Collaborative Design and Advanced Construction Mgt Results in Significant Savings on Large-Scale Expressway Project

The CNY 23.6 billion Lipu-Yulin Expressway will run through Guilin, Guigang, and Yulin in Guangxi province and is an important section of G59, China’s national expressway network. Guangxi Transportation Design Group Co., Ltd., is responsible for the overall design and coordination of the project, as well as providing technical support for the construction unit. The large-scale project, which requires complex and comprehensive management, faces many challenges including long distances, large amounts of land requisition and demolition, and citizen-control factors that need to be considered in the planning phase. The main line of the project is 263.1 kilometers long and requires exceptional communication and coordination among teams, multiple disciplines, and public entities.

The expressway design includes several technically complex bridges, such as the Xiangsizhou Bridge, with a span of 450 meters and the largest-span, cable-stayed bridge in Guangxi province, and the Pingnansan Bridge, the largest span-arch bridge in the world under construction, with a span of 575 meters. The expressway also includes super-long tunnels, such as the Wenwei Tunnel, which runs 4,705 meters and is located in mountainous regions with rough terrain and poor geological conditions.

The BIM design team was required to determine how to build a full-factor scenario project model quickly and optimize the route plan. The team depended on Bentley software to enable the design, collaboration, and management across all teams while meeting contractual-scheduled requirements. Project goals include saving design time by 20 percent, limiting deviation between target cost and actual cost to 2 percent, and achieving a profit margin of 5 percent.

The BIM team used unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) in combination with ContextCapture to create large-scale, reality meshes for the project. The models were used to perform 3D analysis to ensure the safety clearance of equipment and structures and conduct site planning and optimize construction site space utilization to reach 95 percent optimization. Using OpenRoads, the team created 3D models for planning construction sites and temporary sites, arranging service areas, and selecting spoil ground to avoid wasting land resources, which saved land use by 5 percent and avoided 4,100 square meters of building demolition.

MicroStation was used to perform 3D parametric modeling, with ProStructures used to accurately model the steel structures; these applications identified problems and reduced design errors design rework to save 15 working days. OpenRoads and OpenBridge were used to perform 3D design of roads, bridges, and tunnels to quickly and accurately locate the structures, perform parametric modeling, and improve design efficiency by more than 200 percent. BIM 5D construction management was achieved using the project’s electronic sandbox system based on MicroStation to manage 3D content while combining the data with a web GIS to provide information browsing and sharing. ProjectWise was used to provide collaborative design across all parties and professions and reduced communication costs by CNY 400,000.

Combining Bentley technology with BIM methodologies, the design team was able to achieve economic savings as well as reduce staff input of design and construction management by 10 percent, which reduced resource hours by 30 percent and greatly improved the quality of construction, laying the foundation for timely and high-quality project completion.

Changhai Wang, BIM center director, Guangxi Communications Design Group Co., Ltd., said, “Using Bentley’s project team collaboration system leveraging ProjectWise, improved information sharing and communication among team members. Having the most updated information at our fingertips helped us reduce the number of meeting by 15 times and communication and collaboration costs by more than CNY 400,000.”