System cuts BIM duplication and adds Blockchain 3.0 virtual disk

International research team, September 12, 2025

News Summary

A research team has introduced tSDT and openBIMdisk to make BIM exchanges leaner and traceable. tSDT records semantic, object-level differences so only real model edits become transactions, while openBIMdisk exposes a Blockchain 3.0 virtual disk that stores lightweight change records on-chain and keeps bulky files off-chain. In a modular construction pilot the method used about 0.007% of disk space for change records and returned version/object queries in around 5.3 ms. The approach reduces bandwidth and storage waste and offers fine-grained traceability, though larger trials and improved change-fusion remain next steps.

OpenBIMdisk and tSDT enable traceable, minimal‑redundancy open BIM exchange on a Blockchain 3.0 virtual disk

The latest developments in building information modeling (BIM) data exchange center on reducing data duplication while increasing traceability across multidisciplinary teams. A recent study introduces openBIMdisk, a Blockchain 3.0 based virtual disk that implements a traceable semantic differential transaction (tSDT) approach to BIM exchange. The work presents a complete system designed to support efficient, secure, and semantically traceable BIM sharing across multiple blockchain services, with a strong emphasis on minimizing redundancy in BIM objects as changes propagate through models.

What the approach aims to solve

Traditional file‑based BIM collaboration often transmits largely unchanged BIM objects, creating unnecessary network load and storage use. In addition, changes between BIM files can be difficult to trace precisely. While the IFC standard exists to facilitate BIM data exchange, redundancy, traceability gaps, and security concerns persist. The new approach tackles these issues by introducing a semantic‑level traceability mechanism and a minimal‑redundancy BIM exchange workflow, underpinned by a distributed ledger and off‑chain storage. The researchers developed a system that captures design deltas and semantic diffs, enabling partners to track exactly what changed, when, and by whom, while keeping large BIM files off the blockchain itself.

Core components and how they work

The system centers on two core elements: tSDT and openBIMdisk. The semantic differential transaction method computes incremental design changes as diffs, reducing data redundancy when updating BIM drawings. openBIMdisk provides a Blockchain 3.0 virtual disk that stores transaction records and semantic diffs on the blockchain, while off‑chain storage is used for large BIM files through a distributed file system. This hybrid on‑chain/off‑chain arrangement balances security and scalability because blockchains typically cannot store large files directly. The workflow leverages a modular architecture that harmonizes with multiple blockchain services to support distributed collaboration.

Pilot study and key results

The authors piloted the approach on a modular construction project to validate tSDT and openBIMdisk in practice. The study demonstrated substantial storage efficiency, with BIM changes stored and restored using an average of just 0.007% of disk space, illustrating dramatic reductions in data redundancy. In addition, the system achieved a rapid response time of about 5.3 milliseconds for BIM version management and object‑level semantic traceability, underscoring the feasibility of real‑time or near‑real‑time collaboration across teams. The modular project experiment also showcased effective semantic tracing of BIM changes and user‑friendly interfaces for BIM exchange within the blockchain environment.

Technical architecture and workflow details

The solution combines an open‑BIM workflow with a distributed ledger and a resilient off‑chain storage layer. Key elements include:

• Blockchain 3.0 virtual disk to host traceable BIM metadata and semantic diffs
• Off‑chain storage (e.g., a distributed file system) for large BIM files to avoid blockchain bloat
• Semantic diffs generated by SDT to capture only the content changes between design iterations
• On‑chain records that reference off‑chain files via addresses and hashes to ensure integrity
• Access control and signatures using public/private keys issued by a certificate authority to secure contributor identities

In the prototype, the data flow combines on‑chain records with off‑chain file storage. DDI (design delta information) records capture the content differences between design cycles, and DFDI (fused design delta information) records are generated automatically to consolidate multiple DDIs into a single update for the next BIM revision. The system ensures that BIM_O (the owner) and BIM_Ds (designers) interact within a permissioned model, enforcing edit rights and maintaining an auditable history of changes. When updates occur, the blockchain triggers a fusion step to create DFDI, which BIM_O then applies to the local drawing after retrieving updated content from the off‑chain store.

Technology choices and validation details

The prototype employs a Hyperledger Fabric framework with Raft consensus for governance, and it runs a private IPFS network to enable fast, distributed access to BIM files. A realistic test environment included multiple organizations and peers, with endorsement policies requiring at least one endorsement per organization. The implementation also featured a local IPFS setup for both BIM_O and BIM_Ds to upload and retrieve BIM drawings. A representative BIM test file described a health care center with 56 MB of data across five floors and about 50,000 square meters of area, used to measure storage, retrieval, and contract execution times under concurrent workloads.

Implications for the construction sector

By combining semantic diffs with a hybrid storage model and blockchain‑based records, the approach provides a robust mechanism for traceable, efficient BIM collaboration. It addresses core industry pain points—data redundancy, change traceability, and secure provenance—while preserving the performance needed for continuous, multi‑party design and analysis. The framework can be extended to support cross‑blockchain interoperability and to align with evolving open standards for BIM data exchange, potentially reducing rework and improving project governance.

Limitations and avenues for future work

While the approach shows strong potential, the study notes that the design information fusion step introduces extra time overhead. Future work may investigate merging the fusion process with the consensus mechanism to minimize overhead and enhance efficiency, especially for very large BIM datasets. Additional work could explore performance optimizations for SDT when handling extensive design histories and exploring broader interoperability with other BIM standards and platforms.

Accessibility and open resources

The underlying research provides open access to its full text and data, enabling practitioners and researchers to review the methods, replicate experiments, and adapt the approach to their own BIM exchange contexts. The study contributes to the broader discussion about secure, scalable BIM data management using blockchain, semantic diffs, and distributed file storage to support transparent, auditable collaboration across project teams.