Appraising Road Design and Material-Cost Component Using Virtual Reality

Abstract

Capital infrastructure such as road construction weighs heavily on the budget of countries having large geographical area and growing population. The paper presents an emerging computer aided valuation appraisal technique for verifying design and quantifying the material-cost components contained within Bill of Quantities (BOQs) of paved road constructions. The method employed in achieving the research objectives is the use of Virtual Reality (VR) which is a technology capable of shifting a subject into a different environment without physically moving it. A prototype road with surrounding environment similar to the real environment was simulated using a combination of commercially available 3 Dimensional (3-D) design applications and the developed 3-D roadway with adjoining auxiliary road structures were subsequently analyzed using finite element testing method. The Ceremonial Road of the Federal University of Agric Abeokuta was chosen as the location for case study. The result of the developed VR platform showed matching values of material quantities close to that actually utilized. This technique has the potential of closely verifying the accuracy of presented BOQs by comparing the presented quotation with those generated using a VR platform. It is quite certain that application of this appraisal approach can proactively checkmate design flaws, Original Research Article British Journal of Applied Science & Technology, 4(27): 3956-3966, 2014 3957 overpricing and excessive budgets hence reducing cost of road development and maintenance. For future analysis, it is suggested that proprietary applications be explored for the same purpose. The research concluded with recommendations as a panacea to cutting down road construction cost.