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Building Information Modeling for Quality

Management in Infrastructure Construction
Projects

Conference Paper · June 2014

DOI: 10.1061/9780784413616.009

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 Building Information Modeling for Quality Management in
Infrastructure Construction Projects

Namhun Lee1, Talat Salama2, and George Wang3

ABSTRACT

With the growing use of Building Information Modeling (BIM) for vertical
building projects, the use of BIM is increasing in infrastructure construction projects.
Several terms have already been created for BIM for infrastructure, such as “Civil
BIM”, CIM (Civil Information Modeling) “Horizontal BIM”, and “Heavy BIM.”
Regardless of terms, the main objective is to utilize model-based technologies and
processes in the infrastructure sector. Construction companies that deal with heavy,
civil, and transportation projects are expecting the adoption of BIM in their projects
since they have observed high return on investment (ROI) in BIM for vertical
building projects. In this paper, we focus on using BIM as a tool for quality
information integration for highway and bridge construction. We first describe the
product, process, and organization (PPO) model to manage key elements of quality
planning and present a review of literature on model-driven approach to quality
control (QC) and quality assurance (QA). Then, we review the results of our pilot
study on the model-driven approach to QA/QC. Finally, we discuss issues and
obstacles to BIM implementation in the infrastructure sector. The result of this study
will have value for future research and practice to promote and employ BIM in
horizontal construction projects. Using BIM for quality management, all project
participants, including owners, architects, structural engineers, contractors, suppliers,
and subcontractors, will have access to a 3D quality control model and
collaboratively proceed the construction process much faster and smoothly,
considering all aspects for quality management.

INTRODUCTION

Construction projects generate a large amount of complex information which

is generally stored in document formats during its lifecycle. This information
provides important potential for further application. The reuse of this knowledge and
experience contained in information during the construction process is becoming more
and more important in construction management.
The Building Information Modeling (BIM) concept originated in the 1970s. It
is a set of interacting policies, processes and technologies generating a “methodology
to manage the essential building design and project data in digital format throughout
the building’s lifecycle.” In recent years, BIM has been put forward as an information
integration platform to facilitate construction project management. It is critical to

1
Assistant Professor, Manufacturing & Construction Management Department, Central Connecticut State
University, New Britain, CT06050. E-mail: leen@ccsu.edu
2
Associate Professor, Manufacturing & Construction Management Department, Central Connecticut State
University, New Britain, CT06050. E-mail: talats@ccsu.edu
3
Associate Professor, Department of Construction Management, East Carolina University, Greenville, NC
27858. E-mail: wangg@ecu.edu
realize the integration between BIM and other information systems and platforms
applied in construction management. Different information formats are used.
Therefore, BIM data sharing and exchange among different format/software should
have a standard. Currently, the Industry Foundation Classes (IFC) standard is
commonly used. IFC is an open standard which can express and exchange building
products data and it is formulated by international non-profit organization
International Association of Identification (IAI).
BIM has been used in commercial building construction in recent years to
virtually construct a facility prior to its actual physical construction, in order to reduce
uncertainty, improve safety, work out problems, and to simulate and analyze
potential impacts. However, very little information is available on using BIM in
infrastructure construction project management. Several terms have been already
coined for BIM for infrastructure, such as “Civil BIM”, CIM (Civil Information
Modeling) “Horizontal BIM”, and “Heavy BIM.” Regardless of terms, the main
objective is to use model-based technologies and processes in the infrastructure sector.
One of the utilization scenarios is to use BIM as a tool of quality control (QC) and
quality assurance (QA) for highway and bridge construction.
Construction companies which deal with heavy, civil, and transportation
projects are expecting the adoption of BIM in their projects since they have observed
high ROI in BIM for vertical building projects. This paper focuses on using BIM as a
tool for quality information integration for highway and bridge construction.

BACKGROUND

The purpose of project quality management is to inform and direct project

participants about specific quality practices. Information resources include sequence
of activities, controls, and checks that have to be implemented during construction.
Prior to the commencement of construction work, general contractors are required to
prepare a specific project quality management plan, detailing the control procedures
that are required to demonstrate its ability to consistently provide products and
services that satisfy requirement needs of the customer as well as applicable quality
standard requirements. The quality management plan must comply with applicable
ISO 9001:2008 standards and technical specifications for the project.
Quality planning should focus on identifying quality standards relevant to the
project, implementation through policies and procedures, managing responsibility,
and continuous process improvement. Also, inspection and test plans (ITP) must be
developed to verify that the works comply with the contract. When planning
controlled conditions for construction activities, we should consider the following:
 Sequence of job operations
 Any specific jobsite working environments
 Construction methods and materials to be used
 Types of equipment required, capability, maintenance, calibration
 Competency and skills of personnel
 Responsibility for implementing and monitoring work process controls and
rectifying any deficiencies
 Product characteristics, tolerances, and workmanship standards to be met
 Use of process control charts
 How the process will be monitored to ensure its continuing suitability
 Inspection, test, and control points
 Records to be kept as evidence that the work process controls remain effective
 In the quality control process, QA and QC data are to be collected from the
general and sub-contractors using the Product, Process, and Organization (PPO)
model to analyze overall quality in construction. Project participants are to identify
and define their responsibilities for the process of construction. Through confirming
responsibilities for each participant, construction quality is ensured.

6
5
4
Product

3
2 QA Representative

Organization
1 Subcontractor Foreman
0 Superintendent
QC Specialist
QC Manager

Process

Figure 1. Product, Process, and Organization Model of Quality Control

Product, Process, and Organization (PPO) Model. The Deming management

method has been widely spread in the field of quality management since the early
1980s. The purpose of the Deming management method is to improve the practice of
quality management (Deming, 1981). The Deming management method consists of
14 imperative points which are principles of transformation for quality management
(Deming, 1986). When analyzing the 14 points, Deming emphasizes the importance
of process control (continuous improvement) and organizational structure (internal
and external cooperation) for improvement of product (customer satisfaction). From
this perspective, construction managers should focus on identifying, understanding,
and managing product, process, and organizational uncertainties.
The term “product” refers to the final component of construction project, such
as pavement or bridge. The term “organization” refers to management structure and
personnel who are involved in implementing and monitoring work process controls
and rectifying any deficiencies. The term “process” refers to methods for quality
measurement and analysis and procedures to deal with nonconforming products.
Figure 1 illustrates the PPO (Product, Process, and Organization) model of quality
control, which has been adopted from Harmel and Bonjour (2006).

Plan-Do-Check-Act ( PDCA) Cycle. Process management implies a set of practices

that integrate methodological approaches into quality management, and these are
implemented to monitor and improve processes that consistently provide products
and services in order to meet customer needs and applicable quality standard
requirements. For the purpose of prevention and improvement, PDCA (Plan-Do-
Check-Act) cycle, first introduced by Shewhart in 1931 and modified by Deming, has
been used even until now.
 In the PDCA cycle, the first step, “Plan” has several parts. First, general
contractors must analyze quality policies, scope statements, product descriptions, and
standards and regulations. Then, specific and clear goals must be identified,
including quality management plan, operational definitions, and checklists. In the
construction industry, goals are equivalent to construction specifications. In this step,
a means of defining success and a sequence of operations must also be identified.
The second step is the “Do” step, where the sequence of operations is implemented.
The third step is the “Check” step in which the results of the completed operations are
analyzed by elements of quality pass and failure. At some point during or after task
performance, feedback should be provided by quality representatives. “Act” is the
final step. Such components determined as quality failure should be adjusted or
reworked for quality improvement.
The PDCA cycle essentially emphasizes continuous improvement in quality
management. Through this cycle, contractors must deal with the work and risks
involved, including quality procedures, inspection and test plans, and associated
checklists, with methods for measurement and analysis. Figure 2 displays a flowchart
of simple quality control process.

Product #1  Product #2 

Quality Standards  Quality Standards 
Quality Pass

Inspection  Quality Control 
Quality Control  Execution of QC
and Test

Quality Failure

Feedback

Figure 2. Quality Control Process Flowchart 

Quality control of highway pavement and bridge construction has been

studied from various perspectives. In the quality management plan, control
procedures should be detailed; applicable quality standards such as ISO 9001:2008
and technical specifications for the project must be identified; and, personnel
responsibilities and authorities must be clearly defined. More recently in the
construction industry, general contractors who deal with heavy, civil, and
transportation projects are expecting the adoption of BIM in their projects since they
have observed high ROI in BIM for vertical building projects.

Model-Driven Approach to QA/QC. We propose, in this paper, a model-driven

approach to QA/QC which combines the PPO model with BIM technology. In a
highway and bridge construction, quality defects typically result from three different
aspects: (1) misunderstanding of quality standards and control procedures for product
items (pavement and bridge), (2) vague responsibility for quality problems, and (3)
neglect of continuous quality improvement before, during, and after construction.
Using BIM technology for quality management, quality information integration may
be embodied via different layers on the 3D model to provide essential quality
information including building codes, quality requirements, and control procedures
within a single information platform. In addition, clear and specific information
about the responsibility assignment can be connected to the 3D model. In this way,
project participants can better communicate about the construction work process.
Parametric-oriented 4D BIM models can simulate the entire process of highway or
bridge construction for quality management continuously. Time can be added to a
3D model, integrating schedule information, quality information, material and
equipment information, and other construction management information.

SURVEY AND RESULTS

Several individuals from construction firms who are directly involved in BIM
for QA/QC were identified to receive a survey intended for a pilot study to better
understand the current practices and viewpoints about using BIM as a tool for quality
information integration for highway and bridge construction. A questionnaire was
created and disseminated via email to eleven professionals employed in ten different
companies located across the United States. Survey results were collected from
November 21, 2013 to December 6, 2013. The response rate was 45.5% with five
individuals from five different companies in four locations across three states
including California, Georgia, and Maryland. Sixty percent reported having worked
in the construction industry for over five years. All respondents were from larger
companies with an average annual revenue of over $500 million and 250 or more
employees.

Question 1: “What would be the on-site QA/QC tasks?”

 Review the specifications, procedures and specified quality standards
 Develop and monitor the QA programs of the organizations involved in
construction operations, including personnel qualifications and training, when
applicable
 Check materials and equipment
 Perform field testing and inspection
 File documents and records to document management systems to keep
evidence

Question 2: “What would be contributing factors to noncompliance?”

 Poor communications
 Poor engineering designs
 Unclear QA/QC plans
 Failure to adhere to the code of professional ethics

Question 3: “Do you think a model-driven approach to QA/QC would be effective? If

yes, why?”
When asked about model-driven approach to QA/QC, 100% (n=6) responded
that a model-driven approach would be effective to quality improvement. One
respondent succinctly stated, “Using BIM is very effective because it provides us
visual representations of the work process. This results in better job coordination as
well as better communication.” Another respondent summarized, “Accuracy of
construction designs and information will increase because BIM can be used as an
analytical tool to ensure compliance to quality standards.” A third respondent
described, “The BIM model supports the inspection progress by connecting quality
information such as inspection and test plans or quality standards to the model.” In
addition, the rest of respondents mentioned that BIM decreases complaints from
suppliers and subcontractors, and reduces change orders and rework.

ISSUES AND OBSTACLES FOR HORIZONTAL BIM

One of the main issues and obstacles to BIM implementation in infrastructure

projects may be the competitive bidding process which is open to every general
contractor. This is because most highway and bridge projects are initiated by the
public sector. The contract is usually awarded to the contractor who submitted the
lowest bid. After awarded the contract, the contractor is required to hire suppliers
and subcontractors. In this bidding process, there may be no room for being
innovative in order to win the bid since technology usually takes initial costs even
though it brings ultimate cost savings at the end. For instance, general contractors for
infrastructure projects understand the use of BIM reduces change orders; however,
they may ask the following question, who is going to take the benefits from reducing
change orders? In addition, the public sector has had low interest in improving
efficiency for infrastructure development. In other words, the public sector does not
want to take risks involved in the BIM technology adoption especially for
infrastructure development.
One of the issues and obstacles for BIM implementation in infrastructure
projects would be the nature of infrastructure construction project. Infrastructures
such as bridge and highway are considered less complex than buildings. In addition,
due to the nature of one-off production and non-standardized members, there are no
standards in QA/QC (Rowlinson & Walker, 1995). For these reasons, it takes more
time and efforts to create 3D models since there is no official standardized product
model and the created 3D models are hardly recycled at other projects.
There are many participants involved in the construction process. Even
though a common project goal is shared, project participants such as subcontractors
and suppliers retain their own interest in the construction process to maximize their
profit. Furthermore, there is a lack of BIM skilled personnel and insufficient BIM
education and training. Due to these facts, not all participants are willing to utilize
BIM in the construction process.

DISCUSSION

BIM technology can provide a comprehensive and integrated quality

information repository, and make the sharing of visual, integrated, quality
information possible. BIM allows for easy access to specifications/criteria of quality
control in infrastructure projects, utilizing an integrated database, providing the
dynamic simulation of the construction process, and identifying critical control point
deviations from the state DOT specifications. This can improve the efficiency of
construction, and it also increases the accuracy of quality control process.
BIM in the civil infrastructure domain, however, has not been widely adopted
as in the building industry due to lack of the case study of successful BIM use for
quality management. In terms of the project cost, the size of horizontal infrastructure
projects is much larger than the one of vertical building projects. The 4% savings of
infrastructure projects from using BIM technology may be much more significant
than the 10% savings of building projects. To investigate the ROI of BIM
implementation for quality management in infrastructure construction projects,
Benefit/Cost analysis must be performed from the following aspects (Autodesk,
2012):
 Cost variance in actual vs. budgeted costs
 Percentage of rework costs proportional to overall project cost
 Schedule variance due to schedule delay in dollars
 Production rate per unit time such as hour, day, or week
 Profits (decreased vs. increased)
 Lost man-hours due to safety incidents in dollars

According to Autodesk (2012), it is assumed that a more immediate increase

in efficiency is expected from BIM implementation in an infrastructure project, which
results in quality improvement and reduction in cost overrun.
In infrastructure construction projects, there are various stakeholders involved
in QA/QC. Consequently, issues of quality control almost always arise in both
vertical building and horizontal infrastructure projects. Within the organizational
structure of the stakeholders in an infrastructure construction project, only a limited
number of QA/QC personnel are responsible for an increasingly large workload,
managing complex quality control practices. To ensure the continued quality of
rehabilitation of the infrastructure facilities, a model-driven approach should be
considered. As described in this paper, the BIM technology has great potential as a
quality management tool. Of greatest importance, the top-management commitment
is necessary to create and communicate a new vision for quality management; to
authorize and institute ongoing training; and to develop a plan of action for adopting
the BIM technology in the infrastructure domain.

LIMITATIONS AND FURTHER RESEARCH

This paper focuses on proposing a research agenda “Utilizing BIM for Quality
Management in Infrastructure Construction Projects” to the domain of Construction
Engineering and Management. We believe that this paper put a stepping stone to this
area of research. Based on the results of this study, great potential for BIM use for
quality management in infrastructure projects has been identified. Nonetheless, only
a few BIM use cases on this topic have been available from our literature search.
Therefore, it is suggested to conduct case studies of BIM utilization in horizontal
construction projects, through industry-academia collaborations, to promote BIM
adoption in the infrastructure domain. In addition, applied research on BIM
utilization for quality management will be needed.
 REFERENCES

Autodesk (2012). “BIM for infrastructure: a vehicle for business transformation,” Autodesk,
http://images.autodesk.com/adsk/files/valueofBIM_wp__en_FINAL.pdf (Dec. 8,
2013)
Deming, W. E. (1981). “Improvement of quality and productivity through action by
management.” National Productivity Review, 1(1): 12-22.
Deming, W. E. (1986). Out of the crisis. Cambridge: Massachusetts Institute of Technology,
Center for Advanced Engineering Study.
Harmel, G., Bonjour, E., & Dulmet, M. (2006). “Product, process, and organization
architectures modeling: from strategic expectations to strategic competencies.” The
12th IFAC Symposium on Information Control Problems in Manufacturing,
INCOM’06, Saint-Etienne, France.
ISO, (2008). “ISO 9000 - Quality management.” International organization for
standardization, http://www.iso.org/iso/iso_9000 (Dec. 6, 2013)
Rowlinson, S. M. & Walker, A. (1995). The Construction Industry in Hong Kong. Hong
Kong: Longman.
Shewhart, W. A. (1931). Economic control of quality of manufactured product. New York:
Van Nostrand.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

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