Research on the Barrier Analysis and Strength Measurement of a Prefabricated Building Design

Zhenmin Yuan,Linxiu Wang,Wenshun Wang,Guodong Ni,Na Xu,Chengshuang Sun,Yaning Qiao

doi:10.3390/su12072994

Abstract

As a sustainable and cleaner type of facility, prefabricated buildings face more design barriers than traditional non-prefabricated buildings. Identifying and managing these barriers is key to improving the success rate of prefabricated building design. However, direct studies on these design barriers are extremely rare. The present study solved this problem by combining multiple methods, including grounded theory (GT), structured self-intersection matrix (SSIM), analytic network process (ANP), and the linear weighted sum method (LWSM). GT was adopted to identify the barriers to prefabricated building design and then SSIM was used to analyze the interactions among them. The eight design barriers were finally identified and classified into three clusters: technical barriers, economic barriers, and management barriers. A further analysis found that there is dependence and feedback among these clusters. The technical barrier cluster and management barrier cluster experience self-feedback. A network model based on ANP was next established to calculate the weights of the barrier elements and then this model was combined with LWSM to evaluate the overall design barrier strength of a project case. The results showed that architectural individualization has the greatest impact on prefabricated building design, followed by the collaborative issues among multiple units and professional designer issues. The overall design barrier strength of the project case was larger. Therefore, the first suggestion provided to the facility management sector is to establish a library for standard house types to achieve architectural design through multihouse combinations.

Highlights

Since prefabricated buildings have contributed greatly to the global fight against the new coronavirus “COVID-19”, they have again attracted global attention
In the three aforementioned clusters, we found that the technical barrier cluster is the most important, the management barrier cluster is the second most important, and the economic barrier cluster is third
This study identified the eight barriers affecting prefabricated building design and classified these barriers into technical barrier clusters, economic barrier clusters, and management barrier clusters via grounded theory (GT)

Summary

Introduction

Since prefabricated buildings have contributed greatly to the global fight against the new coronavirus “COVID-19”, they have again attracted global attention. Prefabricated buildings are still favored by the government of China due to their many advantages, including their faster construction speed [14], less required on-site labor [15], higher construction quality [16], sustainable development [17], and superior occupational health and safety [18]. With the development of prefabricated buildings, some new issues are beginning to emerge and become increasingly prominent, especially the design changes of prefabricated buildings. Design changes can waste a great deal of time and money and even affect the quality of buildings. Overcoming this issue remains a troubling prospect for industry insiders and researchers

Methods

Results

Conclusion