State of Arts

Building Information Modelling (BIM)

3D modeling for coordination of M&E services has been adopted to minimize clashes of services with building structure that cause wastage of materials and time. BIM is used to design and document building and infrastructure designs. The model can be used for analysis to explore design options and to create visualization that help stakeholders understand what the building will look like before it is built. The model is then used to generate the design documentation for construction.

BIM not only allows design and construction team to work more efficiently, but it allows them to capture the data they create during the process to benefits operations and maintenance activities.

Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD)

Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) is the analysis of systems involving fluid flow, heat transfer and associated phenomena such as chemical reactions, particles distribution and etcetera by means of computer-based simulation.

In building services, CFD is widely used for Heating, Ventilating and Air-Conditioning (HVAC) system and Performance Based Fire Engineering system. Examples for HVAC system are natural ventilation and large air-conditioning space such as atrium where the buoyancy effect and long-distance air distribution is difficult to design base on conventional system. Examples for performance-based fire engineering systems are jet fan system and large atrium which acts as smoke reservoir.

Figures below show CFD simulation result in studying the hot air distribution and accumulation of air-conditioner condensing units in the air well of a high-rise apartment. The left figure indicates the failure of condensing units at upper floors while the right figure shows the acceptable results after re-arrange the condensing units.

Figures below show CFD simulation result of temperature distribution for a data hall with under-floor cold aisle supply and mixed plenum return. The simulation is able to determine and verify the efficacy of air distribution within the data hall.