BIM Integrated Airport Pavement Management System

In recent years, BIM (Building Information Modeling) is occurring a technological revolution in the AEC (Architecture Engineering Construction) field, bringing improvements along all the processes of design, construction, management of the implemented assets. The application of BIM changes the approach as elements that were previously simple “graphic objects” become “intelligent elements” capable of containing parameters, rules and information related to the construction process. However, if this technology is extensively advancing in the buildings projects, only recently the infrastructure sector is evolving to current regulatory and market needs, determined by the mandatory use of BIM in public works, with established implementation times and methods. In this framework, this study aims to analyze the use of BIM in airport pavement management systems (APMS), as an analytical tool for visualizing and monitoring the evolution of the performance pavement of the flight infrastructures. The study consists of two phases: the first one concerns BIM modeling of the airport infrastructures; the second one investigates the pavement management in terms of integrated analysis and planning. To ensure the integration of the elements with pre-existing assets, the BIM modeling is adequately localized within the territorial context, through combination with the GIS (Geographic Information System). The case study demonstrates that the use of the BIM makes it possible to facilitate the programming of maintenance activities also in terms of management costs and operations impact. By facilitating the coordination of all airport stakeholders, BIM modeling simplify the access to APMS information and the check of possible interferences with existing assets, such as AVL and underground services, which could affect construction phases and times.