, Bentley, and other software vendors, to realize the breakthrough potential of constructioneering, for industrializing construction.

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About Bentley’s Project Delivery Offerings
Bentley Systems undertakes to provide uniquely comprehensive collaboration and constructioneering software, and cloud services, for infrastructure project delivery. ProjectWise 365 cloud services take fullest advantage of Microsoft’s Azure and native web environments. For project digital twins, Bentley’s iTwin Design Review services range from ad hoc 2D/3D discipline-specific workflows through comprehensive and continuous 4D design reviews spanning the full scope of projects utilizing ProjectWise Design Integration. For 4D construction digital twins, Bentley’s SYNCHRO portfolio leverages iTwin services to integrate reality modeling with 4D construction modeling, ConstructSim advanced work packaging, ComplyPro, ProcureWare, and Control and Field cloud services.

Bentley is ranked by ARC Advisory Group as the leading provider of collaborative BIM software. Bentley’s ProjectWise services are the “workhorse for worksharing” for the majority of the ENR Top Design Firms, including 43 of the Top 50. In 2019, Microsoft named Bentley a finalist in the Mixed Reality category of its Partner of the Year program for SYNCHRO’s Microsoft HoloLens 2 use cases.

About Bentley Systems
Bentley Systems is the leading global provider of software solutions to engineers, architects, geospatial professionals, constructors, and owner-operators for the design, construction, and operations of infrastructure, including public works, utilities, industrial plants, and digital cities. Bentley’s MicroStation-based open modeling applications, and its open simulation applications, accelerate design integration; its ProjectWise and SYNCHRO offerings accelerate project delivery; and its AssetWise offerings accelerate asset and network performance. Spanning infrastructure engineering, Bentley’s iTwin Services are fundamentally advancing BIM and GIS to 4D digital twins.

Bentley Systems employs more than 3,500 colleagues, generates annual revenues of $700 million in 170 countries, and has invested more than $1 billion in research, development, and acquisitions since 2014. From inception in 1984, the company has remained majority-owned by its five founding Bentley brothers. www.bentley.com

Bentley, the Bentley logo, AssetWise, ComplyPro, ConstructSim, iTwin, iTwin Services, MicroStation, ProcureWare, ProjectWise, ProjectWise 365, and SYNCHRO are either registered or unregistered trademarks or service marks of Bentley Systems, Incorporated or one of its direct or indirect wholly owned subsidiaries. All other brands and product names are trademarks of their respective owners.

BIM Advancements and Digital Twins Optimize Design and Construction of China’s Meitan-Shiqian Expressway

21.10.2019 2:00 Bentley Systems Meitan-Shiqian Expressway is a key project in the 13th Five-Year Plan for Transportation Development in China’s Guizhou province. It is the first expressway in China that applies BIM methodologies for construction and management at scale across all disciplines. Located in a very mountainous area, the expressway is 113 kilometres long with the sections for bridges, elevated highways, and tunnels comprising 54.92% of its total length.

The project challenges included complex topography and geology, numerous structures, a long implementation period, many interference factors, and a difficult-to-maintain project schedule. The Chongqing Traffic Planning, Survey and Design Institute leveraged digital twins to improve the quality of expressway design and construction and to implement the concept of full lifecycle management. With a total investment of CNY 17.88 billion, the line is expected to be completed and opened to traffic in 2021.

To prepare for design, unmanned aerial vehicles were flown to survey the existing site and ContextCapture was used to create a 3D reality model. Having this reality context helped the team accelerate and optimize the design, created with Bentley’s open modelling and simulation applications, shortening the construction period by 89 days.

Using OpenRoads to build a multidiscipline BIM model helped the team identify more than 100 collisions prior to construction. LumenRT helped the team develop an immersive, virtual experience for builders to understand design intent. Lightweight iModel files were exported into OpenRoads Navigator to facilitate review of designs. In all, the contributing disciplines accumulated 61 gigabytes of digital asset data, creating digital twins to support future operations and maintenance.

The use of multidiscipline modeling leveraging digital twins transformed the traditional construction lifecycle on this project. The project team identified issues in the design stage that would not have been found and solved until the construction stage using previous methods. Identifying problems at the design stage cut the design effort and time in half, improved construction quality, and reduced construction costs. The BIM models collected during the project provide the foundation for maintenance and for modeling and predicting future asset performance. The application of BIM methodologies will improve the quality and safety of project construction and accelerate a fully digital strategy for the entire asset lifecycle, including planning, design, construction, operations, and maintenance.

Digital Construction Works Simplifies Digital Transformation and Improves Operational Efficiencies for the Construction Industry

21.10.2019 2:00 Bentley Systems

Provides End-to-end Digital Automation of Workflows and Processes, Technology Integration, and Digital Twinning Services for the estimated $10 Trillion Global Construction Industry

SINGAPORE - The Year in Infrastructure Conference, October 21, 2019 - Digital Construction Works (DCW), a new digital automation, integration, and digital twinning services and fit-for-purpose solutions company formed by Bentley Systems and Topcon Positioning Group, will help revolutionize the construction industry by simplifying digital transformation. DCW solutions span every phase of the project – from planning to construction and operations through to asset management – creating a digital thread that connects technologies and workflows.

Contributing 13 percent of global GDP and an estimated $12.9 trillion market by 2022, construction is the largest industry in the world and is positioned to benefit from significant value through productivity improvements. The World Economic Forum estimates within ten years, full-scale digitization could lead to savings between USD 700 billion to 1.2 trillion (13% to 21%) in design, engineering, and construction efforts. Construction organizations need capabilities to analyze historical data, forecast what might happen in the future to avoid operational issues before they occur, reduce waste and downtime, improve safety, and reduce risk and liability. Logistics and on-site materials can be managed using digital tools to reduce waste and optimize for just-in-time delivery, increasing productivity on the construction site.

DCW end-to-end services automate and optimize construction operations through the digital transformation of the asset lowering full-lifecycle asset costs. Through digital twins, you can visualize the asset, check status, perform analysis, and generate insights to predict and optimize asset performance. Fast and continuous site surveying using modern technology shortens the digital twinning cycles between the physical and digital twin, achieved in combination with automated analytics. This process is applicable for linear infrastructure, but also vertical construction or the extensive off-site modular construction.

"We see the benefits of working with organizations such as DCW, whose position in the market as the only end-to-end construction solutions service provider brings us confidence in how our core business targets will be kept a priority throughout the entire project," said Harry Parnell, head of digital project delivery for Balfour Beatty. "Their ability to be agnostic to technology is also important. We know that a combination of technology and process improvement will provide us with the best digital solution and make sure that technology follows the operational process change efforts, but never leads it. The use of technology in silos throughout our organization will never bring real operational, or industry change, but the use of technology with digital twin workflows and key operations processes in a focused and strategic effort will enable Balfour Beatty to reduce the gap between the office and the site continually."

Brief Video Interview with Harry Parnell
Extended Video Interview with Harry Parnell

"Balfour Beatty's vision of 25% less on-site work on projects by 2025 can only be achieved through the successful implementation of digital twin workflows and key operational processes and the use of technology. Implementing full digital construction solutions into our business, such as those provided by DCW, will enable us to achieve our project outcomes and business goals, including 'Zero Waste' and ensure that Balfour Beatty projects can continually improve by learning from our successes", said Harry Parnell, head of digital project delivery for Balfour Beatty.

Owners don't need to do it on their own. DCW can do it for them. DCW will help them to automate and connect disparate tools, including fit-for-purpose software and cloud services from Bentley and Topcon or, if needed, by other third parties. DCW can provide next best practices and enable project teams to gain visibility and insights through data and analytics to improve construction planning, execution, reduce project costs, increase safety and reduce liability, and improve capital project delivery.

Through its Partnering and Community, DCW has a global network of service providers who engage in projects with our customers to deliver digital transformation outcomes. The network includes technology partners such as Bentley Systems and Topcon Positioning Group and other third-party technology providers. Educational resource providers, including schools, unions, and trades, will be partnered-with to help fill the construction skills gap.

The Labs at DCW drive increased transparency and efficiency in construction operations. The Labs turn big ideas into solutions and serves as the construction industries R&D engine, where we prove repeatable workflows and technology integrations affecting interoperability, reporting, analytics, and digital twin delivery. DCW' Labs use analytical solutions to extract meaning from enormous volumes of data to help organizations improve their data-driven decision making. Such solutions help support the integration of project data across disciplines and teams, at every step of the construction process, for better collaboration to identify conflicts and risks. It helps to transform the industry from its legacy document-centric paradigm to a complete digital space-time operating system. Project teams receive verification in near real-time for on-time, predictable, and on-budget project delivery.

Ted Lamboo, CEO of DCW, said: "The construction industry sees that digitizing their workflows will increase efficiency and avoid risk and overruns. Leveraging Digital Twins will accelerate this process, and DCW can support the marketplace to make this transition. Our broad spread of digital solutions and services will support our users in this process."

"We believe that open collaboration and a commitment to improving the industry are the primary requirements for step-function advancement in digital construction, said Jason Hallett, COO of DCW. No single tool company can, or should, own the entire construction process as that journey only leads to a lack of innovation. DCW is starting with the backing of two large product companies, and we will welcome technology partnerships and service providers that can contribute to delivering a complete portfolio of digital solutions that are capable of moving the industry toward a more efficient and automated future."

DCW brings together both a combination of Bentley and Topcon colleagues, including Domain Experts from the construction industry.

Meet the DCW Leadership Team:
DCW is led by CEO, Ted Lamboo, who most recently served as a senior vice president of strategic partnerships and held previous positions including senior vice president of reality modeling and business development, , senior vice president of international operations, president of Bentley Asia/Pacific, and vice president of sales for Bentley Europe, Middle East, and Africa. Before joining Bentley in 1994, Ted served for 12 years at Intergraph Europe.

Jason Hallett, formerly a vice president at Topcon responsible for global software business development and digital construction initiatives, serves as chief operations officer of DCW. Jason's responsibilities span global operations, including the Labs (Digital Twin Lab and Solutions Integration Lab), project delivery, partnering, and third-party resource management. His career spans 31 years in the surveying and construction industries.

Tom Dengenis, former chief executive for SYNCHRO, a 4D construction technology provider that Bentley Systems acquired in 2018, will serve as Principle Research Officer for the new company. With 40 years of experience in construction, both on the site and in the office, and construction consulting working for one of the big-4 professional services and accounting firms, Dengenis is committed to improving the construction industry through software platform development and systems implementation.

Susan Brandt serves as vice president of business development, where she has global responsibility for business strategy, growth, and user success within Digital Construction Works. Over a solid 30-year career, Susan has built a reputation as a trusted advisor to some of the largest and most respected owner-operators, engineers, and constructors in the world. She began her career in the OG&C industry as an early adopter of 2D and 3D CAD (BIM). Before joining Digital Construction Works, Susan served as Bentley's vice president of global accounts, achieving consistent top growth results for the company. In her 23-year tenure at Bentley, she has held several leadership roles in sales, product management, and business development and was a key contributor in scaling ProjectWise, one of Bentley's flagship products, from a first-mover advantage in 1998 to a sustainable #1 market share in top ENR firms. No matter the position, Susan has and will remain the voice of the user, always taking an 'outside-in' approach partnering with users on their outcomes. We are delighted that Susan will be on the Senior Leadership Team, as the voice and advocate for our users during this time of required change in the industry.

Beth Emmert serves as senior director of marketing joining the DCW leadership team most recently from Bentley Systems, where she held positions including that of strategic partnerships marketing director and head of Americas marketing. Beth is an industry award-winning marketing professional whose marketing career spans over 30 years, having started in marketing and communications for a global environmental engineering, design, construction, and consulting firm. Beth's background also includes 15 years in biotech and healthcare software technology and services. She’s held positions including product management, product and industry marketing, strategic marketing, communications, and global marketing responsibility for publicly traded and private start-ups. Her experience also includes M&A's and corporate restructuring.

DCW operates independently with a board of directors comprising members from both organizations. Bentley and Topcon will continue to co-develop AEC products for use across many industries. DCW serves as the Strategic Partner for both Topcon and Bentley for servicing the digital transformation in the construction industry.

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About Digital Construction Works
Digital Construction Works: Company Launch Video

Founded in 2019, Digital Construction Works (DCW) provides digital automation, integration, and “twinning” services, around fit-for-purpose software and cloud services from Topcon Positioning Group, Bentley Systems, and other software vendors, to realize the breakthrough potential of constructioneering for industrializing construction. DCW is transforming the construction industry from its legacy document-centric paradigm and simplifying and enabling digital automated workflows and processes, technology integration, and digital twinning services for infrastructure. company. DCW is a Bentley Systems and Topcon Positioning Group joint venture www.digitalconstructionworks.com

BIM Projects in China Using Bentley’s Open Applications Are Setting a Higher Bar in Manufacturing and Power Generation

21.10.2019 2:00 Bentley Systems

Four projects nominated as finalists and a fifth nomination in the Advancements in Manufacturing and Power Generation categories in the Year in Infrastructure 2019 Awards are setting new standards for efficiency and environmental sustainability in China. All five are massive projects and all are being completed in record time. What do they have in common? They are all using Bentley’s open modeling applications to advance their multidiscipline BIM authoring practices. The extraordinary projects include a blast furnace, a strip casting and rolling plant, an ultra-high-pressure primary reheat turbine generator, a nuclear power plant, and a CO2 emissions reduction plant.

A finalist in the Advancements in Manufacturing category, CISDI Engineering is building the world’s largest blast furnace for Tata Steel as part of the Belt and Road development between India and China. Using Bentley’s open applications along with ProjectWise and SYNCHRO, the design team is fast-tracking the project to complete it in less than two years. The team is using OpenPlant, OpenBuildings, AutoPIPE, and Bentley Raceway and Cable Management across multiple disciplines at three office locations. To date, the project has saved over CNY 3 million using Bentley’s ProjectWise to collaboratively manage design work across the distributed team, improving work processes and reducing rework.

An additional finalist in Advancements in Manufacturing, MCC Capital Engineering & Research Inc, is using OpenPlant, Siemens’ SolidEdge, and SYNCHRO, together with ProjectWise, to design and construct China’s first (and the world’s third) CASTRIPTM strip casting and rolling production process. This new steel making process uses about a fifth of the energy consumption of traditional hot rolling processes and produces a quarter of the CO2, while reducing the length of the production line from 800 meters to 50 meters. MCC CERI created a digital twin of the factory, and trained operations personnel virtually, including sessions on emergency simulation and accident prevention. The project team also used a digital twin to carry out quality analysis, process tracking, defect diagnosis, and quality prediction. Using Bentley’s technology, MCC CERI shortened the project schedule by five months and saved CNY 25 million in project costs.

MCC CERI is also conducting an innovative project that is now a benchmark for sustainable gas power generation in China. The 80-megawatt, high-temperature, ultra-high-pressure primary reheat turbine generator project reuses energy waste and gases from iron- and steel-making processes. Using Bentley’s open applications, including OpenPlant, AutoPIPE, and ProStructures, the team performed pipeline stress calculations to select and arrange supports and hangers and ensure the safety of the pipeline network. Moreover, several measures were adopted to improve the efficiency of the generator unit and ensure its stability. The design of this project was completed in four months, and the use of SYNCHRO 4D construction simulation reduced the construction period by five months.

“Bentley’s integrated software solution is incomparable for the convenience of industrial engineering construction, giving us unlimited possibilities for innovative design,” said Bingsong Yang, BIM project manager, MCC Capital Engineering & Research Incorporation Ltd.

Bentley’s open modeling applications have enabled China Nuclear Industry 24 Construction Company to achieve an 87% efficiency improvement over traditional manual approaches for the Haiyang Nuclear Power Plant Project. This CNY 40 billion plant is one of the largest nuclear power plants in China and is using third-generation AP1000 nuclear power plant technology. Using iModels improved the entire construction process through tighter integration of design information with construction work packages, while also incorporating BIM standards. The project is a finalist in the Advancements in Power Generation category.

“The overall solution provided by Bentley has realized the digitization of the design and construction process of more than 13,000 tons of steel, 42,000 cubic meters of concrete, and more than 3,300 tons of rebar. The digitization provided an efficient and synergistic working platform, so that the project can be constructed with high quality and efficiency, and the nuclear safety can be ensured from the source of construction,” said Yong Ye, deputy director of Department of Science & Technology and Information/Responsible Person of BIM Technology Research, China Nuclear Industry 24 Construction Co., Ltd.

Hunan Hydro & Power Design Institute, a finalist in the Advancements in Power Generation category, is using Bentley’s open applications and ProjectWise on a highly collaborative and innovative project that will reduce CO2 emissions, improve irrigation to 80,000 farms, and streamline shipping on an inland waterway. The project is part of a strategic development plan for the Hanjiang River in Hubei province, stretching from Danjiangkou City along the Hanjiang River to the Yangtze River in Wuhan. Working across 12 disciplines with 32 designers, the team established a completely BIM-driven strategy to design several buildings, a new power plant, and a new irrigation system, as well as to expand the shipping channel. The team developed 3D models within the scope of work and completed the entire project design in 45 days.

“Bentley’s hydropower solutions have solved problems, such as difficult discipline coordination, compact equipment space, and difficult engineering arrangements. They also helped us visualize and coordinate the overall project design. Moreover, the solutions enabled us to develop demonstrative and transferable BIM design experience on navigation junction projects to improve overall design quality and project efficiency,” said Zhongyuan Zuo, director of BIM Technology Center, Hunan Hydro & Power Design Institute.

WSP Delivers Optimized Design for Complex Basement Beneath London Landmark Using Bentley Applications

21.10.2019 2:00 Bentley Systems

The Admiralty Arch, completed circa 1911, is one of London’s most iconic buildings. The structure is located at the end of The Mall, which connects Buckingham Palace with Trafalgar Square, and incorporates three archways that provide road and pedestrian access with six levels aboveground and two sublevels. WSP Global Inc., one of the world’s leading engineering professional services firms, was contracted to transform the Admiralty Arch into a new Waldorf Astoria hotel, projected to be completed in 2022.

WSP is providing structural engineering for this very challenging project. Belowground, there will be two new sublevels created on either side of the Arch, directly below the existing roadway. Project objectives included overcoming complex engineering and geotechnical requirements, providing both a temporary and permanent structural solution, and driving efficiency through streamlined design and project delivery processes.

The Trafalgar Square basement is 12 meters deep and contains two main levels, including spa and pool facilities at B1 and a ballroom at B2. The sublevels are located directly above two London Underground tunnels, requiring a box-in-box system to provide acoustic isolation for the rooms. Another challenge facing the team was building a new basement under one of the most famous roads in London, while keeping traffic flowing. Only one of the three lanes could be closed at a time, which meant the site had to be divided into three stages, closing one lane, and moving the operation in coordination to traffic needs.

The complex basement structure presented major challenges, such as how it would interact with the soil and two exiting underground tunnels below the site. Without proper planning, the integrity of the tunnels could be compromised, and the upwards movement could deform and permanently damage them. In standard building construction, foundations hold buildings up. However, in this case, without a superstructure above the basement, piles need to be located at either side of the exclusion zones of the tunnels to hold the ground down as the clay begins to expand. Effectively, the foundation of this basement is in tension, holding the tunnels in place as they try to move and deform upwards.

Relying on Bentley’s structural and geotechnical applications, the project team employed a top-down construction methodology to overcome these engineering, modeling, and coordination challenges. As a result, the project team reduced the overall structural design time by approximately 25% and was able to provide timely construction documentation to the site.

WSP used PLAXIS to develop a detailed ground movement assessment (GMA) to fully understand the soil-structure interaction and effectively provide the required tension piles and balance loads. WSP used RAM to prepare the analysis and design model to match the results from the GMA by varying the spring stiffness of the different piles. RAM allowed for effective collaboration within the design team, creating information that is easy to understand and communicate.

The project team also used PLAXIS to predict the movements and forces at a cross-section level and to determine from that analysis the maximum changes in diameter and lining forces and stresses. A two-dimensional finite element analysis (FEA) was undertaken using PLAXIS 2D and a three-dimensional FEA was undertaken using PLAXIS 3D to look at the longitudinal effects along the chain of tunnels.

Using RAM, WSP determined the most efficient solution for all basement slabs and raft foundations for the project. The team was also able to iterate with different thicknesses to find the right balance between slab thickness, reinforcement requirements, and self-weight that was most beneficial against the uplift of the basement. The Bentley open modeling and simulation applications also enabled effective collaboration across the design team and helped create information that was easy to understand and communicate and that was the key to obtaining the proper statutory approvals.

“RAM provides a successful platform for analysis, design, and delivery that exceeds all our expectations,” said Diego Padilla Philipps, associate structural engineer with WSP. “We are committed to using RAM software in our concrete buildings. RAM provides flexibility to coordinate and communicate clearly and efficiently our design process and intent.”

Bentley Systems Bolsters Digital Cities Offerings with Acquisitions of Citilabs and Orbit Geospatial Technologies

21.10.2019 2:00 Bentley Systems

Advancing mobility digital twins through Orbit GT’s automated mobile mapping workflows
(digital context) and Citilabs’ CUBE simulations (digital components)
for predictive transportation scenarios (digital chronology)

SINGAPORE - The Year in Infrastructure 2019 Conference - 21 October 2019 - Bentley Systems, Incorporated, the leading global provider of comprehensive software and digital twin cloud services for advancing the design, construction, and operations of infrastructure, today announced the acquisitions of global mobility simulation (CUBE) and analytics (Streetlytics) software provider Citilabs, and global provider of 3D and mobile mapping software, Orbit Geospatial Technologies (Orbit GT). The newly acquired technologies, in conjunction with Bentley’s existing design integration and digital cities offerings, enable engineering-based mobility digital twins. Road mobility digital twins converge cities’ digital context (including 4D surveying facilitated by Orbit GT for drone-and vehicle-mounted mobile mapping), and digital components (including from Bentley’s OpenRoads engineering applications) with CUBE simulations—to model and assure real-world throughput capacity for proposed and existing roadway assets. Streetlytics traffic data will become increasingly available through Bentley’s cloud services to calibrate and validate mobility digital twins.

Robert Mankowski, vice president, digital cities, for Bentley Systems, said, “Mobility is a priority opportunity for city digital twins, because too often existing planning and simulation efforts are disconnected from the infrastructure’s engineering reality. As the roadway design software leaders, we’re very enthusiastic to be the first to enable engineering-founded mobility digital twins. With these acquisitions, we can now bring together traffic simulations, by way of the respected and versatile CUBE software—led by traffic engineer Michael Clarke to have now become a market leader—with automated mobile mapping workflows for reality modeling of roadways, as envisioned and realized by Peter Bonne, and his family, in leading the team behind Orbit GT. This will serve communities and regions in designing, testing, and optimizing the resilience of their mobility infrastructure.”

About Citilabs
Citilab’s CUBE simulation software provides world-leading predictive transportation technology, helping engineers and planners to design and optimize safe, efficient, effective, and environmentally sustainable mobility systems. Citilab’s Streetlytics provides mobility data and analytics on the moving population within the U.S. and Canada for planners, engineers, and infrastructure asset managers to make data-informed decisions about transportation trends.

Michael Clarke, president and CEO for Citilabs, said, “We are excited to become a part of Bentley Systems. Our customers and partners will have a fantastic opportunity to fully integrate the planning, design, and operation of multi-modal transportation systems. At Citilabs, our mission has been to enable our customers to leverage location-based data, behavioral models, and machine learning through our products to understand and forecast movement in our cities, regions and nations. Today’s announcement will truly bring together a rich understanding of current and projected travel to improve the design and operation of tomorrow’s mobility systems.”

About Orbit Geospatial Technologies
Orbit GT’s offerings help users efficiently manage, process, and share very large amounts of imagery, point cloud, and 3D (mobile, oblique, terrestrial, UAS, indoor) mapping data for use with reality modeling and digital twins. Orbit GT’s technology adds to Bentley’s existing digital cities, reality modeling, and point cloud processing offerings including ContextCapture and Pointools.

Peter Bonne, CEO of Orbit GT, said, “Today’s announcement offers our team, partners, and customers a unique opportunity to take a big leap forward in addressing today’s need for increasingly accurate, versatile, manageable, and embedded use of digital twins. Advancing the 3D mapping paradigm has always been at the heart of Orbit GT’s activities. In adding to Bentley’s digital cities offerings, we will jointly broaden the solutions portfolio and provide unprecedented possibilities for collaboration among platforms. I am excited to help build this future together with great teams at Bentley Systems. In effect, we are now advancing 3D mapping to underlie 4D digital twins!”

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About Bentley Systems’ Digital Cities Offerings
Bentley Systems undertakes to advance BIM and GIS through 4D infrastructure engineering digital twins for digital cities. Engineers, geospatial professionals, and infrastructure owner-operators benefit from applications and digital twin cloud services that advance reality modeling (ContextCapture and Orbit GT); water, wastewater, and stormwater system planning, design and operations, and flood resilience (OpenFlows); engineering-ready geospatial urban planning and visualization (OpenCities Map and OpenCities Planner); geotechnical information management (OpenGround); and mobility simulation and analytics (LEGION and CUBE).

In both 2018 and 2019, Microsoft named Bentley Systems as Partner of the Year in its CityNext category. In 2019 ARC Advisory Group’s Engineering Design Tools for Plants, Infrastructure, and BIM market study ranked Bentley #1 in Water and Wastewater distribution.

About Bentley Systems
Bentley Systems is the leading global provider of software solutions to engineers, architects, geospatial professionals, constructors, and owner-operators for the design, construction, and operations of infrastructure, including public works, utilities, industrial plants, and digital cities. Bentley’s MicroStation-based open modeling applications, and its open simulation applications, accelerate design integration; its ProjectWise and SYNCHRO offerings accelerate project delivery; and its AssetWise offerings accelerate asset and network performance. Spanning infrastructure engineering, Bentley’s iTwin Services are fundamentally advancing BIM and GIS to 4D digital twins.

Bentley Systems employs more than 3,500 colleagues, generates annual revenues of $700 million in 170 countries, and has invested more than $1 billion in research, development, and acquisitions since 2014. From inception in 1984, the company has remained majority-owned by its five founding Bentley brothers. www.bentley.com

Bentley, the Bentley logo, AssetWise, Citilabs, ContextCapture, CUBE, iTwin, iTwin Services, LEGION, MicroStation, OpenCities, OpenCities Map, OpenCities Planner, OpenFlows, OpenGround, OpenRoads, Orbit GT, Pointools, ProjectWise, Streetlytics, and SYNCHRO are either registered or unregistered trademarks or service marks of Bentley Systems, Incorporated or one of its direct or indirect wholly owned subsidiaries. All other brands and product names are trademarks of their respective owners.