Development of a BIM-based spatial conflict simulator for detecting dust hazards

In construction management, a spatial conflict between two activities is generally identified as the intersection between related workspaces. Such assumption works well for detecting the majority of conflicts. Nevertheless, in certain dynamic scenarios, a spatial interference between two activities may occur even if the related workspaces do not intersect each other. This study, being construction sites one of the major responsible for creating particulate matter (PM), focuses on spatial interferences related to dust hazard, still representing an open issue. In fact, although the correlation between PM concentration and health diseases dates back several decades, no study has addressed yet spatial interferences caused by PM-creating activities under the effect of meteorological and seasonal factors. In order to cover these gaps, this study proposes a BIM-based spatial conflict simulator that, framed within a workspace management framework, spatially checks future construction work plans according to atmospheric phenomena based on weather forecast data. The resulting prototype, developed within Unity3DTM and tested through sensitivity analysis, has been applied on a real construction site scenario. Experiments results has confirmed the possibility to virtually simulate construction activities and atmospheric phenomena in order to support project managers in adopting countermeasures against dust hazards.