Bentley Systems , a leading provider of software solutions for infrastructure has introduced a new breakthrough technology that mitigates risk of building in utility-congested underground environments.

Built on OpenRoads, Bentley’s new Subsurface Utility Engineering (SUE) software enables integrated engineering management of underground utility networks for water, storm water, gas, and electric services, bringing together data from multiple sources and geo-coordinating it for subsurface 3D modelling, interactive inspection, and clash resolution.

SUE provides a framework of powerful software tools and rich content to quickly and easily generate high-fidelity, intelligent 3D feature-based models of the buried construction zone, mitigating the risks of building in utility-congested underground environments. Project delays and damaged subsurface utilities to explosions are some of the risks that companies have to deal with when working in such environments.

According to Bentley Systems CEO Greg Bentley, working in underground environments poses the biggest risk to those designing, building, and operating infrastructure anywhere in the world. However, very little development has happened in information modelling and information mobility to improve construction throughput and enhance the reliability, safety, and resilience of infrastructure assets.

With Bentley Systems’ portfolio spanning building, civil, geospatial and plant domains, this area of development is a particular priority as all infrastructure projects are impacted by subsurface conditions, restrictions and requirements. Bentley’s Subsurface Utility Engineering software provides a powerful new information modelling application, which will empower project teams to comprehensively understand, and more effectively and efficiently resolve underground infrastructure conflicts.

SUE automatically creates 3D models from survey information, CAD data, GIS, Excel spreadsheets, Oracle databases, and other industry standard sources of information, while also maintaining a relationship between CAD and GIS utility sources and tracking civil features to ensure data is always synchronised.

SUE’s visualisation and clash detection capabilities allow users to readily identify and resolve conflicts between new construction features and existing utilities during the design phase, helping to mitigate risk during construction, lower costs, and sustain asset performance.

The immersive modelling function empowers users to combine active plan, profile, and cross-section views with innovative 3D modelling technology, providing additional context for decision making. Intelligent 3D modelling capabilities deliver against the U.S. Federal Highway Administration’s MAP-21 recommendations for 3D modelling/virtual construction and visualisation technology.

SUE also conforms to essential elements of the Standard Guideline for the Collection and Depiction of Existing Subsurface Utility Data (38-02) that govern subsurface utility information quality. This standard assists engineers, project and utility owners, and constructors in developing strategies to reduce risk by improving the reliability of information on existing subsurface utilities in a defined manner.