Automated seismic design of non-structural elements with building information modelling

The seismic performance of non-structural elements is nowadays recognized to be a key issue in performance based earthquake engineering. The knowledge of construction details within a building is of paramount importance in order to reduce uncertainties and improve the quality of the analysis and design, particularly in regards to non-structural elements. The use of Building Information Modelling (BIM) could represent a new frontier in the seismic design of non-structural elements by increasing the reliability of the seismic design and/or assessment. This study discusses the effectiveness of using Building Information Models in seismic design of nonstructural building elements. A simple tool has been developed to perform automatically the seismic design of sway braces for pressurized fire suppressant sprinkler piping systems based on information extracted from a Building Information Models. The effectiveness of the proposed procedure was validated via a case study.