Activity-based Construction Research Articles

Comparative Study of Activity-Based Construction Labor Productivity in the United States and China

This research compares construction labor productivity (CLP) of the United States with its Chinese counterpart at the activity level to evaluate productivity differences between the two countries from an operational perspective. Supplementing other comparative construction studies measuring productivity by output value per person, this research examined CLP—measured by physical quantity installed per labor hour—based upon published national average productivity data. Sampled activities included earthwork, concrete, masonry, structural steel, waterproofing, and interior finishes. Paired comparisons (United States–China) of these selected activities were then analyzed and evaluated. The source of the U.S. labor productivity data was RSMeans Building Construction Cost Data, which was cross validated by data from the Walker’s Building Estimator’s Reference Book. The source of Chinese labor productivity data was mainly the Beijing construction quota, which was cross validated by Chinese quotas from several oth...

Iconic Animation for Activity-based Construction Simulation

This paper discusses the development of an animation tool for the activity-based construction (ABC) modeling and simulation system. The tool uses an activity-based network diagram, i.e., ABC simulation model, as the animation background image, and uses precreated two-dimensional (2D) iconic images for simulation entities (e.g., resources). The animation process displays the queuing status and dynamic movements of 2D iconic images on the background. It also distinguishes active and idle states of resources and activities. Dynamic reports are available for selected activities with graphs including the production rate and utilization of involved resources. From visualizing the change of status of simulation process and dynamic interaction between simulation entities in the process, the user can better understand the dynamic nature of the construction process. Animation provides an avenue to demonstrate how dynamic operations are simulated. It also provides an effective tool for the user to verify a simulation model and to validate the obtained simulation results. Compared to other systems, the ABC animation does not require any extra effort in addition to the ABC simulation model constructed for simulation purposes. Therefore, the presented technology greatly reduces the time and cost for achieving animation. A variety of useful information can be observed through animation, and is illustrated using two construction examples.

Application of simulation related techniques to construction operations

This paper presents some simulation‐oriented techniques, particularly the resource allocation point (RAP) heuristic rule, for an activity‐based construction (ABC) simulation that requires only one kind of element to model construction operations. RAP heuristic rule provides the simulation with the decision‐making ability for allocating limited resources during simulation. Predefined entity management strategies control the movements of simulation entities so as to model some complex features of construction operations. An activity object‐oriented (AOO) simulation strategy based on object‐oriented approach for the implementation of the ABC simulation by regarding activities as objects controls the mechanism of the ABC simulation by checking only relevant activities at certain time, other than checking all activities for each simulation time unit. An easy‐to‐use animation aims at enhancing understanding of simulation and assisting modellers in verifying and validating model.

Resource allocation heuristic in construction simulation

The quantity of some resources is limited because of project cost constraints. These resources may be required by multiple activities simultaneously during a construction process. In a discrete simulation that models the construction process, tracing and controlling such entities, e.g. resources, is crucial to simulation. This paper presents a resource allocation point (RAP) heuristic that takes into account the dynamic and stochastic charateristics of simulation to enable the activity-based construction simulation system to process a decision-making ability, i.e. allocating the limited resources to the multiple computing activites during simulation. In addition, this paper introduces an activity object-orientated approach that implements the RAP heuristic and speeds up the simulation experimentation through initiating and checking only related activity objects instead of scanning all activities as in a pure activity scanning (AS) simulation strategy.

Activity-Based Construction (ABC) Modeling and Simulation Method

This research presents the activity-based construction (ABC) modeling and simulation method. ABC modeling (ABC-Mod) uses one single element (e.g., activity) for modeling general construction proces...