Infrastructure Construction Projects Research Articles

Lessons learned from building information modelling uptake in water infrastructure construction project: a case study of River Rejuvenation Project

The study promulgates the lessons learned by introducing the building information modelling (BIM) as a part of the virtual design and construction (VDC) strategy for a water treatment plant construction of a River Rejuvenation Project. A case study-based method comprised a combined literature review followed by a qualitative study. The semi-structured interviews engaged five specialised experts. A BIM steering head of the project team was deployed to recognise the critical lessons learned and the challenges involved while implementing the application of BIM as a part of the VDC execution policy in the firm. The study examined the adoption of BIM in terms of its pros and cons by analysing qualitative data through a theoretical lens of the P3 model (people, process and product) framework using Nvivo. This study investigates one of the digital transformation initiatives of the construction organisation.

Assessment on the geological engineering properties of Riyadh’s carbonate bedrock (Saudi Arabia)

Nowadays global urbanization, increasingly trending towards megacities worldwide, is putting pressure on the underground environment. Consequently, a need to shed light on the metropolitan subsurface geology has arises. Different megacities around the world maintain large bibliographic repositories related to prior infrastructure construction projects, for example, metro projects which spread over entire urban areas. However, in fast growing cities like the capital of Saudi Arabia, the available technical and scientific literature regarding the city’s subsoil is scarce. This investigation shows the first full-scale geotechnical assessment of the Upper Jurassic - Lower Cretacic subcrop sequence found throughout Riyadh’s downtown region. It is based on data obtained during the investigation of Riyadh’s Metro Line 3 (41.6 km), the longest line within the largest metro project ever built from scratch and as a whole.The geotechnical testing protocol involved around 9 km of core-drilling with tests conducted inside the boreholes, collection of more than 900 samples of rock cores obtained to perform laboratory tests, and 42 km of multi-technique geophysical survey. This article provides data concerning ground properties based on the statistical evaluation of intact rock and rock mass scales. Considering the lack of pre-existing information, this paper could be useful when planning the design of future geotechnical investigations and projects spanning the city of Riyadh. Furthermore, this paper also provides empirical correlations which are usable to obtain indirect geotechnical parameters, applicable to other urban areas crossing frameworks similar to Riyadh’s subsoil.

Random Field Reliability Analysis for Time-Dependent Behaviour of Soft Soils Considering Spatial Variability of Elastic Visco-Plastic Parameters

• K-L expansion method was adopted to generate random field with different spatial correlation lengths • A critical spatial correlation length existed for predicting time-dependent settlement of soft soils • A single random variable analysis is not always the most conservative analysis in predicting settlement of soft soils • It is essential to perform random field analysis to reduce the risk of the design to be applied in construction. Low embankment strategy is one of the effective methods to control time-dependent settlement of soft soils in infrastructure construction projects. Spatial variability of soil characteristics is a crucial factor, affecting the reliability of predictions of the long-term settlement in soft soils. In this paper, the time-dependent behaviour of soft soils is analysed incorporating spatial variability of elastic visco-plastic model parameters. Standard Gaussian random fields for correlated elastic-plastic model parameter ( λ / V ) and the initial creep coefficient ( ψ 0 / V ) are generated adopting Karhunen-Loeve expansion method based on the spectral decomposition of correlation function into eigenvalues and eigenfunctions. Then the generated random fields are incorporated in the proposed non-linear elastic visco-plastic (EVP) creep model. The impacts of spatially variable elastic visco-plastic model parameters (i.e. ψ 0 / V and λ / V ) on long-term settlement predictions are evaluated through random field analysis (RF) with different spatial correlation lengths, and results are then compared to a single random variable (SRV) analysis. The probability of failure (PF) is calculated adopting RF and SRV analysis to determine the critical spatial correlation length, resulted in a maximum probability of failure. This study can be employed by design engineers to determine the critical spatial correlation length for safe design in the absence of adequate data to determine the exact spatial correlation length. The results also confirm that SRV analysis is not always the most conservative analysis in predicting time-dependent settlement of soft soils; and it is essential to perform RF analysis considering the spatial correlation length to reduce the risk and increase the reliability of the design to be applied in construction.

An Automatic System to Monitor the Physical Distance and Face Mask Wearing of Construction Workers in COVID-19 Pandemic.

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused many shutdowns in different industries around the world. Sectors such as infrastructure construction and maintenance projects have not been suspended due to their significant effect on people’s routine life. In such projects, workers work close together that makes a high risk of infection. The World Health Organization recommends wearing a face mask and practicing physical distancing to mitigate the virus’s spread. In this paper, we developed a computer vision system to automatically detect the violation of face mask wearing and physical distancing among construction workers to assure their safety on infrastructure projects during the pandemic. For the face mask detection, we collected and annotated 1000 images, including different types of face mask wearing, and added them to a pre-existing face mask dataset to develop a dataset of 1853 images and increased the dataset to 3300 images by data augmentation. Then, we trained and tested multiple Tensorflow state-of-the-art object detection models on the face mask dataset and chose the Faster R-CNN Inception ResNet V2 network that yielded the accuracy of 99.8%. For physical distance detection, we employed the Faster R-CNN Inception V2 to detect people. A transformation matrix was used to eliminate the camera angle’s effect on the object distances on the image. The Euclidian distance used the pixels of the transformed image to compute the actual distance between people. A threshold of six feet was considered to capture physical distance violation. We also used transfer learning for training the model. The final model was applied on four videos of road maintenance projects in Houston, TX, that effectively detected the face mask and physical distance. We recommend that construction owners use the proposed system to enhance construction workers’ safety in the pandemic situation.

LOSS OF INFORMATION DURING DESIGN & CONSTRUCTION FOR HIGHWAYS ASSET MANAGEMENT: A GEOBIM PERSPECTIVE

Abstract. Modern cities will have a catalytic role in regulating global economic growth and development, highlighting their role as centers of economic activity. With urbanisation being a consequence of that, the built environment is pressured to withstand the rapid increase in demand of buildings as well as safe, resilient and sustainable transportation infrastructure. Transportation Infrastructure has a unique characteristic: it is interconnected and thus, it is essential for the stakeholders to be able to capture, analyse and visualise these interlinked relationships efficiently and effectively. This requirement is addressed by an Asset Information Management System (AIMS) which enables the capture of such information from the early stages of a transport infrastructure construction project. Building Information Modelling (BIM) and Geographic Information Science/Systems (GIS) are two domains which facilitate the authoring, management and exchange of asset information by providing the location underpinning, both in the short term and through the very long lifespan of the infrastructure. These systems are not interoperable by nature, with extensive Extract/Transform/Load procedures required when developing an integrated location-based Asset Management system, with consequent loss of information. The purpose of this paper is to provide an insight regarding the information lifecycle during Design and Construction on a Highways Project, focusing on identifying the stages in which loss of information can impact decision-making during operational Asset Management: (i) 3D Model to IFC, (ii) IFC to AIM and (iii) IFC to 3DGIS for AIM. The discussion highlights the significance of custom property sets and classification systems to bridge the different data structures as well as the power of 3D in visualizing Asset Information, with future work focusing on the potential of early BIM-GIS integration for operational AM.

Key BIM Adoption Drivers to Improve Performance of Infrastructure Projects in the Ethiopian Construction Sector: A Structural Equation Modeling Approach

The aim of this paper is to explore the critical BIM adoption drivers across the Ethiopian public infrastructure construction sector. In this regard, a comprehensive systematic literature review was employed to identify potential BIM implementation attributes in developing countries and validated through a pilot test. Then, quantitative data was collected from experts working in various organizations using a structured questionnaire survey. A structural equation model was then developed based on five key BIM adoption constructs and 14 adoption drivers. Based on the path analysis, Application, Environment, and Project related factors positively affect BIM adoption in infrastructure projects, whereas Organization and Information Management are insignificant and negatively affect BIM adoption in the Ethiopian construction industry. The study highlighted key BIM adoption attributes that are helpful to enhance the overall project management performance in infrastructure projects. The proposed action plan is beneficial to various professionals, government, and stakeholders in an effort to improve the current level of BIM uptake in the horn of Africa. More so, the findings of this paper can be used to facilitate and promote BIM adoption in public infrastructure construction projects across the Ethiopian construction market.

Are green wall technologies suitable for major transport infrastructure construction projects?

Many city’s current transport infrastructure is deemed to be inadequate for rapid population growth and projected urbanisation, driving an increase in the construction of more efficient and reliable transport infrastructure and networks. However, transport infrastructure projects have negative impacts on the environment, during both the construction and operational phases. Green wall technologies have become an increasing trend within urban areas to combat these impacts, however, their uptake has been limited. This study answers the question of whether green wall technologies are a suitable technology for instilling sustainability into major infrastructure projects. This was achieved by comparing available green wall systems, conducting interviews with leading industry professionals and developing a case study on the possible areas of implementation of green wall technologies within a major multi-billion dollar infrastructure project. The overall benefits and constraints are presented, with insights into how these systems may contribute to sustainability rating tools for infrastructure projects.

Triggers of Delays in International Projects Using Engineering Procurement and Construction Delivery Methods in the Belt and Road Initiative: Case Study of a High-Speed Railway Projects

Since the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) has been put in practice by the Chinese government, several High-Speed Railways (HSR) have been built by Chinese Engineering Procurement and Construction (EPC) firms. However, many delays have created severe detrimental consequences on the progress of most HSR projects. This study sought to explore the essence of the recurring triggers of delays in international EPC HSR projects under the BRI, and a structured questionnaire survey approach was applied to compile the first-hand dataset from Chinese EPC firms working for BRI infrastructure projects. The data were evaluated, and the Relative Importance Index (RII) was adopted to assess the magnitude of the important delay triggers. The findings suggest that HSR projects are still susceptible to unavoidable delays in global construction infrastructure projects. In the engineering phase, improper management of the design, unsustainable land acquisition, and insufficient use of EPC joint venture are the salient trigger of delays. In the procurement phase, the leading causes of unsuitable procurement, undervalued procurement cost, inefficient logistics in labor and materials, improper planning, unqualified site supervisors, inefficient technical standard management, and inefficient constant payment terms are likely to trigger delays in the construction phase HSR projects. Five critical groups of delay factors are identified by this study, which has an essential primary contribution to the body of knowledge and is helpful to EPC contractors working for HSR projects under BRI.

From Quality-I to Quality-II: cultivating an error culture to support lean thinking and rework mitigation in infrastructure projects

While lean thinking may help tackle waste, rework remains an ongoing problem during the construction of infrastructure projects. Often too much emphasis is placed on applying lean tools rather than harnessing the human factor and establishing a culture to mitigate rework. Thus, this paper proposes the need for construction organisations to transition from the prevailing error prevention culture (i.e. Quality-I) that pervades practice to one based on error management (i.e. Quality-II) if rework is to be contained and reduced. Accordingly, this paper asks: What type of error culture is required to manage errors that result in rework and to support lean thinking during the construction of infrastructure projects? We draw on the case of a program alliance of 129 water infrastructure projects and make sense of how it enacted, in addition to lean thinking, a change initiative to transition from error prevention to an error management culture to address its rework problem. We observed that leadership, psychological safety and coaching were pivotal for cultivating a culture where there was an acceptance that ‘errors happen’ and effort was directed at mitigating their adverse consequences. The contributions of this paper are twofold as we provide: (1) a new theoretical underpinning to mitigate rework and support the use of lean thinking during the construction of infrastructure projects grounded in Quality-II; and (2) practical suggestions, based on actual experiences, which can be readily employed to monitor and anticipate rework at the coalface of construction.

The role of social ties in collaborative project networks: A tale of two construction cases

Collaborative project delivery models (CPDMs) are increasing in popularity as infrastructure construction projects become more complex and grow in scale and scope. CPDMs build on high levels of trust, information exchange and formal contractual relations, creating complex relationships between actors in the project network. The literature emphasizes the procurement phase and contractual aspects of CPDMs; however, few studies explicitly focus on the role of social relationships in CPDM projects. Social network theory has recently been introduced in the architecture, engineering and construction industry industry to study relationships between network actors, but the role of social ties within CPDM project networks is still unclear. Through two qualitative case studies, we have analyzed the role of social ties in projects applying a CPDM contract. The empirical evidence of 41 semi-structured interviews and observations points to aspects that affect the development of social ties in CPDMs, such as initial project setup, project identification, perception of actors, resource sharing and shared space, as well as the importance of formal and informal ties for supporting collaborative project practices. The evidence shows how social ties develop into negative or positive bonds affecting the level of collaboration. This study contributes by emphasizing the interplay between project networks using CPDMs and social ties.

Control Analysis of the Project Cost in the Decision Stage of Forestry Infrastructure Construction Project

Control Analysis of the Project Cost in the Decision Stage of Forestry Infrastructure Construction Project

An innovative industrial control system architecture for real‐time response, fault‐tolerant operation and seamless plant integration

Large-scale infrastructure and industrial projects face schedule delays, cost overruns and performance shortfalls. One cause is the late delivery of their control systems that end up being complex and unsuited. To overcome this problem, an innovative industrial control system is proposed that can be commissioned almost effortlessly and delivered on time without functional defects in most large-scale industrial and infrastructure construction projects, while offering high capacity (>25,000 filed devices scanning >100,000 signals) and straightforward scalability, upgradability and maintainability. Designed with a central controller and distributed sensing and actuating devices, and equipped with a cluster of servers and an Ethernet network transporting video, voice and data (>300 video and >750 voice streams), it integrates plant automation technologies with data communication techniques, allowing industrial and information technology applications to coexist and cooperate. While being tolerant to faults and fast in its response, it provides high safety integrity level (>SIL 2) and real-time automatic reaction in repetitive stimuli or occasional events (programmable from 5 to 250 ms). In this paper, with the provided system blueprint and engineering guidelines, this novel system architecture can be built with off-the-shelf components seamlessly integrated in the context of Cyber Physical Systems.

Construction Cost and Carbon Emission Assessment of a Highway Construction—A Case towards Sustainable Transportation

Due to its dynamic nature in construction, benchmarking environmental emissions of road construction projects can be a daunting task. Often stakeholders will have to prioritize the economic and environmental indicators based on the project objectives. The study presents a methodological framework to compare economic and environmental impacts to benchmark sustainable transport construction projects. Through findings, the study aims to inform focus areas and key stages of infrastructure projects to benchmark sustainable performance. Process-based emission and cost estimation models are presented with an AHP based weighting factor that enables prioritization of emissions and costs based on project scopes and objectives. Using a case study, results are represented to validate the framework and methodology. Concrete and steel are identified as the main materials that contribute to total carbon emissions, while soil and gravel are responsible for the highest costs. Electricity consumption is discovered as the major fuel type contributing to carbon emissions. Concrete and dump trucks are discovered as the top two sources of emissions and costs, respectively. Scenario analyses revealed that the choice of equipment significantly affects the project’s emissions and costs. The application of sustainable materials can significantly reduce emissions and cost. The use of the case study approach results in a lack of generalizability. However, the same methodology and process can be adopted for the sustainable benchmarking of different projects. Researchers are encouraged to investigate processes to automate sustainable benchmarking of transport infrastructure construction projects. The study is one of the first attempts to compare cost and environmental impacts using a systematic methodology of transportation infrastructure construction projects.

Harnessing Machine Learning for Classifying Economic Damage Trends in Transportation Infrastructure Projects

Given the highly visible nature, transportation infrastructure construction projects are often exposed to numerous unexpected events, compared to other types of construction projects. Despite the importance of predicting financial losses caused by risk, it is still difficult to determine which risk factors are generally critical and when these risks tend to occur, without benchmarkable references. Most of existing methods are prediction-focused, project type-specific, while ignoring the timing aspect of risk. This study filled these knowledge gaps by developing a neural network-driven machine-learning classification model that can categorize causes of financial losses depending on insurance claim payout proportions and risk occurrence timing, drawing on 625 transportation infrastructure construction projects including bridges, roads, and tunnels. The developed network model showed acceptable classification accuracy of 74.1%, 69.4%, and 71.8% in training, cross-validation, and test sets, respectively. This study is the first of its kind by providing benchmarkable classification references of economic damage trends in transportation infrastructure projects. The proposed holistic approach will help construction practitioners consider the uncertainty of project management and the potential impact of natural hazards proactively, with the risk occurrence timing trends. This study will also assist insurance companies with developing sustainable financial management plans for transportation infrastructure projects.

Research on “PPP+ABS” Management Model of Infrastructure Project Based on AHP and Entropy Method

Infrastructure construction projects as an important part of social development, have effectively ensured the healthy development of society and promoted the improvement of the national economic level. In the context of the continuous innovation of the government’s investment and financing system, in order to optimize the construction of infrastructure projects, this paper creates a risk management evaluation model for infrastructure construction projects based on the “PPP+ABS” model, which is of great significance for promoting our country’s infrastructure construction projects to find financing methods that suit their own development.

The Safety Automatic Monitoring System of Ancient Seawall Based on Vibration Control

With the development of Chinese economy and society, infrastructure and engineering construction projects continue to increase. There are often construction projects such as wharfs, bridges and houses in the areas near the ancient seawall, which will affect the ancient seawall to a certain extent. Using IoT automated monitoring methods to realize the remote real-time monitoring and early warning of the ancient seawall of Qiantang River, and analyze the impact of vibration caused by the construction on the ancient seawall. In the mean time, safety automatic monitoring system of the ancient seawall based on vibration control was developed. The paper through the application of three experiment cases, analyze the impact of construction near the seawall, which has certain application value for the protection of the ancient seawall, daily operation management, and construction guidance of projects near seawalls.

BIM Adoption Issues in Infrastructure Construction Projects: Analysis and Solutions

The objective of this paper is to assess and outline both the value and inefficiencies of Building Information Modelling (BIM) within Construction Infrastructure projects, and to provide a comparative and conclusive analysis via the underpinning academic literature and industrial reporting respectively. Further, semi-structured interviews were undertaken with a range of industry experts to add greater evidence at the application and execution stage, leading onto the proposal of a framework solution to gain advantage due to the implementation of BIM and counter some of the outlined inefficiencies and issues raised. The aims and objectives of the research study were to develop a methodology that brings to the forefront issues with the adoption of BIM, and to propose a framework in order to provide clarity on resolving these issues to gain an advantage. The methodology consists of four parts which are: 1) Undertaking a systematic literature review of academic and a critical review of industrial literature 2) Analysing, contesting and supporting literature by undertaking a data collection exercise with a range of industry experts who are delivering construction projects and in particular infrastructure via BIM 3) Providing a comparative analysis between data collection, academic and industrial literature in a holistic format 4) Proposing a framework focused on countering the disadvantages and inefficiencies in the adoption of BIM. There is also evidence of a disconnect due to both the overwhelming nature of BIM (acronyms, competing standards and technology) in that people are unsure what to implement and when, with a lack of objective focus on what the goals and advantages at a project level. The research concludes with a comparative synthesis of results and by outlining a framework solution focused on applying objective focus as part of the application process and requirements, supporting goal attainment and appropriate/agreed measurements of BIM.

Analysis on Quality Supervision and Management of Housing Construction and Municipal Infrastructure Projects

Analysis on Quality Supervision and Management of Housing Construction and Municipal Infrastructure Projects

Systematic Review of Cost Overrun Research in the Developed and Developing Countries

For decades, reputation of the construction industry has been tainted by poor cost performance caused by project cost overrun. In addition, studies by scholars worldwide have also found cost overrun to be more serious in developing countries compared to the developed countries. Despite the numerous researches addressing the issue of cost overrun in the construction industry through the years, the issue remains. Acknowledging that maintaining good cost performance is a key factor of project success and that the issue has persisted for decades, this study aims to explore the distinction of cost overrun studies that has been conducted between developed nations and developing nations. In achieving this aim, a systematic literature review is performed by following the integrative steps of PSALSAR (Protocol, Search, Appraisal, Synthesis, Analysis and Report) and PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses) for screening and selecting the retrieved studies. The synthesis and screening of literatures have yielded with 152 articles which are then classified into their countries, developed countries (44) and developing countries (108). The results indicated a significant difference in the domain of research on cost overrun between the 2 nations. Despite the numerous studies on cost overrun in the developing nations compared to developed nations, the majority of the studies are not directed to any specific type construction while developed nations have moved forward to focus on more specific projects. The project with the highest attention in the developed nations is transport infrastructure construction projects, particularly rail infrastructure projects. The findings of this study have shown that there have been broad studies conducted on cost overrun in both developing nations and developed nations. However, there is a slight lacking in comprehensiveness of cost overrun studies in the developing nations, perhaps future studies on cost overrun in developing nations can be directed to more specific areas of construction projects such as those that have been performed by researchers of the developed nations.

SAT modulo discrete event simulation applied to railway design capacity analysis

This paper proposes a new method of combining SAT with discrete event simulation. This new integration proved useful for designing a solver for capacity analysis in early phase railway construction design. Railway capacity is complex to define and analyze, and existing tools and methods used in practice require comprehensive models of the railway network and its timetables. Design engineers working within the limited scope of construction projects report that only ad-hoc, experience-based methods of capacity analysis are available to them. Designs often have subtle capacity pitfalls which are discovered too late, only when network-wide timetables are made—there is a mismatch between the scope of construction projects and the scope of capacity analysis, as currently practiced. We suggest a language for capacity specifications suited for construction projects, expressing properties such as running time, train frequency, overtaking and crossing. Such specifications can be used as contracts in the interface between construction projects and network-wide capacity analysis. We show how these properties can be verified fully automatically by building a special-purpose solver which splits the problem into two: an abstracted SAT-based dispatch planning, and a continuous-domain dynamics with timing constraints evaluated using discrete event simulation. The two components communicate in a CEGAR loop (counterexample-guided abstraction refinement). This architecture is beneficial because it clearly distinguishes the combinatorial choices on the one hand from continuous calculations on the other, so that the simulation can be extended by relevant details as needed. We describe how loops in the infrastructure can be handled to eliminate repeating dispatch plans, and use case studies based on data from existing infrastructure and ongoing construction projects to show that our method is fast enough at relevant scales to provide agile verification in a design setting. Similar SAT modulo discrete event simulation combinations could also be useful elsewhere where one or both of these methods are already applicable such as in bioinformatics or hardware/software verification.