Interoperability for precast concrete building models

The precast concrete National BIM Standard (NBIMS) initiative is an industrywide effort encompassing the major building model exchanges dealing with precast concrete and addressing a range of contracting and procurement methods. The standard was developed according to the guidelines described within the NBIMS for facilitating information exchanges and improving interoperability. The precast concrete NBIMS effort is the first of its kind to deal with a large set of exchanges. The tradeoffs and advantages of this large-scale approach are reviewed as well as areas that require additional attention. Two demonstrations were conducted to showcase the functionality that the software companies are developing in support of the standard and to provide an example of the potential of open BIM. They also revealed the importance of full validation testing and certification.