The European Conference on Product and Process Modelling 2022 (ECPPM) took place in Trondheim, Norway, from 14-16 September. The conference has been bringing together researchers for 14 years to present the latest advances in information and communication technology in the fields of architecture, engineering, construction and facility management.

This year, the IIB was also present with some researchers.

The Papers were presented:

• „Enriching BIM-based Construction Schedules with Semantic Information using BPMN and LBD” by Philipp Hagedorn, Katja Sigalov, Lea Höltgen, Malik Müller, Tomislav Sola and Markus König
  
  Abstract: BIM-based construction scheduling is becoming increasingly important in research and practice due to the availability of the appropriate tools. However, it is characterized by a low level of detail and a lack of semantics, which is why the contained knowledge is hardly used for further analyses. Linked Building Data (LBD) is an intensively studied topic in construction information management, while the potentials and applications of LBD in BIM-based scheduling are still little investigated. LBD reveals new possibilities for improving semantic relationships between ontologies and enables the creation of knowledge graphs of BIM- based schedules for in-depth analysis. This paper investigates the enrichment of BIM-based scheduling with semantic information through formalizing schedules with BPMN 2.0 and converting and integrating process models into an RDF-based data structure in ICDD information containers. The integrated process knowledge can be queried via the SPARQL query language, allowing for extensible analysis and supporting decision-making processes.
   
• “Automatic Generation of Work Breakdown Structures for Evaluation of Parallelizability of Assembly Sequences” by Jan M. Weber and Markus König
  
  Abstract: To enable the efficient construction of industrial plants, seamless logistics on the construction site must be ensured. It can be achieved through precise planning and execution of logistics and assembly. Nowadays, assembly sequences are visually represented in practice using 4D BIM (Building Information Modeling) concept. The assembly schedules on the other hand, are prepared by hand in an imprecise and time- consuming manner. Our previous research has shown that semi-automatic rule-based creation of step-by-step assembly sequences is possible for any IFC (Industry Foundation Classes) models with a high level of detail. Step-by-step assembly sequences are generated by categorizing all building elements in the building model, specifying assembly rules for these categories, and selecting an assembly strategy subsequently. However, a qualitative comparison of these generated assembly sequences is impossible without performing simulation and determining the effort values for each task. To address this issue, this paper presents a methodology for the automatic generation of partial Work Breakdown Structures (WBS) to evaluate the generated assembly sequences. On the basis of the assembly sequence, the assembly rules and the collision database (of slightly augmented bounding boxes of building elements) of a BIM, partial WBS are generated for each individual building element. From the WBS, the length of the longest path to the corresponding start element is retrieved for each building element. This allows building elements to be assigned to the appropriate assembly levels, indicating that all assembly processes that are located in the same level, and thus potentially parallelizable, can be identified.
   
• “Reference process for the transformation of unstructured object catalogues into interconnected data dictionarys” by Sven Zentgraf and Markus König
  
  Abstract: Sufficient data and precise digital information are the main requirements for all processes within the BIM methodology. To enable an effective exchange and usage of data throughout the life cycle of a building, data catalogs and building codes provide centralized repositories using standardized definitions of building elements and properties. At present definitions for these elements and properties exist mostly in unstructured non-machine-readable form. This information needs to be transferred into structured data catalogs to be able to be used in the BIM process efficiently. To provide a structural basis to simplify exchange, interoperability, and portability ISO 23386 was conducted. This paper aims to conceptualize and implement a k-means clustering algorithm using GermaNet to support the creation of groups of properties hierarchies according to ISO 23386. Finally, the developed method is tested on different data catalogs and evaluated concerning its usability for the desired use case.
   
• “Inferring Interconnections of Construction Drawings for Bridges Using Deep Learning-based Methods” by Benedikt Faltin, Phillip Schönfelder and Markus König
  
  Abstract: The availability of digital models of existing structures plays a vital role in leveraging the full potential of digital planning methods like building information modeling (BIM) in the building's operation and maintenance phase. Since BIM models are, however, widely unavailable, the reconstruction process must be carried out in advance. It is particularly tedious for engineers to reconstruct 3D models from drawings, since many partial views are included, e.g., sections. Consequently, the interconnections between the views must be established before reconstructing the geometry. This research proposes a deep learning-based method to localize section symbols on construction drawings and recognize their associated denotations. Also, the title of the view is recognized to derive the respective connections between the section symbol and the corresponding view. The proposed pipeline is tested on actual bridge drawings and shows promising results. This paves the way for future works addressing the automatic reconstruction of the bridge geometry.
   
• “Consideration of detailing in the graph-based retrieval of design variants” by Daniel Napps and Markus König
  
  Abstract: During early design processes, interdisciplinary experts frequently exchange building information at different Levels of Development to generate designs fulfilling multiple requirements, by ideally using building information models. This paper presents an opportunity for architects to gather inspirations for upcoming projects based on previous designs and knowledge in relation to the detailing of building elements. For this purpose, two approaches from the research group FOR 2363 are combined. Initially, this refers to the variant management, which enables to find and compare multiple similar design options to an existing building structure, through a subsequent retrieval process. The second research focuses on the detailing of components and potential uncertainties associated with geometric and semantic information. Regulations for unifying these approaches are formulated and the similarity calculation is specified. This leads to an optimization of the retrieval process including the consideration of the detailing of components. The usability is afterwards demonstrated.