Construction Management Process Research Articles

Research on Chinese Intelligent Guanglianda in High-rise Construction

Since the reform and opening up in China, the rapid development of China's construction industry, especially after 2011, BIM technology in China has a rapid development and depth of application. This article mainly discusses the process of development of China's construction industry management and the process of development of BIM technology in China and, the use of software in China, the main use of revit in 3D modeling (design stage), the use of Guanglianda in the whole process of construction management. This article researches on Guanglianda and the applications were described, for example, in the integrated project of management information, labor management information, construction video surveillance, material management, material site acceptance. This paper also elaborates on the cooperation of Revit and Guanglianda in different stages. This paper also elaborates on a construction case in China, and makes a description of the problems of crane, facts and time, and then explores the reasons behind the rapid construction of China. And the feasibility of China's construction management approach to the introduction of Russia.

Simulation as a decision tool in construction process management in turbulent environment

This paper is dedicated to simulation idea of construction process for decision-making aid. An aim is to improve technological decisions for concreting operation at low temperature. A risk of destruction of concrete structure is a critical problem in this situation. A sudden drop in temperature may result in disqualification of the concrete element or the entire structure. The proposed solution is based on a simulation of the process of maturing of the concrete element based on experiments in the laboratory (e.g. heat of hydration and dynamics of growth of compressive strength depending on the temperature). The case study proved that the traditional approach to the management of concreting technology (based on one 48-hour forecast) is extremely risky when operating in a turbulent and changing environment. The proposed flexible approach is based on systematically updated simulation and is more effective thanks to the possibility of activating active flexible procedures to prevent freezing of concrete in case of pessimistic scenario.

Organization of management’s construction and providing processes in the management system of construction enterprise

In this article questions of operational management of construction processes are considered, functions of management system of the construction and providing processes in the construction and Assembly enterprise are given. The article presents the methods of management system organization in CIC and its structure, types, types and forms of management in CIC. In addition, the article presents the main definitions related to management and organization in the CIC. The questions of delayed proactive and delayed lagging control at the stages of project preparation and construction works are considered. Introduced a new concept in the management system of the organization-the tension of operational management of the construction process. It is proved that the management system of the organization using methods of operational adaptive, tracking and optimum planning of performance of construction and providing processes implementing the criterion of the minimum intensity of Tom → 1 and operating with considerable arrays of the current values of parameters of management represents the perspective direction of introduction of information technologies in activity of the construction enterprises.

Improvement of Construction Management Process for the Site Manager in Small Scale Building Construction Project

Improvement of Construction Management Process for the Site Manager in Small Scale Building Construction Project

BIM (Building Information Modeling) Education Program in KSA: A Case Study of BIM program at Prince Sultan University

A variety of BIM education programs have been developed and strengthened for future architects and engineers around the world. BIM education curricula as architecture and civil engineering education programs have held an important position in the education institutes. The purpose of the study is to provide future architects and civil engineers with solid hand-on knowledge about BIM through the understanding of its theoretical and historical backgrounds as well as the practical exercise examples of the related various BIM methods, which also shows the benefits of various BIM processes and methods as used by all relevant stakeholders in the AEC industry, such as clients, design teams, construction manager, contractors and maintenance operators etc. Additionally, the paper introduces other related topics as follows through the case studies at PSU for BIM education program, 1) Create 3D BIM models that extract quantities for estimation purposes on the basis of input resources. 2) Operate construction schedule (4D simulation) for project planning. 3) Explore a virtual construction management process that integrated 3D BIM model with scheduling and costing, what is called, 5D simulation. Through the case study, the paper proposes a BIM education guideline appropriate for KSA.

Improvement of quality by using an integrated management system of construction processes

The subject of the article is the concept of an innovative integrated construction management process connecting Building Information Modelling (BIM) and construction equipment with unique control systems. It would require developing an advanced software application allowing data exchange and keeping track of costconsumption, efficiency, use of building materials, as well as many other essential parameters, which would facilitate the improvement of quality of the technological process of construction works.

The uniform information virtual space of construction organizations as an effective control of the construction process management

In the face of new modern requirements for the construction industry, the need for prompt and timely interaction between departments involved in the construction of buildings and facilities has increased. The structural analysis of processes at each stage of the construction life cycle determined the need to form a uniform information virtual space for the organizational structures involved in the construction of objects of various levels. During the research the features of the interaction of construction organizations and enterprises with the customer are studied, an algorithm for interaction between participants in the construction process in the uniform virtual space and an information model of the virtual space of construction organizations and enterprises is implemented. The structure of the information system is a client-server architecture and allows to track the progress of construction step by step, maintain electronic document management and receive services in electronic format. The uniform virtual platform will unite all participants in the construction process: investors, customers, design and survey institutes, government agencies and construction organizations. The proposed regulations will allow to create a completely new process approach to the system of interaction between the participating structures and the operational control system at each stage of the life cycle as well as help unite all participants in the construction process, provide them timely access and reliable access to sources of information about the facility.

Redução de variabilidade no processo de produção da alvenaria estrutural: padrão técnico e kit completo

Para tornar mais eficaz o processo de gestão empregado na construção civil, tem-se buscado utilizar, como sustentação, os princípios da Construção Enxuta, já que propiciam a potencialização do desempenho do planejamento. A variabilidade é considerada, por diversos autores, como a principal causa para a ocorrência de perdas. A padronização pode ser utilizada como um meio de obtenção da redução da variabilidade, já que possibilita um melhor controle da produção e deve ser aplicada desde o início do serviço, garantindo que todos os recursos necessários – kit completo – para sua realização estejam disponíveis e em condições ideais e padronizadas. Assim, o objetivo principal deste trabalho foi identificar os tipos de variabilidade no processo de produção da alvenaria estrutural por meio do padrão técnico e do uso do kit completo. Para isto, foi realizado um estudo exploratório de múltiplos casos aplicando observação em campo e registro de dados. Identificou-se que os tipos de variabilidade ocorriam por se distanciar do padrão desejado. Além disso, as interferências pertencem à categoria preparação do trabalho, que considera que os itens do kit completo e as variabilidades decorrentes das interferências trouxeram, como consequências, perdas do tipo making-do. Sendo assim, espera-se, com este diagnóstico, contribuir para o melhoramento do desempenho desse processo.

The mode and process of BIM-aided construction management

The mode and process of BIM-aided construction management

The BIM-enabled geotechnical information management of a construction project

For the convenience of collaborative design, virtual construction, construction process simulation and management, Building Information Modeling (BIM) is becoming an important tool in civil engineering. The current BIM team seems to neglect the geotechnical aspect of the model, which can result in costly mistakes, especially when the project is infrastructure based. The barrier between the BIM team and the geotechnical data provider is the difficulty in extracting and assimilating data from the archived geotechnical data, which is mainly in the form of geotechnical investigation reports and geological sections. Furthermore, the geotechnical data exposed from the construction can not be linked to the original data conveniently to correct the interpretated errors in the geotechnical data, and the monitoring data cannot be combined with the original geotechnical data to find the development trend of the monitoring variables. All of this indicates that current management strategy of geotechnical data should be improved upon. Therefore, a management strategy that focuses on the full life cycle management of geotechnical data together with the BIM model to improve the accuracy of decision making in the design, construction, operation and management stages of a construction project is particularly important. In this paper, we put forward a management strategy of geotechnical data that can help to integrate geotechnical information into the BIM of a construction project in order to realize the full life cycle management of geotechnical information. In this strategy, the geotechnical data from the geotechnical investigation is archived in the form of a centralized geotechnical database and an informative geotechnical model. The centralized geotechnical database is targeted to manage the factual data, base data, result data, and metadata. The informative geotechnical model can facilitate the geotechnical being used in the three-dimensional visualization environment where the collaborative design and virtual construction are accomplished. We discuss the specific workflow of building a centralized geotechnical database and an informative geotechnical model. Finally, we use the management of the geotechnical data in a hydropower station for experimental studies to verify the proposed management strategy. The result shows that it is advantageous to manage the geotechnical data in the proposed management strategy for the BIM of a construction project.

Failure Investigation at a Collapsed Deep Open Cut Slope Excavation in Soft Clay

Collapse of a 7.08-m-deep open cut excavation for the bank of a navigation lock in sensitive soft clay in Zhejiang, China, is presented in this paper. Cone penetration tests, field vane shear tests (VSTs), and traditional laboratory tests have been performed to investigate the soil properties after the collapse. According to the test results, the soft soil layers of mucky clay and muck have been found to be disturbed because of the effects of the boring holes. For bored concrete piles, the stresses release due to the cut slope, thus its shear strength is much lower than that measured from laboratory tests. The shear strength reduction technique based on a finite-element method program has been used to study the excavation behavior and overall factor of safety (FOS) of the excavated slope considering geometries of original design, later adopted schemes and soil properties associated with various test types. The computed FOS values obtained from VST results are lower than the corresponding recommended values and just a little higher than the limited value. Thus the excavated slope may easily collapse triggered by additional vehicles and surface surcharge loads. The reasons of excavation collapse can be explained as the misuse of soil properties for designers, and inadequate construction process management. The investigation of the failure provides experiences and lessons for the design and construction of similar projects in sensitive soft clay.

Statistical learning problem of artificial neural network to control roofing process

Now software developed on the basis of artificial neural networks (ANN) has been actively implemented in construction companies to support decision-making in organization and management of construction processes. ANN learning is the main stage of its development. A key question for supervised learning is how many number of training examples we need to approximate the true relationship between network inputs and output with the desired accuracy. Also designing of ANN architecture is related to learning problem known as “curse of dimensionality”. This problem is important for the study of construction process management because of the difficulty to get training data from construction sites. In previous studies the authors have designed a 4-layer feedforward ANN with a unit model of 12-5-4-1 to approximate estimation and prediction of roofing process. This paper presented the statistical learning side of created ANN with simple-error-minimization algorithm. The sample size to efficient training and the confidence interval of network outputs defined. In conclusion the authors predicted successful ANN learning in a large construction business company within a short space of time.

The method of using current regulations and standards in designing management and technologies of construction

Economic efficiency of using funds in construction of buildings and structures begins from an effective, proper design, which is based on modern, cutting-edge, advanced equipment, streamlined organization and process solutions of construction operations. In the light of this it is considered application of “Self-Organization and Technology of Building” multifunctional software package capable of solving various engineering tasks on designing management of construction operations in accordance with the applicable rules and regulations in view of using software for automatic generation of workflow. Implementing this software in the construction management processes may help to solve management tasks at the construction site.

Potentials of Blockchain Technology for Construction Management

Blockchain technology enables distributed, encrypted and secure logging of digital transactions. It is the underlying technology of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. Blockchain is expected to revolutionize computing in several areas, particularly where centralization was unnatural and privacy was important. In the paper, we present research on where and how this technology could be useful in the construction industry. The work is based on the study of literature on open issues that exist in construction process management. These are than matched to the capabilities of blockchain.We are motivated by the fact that construction projects involve a dynamic grouping of several companies. We study the degree to which the relationships among them are hierarchical or peer-to-peer and note that particularly in information intensive phases, centralization of information management was necessary because of technology. When using un-constraining technology, communication patterns among participants show a peer-to-peer nature of the relationships. In such environment, blockchain can provide a trustworthy infrastructure for information management during all building life-cycle stages. Even if building information modelling (BIM) is used, which assumes a centralized building information model, there is a role for blockchain to manage information on who did what and when and thus provide a basis for any legal arguments that might occur. On the construction site blockchain can improve the reliability and trustworthiness of construction logbooks, works performed and material quantities recorded. In the facility maintenance phase, blockchain's main potential is the secure storage of sensor data which are sensitive to privacy.We conclude that blockchain provides solutions to many current problems in construction information management. However, it is more likely that it will be built into generic IT infrastructure on top of which construction applications are built, rather than used directly by authors of construction related software. It has a potential to make construction processes less centralized which opens needs for research in that direction.

LOD Standardization for Construction Site Elements

In the last years an increasing attention to the information management in construction is visible. The advent and the continuous development of BIM applications permitted to focus more on this issue and to transform the way of design and manage construction. As known the management of a project is divided in different phases from the early draft to the management of the maintenance. Each of this phase need a different level of information development and also a different graphic detail according to the need of each project. International standards developed different scales for these two issues such as the LOD scale of the American Institute of Architects, taken as guideline in different standards. Since the need of developing a proper construction site plan during each phase of the design process, the level of development of construction elements need to be standardized as well. The paper presents then the development of a LOD scale for construction site elements such as equipment, temporary structures, etc. In particular it considers the phases between the draft design and the detailed design, developed by a client designer. In addition to this it considers the construction phase developed by contractors for the installation design. This according to the systematic approach proposed in an earlier report of research. In fact the research consisted in the analysis of each design phase in order to evaluate the exigencies in terms of information and graphic detail. The postulated LOD scale has been then developed also modelling a reasonable number of elements and tested in the design of real case studies. As a result the findings of this research are inserted in the Italian Standard UNI 11337-4 about the digital management of construction processes and the information development of models, deliverables and objects

Flexible Approach for Construction Process Management Under Risk and Uncertainty

This article presents the basic conditions for the application of a flexible approach to the management of construction processes, resulting primarily from high levels of risk and uncertainty. On the one hand, for simple projects whose implementation is not exposed to dynamically changing environments, the use of flexibility is not justified; on the other hand, in the case of complex, innovative projects implemented in a turbulently variable environment, flexibility gives the opportunity to continue processes despite difficulties. Flexibility can be successfully applied at different levels of management and at different phases of the life cycle of a building. Different flexibility options have been presented based on the approach to real options. A procedure for implementing flexibility in building management was proposed. The flexible approach is illustrated by examples of its use.

Industrialized Timber Building Systems for an Increased Market Share – a Holistic Approach Targeting Construction Management and Building Economics

Advancements of recently developed timber products and their application within the prefabrication process require construction management processes to be standardized and unified. These processes then need to be scientifically proven with cross-company references. Apart from technical developments, especially in terms of cost savings and standardization of building procedures, professionalization also plays a fundamental role in providing practical application for a long term success in the market. The current demand for the mass appeal of timber is accompanied by various economical key factors in addition to the question of technical standardized system components, which provide long term stability regarding costs, consistent quality, construction management optimization and sustainability. According to this research paper, the integration of a consistent data workflow during the planning, production, and installation process allows for a significantly shortened construction period with major on-site cost reduction as well as for a sustainable approach to delivering a holistic construction management system for timber. The identified criteria and surveyed fundamentals are used to create general construction management methods for the branch. Additionally the applicability was analyzed consistently to determine future potential and generate appropriate and integral timber building systems. Modern timber construction methods are especially suitable for prefabrication because of the material-specific properties, its sustainable performance, the possibilities in prefabrication and easier assembly under dry construction conditions. For this reason a high productivity combined with excellent quality in short installation periods provides verifiable arguments for best practice examples in the area of construction management of modern timber building systems.

Evaluation of automation levels for construction change management

Purpose Current processes to manage changes are subject to failure since they are heavily dependent on human discipline. The purpose of this paper is to evaluate and quantify the difference between levels of automation of change management processes and to provide input for determining the use of automation systems for change management. Design/methodology/approach Three generations of change management processes are defined to represent progressive practices used in major capital projects over the past few decades. Discrete event simulation was used to model these processes to capture their behavior and compare their performance according to time and compliance metrics. An oil and gas megaproject served to validate the findings of this modeling and analysis. Findings The results showed that automated processes can bring more compliance and real-time traceability, but not a significant time reduction in the change process. This contributes to the understanding of the impact of workflow-based automation on construction process performance. The validity of the conclusions are limited by the breadth of sectors studied and the inability to capture off-line time allocations of the personnel involved. Future research may build on the work presented here by studying additional processes such as requests for information, project change notices, requests for scaffolding, and interface management in various industry sectors. Originality/value A new approach for modeling and evaluating construction management process automation is contributed and the specific results of the paper indicate that automated workflow-based change management processes should be implemented in megaprojects.

INDUSTRIALIZED TIMBER CONSTRUCTION: CONSTRUCTION MANAGEMENT ASPECTS AND INFLUENCES IN MODULAR TIMBER BUILDING SYSTEMS

Advancements of recently developed timber products and their application within the prefabrication process in construction industry demand more standardization and unification of construction management processes. Within the timber industry the prefabrication of modular building units with an optimised prefabrication grade experienced an ascending development over the last decade. Today’s methodology is based on a formal concept of realized projects that provides the methods of the production whereas the basic components behind do not change. Especially modern timber construction is mostly suitable for prefabrication, caused by the material specific properties, possibilities in prefabrication and quick assembly time under dry construction circumstances. According to an expert survey undertaken within a research project, the integration of a consistent data workflow in the production process allows a significant shortened construction period and cost reduction. Following these expert interviews timber construction systems with a high percentage of prefabrication are considered to be less expensive than on-site building methods. High productivity combined with excellent quality in short installation periods delivers arguments for best practice examples in construction management of modular timber building systems.

Identifying Wastes in Construction Process and Implementing the Last Planner System in India

Most of the Indian contractors are not well equipped to handle the growing demand of infrastructure development; hence construction projects frequently run in to time and cost overruns, disputes and quality issues. This study aims to improve the construction industry in India by implementing lean principles to eliminate non-value adding activities (wastes). The purpose of this study is to 1) identify the wastes and their sources affecting the construction process, and 2) to identify problems and document lessons by applying a Last Planner System (LPS) to a sample project. First, the researchers identified that Delays, Rework, and Interruptions were the most critical wastes affecting the construction process and Poor management control, Poor Planning and Shortage of Resources were the major sources of the above mentioned wastes. Second, the researchers report the Percent of Planned Complete (PPC) analysis results and experienced problems after implementation of LPS at the sample project. It was observed that much more improvement could have been achieved if there was consensus between the owners and the contractor on the implementation of the LPS in its entirety. Some of the problems experienced in the implementation of the LPS like lack of scheduling, resource and material shortage were found to be similar to those in developed countries.