Integrating Reliability-Centered Maintenance with Building Information Modelling to enhance the efficiency of multi-component systems

In an era where people spend most of their time indoors, interest in the architecture, engineering and
construction of intelligent, sustainable, and healthy buildings becomes increasingly vital. However, the
operation and maintenance of such buildings remains undervalued, particularly due to challenges in
fragmented and unstructured data. For example, in building installations reactive maintenance
strategies like run-to-failure and corrective maintenance predominate over more effective
approaches such as condition-based maintenance. This research sets the grounds through a
systematic approach to discuss optimizing maintenance and subsequently structure data in an
integrated web-based platform.
By applying RCM, multi-component systems can benefit from a methodical analysis of critical
components requiring maintenance. The implementation on a case study AHU evaluated failure
causes and their effects on the system, followed by criticality assessments that was driven by expert
knowledge. The results offer practical insights on RCM implementation and expectations for facility
management
This research proceeds to employ a systems engineering approach to develop a platform that
integrates the results of RCM with a BIM model. Semi-structured interviews with maintenance
managers were conducted to establish platform requirements. Key functionalities such as querying
element properties, searching failure modes, and viewing maintenance strategies have been
developed. Additional functions, including automated integration with maintenance management
systems and fault reporting by users, are proposed for future development. The platform leverages
Brick Ontology to link dynamic sensor data to specific building spaces and incorporates the SSN and
SOSA ontologies to further detail failure and alarm representation.