Bidirectional BIM–FEM Interoperability for Reinforced-Concrete Structures through Systematic Topology Refinement, Pattern-Based Shared Naming, and Change Propagation

This paper examines the persistent gap between BIM and FEM models in structural design, where existing solutions remain unable to achieve complete, accurate, and fully automatic bidirectional data exchange for three primary reasons. First, correspondence between models typically depends on native identifiers, resulting in lost links when identifiers change in either environment. Second, transferred models often fail to comply with the modeling conventions of the receiving environment because systematic refinement operations are generally unavailable, and manual adjustments are required before and after each transfer. Third, changes introduced between iterations are not tracked or classified, necessitating manual identification, coordination, and reapplication of every revision. This study develops a dedicated Revit–SAP2000 plugin that refines the raw analytical model through a fixed sequence of automated operations, assigns each element a pattern-based shared name derived from its intrinsic properties and spatial position in both environments, and utilizes baseline snapshots to detect, classify, and propagate changes in both directions. The complete workflow was tested on a real reinforced-concrete building, where it generated the FEM model without manual remodeling, reduced the modeling time from approximately 15 hours to 2 hours, and maintained equivalence between the two models through successive design changes.