Distributed Simulation of Processes in Buildings and City Models

• Applicants: Dr. Patrick Erik Bradley; Professor Dr. Martin Breunig
• Subject Area: Structural Engineering, Building Informatics and Construction Operation
• Term: since 2021
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 469999674

Building Information Modeling (BIM) was introduced in order to modelthe life cycle of buildings and infrastructures, and to make themavailable for questions at a higher level. Demanding processes likeenvironment simulations or city and spatial planning, however, mustconsider in the sense of Geographic Information Systems (GIS),starting from the micro level of single buildings, also quarters, wholecities and regions. Only then can the dynamics and the influence ofclimate- and environment-related quantities be simulated in differentscales. The aim of this proposal is the conception and makingavailable of methods for supporting distributed simulations of scale-overlapping processes in the BIM/GIS context. Hereby, novelmathematical and information-technological methods shall come totheir application. More explicitly, processes on finite topologies are tobe described in a mathematically sound way and run as efficiently aspossible using graph theory and p-adic analysis. Regardingimplementations, algorithms and partitionable data structures are tobe provided which are suitable for a distributed processing alsoacross levels of detail or scale, respectively. Using topology as ascale-free perspective on describing processes, thought-provokingimpulses for new generations of data modeling standards like IFC andCityGML are to be given. Finally, the practicability of the developpedconcepts and software are to be demonstrated on a typical processlike the heat propagation within an integrated 3D city and buildingmodel.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants