| description abstract | Engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) contracts are becoming the most common form of contracting in the hydropower trade for large-scale hydropower projects. Because of an increase in the complexity, variability, and uncertainty in hydropower engineering, project participants and stakeholders are increasingly cooperating in a collaboration network, which enables them to share risks, information, and resources as well as explore new experiences to jointly participate in the management of large-scale projects. Thus, this paper proposes a new methodology for the collaborative management of hydropower EPC (hydroEPC) projects using building information modeling (BIM) technology. In this paper, a work model of collaborative management using BIM technology for hydroEPC projects is introduced, and a BIM-based collaboration platform for the management of hydroEPC projects is developed using a three-tier architecture and web technologies, whose functions are implemented in five modules, including a model creation module, model management module, collaboration management module, workflow management module, and system administration module. The prototype system is applied in a selected case study of an ongoing project in southwest China to demonstrate the effectiveness of collaboration in a BIM environment. The results demonstrate that the prototype system can be used as a visual BIM-based collaborative management platform using BIM technology. | |
