Building Information Modeling (BIM) for Civil Infrastructures

Dear Colleagues,

With the growing need for the design of new infrastructures and the refurbishment and advancement of facility management of existing ones, the civil engineering and construction industry is undergoing a significant digital transformation. Building Information Modeling (BIM) has emerged as a key methodological and technological solution, enabling a holistic approach to managing complex infrastructure projects. 

This Special Issue is a broad attempt to bring to light state-of-the-art research on the use of BIM throughout the project lifecycle, from initial design, construction to operation, maintenance, and decommissioning. We seek contributions that demonstrate how BIM can facilitate automation, improve sustainability, and meet the demands of project management. The focus is on a wide range of infrastructure types, including the following:

• Transportation Infrastructure: Roads, bridges, tunnels, and railway systems.
• Waste and Water Management: Treatment plants, pipelines, and distribution.
• Energy and Power Plants: Hydro, nuclear, and other energy-producing plants, Small Modular Reactors (SMRs), Renewable Facilities, and Oil/Gas distribution.

We are particularly interested in papers that explore how BIM can be involved in the center of decision-making, model based project communication, infrastructure design and construction management, asset management, impact and performance assessment. Parallel advances in sensing technologies, advanced data analytics, digital twins, robotics, and artificial intelligence that enhance BIM capabilities are highly encouraged. We hope this initiative will substantially contribute to unification of existing research trends in infrastructure engineering and management, generating essential knowledge for the 21st century's digital transformation. This effort aims to lead to the creation of more resilient, sustainable, and efficiently built and  managed infrastructure systems.

Topics included in this Special Issue include but are not limited to:

• Specific Requirements and Advancement of BIM in infrastructures
• BIM for infrastructure project lifecycle management and ROI
• BIM-enabled automation and robotics in construction
• BIM and sustainability assessment of civil infrastructure
• Digital twins for infrastructure operation and maintenance
• BIM and security minded approach applied to infrastructure
• Integration of BIM with GIS, IoT, and remote sensing
• Advanced project management using BIM in infrastructures
• BIM for waste and water management systems
• Application of BIM in energy infrastructure, including SMRs
• Refurbishment and retrofitting of existing infrastructure using BIM
• Data interoperability and open standards in BIM workflows in infrastructure
• Machine learning and AI in BIM-based workflows in infrastructure

Dr. Tomo Cerovšek
Dr. Marzia Bolpagni
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-anonymized peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Infrastructures is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1800 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.