Advanced Construction Technologies Research Articles

Customer satisfaction with advanced construction technologies in residential buildings

ABSTRACT New advanced construction technologies have been gaining traction in the construction industry. Because using advanced technologies and tools ensures more accuracy. It implies that more precise measurements for the foundations, perimeters or corners and more in depth charting of existing structures, all of which contributes greatly to creating and offering buildings of high quality. This research aims to quantify the impact of construction technologies success criteria on customer satisfaction (or real estate developers) among residential real-estate developers. The study employed Kano Quality Model (KQM) to achieve research objective. The research starts by identifying the critical criteria of the construction technologies that have impact on the customer requirements and satisfaction. The gaps and the shortcomings between the customer requirements and the capability of the construction technologies are the opportunities of improvement of the construction technologies in the construction sector. Therefore, this research enables manufactures to evaluate their new construction technologies before lunching it in the market and identifying the shortcomings of their technologies as the opportunities of improvement to enhance its success. Results showed that the criterion “Reducing the need for storage area for materials and equipment on site” has the most impact on the customer satisfaction, but its impact on the customer dissatisfaction is negligible. The criteria “Increasing safety on site”, “Reducing the Cost” and “Reducing time” have the most impact on the customer dissatisfaction. Although, construction technologies are promising, but it is still below expectations and needs development in some areas in order to become a practical and widely accepted strategy.

Finite Element Analysis of Castellated Beams with Different Web Openings

Due to the recent developments in design optimization techniques and advanced construction technologies, uses of castellated beams have become very popular. Castellated beams because of their high strength to weight ratio and low maintenance and painting cost have effectively replaced built-up girders in light to medium constructions for medium to long spans. Longitudinal cuts in the form of openings along the web of castellated beams also results in stronger and stiffer beams than their parent beams without any increase in the self-weight. In this study, attempts are made to compare the behavior of castellated beams with their parent beams. Studies on effect of different web openings on deflection are carried out using finite element analysis.

Measuring safety performance of construction employees using data envelopment analysis: A case in Australia

Introduction: Safety is one of the critical and persistent challenges in the construction industry. Measuring safety performance could allow decision-makers to check safety production processes and enhance the health and safety environment. Method: This study developed a total-factor framework based on the global Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) method to measure safety performance. The performance trend and influencing factors of pure technical efficiency and scale efficiency were separately investigated. The safety performance of construction employees in Australia was measured as a case study. Results: The results demonstrate that the safety performance in the Australian construction industry has been evidently enhanced, which is mainly promoted by the progress of pure technical elements. The scale factors did not play a positive and important role in driving the performance. Conclusions: The increasing regional differences in safety performance could be reduced by learning the practices from the benchmark construction industry, such as a young worker program, small business safety program, workplace mental health program, and advanced construction technologies. Practical Applications: The method can be utilized to measure safety performance and investigate the pathways to enhance performance without influencing production inputs and outcomes. The model and experiences of how to promote safety performance on the policymakers and employers were recognized.

Design and Construction of the Longest Cross-Canyon Suspension Bridge in the World

The Aizhai Bridge is the longest suspension bridge crossing a canyon in the world. A novel pylon–girder detached suspension structure was first adopted in the design of the Aizhai Bridge, which provided a new concept for the design of suspension bridges. Moreover, the application of a high-performance carbon fiber rock anchor system in the bridge provided a new method for applying high-performance carbon fiber materials in engineering structures. In addition, the construction method of the girder-conveying track cable technique proposed for the Aizhai Bridge successfully solved the problem of the erection of the stiffening girders of long-span suspension bridges in mountainous areas. This study mainly introduces the design method, the application of new materials, and the advanced construction technologies of the Aizhai Bridge.

Fuzhou–Xiamen high-speed railway: a new paradigm for China’s cross-sea railways

The new 277 km Fuzhou–Xiamen high-speed railway in China is the country’s first cross-sea railway designed for operational speeds of 350 km/h. Completed in 2023, it involved various advanced construction technologies, including the world’s first 1000 t bridge-building machine to be used offshore, advanced corrosion-resistant steel, pioneering rotation of a main bridge pylon, and aerodynamic steel–concrete composite bridge decks with ballastless tracks. The innovative project represents a milestone for China’s high-speed railway, heralding a new era of cross-sea transportation.

Composite materials, technologies and manufacturing: current scenario of European Union shipyards

ABSTRACT This paper provides the results and the analysis of a study conducted on the processes and technologies currently used by European Union shipyards, and their potential interest in new advanced composite construction technologies, including Adaptive Moulds, Automated Tape Laying, Automated Fibre Placement, Curved Pultruded Profiles, Additive Manufacturing, Hot Stamping, Modular and Serialised Shipbuilding and Digitisation of Production. A new set of indexes are also introduced with the objective of facilitating the evaluation of the technological level of the shipyard, thereby allowing the understanding of the shipyard's interest in new developments. The analysis of the survey conducted shows that almost the 95% of shipyards either currently use or plan to use composite materials, being the composites made of fibreglass and polyester resin the most used. These composites are mainly manufactured by manual lamination and vacuum infusion techniques. The survey has also shown that there is a high interest in the shipyard digitisation and the use of new technologies in the shipbuilding industry, especially for new construction shipyards. The study shows that despite shipyards want to adopt digitisation in engineering and design processes, implementation of new technologies and concepts is being held back by financial cost and uncertainty regarding outcomes such as improved operational efficiency of vessels. The shipyards that do not use composites are less technologically advanced than those that use them, according to the analysis of the technological indexes. This analysis has also shown that the shipyards with a high technological index have a more varied potential market offer.

Deep Reinforcement Learning for Real-Time Assembly Planning in Robot-Based Prefabricated Construction

The adoption of robotics is promising to improve the efficiency, quality, and safety of prefabricated construction. Besides technologies that improve the capability of a single robot, the automated assembly planning for robots at construction sites is vital for further improving the efficiency and promoting robots into practices. However, considering the highly dynamic and uncertain nature of a construction environment, and the varied scenarios in different construction sites, it is always challenging to make appropriate and up-to-date assembly plans. Therefore, this paper proposes a Deep Reinforcement Learning (DRL) based method for automated assembly planning in robot-based prefabricated construction. Specifically, a re-configurable simulator for assembly planning is developed based on a Building Information Model (BIM) and an open game engine, which could support the training and testing of various optimization methods. Furthermore, the assembly planning problem is modelled as a Markov Decision Process (MDP) and a set of DRL algorithms are developed and trained using the simulator. Finally, experimental case studies in four typical scenarios are conducted, and the performance of our proposed methods have been verified, which can also serve as benchmarks for future research works within the community of automated construction. <italic xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">Note to Practitioners</i> —This paper is conducted based on the comprehensive analysis of real-life assembly planning processes in prefabricated construction, and the methods proposed could bring many benefits to practitioners. Firstly, the proposed simulator could be easily re-configured to simulate diverse scenarios, which can be used to evaluate and verify the operations’ optimization methods and new construction technologies. Secondly, the proposed DRL-based optimization methods can be directly adopted in various robot-based construction scenarios, and can also be tailored to support the assembly planning in traditional human-based or human-robot construction environments. Thirdly, the proposed DRL methods and their performance in the four typical scenarios can serve as benchmarks for proposing new advanced construction technologies and optimization methods in assembly planning.

Success Criteria for Applying Construction Technologies in Residential Projects

The construction sector has seen a surge in publications over the years, indicating that construction technologies are gaining traction across all economic sectors as a result of rapid technology growth. The focus on construction technologies is evident in industrialized nations and those with high gross national product (GNP). This study was conducted to assess the success criteria of applying advanced construction technologies in residential projects. The research started with creating the evaluation criteria which were formulated by taking into account the analysis and findings of previous research and expert opinions. Then, these criteria have been evaluated according to their importance for real estate developers. To assess the contributions of construction technologies in bettering the current construction methods in residential projects, the success criteria of employing the new technologies are examined based on real estate developers in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, who are the target customers. Research findings illustrated that the most essential criteria for utilizing construction technologies in residential projects are “Reducing cost”, “Increasing the safety on-site” and “Reducing the time”. Research results asserted that the effectiveness of construction technologies used in residential projects relies on their ability to improve the management of essential construction operations and provide concrete advantages to homeowners. By implementing advanced construction technologies in the residential sector, there is a possibility of transforming the way we strategize, construct, and maintain our homes, thus making them better.

OPS-ITO: Development of Isogeometric Analysis and Topology Optimization in OpenSEES for Free-Form Structural Design

Unlike the current design routine manually defining geometries for computational analyses, a future-oriented computer-aided design tool can generate a structural model through automated model optimization and iterative analyses. The topology optimization technique uses elemental density variables to formulate a computationally varying model based on analysis results, while an isogeometric analysis could facilitate the automatic iteration without adapting the mesh scheme at each step. This paper aims to bring these capabilities in the open-source simulation platform OpenSEES. The IGAQuad and IGABrick elements using NURBS based shape functions and geometric description are developed in this widely-used finite element modelling framework, which are then ported to a density-based topology optimization module. The modelling capabilities of the IGA elements have been verified using classic problems. The model optimization processes for loaded structural members are demonstrated using 2D and 3D cases, in which the eventually obtained geometric models are fundamentally different from the original boxy shapes but of less material cost and comparable structural performance. Although the development in this paper remains limited, the open-source and modular code infrastructure of OpenSees could facilitate continuous development on the basis of the topology optimization and isogeometric analysis in this paper, aiming for a computational tool to synergize the free form structural design and the advanced construction technologies.

Study of the Behavior of Excavations and Support Systems for an Alternative Construction Model of the Tunnels in Mexico City

The project proposal for the Desierto de los Leones tunnels in the Poetas Highway in Mexico aims to improve the excavation and support systems and evaluate the safety levels during construction. The design is based on geological and geotechnical information from the original project and can be approached using various methods, including numerical simulations. The article includes a summary of the lithological characteristics, a reinterpretation of geotechnical properties, a description of new construction procedures, and the results of calculations using the finite data differences method. The proposed project aims to improve the safety and stability of the tunnels through advanced construction technologies and adapted procedures, generated by a redesign and the scientific application of new techniques developed for this project.

Are Green Buildings an Indicator of Sustainable Development?

The world’s population keeps growing together with the construction rate of buildings that need to reduce their environmental footprint in order to mitigate global warming. This paper analyses if the spread of green buildings can be used as an indicator of broader sustainable development. The study is carried out with data taken from Eurostat Database and green buildings directories for 27 EU countries in the 10-year period spanning from 2010 to 2019. The relationship between the indicators is examined through simple linear regressions, and the results confirm the Environmental Kuznets Curve hypothesis: in developed countries, a growing economy (more GDP) is related to an environmental improvement (fewer GHG emissions). In addition, this study proves that the variance of green buildings expresses with a consistent probability the variance of GDP per capita (p-value = 0.0004 and R2 = 0.8475) and the variance of GHG emissions (p-value = 0.0002 and R2 = 0.8825), meaning that green buildings are indeed an indicator of sustainable development. This is due to the upfront cost required to implement advanced construction technologies that ultimately cut GHG emissions during the building lifecycle. This also points out that policy makers should encourage green building implementation through tax relieves and grants.

РАЗРАБОТКА КОМПЛЕКСНОГО РЕШЕНИЯ ДЛЯ 3D-ПЕЧАТИ СТЕНОВЫХ КОНСТРУКЦИЙ

Construction 3D printing is one of the advanced construction technologies in the era of widespread digitalization. The main idea of construction printing is to create a finished product or structure with one installation according to a given digital model. One of the obstacles to widespread implementation is the lack of integrated solutions for the construction of printed walls, ensuring the fulfillment of both structural and thermal engineering requirements, as well as the lack of available materials that allow obtaining mixtures for construction printing, maximally optimized for the features of a 3D printer. At the same time, an important condition for the commercial attractiveness of 3D technologies is the minimization of initial costs, as well as the availability of raw materials that contribute to their development by small and medium-sized businesses. The article offers a comprehensive solution for the development and creation of wall structures, consisting in alternating printing with one device (in different modes) of a fixed formwork made of fine-grained concrete with filling the interior space with a foam concrete mixture based on gypsum cement binder. This solution ensures the fulfillment of structural and thermal engineering requirements based on available standard components (commodity binders), maximally optimized for the features of the construction printer.

Integration strategies for advanced construction technologies in the US AECO industry

Advanced Construction Technologies (ACTs) have fundamentally altered the way the US Architecture, Engineering, Construction, and Operations (AECO) industry operates. Over the past few decades, the US AECO industry has undergone a technological awakening, which promises to improve project quality and efficiency in a multitude of ways. The shift towards technology adoption began with Building Information Modeling (BIM), which for many years struggled to gain acceptance due to a largely ad-hoc integration strategy for organizations. As technologies continue to emerge and develop beyond, and in parallel with BIM, there are no tools available to help evaluate, plan and integrate such advancements in US AECO workflows. A series of semi-structured interviews were conducted with US AECO industry technology experts to establish a cursory list of the factors which impede or promote the successful integration of ACTs. These factors were evaluated, ranked and rated through a Delphi study, conducted with a panel of industry experts who at the time specialized or leveraged ACTs. A novel continuously iterative Delphi platform was deployed to gain the requisite expert input for the importance rating and impact ranking for each of the factors cited as influential in technology integration. The collected data was used to help bridge the identified gap between ACT development and successful integration of ACTs into US AECO industry workflows. Within the context of existing technology integration theories, this study identifies and evaluates factors which influence technological integration success within the US AECO industry. This study begins the process of establishing a foundation of understanding as it relates to meaningful ACT integration.

Topic modeling and topic change trend analysis for advanced construction technologies

현재 국내 건설기술의 발전을 도모하기 위해 건설신기술 지정 제도를 운영하고 있다. 이 제도를 통해 지정된 건설신기술과 관련하여 중요도가 높은 출현 어휘와 어휘들 간의 관계를 분석함으로써 건설신기술에 내재된 암묵적인 의미를 살펴보고자 하였다. 이를 위해 918건의 건설신기술정보를 수집하였다. 수집된 건설신기술의 고시연도와 요약 내용을 기초로 하여 건설신기술별로 출현어휘의 중요도를 측정하였다. LDA 모형을 기반으로 한 4개의 토픽별로 연관된 어휘들 간의 영향정도를 평가하였다. 기술적용분야에 따른 토픽을 분석하였다. 1990년부터 2021년까지의 토픽별로 영향력이 높은 어휘들의 변화 추이를 유추하였다. 향후 환경&#65381;기계&#65381;설비 토픽과 구조물의 보수&#65381;보강 토픽의 영향정도 변화와 이에 관련한 적용기술 분야를 예측하였다. 토픽의 개발방향을 예측하였다.

ІННОВАЦІЙНІ ТЕХНОЛОГІЇ БУДІВНИЦТВА В ОСВІТНЬОМУ ПРОЦЕСІ З ФІЗИКИ У ЗАКЛАДАХ ВИЩОЇ БУДІВЕЛЬНОЇ ОСВІТИ

The article considers the issue of improving the content of the discipline "Physics" in the training of future specialists in construction and civil engineering, taking into account the innovative processes occurring in construction. It is emphasized that new scientific technologies are increasingly integrated into construction and become the most popular, which necessitates qualitative changes in the training of specialists and their preparation for use in professional activities of the most advanced construction technologies from the first stages of higher education. t is determined that the main condition for the effective implementation of the latest technologies is to ensure a high level of qualification of all workers in the construction industry. It is emphasized that at the present stage of development of the construction industry the professional training of civil engineers is filled with new content and an important place in it is occupied by acquaintance of future specialists with the basics of the latest construction technologies. At the same time, it is noted that now there is a situation when due to the rapid progress of the construction industry, the training of specialists of a qualitatively new level does not keep up with the demand for them, which is growing steadily. It is noted that the globalization processes taking place in the world and lead to the fact that they lead to the inevitable integration of the construction industry of Ukraine in the world have a significant impact on the training of specialists. The necessity of revision of training programs for future civil engineers and improvement and deepening of their content through the introduction of information about the latest construction technologies is proved. Key words: educational process in physics, innovative construction technologies, professional training of civil engineers.

Effectiveness of using visualization technologies in construction

This article describes the relevance of using 3D visualization technology for construction projects. Despite the fact that the construction industry is not knowledge-intensive and is rather conservative in the implementation of innovations, these technologies can increase its competitiveness and ensure sustainable development of the country’s economy. Advanced technologies allow increasing the company’s revenues, reducing the cost of production, increasing the competitiveness and image of the company. They help to maintain current market positions and conquer new market segments. The use of innovations in the construction industry helps to optimize the use of the entire resource potential of the enterprise, increase the efficiency of using its labor, material, financial and information resources, reduce the cost of construction and installation work, accelerate the speed of information exchange and improve marketing activities. Innovations in the construction industry are introduced at all stages of the life cycle of a construction object: at the stage of project investment, design of a construction object, use of resource-saving and advanced construction technologies, use of energy-efficient building materials, application of innovations in marketing, production organization and personnel management. 3D visualization technologies play an important role in the management of construction stages and design of construction objects. However, today, not enough attention is paid to the economic assessment of the effectiveness of using 3D visualization technology for a particular enterprise. In this regard, the degree of elaboration of the topic is insufficient, and the research topic is relevant.

An Adaptable Conceptual Model for Construction Technology Transfer: The BRI in Africa, the Case of Ethiopia

Unlike other developmental relationships, BRI is the most promising icon in transforming the construction industry and built environment in Africa; the infrastructure developments like highways, bridges, skyscrapers, and aviation take in advanced construction technologies, methods, and skills. However, the technological capability of Chinese construction firms is not transferred in the highest capacity to the host countries. Nevertheless, the main focus is on delivering modern railways, highways, and skyscrapers. Thus, this research aimed to propose an adaptable technology transfer model by identifying the theoretical concepts in the body of knowledge, exploring the prior technology transfer models and the best experiences. The findings indicated that the BRI inclusive countries in Africa benefit from infrastructure development with an investment amount of more than US$33 billion with potential technology spillovers, but in an unplanned, and not best suited to their conditions because of the lack of a single-country-based technology, transfer model ahead of project implementation. Using a systems thinking approach and a causal loop diagram tool, the authors created a conceptual model to guide the Africa’s construction technology transfer through BRI. The research also examined case study projects in Ethiopia to assert the new model’s practicability over the existing processes. Moreover, the university–industry linkage structures, can facilitate the process through R&amp;D and innovation in the whole project life cycle.

Information asymmetries between vendors and customers in the advanced construction technology diffusion process

PurposeAdvanced construction technologies (ACTs) are transforming infrastructure projects, yet there has been little research into and theorization of the process by which these innovations are diffused. The purpose of this paper is to address this paucity of research by exploring the problems of information asymmetries between vendors and customers in the ACT diffusion process. Specifically, the paper explores whether information asymmetries exist between vendors and customers in the ACT diffusion process and what forms they take.Design/methodology/approachA structured survey of 153 vendors and customers of advanced construction technologies was undertaken across three international ACT exhibitions in Australia.FindingsBy comparing the perspectives of both customers and vendors across 15 technology diffusion process variables using importance-performance analysis and principal component analysis, significant differences are found between vendors’ and customers’ perceptions of how effectively information flows in the ACT diffusion process. The results show that vendors are significantly more optimistic than customers about information asymmetries on a wide range of diffusion variables. They also highlight significant potential for information asymmetries to occur which can undermine the advanced technology diffusion process.Originality/valueThe results provide important new conceptual and practical insights into an under-researched area, which is of increasing importance to a major industry, which is being transformed by advanced technological developments.

Virtual prototyping- and transfer learning-enabled module detection for modular integrated construction

Modular integrated construction is one of the most advanced off-site construction technologies and involves the repetitive process of installing prefabricated prefinished volumetric modules. Automatic detection of location and movement of modules should facilitate progress monitoring and safety management. However, automatic module detection has not been implemented previously. Hence, virtual prototyping and transfer-learning techniques were combined in this study to develop a module-detection model based on mask regions with convolutional neural network (Mask R-CNN). The developed model was trained with datasets comprising both virtual and real images, and it was applied to two modular construction projects for automatic progress monitoring. The results indicate the effectiveness of the developed model in module detection. The proposed method using virtual prototyping and transfer learning not only facilitates the development of automation in modular construction, but also provides a new approach for deep learning in the construction industry.

ABGS: A System for the Automatic Generation of Building Information Models from Two-Dimensional CAD Drawings

Building Information Modeling (BIM) refers to 3D-based digital modeling of buildings and infrastructure for efficient design, construction, and management. Governments have recognized and encouraged BIM as a primary method for enabling advanced construction technologies. However, BIM is not universally employed in industries, and most designers still use Computer-Aided Design (CAD) drawings, which have been used for several decades. This is because the initial costs for setting up a BIM work environment and the maintenance costs involved in using BIM software are substantially high. With this motivation, we propose a novel software system that automatically generates BIM models from two-dimensional (2D) CAD drawings. This is highly significant because only 2D CAD drawings are available for most of the existing buildings. Notably, such buildings can benefit from the BIM technology using our low-cost conversion system. One of the common problems in existing methods is possible loss of information that may occur during the process of conversion from CAD to BIM because they mainly focus on creating 3D geometric models for BIM by using only floor plans. The proposed method has an advantage of generating BIM that contains property information in addition to the 3D models by analyzing floor plans and other member lists in the input design drawings together. Experimental results show that our method can quickly and accurately generate BIM models from 2D CAD drawings.