Establishing the role of BIM towards mitigating critical project risks assessed using a fuzzy inference system

Abstract

Risk management is an essential process for the successful execution of the project, and it is pertinent in achieving the project objectives and leading to its successful outcome. The nature of the construction industry, which is full of uncertainty and high capital investment, makes it notably more critical to address and manage the risks promptly. The most important part of the risk management process is identifying and assessing risks. However, the traditional Probability (P)-Impact (I) matrix used in their evaluation fails to account for the uncertainties witnessed in the determination of both P and I. This paper, therefore, uses a fuzzy approach to develop a risk assessment model. Further, the results of the generated model are compared with the conventional P-I matrix to show the effectiveness of the adopted fuzzy system. The data for the model development was collected from one of the metro-rail projects through a questionnaire. Subsequently, semi-structured interviews were conducted to identify the advantages of BIM in the project. The recognized BIM advantages were then correlated with the critical project risks to present it as the process for mitigating these risks. The study findings present the use of FIS to overcome the uncertainty in the risk management process, followed by the applicability of BIM as a risk mitigation tool. Establishing the role of BIM in the risk mitigation process can help in its wider acceptance in the construction industry