Architectural and Structural Interoperability in the BIM Design Workflow

Achieving reliable interoperability between architectural and structural models remains one of the main challenges in BIM-based design workflows. Despite the widespread adoption of Building Information Modeling, the automatic transfer of information between modeling software and FEM analysis tools continues to generate inconsistencies, information loss, and the need for manual interventions. This study examines these issues through the case study of a reinforced-concrete residential building located in Palermo, used to evaluate BIM-to-FEM exchanges between Revit®, Robot Structural Analysis®, PRO_SAP®, and JASP®. The interoperability tests highlight significant limitations in both native and IFC-based workflows. The direct Revit–Robot link ensures good geometric consistency but still requires manual correction of analytical axes, connections, and boundary conditions. Indirect transfers via IFC exhibit greater instability: both IFC2x3 Coordination View 2.0 and IFC4 Reference View show difficulties in correctly interpreting structural elements and do not adequately preserve analytical relationships, resulting in unconnected slabs, disconnected nodes, and missing constraint information. In PRO_SAP®, several elements are also absent after IFC import. To address these issues, the study proposes a workflow based on the integration of Revit® and JASP® aimed at generating a reliable federated model. This model was further validated in Navisworks®, Solibri Anywhere®, BIM Vision®, and Enscape® to assess its correct interpretation across different software environments. This approach enhances interdisciplinary coordination, supports clash detection, facilitates immersive VR-based review, and centralizes architectural, structural, and MEP models into a unified environment. The results show that structured workflows and careful management of native and IFC transfers significantly improve model reliability and reduce design inconsistencies.