Development of aluminum formwork panel optimization tool for walls and slabs in building construction by Building Information Modeling (BIM) and Harmony Search Algorithm (HSA)
Abstract:
The construction industry in Thailand has continued to grow steadily, accompanied by rising costs of construction materials. In the process of casting concrete structures, formwork plays a crucial role. Aluminum formwork has increasingly been adopted as a replacement for traditional timber formwork due to its reusability over multiple cycles. However, the planning and installation of aluminum formwork is often complex and prone to errors, especially in multi-story or geometrically irregular buildings, due to the variety of formwork panel sizes and configurations involved. This research aims to develop a tool to enhance the efficiency of aluminum formwork management by integrating Building Information Modeling (BIM) with the Harmony Search Algorithm (HSA). The tool is implemented on Autodesk Revit using Dynamo. The objective is to determine the optimal number of aluminum formwork panels that cover wall and slab elements, by minimizing the uncovered area through an automated process. The results demonstrate that the proposed tool is capable of achieving over 98% coverage of total wall and slab surfaces using standard and semi-standard panel sizes. This system significantly reduces manual planning time, streamlines construction workflows, and provides a reliable basis for initial decision-making in construction projects.