Application of BIM technology in Venlo greenhouse design

Abstract: The current design of the greenhouse cannot fully meet the high requirement of modern agriculture in recent years. It is necessary to deal with incoherent information, repetitive modelling, frequent revision of drawings, and manual extraction of variables during the design process. In this study, a Building Information Modeling (BIM) approach was proposed to the design of Venlo greenhouses. The design process consisted of schematic design, model creation, and design output. Before that, some specific configuration needed to be done. A systematic approach was established to apply the BIM technology for the Venlo greenhouse at different stages of the design process. Special software was then selected to create the greenhouse BIM. A BIM-based workflow was also constructed for the design, analysis, drafting, and material statistics of the glass greenhouse. Furthermore, a family library of the parametric component was created to screen different templates, according to the characteristics of Venlo greenhouse components. Subsequently, the site was arranged using the Revit's topography and volume modules in the schematic design. A visual analysis of climate data in the site was carried out using Ladybug Tools. The hours of direct sunlight on the winter solstice were also compared to determine the direction of the greenhouse. Additionally, the operator was created in Grasshopper to process the meteorological and the geometric data of greenhouse, in order to calculate the cooling and heating loads, as well as the maximum ventilation of greenhouse, thereby determining the equipment parameters. In the model creation, the elevation and axis networks were created in Revit for the positioning of the structural frame family, according to the defined scheme. A structural model was automatically generated and then exported to the Dlubal RFEM interface for the displacement and strength verification, where the specification of the frame was adjusted in real time. Afterwards, the components were deepened with the open cuts from the Revit family module, the steel module, and Advance Steel. The rest of the production systems were also created in turn after the structural framework, such as the enclosure, natural ventilation, and irrigation system. Moreover, a comprehensive evaluation of the model and systems were coordinated in Navisworks, according to the generated reports of collision detection. In the design output stage, the drawings were created quickly, where the comments were added in the views, further to drag into the title bar. The simple components were generated from the component view and complex assemblies, such that the trusses were created with Advance Steel. Material statistics were also completed separately using a family category. As such, the model was imported into the Lumion for rendering and animation using a plug-in. Anyway, the smart BIM model of the greenhouse was then created, together with a visual display of component installation. The BIM technology can be expected to break through the design chain. Specifically, the multiple uses of one model, simultaneous analysis, and automatic bill of materials statistics can greatly reduce the workload of drawing changes, and save one-third of the time, compared with the conventional. Consequently, the design process of Venlo greenhouse can be optimized to facilitate communication among multiple parties, while strengthening the management and application of project information, particularly for higher efficiency of project construction. The finding can also offer a new design approach to the greenhouse installation.