Tim Nickle

    My first introduction to Navisworks was after the completion of our coordinated models. Our teams was exhausted but antsy to start processing our models for cost estimation and building performance analyses. Kris, our Chief Estimator and I had diligently modeled our plumbing and HVAC from our mechanical drawing set. We were concerned about the heights of our MEP components, recognizing elements such as ceilings and steel superstructure may be occupying the same space in some areas.

 

    To manage this, I used tools and methods taught to us by one of SAIT's alumni Raya Anderton, a VDC coordinator at Ellis Don. She described how industry typically uses the Clash Detective in Navisworks to identify all geometric conflicts between specific models that posed the most important sources of this congestion.  

 

    Revit's native .rvt file can quickly and easily be exported  as an nwc. to be appended to a new Navisworks project. Once multiple models have been appended, the scope of clash detection tests are then determined. It should be noted that the scale of the project can produce thousand of clashes that may prevent adequate issue management. In some case, conflicts identified by the clash detective may be ignored as certain issues between trades are typically resolved via on-site coordination.

 

    The resulting tests generated hundreds of clash instances, far too much for a single BIM Manager to sort through and resolve alone. I used an issue management software called BIM Track to publish these clashes into grouped issue sets to be delegated across our VDC team. This platform allows for the issues to be accessible through both Revit and Navisworks so as to track the issues to their source for quick and effective correction.