Digital Construction Research Articles

Data fusion approach for a digital construction logistics twin

Construction site logistics deals with the transport and storage of materials as part of the execution of a construction project. An important part of construction logistics is informing those who are involved in the project about the current status of the ordered materials. On the one hand, the missing overview of the material inventory on the construction site and incoming deliveries makes efficient daily work planning on the construction site more difficult. On the other hand, unnecessary search and travel times reduce the productive working hours of employees on the construction site. In order to provide a better overview, the information from existing data sources must be linked and visualized in an easily understandable way for all project participants. Therefore, a digital construction logistics twin is proposed in this paper. Here, the challenge lies in the creation of the digital twin. The aim of this paper is to reduce the manual entry and planning effort needed. Therefore, an approach is proposed, which uses the Building Information Model (BIM), information from the technical specifications and bill of quantities as well as catalogue data from the building materials trade. The Building Information Model comprises the three-dimensional building model, information about the building components, the construction schedule (4D BIM) and the planned storage spaces on the constructions site. The catalogue data adds relevant logistic attributes and could also enables guidelines to be checked, e.g., as part of a sustainability certification (e.g., LEED). If the suppliers’ telemetry data were integrated, end-to-end material tracking would even be possible, similar to “track-and-trace” services from parcel service providers for end customers. The provision of all this data via a Building Information Model server as a “single source of truth” increases the transparency of the construction and logistics processes for everyone involved in the project. Also, this information would, for example, favor the use of autonomous means of transport, which reduces the need for manpower for transport on the construction site.

The Value of Second-hand Basic Passenger Vehicles Based on Factor Analysis

Contemporarily, applications of big data analysis have been implemented to many fields, and the discussion on its theoretical concept and application value is unprecedented. The financial sector is also actively promoting digital construction. To be specific, the construction of financial digitalization is conducive to breaking the drawbacks of traditional accounting, realizing the deep integration of business and finance, and improving the work and efficiency of accounting. Moreover, with China's economic development, the private car ownership will maintain a strong growth momentum. In this paper, we investigate the value of secondhand basic passenger vehicles based on factor analysis. Specifically, data of used cars is used to analyze the influencing factors of second-hand car price. According to the analysis, it is concluded that the used car price factors are Performance factor, time factor and manipulation factor. Moreover, sellers should establish a service system to ensure the quality of second-hand cars and make a reasonable price. These results shed light on guiding further exploration of setting reasonable prices for used cars.

Influence of limestone calcined clay cement on properties of 3D printed concrete for sustainable construction

The research on emerging digital construction techniques, particularly the 3D concrete printing of cement-based materials, is imperative owing to the several economic, environmental, and societal benefits it offers over conventional cast-in-place concrete. In this study, limestone calcined clay cement (LC3) was utilised for 3D printed concrete (3DPC) production towards sustainable composite infrastructure by replacing up to 50% of ordinary Portland cement (OPC) with limestone and calcined clay (LC2). The fresh, rheological, and hardened mechanical properties of fibre-reinforced 3DPC were investigated. Six different 3DPC mixes were made for these purposes: the control (no LC2), four mixes with 1.0, 0.91, 0.8, and 0.6% superplasticiser (SP) dosages, and the last mix without micro-synthetic polypropylene fibre. Findings revealed that achieving a slump of less than 10 mm and a slump flow between 140 and 160 mm as required by relevant standards (ASTM C1437 & C230/C230 M) is crucial in obtaining an extrudable 3D concrete mixture. A finite flow value and satisfactory rheological properties are achieved in mixes C (with 0.6 SP), D (0.8 SP), and Dadj (0.91 SP) to produce a feasible 3D printable cement-based concrete mixture. Test results validated the promise of LC2 as a partial replacement for OPC in digital concrete depending on the testing orientations of the printed samples. Buildability performance using a gantry-type 3D printer was conducted and the significant orthotropic phenomenon was indicated in the compressive properties of printed samples. The presence of fibres toughened the cylindrical strength perpendicular to the layer-interface-plane and enhanced the bearing load in tension and flexure, thereby making the direction 1 (D1) interfacial flexural/tensile bearing capacity comparable to cast-in-situ 3DPC samples.

Analyzing the Impact of Geographic Environment Differences on the Dual Backwardness of Rural Economy and Information in the Perspective of Digital Poverty

This paper mainly focuses on the causes, states and relationship structure of digital poverty of rural residents. The research samples consist of 60 rural residents from two rural areas in Shaanxi Province. The survey data is obtained through a one-to-one in-depth semi-structured interview method, and exploratory analysis is conducted by qualitative coding. The results show that the causes of digital poverty of rural residents include three dimensions: insufficient digital efforts, insufficient digital support and poor digital experience. Based on this, this paper puts forward some suggestions including strengthening information education, strengthening investment in digital construction and strengthening the support for characteristic industries in rural areas to implement the digital poverty reduction action of rural residents from the integrated perspective of information ecology theory and public cultural service system construction.

3D printing concrete with recycled sand: The influence mechanism of extruded pore defects on constitutive relationship

Recycled sand (RS) as an environmental-friendly building material, has shown great prospects for the digital construction of buildings. In this study, 3D printed recycled sand concrete (3DPRSC) mixed with RS was prepared, and the related compressive strength and constitutive relationships were investigated on different RS replacement ratios and construction methods. The geometric characteristics and spatial distribution of pore defects were analyzed by the combined X-CT and MIP, and the microscopic morphology of RS and natural sand was analyzed by SEM. The results showed that the compressive strength and constitutive curves have apparent anisotropic characteristics. With the increase in the RS replacement rate, the compressive strength tended to decrease. The ellipsoidal pore geometry's arrangement of 3DPRSC extruded pore defects differs in different printing directions, and the pore defect distribution characteristics vary with the accumulated height of the filaments and the printing direction. The mechanism of the formation and distribution of extruded pore defects on the compressive strength and constitutive relationship was analyzed, and a model of the constitutive curve based on extruded pore defects and anisotropy was established, which provided a theoretical basis for the nonlinear analysis of the engineering structure of 3DPRSC.

Blockchain Orchestration and Transformation for Construction

Blockchain-related studies that focus on solving AECO (Architecture, Engineering, Construction and Operation) digital management environment issues, such as data protection and data ownership, show the projected benefits of Blockchain-based digital construction environments. However, adopting such technology will require a holistic approach to ensure it does not result in data redundancy, leading to digital system inefficiencies. This article studies the Blockchain construction synergies from the infrastructure point of view to understand its future in construction. The article visualises Blockchain infrastructure elements and fits them within the construction project’s digital environment. A novel framework for Blockchain orchestration and implementation and a blueprint for developing Blockchain applications for construction are presented. The proposed blueprint is then used to develop a Blockchain application using Hyperledger Firefly. The article builds on the previous literature and Blockchain applications on the Ethereum public Blockchain. The expected benefit of such a framework is providing a practical perspective on the implementation side of Blockchain in construction.

Models and approaches for the integration of the digital economy and the cultural tourism industry

As an ancient country with five thousand years of civilization, China is also one of the countries with the richest cultural heritage resources in the world. These cultural resources carry the unique cultural genes of the China, and at the same time, they also provide important resources and development ideas for the integration of Chinese culture and tourism industry. Along with the progressive integration of culture and tourism industry, the development mode of “promoting tourism with culture and highlighting culture with tourism” has been widely recognized by all walks of life, which has not only enriched the resources, but also promoted the high-quality development of tourism industry, and tourism industry has also provided important assistance to the dissemination of culture. It can be said that the integrated development of culture and tourism is an inevitable trend of the times. The rapid development of the digital economy will set off a wave of transformation in the cultural and tourism industry, and the digital construction and intelligent development of the cultural and tourism industry will also become a new direction.

Building Information Modelling (BIM) Adoption for Cost Engineering Consultant; Case Study of Southern China

Digital construction has paved its way into the Architecture, Engineering and Construction (AEC) industries with the technological revolution, which significantly change the design, construction, and management processes. The use of Building Information Modelling (BIM) presents a valued collaborative technology that eliminates most communication related challenges of the industry. The Chinese government has emerged as a major force promoting BIM adoption, by implementing policies and promoting efforts with government support. Yet, the adoption rate is still unsatisfactory particularly for China cost engineering industry. This paper examines the drivers and barriers of BIM adoption and consequently review its impact on the current BIM implementation processes. This study also investigated their awareness and acceptance level of BIM adoption. The main respondents are the cost engineering practitioner specifically in the area of Guangxi. The UTAUT and TAM model are adopted, to analyse on individual intention and behaviour by distributing online questionnaires. This analysis reveals that the practitioners have poor awareness of BIM and have no willingness to learn new BIM knowledge independently. At present, the proportion of BIM actual use in projects is relatively low, and no single post-construction maintenance project applied BIM technology. The main influencing factors for BIM adoption are measured based on the Performance Expectation, Effort Expectation, Generation Gap, Social Influence, Managerial Attitude and Facilitating Conditions. This paper contributes to the strategic suggestions that puts forward the role of user, consultants, governments that may facilitate the advantages of BIM technology adoption. This paper identified that successful implementation include the role of consultants on their readiness and acceptance, followed by adequate technology education and training.

The impact of digital empowerment on open innovation performance of enterprises from the perspective of SOR.

As China's digital transformation index continues to climb and market openness increases, the active implementation of open innovation embedded in digital innovation eco-networks is key to implementing sustainable innovation-driven strategies. The widespread use of digital technologies has broken through the traditional closed boundaries of enterprises and enhanced technology exchange, information communication and R&D collaboration with other innovation agents.However, many enterprises' digital empowerment efforts only stay at the level of digital technology, but do not rise to the level of corporate strategy. How to comprehensively promote the change of enterprise digital empowerment and help enterprises build a sustainable open innovation ecosystem needs further research. This article uses the structure equation model and the necessary condition analysis methods to combine the stimulus-organization-reaction (SOR) theory to analyze the conduction mechanism of digital authorization to open innovation from a cognitive perspective. (1) In the era of digital economy, digital empowerment emphasizes the initiative and adaptability of enterprises, and explores a sustainable digital road suitable for enterprises themselves; (2) Organizational emotional ability and organizational disordered atmosphere play a mediating role between digital empowerment and open innovation, but organizational emotional ability has a positive impact on open innovation, while organizational disordered atmosphere is the opposite. (3) Organizational identity positively regulates the relationship between the disordered atmosphere and open innovation. The development of digital technology has adapted deviations with traditional management models. Organizing the investment in digital construction should also pay attention to the digital training and digital thinking of organizational members.Organizations should provide organizational support through various channels, enhance employees' organizational commitments to create a relationship -shaped psychological contract, regularly carry out digital education and organizational culture, reduce the differential atmosphere between teams, enhance the team's awareness of cooperation and trust in the teamAnd overall consciousness.

Maximising the construction waste reduction potential – barriers and catalysts

The construction sector is actively shifting from a linear to a circular approach to reduce the impacts associated with excessive raw material consumption and waste generation. According to UK statistics on waste, the construction waste disposed of at landfill sites is gradually decreasing, but the waste generation rate remains high. It becomes crucial to understand the challenges confronted by the construction industry to prevent waste arising and carbon dioxide emissions. A series of semi-structured interviews were conducted with the stakeholders related to various construction activities across the UK. The participants were selected using an expert sampling method based on their experience and knowledge about construction waste management methods, circular economy principles, digital construction technologies and legal waste policies. Based on the thematic analysis of qualitative data, four themes were created to highlight the dimensions of waste reduction approaches from the industry perspective. The themes include waste-driven designs, digital innovations in waste estimation and management, life-cycle-assessment-influenced decision-making and collaboration within the whole supply chain. This study casts significant findings in a multi-dimensional approach to support decision-makers in building a sustainable waste reduction framework for building projects.

BIM and Digital Twin for Developing Convergence Technologies as Future of Digital Construction

The construction industry is slow to adopt new technologies. The implementation of digital technologies and remote operations using robots were considered farfetched affairs and unbelievable approaches. However, the effect of COVID-19 on clients and construction companies put high pressure on construction managers to seek digital solutions and justified the need for remote operating or distant controlling technologies. This paper aims to investigate the state of play in construction technology implementation and presents a roadmap for developing and implementing required technologies for the construction industry. The COVID-19 disruption required new methods of working safely and remotely and coincided with the advent of advanced automation and autonomous technologies. This paper aims to identify gaps and 11 disruptive technologies that may lead to upheaval and transformation of the construction sector, perhaps in this decade. A road map for technology implementation can be helpful in developing business strategies at the organizational level as a theoretical measure, and it can facilitate the technology implementation process at the industry level as a practical measure. The roadmap can be used as a framework for policymakers to set industry or company strategies for the next 10 years (2030).

A Decentralized Contracting System in Digital Construction

Forum papers are thought-provoking opinion pieces or essays founded in fact, sometimes containing speculation, on a civil engineering topic of general interest and relevance to the readership of the journal. The views expressed in this Forum article do not necessarily reflect the views of ASCE or the Editorial Board of the journal.

Does Digital Capability Promote Sustainable Development of New Ventures? The Dual Impact of Green Knowledge Creation and Green Pressure.

With the environmental problems brought about by the extensive economic development model attracting more and more global attention, sustainable development has become a hot topic in transformation and development of contemporary enterprises. In the context of the digital economy, there is a lack of conclusive evidence regarding whether and how enterprises rely on digital capabilities to improve green efficiency and achieve sustainable development, especially for new ventures. Therefore, based on the knowledge creation spiral theory, this paper examines the relationship between digital capabilities, green knowledge creation, and sustainable development of new ventures. The study tested its hypotheses on a sample of 316 Chinese new ventures. The results showed that digital capabilities can positively affect environmental, economic, and social performance of new ventures and support their sustainable development; green knowledge creation plays a mediating role in the relationship between digital capabilities and sustainable development, and green pressure positively moderates the relationship between green knowledge creation and sustainable development; furthermore, green pressure also moderates the process of digital capabilities influencing sustainable development through green knowledge creation, and that moderated mediation role is significant. According to the bootstrap mediating effect test, both the direct effect and indirect effect are significant. Overall, our research results provide important insights for new ventures to promote sustainable development through digitalization. Therefore, managers should pay more attention to digital construction in the strategic layout of new ventures, and they should advocate the concept of green knowledge so that the goal of sustainable development can be achieved with the drive for digitalization.

Digital construction of geophysical well logging curves using the LSTM deep-learning network

A complete well logging suite is needed frequently, but it is either unavailable or has missing parts. The mudstone section is prone to wellbore collapse, which often causes distortion in well logs. In many cases, well logging curves are never measured, yet are needed for petrophysical or other analyses. Re-logging is expensive and difficult to achieve, while manual construction of the missing well logging curves is costly and low in accuracy. The rapid technical evolution of deep-learning algorithms makes it possible to realize the digital construction of missing well logging curves with high precision in an automated fashion. In this article, a workflow is proposed for the digital construction of well logging curves based on the long short-term memory (LSTM) network. The LSTM network is chosen because it has the advantage of avoiding the vanishing gradient problem that exists in traditional recurrent neural networks (RNNs). Additionally, it can process sequential data. When it is used in the construction of missing well logging curves, it not only considers the relationship between each logging curve but also the influence of the data from a previous depth on data at the following depth. This influence is validated by exercises constructing acoustic, neutron porosity, and resistivity logging curves using the LSTM network, which effectively achieves high-precision construction of these missing curves. These exercises show that the LSTM network is highly superior to the RNN in the digital construction of well logging curves, in terms of accuracy, efficiency, and reliability.

Building information modelling facilities management (BIMFM) coordination for digital construction project

PurposeThis study aims to leverage the implementation of building information modelling (BIM) in facilities management (FM), and thus the integration of BIM and FM are explored. It looks at identifying the information needed to implement BIM application in FM, to determine the level of implementation of BIMFM as well as to recommend BIMFM application mapping for building life cycle.Design/methodology/approachThis study applied qualitative methodology, upon which a purposive sampling to 16 interviewees were conducted among professionals involved in any BIM, FM, BIMFM projects. Final analysis was conducted using thematical analysis by ATLAS.ti software.FindingsThe types of information required to implement BIMFM range from managerial information, commercial information, technical information and all full life cycle data. The implementation of BIMFM is agreed as beneficial, as it builds up efficiency of building performance, able to close gap of loses information, helps to improve FM in terms of data management, mitigates the problems, identifies priority defects and to enhance the FM processes. Respondents also believed that the causes where there is no implementation of BIMFM is in the situations where things are in order and when it becomes very expensive.Originality/valueThis paper has managed to gather the essential elements toward leveraging the implementation of BIMFM in digital construction project which are in the means of information types, the needs of BIMFM implementation and towards the end drawing the BIMFM implementation plan framework that could be used as a reference for the practitioners and industry.

The Influence of Organizational Social Network on Enterprise Collaborative Innovation—Mediating Role of Knowledge Sharing and Moderating Effect of Digital Construction

This paper mainly discusses the influence of organizational social network on enterprise collaborative innovation, as well as the intermediary role of knowledge sharing and the regulatory role of digital construction. Based on social exchange theory and social cognition theory, an integration model of organizational social network influencing enterprise collaborative innovation is constructed. The hierarchical regression analysis was used to sample the high-tech enterprises in China’s Yangtze River Delta. Statistical analysis of 212 questionnaires was performed using SPSS and AMOS. It is found that organizational social network has a significant positive impact on enterprise collaborative innovation. Knowledge sharing plays a partially mediating role in the relationship between the organizational social network and enterprise collaborative innovation. Digital construction positively moderates the relationship between organizational social network and enterprise collaborative innovation. In general, In general, the research findings show that improving the construction of organizational social networks and enhancing employees’ knowledge sharing behavior can improve enterprises’ collaborative innovation ability. In addition, in the context of highly digital construction, the effect of organizational social networks on improving enterprise collaborative innovation is more obvious.

The Application of Artificial Intelligence Technology in the Safety Monitoring System of Oil and Gas Ground

With the advent of a new era and continuous improvement of the technological level, AI technology has gradually come to the people's vision. In the context of a new era, with the continuous promotion of digital construction of oil and gas surface engineers and the rapid development of information technology, oil and gas surface engineers have begun to enter the stage of intelligent construction. An important research topic is the application of artificial intelligence technology in the safety supervision of oil and gas surface technology. In response to the frequent occurrence of safety accidents in oil and gas surface construction and the low level of intelligence of existing safety oversight systems, an AI-based safety oversight system for oil and gas surface construction has been developed, the greatest feature of which is to apply AI technology throughout the process of safety oversight of oil and gas surface construction. Through the continuous research, improvement and application of new technologies, a gradually built information and intelligent management system for oil and gas surface construction has been established. The ultimate goal of intelligent construction is to achieve panoramic visualization, real-time perception, intelligent analysis, automatic control and potential prediction. Artificial intelligence technology provides targeted research and practical construction ideas for intelligent exploration of oil and gas surface technology, through systematic analysis of management and control problems such as fragile ecological environment, frequent geological disasters and severe corrosion. Based on the actual situation of surface technology in specific areas, professional technology is applied to improve the oil and gas surface technology integrity management information system, which can achieve database accuracy, standardized data models and control processes. The three main objectives of system analysis to reduce manual dependence provide important technical support for the safe operation of oil and gas surface design.

Digital approach to construction and demolition

High-tech digital solutions play a key role in many areas of modern life. The digitalization of construction is at the stage of development and every year it is being introduced more deeply into the industry: regulatory documentation is being developed, digital platforms for interaction between construction participants are being created, and software requirements are being formed. The construction industry needs professionals who will work in a digital information environment throughout the entire life cycle of a building. The level of modern information modeling makes it possible to create a unified digital environment for the development of design solutions, construction management, efficient operation of buildings and their demolition without causing damage to the natural environment. The article discusses digital technologies that accompany the construction and demolition stages of a building's life cycle. An analysis of the requirements for the content of information models is given, the tasks of organizational and technological design are identified, which can be solved through the introduction of a digital construction model. It is proposed to use an end-to-end information flow to ensure the transfer of reliable information between the stages of the life cycle of an object and the formation of information about secondary building resources that can be used in new construction.

The Realistic Dilemma and Breakthrough Path of the Digital Transformation of Education Management under the Background of Informatization

In the process of talent training and selection in China, the key role of colleges and universities as a base is highlighted. In order to help colleges and universities to achieve the goal of sustainable development, the importance of education management should be highlighted. In order to construct a healthy development trend and based on the influence of information background, it provides a certain convenience for the development of university education management. To make up the defects and deficiencies of traditional management mode, need to further to the current management form optimization and upgrade, in the process of the implementation of college education management, need effective fusion with information age background, speed up the process of digital construction, help break through the reality, and then find out more effective education management path, in order to improve the current education management situation, highlight the practical utility of university education management digital innovation.

The importance of the digital economy in the development of the construction industry

Digitization of industry and construction is one of the most important trends supporting the more sustainable development of enterprises. This article discusses the current state and prospects of digitization of the construction industry and the main directions of the use of technologies for increasing the resource efficiency of enterprises. This article analyzes the possibilities and prospects of digitization of the construction industry in modern economic conditions and defines the main problems and prospects of the development of digital construction.