Performance Of Engineering Projects Research Articles

Research On Quality Performance Evaluation Method of Nuclear Power Programconstruction

Nuclear power project construction adopts the general contracting model, which covers four aspects: design, procurement, construction and commissioning. The evaluation of project quality performance in the construction process affects the quality decision of the project. Project quality performance evaluation is to grasp the key factors affecting the quality in the complex management process, and carry on the quantitative analysis of the construction quality. The analytic hierarchy process (AHP) is a scientific method for quantitative analysis of qualitative problems. This paper puts forward an evaluation method for the quality performance of nuclear engineering projects.

Mechanisms of Learning and Innovation in Project Performance: Evidence from Chinese Hydropower Industry

Hydropower, a renewable energy resource, underpins China’s economic and social advancement, gaining prominence amidst the country’s energy structure metamorphosis. Enhancing the performance of hydropower development projects is imperative, with the mechanisms of learning and innovation wielding a substantial impact. The extant literature on how learning and innovation affect hydropower project performance remains nebulous, lacking a systematic model to elucidate these impact mechanisms. This investigation melds theoretical analysis with the idiosyncrasies of hydropower project development, forging a theoretical model to decipher the interplay of learning, innovation, and project performance. Employing a mixed-methods approach, we probe the influence of organizational learning orientation and individual learning on participant capabilities, engineering innovation magnitude, and overall project performance. Path analysis divulges that organizational learning orientation catalyzes individual learning, jointly enhancing engineering innovation and project performance directly, although the effect on each participant’s capability necessitates mediation through the engineering innovation level. This pioneering study establishes the links and influence trajectories between learning, innovation, and project performance, systematically delineating them. It fills a scholarly void in exploring learning and innovation mechanisms within hydropower project development, propounding strategies to augment project efficiency and furnishing pragmatic, constructive insights for better engineering practice outputs.

The potential of the empathic ability for the performance of civil engineering projects

Purpose The increasing complexity of civil engineering projects necessitates focusing on new competencies of project participants. Based on the research on team performance and design processes that are more closely linked to the relevance of the project context, it is hypothesised that empathic abilities could play an important role in the performance of civil engineering projects. Therefore, this study aims to investigate whether performance can be improved by focusing on empathic abilities during the integrated design phase. Design/methodology/approach Semi-structured in-depth interviews with experts were conducted to explore the relevance of empathic abilities and their interaction with performance in a real-life infrastructure project. The project team’s empathy level was measured by means of a survey using Davis’ Interpersonal Reactivity Index method. Finally, differences between expected and measured levels of empathy were analysed. Findings The results provide insights into how empathic abilities interact with performance. The measurement indicates that, on average, professionals in the civil engineering industry score relatively low on empathy. In addition, differences were identified between the expected distribution and the measured empathy levels of the team, implying a potential for improvement, in particular by increasing the empathic abilities of the project management and increasing gender diversity. Originality/value To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is the first to investigate a relationship between empathy and the performance of civil engineering projects. The results provide initial insights into the empathic ability of civil engineering project teams and the potential of empathy to improve performance. Furthermore, from an empathy perspective, this study advocates increasing the gender diversity of project teams to improve performance.

Impact of project management competence and complexities on the performance of mega engineering projects in Pakistan

This study examines Pakistan's public engineering projects' success based on project complexity and management expertise, using 100 questionnaires and developing hypotheses to evaluate organisational, technical, and environmental factors. Results indicate that project performance is positively linked to Project Management (PM) competence, underscoring the significance of skilled project managers in achieving favourable outcomes. Furthermore, leadership, management skills, communication, ethics, and integrity are identified as key drivers of project performance. On the other hand, technical and organisational complexities were discovered to have a negative influence, although environmental complexity did not significantly affect project performance. Several complexities, such as project objectives, tasks, and economic conditions, emerged as influential factors affecting project execution. This research contributes to PM theory, offering practical insights beneficial for project managers overseeing significant engineering endeavours and other professionals in this field. On a broader scale, the findings may inform governmental policies to enhance project performance, including qualifications for project managers. This study provides valuable guidance for addressing project complexities and improving project success within Pakistan's public engineering projects.

A benchmarking program to support software process improvement adaptation in a developing country, a Pakistan case.

BackgroundStandardization of software development processes using the software process improvement (SPI) frameworks like capability maturity model integration (CMMI) or the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) are vital for better performance and defect-free delivery of software engineering projects.ProblemThe studies from developing countries show that the organizations are unable to get the desired SPI benefits during early adaptation due to lack of benchmarking initiatives. These initiative needed bridging of the gap between major software engineering fields such as project performance, productivity, and SPI measurement metrics like effort, schedule, cost, productivity, quality, and customer satisfaction.MethodThis research quantifies SPI benefits by bridging the existing gaps and identifying a commonly defined set of 44 significant base metrics related to ESCPQC and applies a conceptual framework over the collected data of 62 projects from three leading software organizations.ResultThe results have quantified the “the introduction of change effect” and showed that the adaptation of SPI has shown SPI benefits like improved quality, customer satisfaction, and effort. In contrast, schedule metrics showed a high reduction at level 3 and again increased at high maturity levels values. The last benefits are communicated following a trustable mechanism.

Development of multi-physics numerical simulator for describing coupled thermal-hydraulicmechanical-chemical processes within fractured rocks

When investigating the long-term performance of various rock engineering projects, such as the geological disposal of high-level radioactive waste (HLW), enhanced geothermal system (EGS), it is essential to accurately predict the permeability evolution within fractured rocks due to coupled thermal-hydraulic-mechanical-mechanical (THMC) phenomena including fracture generation and subsequent geochemical creep. In this paper, we introduced our coupled THMC simulator that can explicitly introduce the fracture surfaces to describe the permeability change within fractured rocks as realistically as possible. The numerical results of long-term change in rock permeability during a disposal period of HLW computed by our simulator, showed that the permeability reduction with time was observed only within specific fractures where the geochemical creep (i.e., pressure dissolution) had been activated depending on the heterogeneous properties of each fracture. It may suggest that our simulator has a possibility to reveal the detailed spatial distribution of permeability within rock masses containing the newly generated fractures.

Return on Investment in Model‐Based Systems Engineering Software Tools

AbstractThis research paper describes a means of determining the return (benefits, or value) of an organization's investments in software tools to support their system engineering activities. The research considers a range of organizational attributes, including size of the system engineering labor force, type of engineering activities which must be performed, the level of difficulty of the activities and organizational objectives. The research considers three categories of software tools, starting with a benchmark of Microsoft Office products, and including modern SysML and LML engineering tools. The research develops a model of financial metrics based on the capabilities of each tool, its costs, and the engineering processes to which it can be applied. The research finds that considerable organization returns are realized with investments in such tools, most significantly the reduction in engineering labor needed to perform engineering tasks. Additional returns can be expected in terms of engineering project performance (success) and in the ability of an organization to pursue larger or more challenging engineering projects.

Comparative Analysis of the Mechanism of Engineering Project Management Standardization

With the improvement of engineering project performance and the need for theoretical innovation, the importance of standardized research on engineering project management has become increasingly important. Based on the results of the questionnaire survey, and on the basis of testing the reliability and validity of the questionnaire, the hierarchical regression analysis was used to study the mechanism between the influencing factors of engineering project management standardization and process performance, cooperation performance, knowledge accumulation, and engineering project performance. And test the hypotheses. In order to further improve the effect of engineering project management, it is quite necessary to carry out research on engineering project management. However, due to the lack of a substantial amount of substantial research in the actual research process, we have mainly carried out in-depth research on engineering project management standardization.

Applying and Assessing Performance of Earned Duration Management Control Charts for EPC Project Duration Monitoring

AbstractIn this study, earned duration management (EDM) is used as a statistical project control method to monitor the performance of engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) projects. It r...

Capillary Rise Determination Using Simplified Image Analysis Method

Capillary rise underestimation can reduce the long-term performance of civil engineering projects, especially those concerned with ground moisture, such as basements, roads, dams, and soil barrier liners. According to Peck et al. [1], the grain shape constant in empirical capillary rise estimation relationships varies between 10 and 50 mm2 and can be difficult to assume. Furthermore, the measurement of capillary rise in laboratory settings is also quite challenging because it occurs in the transition zone between saturated and unsaturated soils. This study focused on the application of the simplified image analysis method (SIAM) to capillary rise determination for the assessment of the grain shape constant as proposed by Peck et al. [1]. SIAM is a non-intrusive, non-destructive laboratory technique used to measure the temporal and spatial distribution of water saturation in whole domains. In this study, six one-dimensional tests were conducted using a 35 mm × 35 mm × 550 mm column to simulate capillary rise at fixed groundwater levels. The results show that values smaller than 25 mm2 should be used for coarser sand, whereas values greater than 25 mm2 should be used for finer sand. This study demonstrates that SIAM can be further utilized in studies of unsaturated soil, especially to assess soil saturation changes.

Assessing Quality Performance of Engineering Projects: A Case of The Ghana Armed Forces (GAF)

Assessing Quality Performance of Engineering Projects: A Case of The Ghana Armed Forces (GAF)

Social responsibility of engineering and construction enterprises under the “Belt and Road”

In order to enhance the value of large construction engineering enterprises in China and build a good corporate brand image in the “Belt and Road” initiative, China’s large-scale construction engineering enterprises must actively fulfill corporate social responsibility and do a good job in brand management. This paper takes listed companies in China’s engineering and construction industry from 2006 to 2017 as research samples to empirically test the impact of social responsibility disclosure on the performance of enterprise engineering projects. It is found that the engineering project performance of enterprises with social responsibility report disclosure is critically higher than that of enterprises without social responsibility report disclosure. Under different nature of enterprises, the disclosure of social responsibility report of non-state-owned construction engineering enterprises has a significantly greater impact on project performance than state-owned construction engineering enterprises. Further research also shows that the disclosure of social responsibility report has the most imperative impact on the performance of enterprise engineering projects in the current period. This paper argues that actively promoting engineering enterprises to fulfill their social responsibilities is conducive to promoting the development of large construction and engineering enterprises in the countries along the “Belt and Road” line.

Impact Mechanism of Shared Leadership Behavior on the Performance of Large-scale Engineering Construction Projects

As a new type of leadership style that can enhance team effectiveness, shared leadership has received a lot of attention from scholars. However, few studies have focused on its positive role in the engineering construction team. This paper explores the impact of shared leadership behavior on the performance of large-scale engineering projects and discusses the mediating role of employee participation. The research of the employees and their direct leaders in 41 project teams of the 12 construction companies shows that shared leadership behavior has a significant positive effect on project performance, employee participation plays a part mediating role in the relationship between shared leadership behavior and project performance. In a society where the knowledge economy and information technology are developing rapidly, combining shared leadership behavior with large-scale engineering construction projects will inevitably bring benefits to large-scale engineering construction projects.

Significant Factors Affecting Civil Engineering Project Performance

Civil engineering projects trigger the economic growth by providing infrastructure facilities and job opportunities as well as attracting the attention of foreign investments. Due to their significant contributions toward the nation growth, the performance of civil engineering projects has become the upmost concern by the government. Unfortunately, many civil engineering projects in Malaysia are dominantly associated with unsatisfactory performance in terms of cost, time and quality of the delivered products. Therefore, this paper aims to identify the underlying causes which lead to unsatisfactory performance by determining the factors affecting civil engineering projects. The objective of this paper is to identify the civil engineering project characteristics and the quality of Standard Form of Contract (SFoC) adopted and the contractual behaviour of key participants of civil engineering project which affecting the performance. Questionnaires survey were conducted to undertake the research. 124 feedbacks received out of 300 questionnaires distributed to the G7 contractors registered under Construction Industry Development Board (CIDB) and consultant engineer registered under Board of Engineers Malaysia (BEM). The data was statistically analysed using SPSS 21 and descriptive analysis was used for rank assessment of factors. It was found that the top three (3) most significant factors affecting civil engineering project performance are delay in making payment, environment uncertainty and the clarity of SFoC. These factors belong to three categories i.e the contractual behaviour of key participants, project characteristics and the quality of SFoC category. Thus, these categories are paramount to be put more concern on the performance of civil engineering projects in Malaysia.

Significant Factors Affecting Civil Engineering Project Performance

Civil engineering projects trigger the economic growth by providing infrastructure facilities and job opportunities as well as attracting the attention of foreign investments. Due to their significant contributions toward the nation growth, the performance of civil engineering projects has become the upmost concern by the government. Unfortunately, many civil engineering projects in Malaysia are dominantly associated with unsatisfactory performance in terms of cost, time and quality of the delivered products. Therefore, this paper aims to identify the underlying causes which lead to unsatisfactory performance by determining the factors affecting civil engineering projects. The objective of this paper is to identify the civil engineering project characteristics and the quality of Standard Form of Contract (SFoC) adopted and the contractual behaviour of key participants of civil engineering project which affecting the performance. Questionnaires survey were conducted to undertake the research. 124 feedbacks received out of 300 questionnaires distributed to the G7 contractors registered under Construction Industry Development Board (CIDB) and consultant engineer registered under Board of Engineers Malaysia (BEM). The data was statistically analysed using SPSS 21 and descriptive analysis was used for rank assessment of factors. It was found that the top three (3) most significant factors affecting civil engineering project performance are delay in making payment, environment uncertainty and the clarity of SFoC. These factors belong to three categories i.e the contractual behaviour of key participants, project characteristics and the quality of SFoC category. Thus, these categories are paramount to be put more concern on the performance of civil engineering projects in Malaysia.

NUMERICAL ANALYSIS OF THE RESPONSE OF PILE-RAFT SYSTEMS CONSIDERING THE APPLICATION OF CEMENT AND POLYPROPYLENE FIBER TREATMENT

Abstract Long-term performance of civil engineering projects mainly depends on the strength of underground layers. When the underground soil layers are problematic or have low bearing capacity and strength against the applied loads, application of soil stabilization methods can be effective. In this study, performance of pile-raft systems using stabilized/reinforced soil under foundation is investigated. For validation, the obtained numerical results were compared with the existing results from analytical and numerical analyses. Using the experimental data available in the literature, the variations of stiffness and strength parameters were simulated by three-dimensional finite element method and then foundation response was evaluated for each case. According to the obtained results, depending on the pile-raft configuration, different strategies of stabilization with cement, reinforcement with polypropylene fibers, or a combination of cement stabilization and fiber reinforcement can be employed to reduce the differential and maximum settlements of foundation and to improve the overall performance. In general, even though reinforcement with fibers has a positive influence on the tensile and shear strength of soil, the effect of cement stabilization on the design parameters of the foundation is more pronounced. Finally, an implementation of cost analysis of stabilization project was proposed to be conducted based on the applied materials and improvement/cost ratio.

Boundary Spanning, Group Heterogeneity and Engineering Project Performance

This study examines the concept of intra-organizational links as a way for boundary spanners to bring into the project group the information needed to deal with task uncertainty. Several studies have shown that heterogeneous groups are superior to homogeneous groups when novel or creative solutions need to be developed to deal with tasks characterized by high task uncertainty. For boundary spanners in engineering project groups, it is proposed that cross-departmental technical advice links are another source of the information needed to deal with task uncertainty. An empirical test supports the proposition that for high-performing project groups, boundary-spanning technical advice links may compensate for a lack of internal group heterogeneity and vice versa. This is not the case for low-performing project groups. Implications of these finding are presented, including the direction that the open innovation research stream might take to address the findings of this study.

A preliminary investigation on the effects of characteristics and contractual behaviour on civil engineering project performance

The significant role of civil engineering project is not only to make the lives of people easier and secure but also to trigger the economic growth by providing infrastructure facilities as well as job opportunities. As it is dominantly initiated by government sectors, performance of the civil engineering projects is always observed. This study aims to investigate the characteristics of civil engineering project and the contractual behavior of the key participants and how do these two factors affect civil engineering projects performance. Literature reviews, content analysis and questionnaires survey were conducted to undertake the research. A total of 50 questionnaires were distributed and 10 questionnaires were returned, resulting in a 20% response rate. The research unveiled that performance of civil engineering projects are influenced greatly by the ability to handle the unpredictable character of the civil engineering projects and adequate behavioral management. Apart from that, balancing the factors with high quality of workmanship, avoidance or well managed conflicts and high satisfaction level will ensure performance in projects.

Building Information Modeling (BIM) in Brazil's Architecture, Engineering and Construction (AEC) Industry: A Review and a Bibliometric Study

Building Information Modeling (BIM) is transforming how buildings are designed, constructed, operated, maintained and demolished and has attracted significant attention as a process that can positively impact the performance of architecture, engineering and construction (AEC) projects. The research and use of BIM processes and software in Brazil are incipient. This paper aims to provide a review of the scope of the Brazilian BIM literature and outlines the most important directions for future research. The work is developed based on an extensive and critical bibliographic study on journals, papers, conferences and Brazilian-authored master's and doctoral dissertations. The results show little significant Brazilian contributions in the international field and scarce BIM implementation in the Brazilian AEC industry, especially in interoperability issues, post-construction phases, and life cycle analysis.The reasons for this finding are the lack of professionals involved in the entire life cycle of buildings who have expertise in BIM tools and processes as well as the fact that teaching and research on BIM in universities and Brazilian research centers are weak compared to other countries, which shows the need for these institutions to adopt the BIM model as an essential tool for teaching engineering and architecture.BIM, construction, sustainability, review, Brazil

Improving the Lifecycle Performance of Engineering Projects with Flexible Strategies: Example of On‐Shore LNG Production Design

ABSTRACTThis paper presents an innovative flexibility analysis as a practical, effective procedure to improve the expected value of large‐scale, capital‐intensive projects when there is market uncertainty. Its novelty lies in its approach and scope. Its approach develops understanding of the drivers of the value of flexibility, so as to build acceptance among decision‐makers. Its scope explicitly considers the combined effects of uncertainty, economies of scale, learning, and geographic distribution. It demonstrates how these factors combine to impact the benefits of flexibility in the early stages of design and project evaluation in the context of uncertainty. It makes this point through a specific example: the long‐term deployment of liquefied natural gas (LNG) technology to supply the transportation market. It contrasts the base case fixed design (a big centralized production facility) with flexible modular designs that phase capacity additions over time and space. The proposed flexibility method compares design alternatives based on several indicators of economic lifecycle performance (Net Present Value (NPV), Initial Capex, etc.). Results indicate that flexible modular deployment strategies can significantly improve the economic performance of large, expensive projects. As sensitivity analyses show, the improvements can be significant over a wide range of analytical assumptions. An important insight is that higher learning rates increase the benefits of flexibility, counteracting the effects of economies of scale. Overall, the study shows that flexibility in engineering design of major production facilities such as LNG plants has multiple, supporting advantages due to uncertainty, learning, and location.