Synchronous collaborative tunnel design based on consistency-preserving multi-scale models

The planning of large infrastructure projects such as inner-city subway tracks is a highly collaborative process in which numerous experts from different domains are involved. While performing the planning task, widely differing scales have to be taken into consideration, ranging from the kilometer scale for the general routing of the track down to the centimeter scale for the detailed design of connection points. Currently there is no technology available which supports both the collaborative as well as the multi-scale aspect in an adequate manner. To fill this technological gap and better support the collaborative design and engineering activities involved with infrastructure planning, this paper introduces a new methodology which allows engineers to simultaneously manipulate a shared multi-scale tunnel model. This methodology comprises two main aspects. The first aspect is a multiscale model for shield tunnels, which provides five different levels of detail (LoD) representing the different levels of abstraction required throughout the planning progress. The second aspect is a conceived collaboration platform, which enables simultaneous modifications of the multi-scale model by multiple users. In existing multi-scale approaches, where the individual representations are stored independently from each other, there is a high risk of creating inconsistencies, in particular in the highly dynamic collaborative planning context. To overcome this issue, the concept presented in this paper makes use of procedural modeling techniques for creating explicit dependencies between the geometric entities on the different LoDs. This results in a highly flexible, yet inherently consistent multiscale model where the manipulation of elements on coarser LoDs results in an automated update of all dependent elements on finer LoDs. The proposed multi-scale model forms a well-suited basis for realizing the collaboration concept, which allows several experts to simultaneously manipulate a shared infrastructure model on various scales while using the different design tools they are accustomed to. The paper discusses in detail the principles and advantages of the proposed multi-scale modeling approach as well as its application in the context of collaborative tunnel design. The paper concludes with a case study of a large infrastructure project: a new inner-city subway tunnel in Munich, Germany.