Customer Successes Abu Dhabi International AirportCustomer Successes Abu Dhabi International Airport

Company Name

Project Location

Project Software

Abu Dhabi International Airport (ADIA)

Abu Dhabi

Autodesk® Revit® Autodesk® Navisworks® Autodesk® AutoCAD®

Abu Dhabi New International Airport project has complex geometry and multiple systems, so it is important for subcontractors from different regions to coordinate and plan the construction operation well. Curtain walls deeply relate with structure, roof, ground and other parts. BIM technology helps us not only to aware and avoid conflict with other subcontractors, but also to increase construction productivity and quality. – Fengzhong Hou CEO Jangho Curtain Wall

Jangho Curtain Wall, affiliated to Jangho Group Company Limited, is a leading provider of integrated curtain wall solution in China. The company has over 50 branches in dozens of countries and regions worldwide. It has undertaken over 140 skyscraper projects, including Kingdom Tower in Saudi Arabia, China Zun and Shanghai Tower. More than 240 large-scale cultural, entertainment and commercial complexes, including CCTV New Site and Marina Bay Sands Integrated Resort in Singapore, were undertaken by the company. It has also been curtain wall subcontractor for more than 40 transportation junction projects, including Abu Dhabi Airport, railway stations in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou.

The Abu Dhabi International Airport Project will expand the existing airport. The newly-built terminal is positioned as the portal of Abu Dhabi, with an indoor area of 325,000 sqm and 30 meters in height. The project is planned to complete in July 2017.

Abu Dhabi International Airport – BIM application to optimize curtain wall design, fabrication and installation

According to project BIM requirements, every subcontractor should set up a designated BIM team, responsible for developing its own model, and coordinate with other subcontractors for clash-free implementation. Before review and approval start, drawings and corresponding clash-free model should be submitted simultaneously.

The curtain wall of this project covers 173,600 sqm, consisting of 4 piers, 49 gatehouses, a center pier, 2 car park link bridges, a main pier and a main processor. The airport is located in the Middle East. High quality standards and complex profile make it a challenge for design, fabrication and installation. Moreover, there are in total 22,000 pieces of unit panels heterogeneous in shape and size. Conventional solutions can’t address these challenges, leading to major concerns over cost, time to delivery and underlying risks. Systematic application of BIM offered a remedy.

Customer Successes Abu Dhabi International Airport

1. In the phase of detailed design, Revit adaptive family is used to efficiently develop model for complex curtain walls and to import BIM information.

Family positioning model of critical control points can be directly exported from Rhino, and imported to Revit as positioning reference. Revit has evident advantages in developing modeling for heterogeneous architecture. Adaptive family types generate geometries by capturing control points and generating adaptive components that can flexibly accommodate various unique conceptual conditions. With adaptive family, modeling of curved and heterogeneous curtain walls becomes more intuitive and intelligent. We’ve used a lot of adaptive family types to generate heterogeneous panels, and managed to develop BIM for the airport accurately and efficiently.

1) The majority of exterior surface consists of standard PT and PC systems of 4 piers and the central pier. Unit PT and PC systems are built on curved cone surfaces, composed of segments of sin function curves. The geometric positioning surface is a double-curved profile. Theoretical unit panels, horizontally and vertically cut out of the curtain wall, vary in size and shape.

2) Part of the car park link bridge consists of cascading oval cross-sections. The entire geometric is curved, connecting equidistant points on the interface line of the cascading ovals, forming a flat triangular panel. Size and intersection angle of each unit also vary. At each critical control point, there are six intersecting units with different inclination angle and orientation.

In Revit, you can add feature parameters for each component: unique code, position, quantity, description, timing for installation, log of changes, related drawings and information, etc. Revit BOM can be used to create a list of designated parameters and export as Excel spreadsheet for statistical purpose and 4D/5D management. Engineering quantity bill exported from the model is linked with original calculations, offering business department information needed for quantity calculation and review. The information is also submitted to the general contractor for billing against quantity.

Customer Successes Abu Dhabi International Airport

2. In the phase of fabrication, the coordinated model is used for fabrication modeling. In the phase of installation, field staff refers to and follows the data exported from the model for implementation. BIM application enhances efficiency and saves cost of installation.

For complex parts, the project followed “coordinated model and assisted processing” as the operation pattern to pace up construction and avoid deviation. Material waste and short supply can also be reduced. Here are some examples:

1) Main steel structure of the car park link bridge is arc, and the glass panel is flat. Therefore, the distance from any point on glass to the steel support is variable. Shape and height of the connecting rib panels are also variable. To solve this problem, we use BIM physical model to position each connecting panels. Position and size information is exported for analyzing and grouping fabrication data, and guiding field installation.

2) Short crossing has high density of MEP pipelines and concrete beam structures, subject to net height requirement. Therefore, it is very difficult to design and install suspended ceilings. BIM of suspended ceilings and keels are directly used in fabrication. Every component has its own featured parameters, including position, length, quantity, weight, material and so on, which can be exported in batches for

Position coordinates of all components can be exported from the model. This allows field surveyors to review deviation of the main structure and ensure accurate installation.

Take Gatehouse as an example. The finalized Revit model is provided to steel structure subcontractor to position welding points of steel parts, making off-site welding possible. When all steel structures with steel parts are installed, project surveyors, review all steel components against BIM coordinates, so as to identify deviation of the main structure, and analyze the impact on curtain wall panel installation.

Because of deviation in steel structure fabrication and installation, the main steel structure deviated by 20mm. Based on deviation analysis, we adjusted connecting plan and widened tolerance, to keep the actual position consistent with plan, and to deliver precision installation.

To sum up, with the application of BIM in Abu Dhabi International Airport Curtain Wall project, engineering progress was accelerated by 10%, saving 30% in time, 30% in labor and material cost. Precision and quality of installation are greatly improved, delivering major cost-effectiveness.

statistical purpose or as reference for other departments.