CSA Builds Virtual Nukes

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CSA Builds Virtual Nukes

construction.com June 13, 2001

By Harry Goldstein

While Balfour and VirtualSTEP are aiming at broad markets, Construction Systems Associates Inc. (CSA), Marietta, Ga., like Intergraph and Bentley, has developed a 4D simulation tool, PM-Vision, that is aimed mainly at power plants-in CSA's case nuclear power plants. Unlike Intergraph's and Bentley's shrink-wrapped solutions, PM-Vision is for now available only on a consulting basis.

Donn Matteson, senior consulting engineer, Westinghouse Electric Co., Nuclear Systems, Windsor, Conn., used PM-Vision to model a System 80+ Advanced Nuclear Powerplant as part of a project to investigate the use of 4D on nuclear plant construction.

"We were trying to improve the construction schedules--that was our basic goal," says Matteson. "We attained reduction in the schedule by being able to visualize the sequence of construction activities and identify conflicts. We saved months," he says, "about 15% in terms of time." It took about two months for CSA to convert the existing 3D model of the plant and map it to a schedule consisting of 3,500 activities. The 4D model was set up so Matteson's team could do look-ups by building area or plant system or type of work being performed. Westinghouse is currently using PM-Vision on a couple of projects and as the company considers new nuclear power plant construction, Matteson believes that it's highly probable that "we would use some form of 4D visualization down the road."

Amadeus Burger, president and CEO of CSA, says that by itself PM-Vision "isn't very practical," and sees 4D visualization as just part of a bigger movement to digitally integrate the design, engineering and construction process. He believes that in the next three years, the construction industry will be relying much more on digital construction management systems in which 4D will play a role by leveraging and linking together robust databases containing detailed project information, including 3D models and detailed schedules. At that point, "then the PM-Vision application becomes very effective as the same data is used for scheduling, visualization, design and so on." A picture is worth thousands of glances at a spreadsheet--that's one of 4D's most obvious benefits, Burger contends. "I met with a construction company not long ago," he recalls, "and the scheduler's biggest problem is to communicate the schedule. Everyone nods yes, but does things differently [from what the scheduler had in mind]."

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(This animation depicts the complete construction of a building, including ongoing calculations of the amount of concrete poured)