Infrastructure Design and Evaluation Framework

"Software tools have long been used to support the design of large infrastructure developments, with many off-the-shelf CAD products to support general construction projects and associated project management support. The railways require multi-discipline engineering to deliver to support track layout, signalling schemes, station design and power supply, requiring specialist design tools.

This project, Infrastructure Design Evaluation Framework, envisages how these existing tools can be integrated to utilise the data collected from these specialist railway tools and to combine this with other third-party data such as mapping, building plans and various government data sources. The infrastructure data model will be developed using modern object-oriented data modelling techniques to fuse this information into a single model offering a comprehensive BIM level 3 description of the infrastructure. The framework will provide access to the data model through service interfaces enabling information to be shared between the tools. The framework will be decoupled from but linked with these tools, using common system data exchange formats (such as SDEF) producing a whole system solution. It offers services to publish the information allowing tools to share a common data model and update their state in real time. The framework provides options to improve designs through application of generative algorithms to produce incrementally altered designs automatically, adjusting assets within user specified constraints and using the Graffica simulation platform HERMES to evaluate capacity and headway for the generated designs.

The infrastructure data model established can then be used as a baseline to evaluate different design options by using simulation to determine the efficiency of the solution in terms of construction cost, capacity, maintenance costs, project risk and safety. The project envisages a software framework that provides a generative infrastructure design facility to evaluate incrementally changed construction design options, running many simulations in parallel to determine improved solutions. The system and its associated tooling shall offer capability over the full GRIP lifecycle, including rapid feasibility assessment of future projects, through to the detailed project design, construction and long-term facility maintenance.

The first phase of the project will focus on the design of track layout and signalling scheme construction, allowing information to be defined in different coordinate frames, and including a temporal coordinate to indicate how the scheme might be progressed through time. The system shall utilise as much existing software as possible, including SIG design tools and Graffica's abstract toolkit, GSDK, to provide the foundation of the system."