Applications In Construction Management Research Articles

A Review of Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Applications in Construction Management: 2016–2021

With the rapid advancement of Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) technologies in recent years, their uses have been increasingly adopted in the architecture, engineering, and construction industries. To satisfy the needs of various types of construction projects, a considerable amount of research work has been performed to implement and refine the operations, safety, and accuracy of UAVs. This paper presents the findings of a comprehensive literature review that focuses on UAV research in construction management during the timeframe of 2016 to 2021. A total of 95 papers were identified and collected from a list of 21 relevant journals and conference proceedings, and were then categorized by their research topic, sensor types, and targeted structures. The results of 47 exemplary studies were reported in two categories, namely UAV uses and construction uses. The research topics identified for UAV uses include algorithm, applications, operations, framework, and training, while research topics identified for construction use include inspection, surveying, safety, and monitoring. The connection between the research topics, sensor types, targeted structures, and other advanced technologies were also discussed. This paper summarizes the current results of UAV research in construction management, reviews the methodology, benefits, and limitations of the reviewed literature, and provides valuable knowledge for the future trend of UAV applications in the civil, infrastructure, and construction industries.

Modeling labor costs using artificial intelligence tools

PurposeConstruction projects in Malaysia are often delayed and over budget due to heavy reliance on labor. Linear regression (LR) models have been used in most labor cost (LC) studies, which are less accurate than machine learning (ML) tools. Construction management applications have increasingly used ML tools in recent years and have greatly impacted forecasting. The research aims to identify the most influential LC factors using statistical approaches, collect data and forecast LC models for improved forecasts of LC.Design/methodology/approachA thorough literature review was completed to identify LC factors. Experienced project managers were administered to rank the factors based on importance and relevance. Then, data were collected for the six highest ranked factors, and five ML models were created. Finally, five categorical indices were used to analyze and measure the effectiveness of models in determining the performance category.FindingsWorker age, construction skills, worker origin, worker training/education, type of work and worker experience were identified as the most influencing factors on LC. SVM provided the best in comparison to other models.Originality/valueThe findings support data-driven regulatory and practice improvements aimed at improving labor issues in Malaysia, with the possibility for replication in other countries facing comparable problems.

Smartphone-Based Photogrammetry Assessment in Comparison with a Compact Camera for Construction Management Applications

Close-range photogrammetry (CRP) has proven to be a remarkable and affordable technique for data modeling and measurements extraction in construction management applications. Nevertheless, it is important to aim for making CRP more accessible by using smartphones on-site directly without a pre-calibration procedure. This study evaluated the potential of smartphones as data acquisition tools in comparison with compact cameras based on the quality and accuracy of their photogrammetric results in extracting geometrical measurements (i.e., surface area and volume). Two concrete specimens of regular shapes (i.e., beam and cylinder) along with an irregular-shaped sand pile were used to conduct this study. The datasets of both cameras were analyzed and compared based on lens distortions, image residuals, and projections multiplicity. Furthermore, the photogrammetric models were compared according to various quality criteria, processing time, and memory utilization. Though both cameras were not pre-calibrated, they both provided highly accurate geometrical estimations. The volumetric estimation error ranged from 0.37% to 2.33% for the compact camera and 0.67% to 3.19% for the smartphone. For surface area estimations, the error ranged from 0.44% to 0.91% for the compact camera and 0.50% to 1.89% for the smartphone. Additionally, the smartphone data required less processing time and memory usage with higher applicability compared with the compact camera. The implication of these findings is that they provide professionals in construction management with an assessment of a more direct and cost-effective 3D data acquisition tool with a good understanding of its reliability. Moreover, the assessment methodology and comparison criteria presented in this study can assist future research in conducting similar studies for different capturing devices in construction management applications. The findings of this study are limited to small quantification applications. Therefore, it is recommended to conduct further research that assesses smartphones as a photogrammetric data acquisition tool for larger construction elements or tracking ongoing construction activities that involve measurements estimation.

The application of “deep learning” in construction site management: scientometric, thematic and critical analysis

PurposeThe digital construction transformation requires using emerging digital technology such as deep learning to automate implementing tasks. Therefore, this paper aims to evaluate the current state of using deep learning in the construction management tasks to enable researchers to determine the capabilities of current solutions, as well as finding research gaps to carry out more research to bridge revealed knowledge and practice gaps.Design/methodology/approachThe scientometric analysis is conducted for 181 articles to assess the density of publications in different topics of deep learning-based construction management applications. After that, a thematic and gap analysis are conducted to analyze contributions and limitations of key published articles in each area of application.FindingsThe scientometric analysis indicates that there are four main applications of deep learning in construction management, namely, automating progress monitoring, automating safety warning for workers, managing construction equipment, integrating Internet of things with deep learning to automatically collect data from the site. The thematic and gap analysis refers to many successful cases of using deep learning in automating site management tasks; however, more validations are recommended to test developed solutions, as well as additional research is required to consider practitioners and workers perspectives to implement existing applications in their daily tasks.Practical implicationsThis paper enables researchers to directly find the research gaps in the existing solutions and develop more workable applications to bridge revealed gaps. Accordingly, this will be reflected on speeding the digital construction transformation, which is a strategy over the world.Originality/valueTo the best of the authors’ knowledge, this paper is the first of its kind to adopt a structured technique to assess deep learning-based construction site management applications to enable researcher/practitioners to either adopting these applications in their projects or conducting further research to extend existing solutions and bridging revealed knowledge gaps.

Construction Management Applications: Challenges in Developing Execution Control Plans

The objective of automated planners is to synthesize sequences of actions (called policies in MDP frameworks) that will achieve a predetermined goal given a fully or partially observable formal representation of the domain. In contrast, the main characteristic of project management is the greater emphasis on plan execution under uncertainty as opposed to plan synthesis. This paper explains the need to transition from automated plan synthesis to plan management and identifies the challenges for the planning and scheduling communities using examples of construction projects.

A Scientometric Review of System Dynamics Applications in Construction Management Research

Construction management can be regarded as a complex and dynamic system. In recent years, system dynamics (SD) has been widely applied to solve the complex and dynamic problems in the construction management. However, there is a lack of a scientometric analysis to investigate SD applications in construction management from an objective perspective. To fill out this research gap, this study retrieved a total of 222 relevant articles from the Scopus database. Then, VOSviewer was employed to analyze the collected literature from five aspects (i.e., co-authorship, published journals, co-occurring keywords, article citations, and regions). Based on the analysis results, four mainstream research themes were identified and discussed, including “risk management”, “waste management”, “energy management”, and “construction productivity”. In addition, future research directions, such as “construction risk allocation in PPP projects”, “evaluating the economic feasibility of construction waste landfilling centers”, “identifying the variables affecting lighting infrastructure energy consumption”, and “assessing construction productivity for technology-intensive activities”, were proposed. The contribution of this study lies in that it helps both scholars and practitioners to solve the complex and dynamic problems in construction management.

The dynamic p-median problem with mobile facilities

Being motivated by real life applications in construction management, we consider the dynamic p-median problem and its extension with mobile facilities. The number of facilities changes over a planning horizon where one or more facilities can be opened, relocated, or closed in any period. The problem is to determine (i) facility locations, (ii) opening/closing times of facilities, (iii) routes of mobile facilities, and (iv) demand allocations to open facilities such that the total cost is minimized. We present a mixed integer programming formulation of the dynamic p-median problem using discretization of distances to control the locational decision variables. We develop a branch and price algorithm and constructive heuristics to solve the problem. Extensive computational results of the solution method are provided on a set of test problem instances.

Benefits, Barriers and Applications of Information Communication Technology in Construction Industry: a Contemporary Study

In the construction industry there is a necessity for improving the construction efficiency through adopting innovative methods. Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) help in increasing the client satisfaction reduce coordination errors and provide a greater understanding among project participants in terms of better handling issues and requirements. Better efficiency can be achieved by making a building smarter. Construction projects are faced with many challenges that must not be ignored or underestimated. Some of the wicked problems and challenges such as understanding how one decision will impact decisions in other areas; problem of addressing the risk due to dynamic and uncertainty existing in the environment; resolving conflict where there are competing claims resulting both good and bad outcomes from the same value system are required to be well managed, if required using innovative methods such as using ICT and software packages. Therefore Objective of this research is to explore and describe the use and applications of information and communication technologies in construction industry. It involves examining the current trends of ICT based construction practices and also to assess the potential for its improvement by way of innovation. In this the journey started with describing what innovative methodologies are required to be considered to drive the discussion of adopting and using ICT to handle the wicked problems in construction industry. Two rationalities are considered as a basis for working on ICT applications in construction management viz.: (i) Six stages of Project Life cycle management and (ii) Nine project management knowledge areas as described by PMI.

Case Study of BIM and Cloud–Enabled Real-Time RFID Indoor Localization for Construction Management Applications

AbstractIn the field of construction, indoor localization of mobile construction resources remains a universal challenge. Although discussions have focused on the tracking accuracy and affordability of indoor localization technologies, few efforts have focused on practical criteria such as ease of use, latency, and data visualization and remote sharing. To close this gap in knowledge, this study introduces a building information modeling (BIM) and cloud-enabled radio-frequency identification (RFID) localization system. The system consists of three main components: the passive RFID localization system, the BIM visualization system, and the cloud computing system. The proposed system is tested in a full-scale implementation on an actual construction site. The test was designed and conducted to evaluate the localization accuracy, data latency, and real-time data processing and visualization for remote monitoring. A comprehensive analysis is made of various practical issues based on the test results and panel...

IT Supported Construction Management: A Comprehensive Review and Ongoing Research

Information technology has been applied in construction management and is gaining in popularity in recent years. This paper explored the state-of-the-art research and made a comprehensive literature review from two aspects: ‘IT supported construction process surveillance’ and ‘IT supported built infrastructure evaluation’. Multiple sensor technologies (including GPS, RFID, UWB, video camera and laser scanner) and their applications in construction management were introduced separately. Then some of the author’s ongoing research was introduced briefly with two future perspectives envisaged. In the near future IT supported construction management is expected to become a rapidly increasing area and has far-reaching impact in industry.

Queuing Rule of Thumb based on M/M/s Queuing Theory with Applications in Construction Management

The current trend of queuing theory development is toward more precision which requires higher mathematical manipulation. In this paper, we attempted to reverve the current trend toward simplification of queuing formulas such that it can be used in more practical purposes, especially in construction industry. Through numerical examples of two case studies on concreting and earth moving, how to model the construction activities as queuing systems is illustrated systematically. Through the numerical examples, it is shown that when the customer cost is much lower than the server cost, queuing system can be simplified only to incorporate the constraint equation. The queueing constraint equation is suggested to be used as queuing rule of thumb. The proposed rule of thumb is rather conservative in term of queuing performance compared to the standard stochastic queuing formula because it is assumed that all the customers arrive at once in the beginning of the service.

Three-Dimensional Modeling of Site Elements by Analytically Processing Image Data Contained in Site Photos

AbstractThree-dimensional (3D) modeling of site elements is beneficial to many construction management applications such as quantity takeoff and quality control. However, current practice lacks a solution that is computationally simple, cost effective, and easy to use in the field. This research proposes a 3D modeling method based on the mechanism of photogrammetry. It analytically processes the image data contained in site photos at a minimum in terms of image quantities and reference points. A minimum of five pairs of image points of the object from two photos taken at two different camera stations provide sufficient input data to analytically derive the positions and orientations of the camera stations. With more than five paired image points available, the least squares adjustment is utilized to refine the modeling result. The mathematical formulas are established for the proposed method, with the computational procedure and validity illustrated with examples of a simple box, a precast facade, and a r...

Role of Simulation in Construction Engineering and Management

Construction simulation is the science of developing and experimenting with computer-based representations of construction systems to understand their underlying behavior. This branch of operations research applications in construction management has experienced significant academic growth over the past two decades. In this paper, the author summarizes his views on this topic as per his Peurifoy address, given in October 2008. The paper provides an overview of advancements in construction simulation theory as reported in literature. It then summarizes the key factors that contribute to successful deployment of simulation in the construction industry, and the key attributes of problems that make them more amenable for simulation modeling as opposed to other tools. The paper then provides an overview of long-term simulation initiatives leading to the next generation of computer modeling systems for construction, where simulation plays an integral role in a futuristic vision of automated project planning and control.

Constraint-based clustering and its applications in construction management

Both mixed data types and cluster constraints are frequently encountered in the classification problems of construction management. For example, in a bridge let project, engineers generally group the bridges into several subgroups based on their proximities, structure type, material, etc. Moreover, constraints may be set for each cluster to ensure the project’s overall effectiveness. In this study, an effective clustering algorithm – the constrained k-prototypes (CKP) algorithm – is proposed to resolve the abovementioned problems. Several tests and experimental results have shown that CKP cannot only handle mixed data types but also satisfy user-specified constraints. In order to demonstrate the applicability of CKP, it is also applied to real-world problems in construction management.

Case‐Based Reasoning in Construction Management

Case‐based reasoning (CBR) is a highly effective technique in the artificial intelligence (AI) domain capable of solving or providing suggestions for the current problem by storing and retrieving results of previous cases. In the experience‐oriented construction industry, knowledge and assessments of previous experience are critical to resolving problems that may reoccur. Applying CBR to construction management overcomes some drawbacks of other AI technologies and adheres to computer application needs in industry. CBR provides an alternative in solving experience‐oriented problems. This article not only presents a typical CBR approach but also investigates its potential applications in construction management. An example shows how CBR can be used to estimate construction duration and costs of building construction projects at the preliminary design stage.

Expert Systems Applications in Construction Management and Engineering

Because of their characteristic attributes of combining factual knowledge with judgment, being able to handle incomplete and uncertain data, and communicating with their users in the natural langua...

Microcomputer Applications in Simulated CE Project

The decreasing cost of microcomputers, coupled with the fast‐growing library of engineering software, is making microcomputer usage more viable in the context of small‐ and medium‐sized construction firms. The effective application of computers undoubtedly is a key to increased productivity. In view of this, students are increasingly exposed to computer methods and applications in construction management as an integral part of their education. In the School of Civil and Structural Engineering at the Nanyang Technological Institute (NTI), Singapore, students are required to undertake a 10‐week, in‐house practical training (IHPT) program at the end of their second year. This project requires them to play the role of a contractor in the construction of an actual full‐scale reinforced concrete structure. Microcomputer applications have been integrated into this program as part of the training. This paper describes the 1987 in‐house practical training project and focuses primarily on the use of microcomputers ...

Computer Applications in Construction Management

Traditional methods in construction lacking an organized and systematic approach are inadequate, and often lead to inefficiency and waste. Sophisticated information and data handling capabilities of an electronic computer offer many helpful ways to produce a better control in construction management of projects for less money. Computer applications in design phase of the project are very helpful. During construction phase of the project, computer serves as a powerful tool in organizing the three major areas: logistics and material, contract administration, and project scheduling and cost control. Future promises greater research in building information systems.