Search

Modular-based heavy industrial projects, which involve a large number of lifts on congested and/or dynamic site layouts, require not only the design and selection of efficient mobile crane operations but also rapid and accurate responses to design changes in the planning stage of the project to ensure successful project completion. Current tools have not yielded strategies that support informed decisions to select the most suitable mobile crane operation (e.g., the cycle time of the crane lift) among several alternatives. This paper proposes a threedimensional-based crane evaluation system (3D-CES) which designs, verifies, and simulates three-dimensional (3D) visualization of mobile crane operation not only to support the selection of the most efficient crane operation but also to plan the crane lift schedule during crane lift studies based on identification of safety and productivity aspects. Furthermore, these aspects are shown to help increase efficiency, timeliness, and profitability of construction management through effective collaboration and communication. As demonstrated in a case study, 3D-CES can permit users to design and select the most suitable crane operation by providing crane digital lift information, even when frequent design changes, such as those to lifting sequences, crane locations, and material pick points, are encountered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A consistent and easily recognizable name is the primary identifier of an object in building information modeling (BIM). Existing naming conventions vary significantly and require extensive manual work that is often tedious and error-prone. This study (1) develops a standardized naming convention for BIM objects and (2) devises a semiautomatic naming approach for saving manual work. In the proposed naming convention, each segment is included by referencing BIM standards with a consideration of BIM users' actual needs, and the semiautomatic approach is formalized for both completed and ongoing BIM models. Validated by a control experiment and feedback from the project manager and BIM engineers of a real-life project, this research can be immediately applied to realize standardized BIM object names. This study also generates practical implications for BIM-based project management, where standardized BIM object names are required for supporting object identification and information incorporation throughout a project lifecycle. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Building information modeling (BIM) has entered into another phase of maturity, especially in countries that have been actively adopting and using BIM including in Taiwan, Republic of China. An effective management in BIM has increasingly become one of the demanding features in Taiwanese architecture, engineering, construction, and operation industries, particularly in dealing with the legal issues associated with BIM implementation. Therefore, the research aims to develop a preliminary contractual framework for BIM-based contract administration. Two objectives underpin the research, namely, (1) to identify the potential legal aspects that need to be considered in BIM-enabled projects, and (2) to determine the related contract provisions required in BIM contracts. The questionnaire survey method was adopted through a selective sampling approach in Taiwan. Thirty-six valid and completed questionnaires were analyzed. The results identify 21 related contract provisions that could potentially be used in BIM contracts. Following a thorough analytical discussion, these contract provisions were then incorporated into the developed contractual framework. While paving the way for a robust contractual mechanism for BIM-enabled projects in the future, the research contributes to the body of knowledge for BIM-based contract administration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Transportation asset management (TAM) demands a data-driven decision-making process to proactively maintain, preserve, and extend the long-term service life of transportation assets. State highway agencies (SHAs) typically wait to inventory their assets according to their locations, dimensions, and material types and properties after they are constructed and open to traffic. However, the construction phase is the best time to collect asset data because access is easier and safer, and more importantly, the data needed for operation and maintenance (O&M) inventory already are being collected during the construction inspection and documentation process. Thus, finding a way to facilitate the flow of the asset data collected during construction to asset management information systems would not only eliminate the waste caused by the duplicate data collection efforts, but also ensure the safety of data collectors. Specifically, a linkage mechanism is needed to connect the planned assets in the design phase to the construction activities and then to the assets in the asset management systems for future use. Therefore, this paper introduces the framework for such a mechanism, which uses the construction pay items (i.e., measurable and specific construction work items for transportation assets). This proposed mechanism will enable sharing the construction records and as-built data of transportation infrastructure assets during construction and then sharing them with the downstream O&M applications. Four typical asset types (underdrains, guardrails, attenuators, and culverts) in a transportation project in Indiana were used to demonstrate its application. The results confirmed that the newly developed mechanism successfully integrated the asset data collection and documentation process into the current construction inspection process. It also eliminated the duplicate data collection efforts, which resulted in reducing asset inventory expenses in the short term and more effective asset management in the long term. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The rapid adoption of building information modeling (BIM) in the architecture, engineering, construction, and operations (AECO) industry in recent years has resulted in large differences in the level of BIM adoption and application among organizations. AECO stakeholders, including owners, general contractors, and designers, do not have a benchmark system for them to understand their own performance and know how to improve themselves. A cloud-based BIM performance benchmarking application, BIM Cloud Score (BIMCS), has been proposed to collect BIM performance data from BIM users nationwide in order to allow them to compare their BIM performance with the results collected from their industry peers. This research aims to develop and validate an initial list of metrics that are suitable for the proposed BIM benchmarking application. A survey was conducted in the AECO industry and included BIM authors (architects) and users (contractors) to validate the proposed initial list of metrics. The responses from the survey were used for initializing the metric weights for the benchmarking system. In addition, an analysis of the differences in perception among different groups of respondents showed that out of 26 variables used, the perceived importance of 6 variables was statistically different between BIM authors and BIM users. This result indicates that the surveyed architects and contractors were in agreement with the importance level for most of the variables proposed including model usefulness, model economy, and model productivity. Future adjustments of the metric weights might be needed in the implementation based on the different intended purposes for the BIM models. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Construction sites need to be monitored continuously to detect unsafe conditions and protect workers from potential injuries and fatal accidents. In current practices, construction-safety monitoring relies heavily on manual observation, which is labor-intensive and errorprone. Due to the complex environment of construction sites, it is extremely challenging for safety inspectors to continuously monitor and manually identify all incidents that may expose workers to safety risks. There exist many research efforts applying sensing technologies to construction sites to reduce the manual efforts associated with construction-safety monitoring. However, several bottlenecks are identified in applying these technologies to the onsite safety monitoring process, including (1) recognition and registration of potential hazards, (2) realtime detection of unsafe incidents, and (3) reporting and sharing of the detected incidents with relevant participants in a timely manner. The objective of this study was to create and evaluate a low-cost automated safety monitoring system to assist in the construction-safety monitoring process. This paper presents a framework for this safety monitoring system as a cloud-based real time on-site application. The system integrates Bluetooth low-energy (BLE)-based location detection technology, building information model (BIM)-based hazard identification, and a cloud-based communication platform. Potential unsafe areas are defined automatically or manually in a BIM model. Real-time worker locations are acquired to detect incidents where workers are exposed to predefined risks. Then, the safety monitoring results are instantly communicated over the cloud for effective safety management. Through a real-world construction site case study, the system successfully demonstrated the capability to detect unsafe conditions and collect and analyze the trajectories of workers with respect to potential safety hazards. The results indicate that the proposed approach can assist in the construction site monitoring process and potentially improve site safety. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Underground utility incidents, such as utility conflicts and utility strikes, result in time and cost overruns in construction projects, property damages, environmental pollution, personnel injuries, and fatalities. A main cause of recurrent utility incidents is the noncompliance with the spatial configurations between utilities and their surroundings. Utility specifications usually contain textual descriptions of the spatial configurations. However, detection of spatial defects, according to the textual descriptions, is difficult and time consuming. This deficiency is because of the lack of spatial cognition in many rule-checking systems to process massive amounts of data. This study aims to automate utility compliance checking by integrating natural language processing (NLP) and spatial reasoning. NLP algorithm translates the textual descriptions of spatial configurations into computer-processable spatial rules. Spatial reasoning executes the extracted spatial rules following a logical order in a geographical information system (GIS) to identify noncompliance. The intellectual contribution of this study is twofold. First, complex spatial rules are retrieved automatically from textual data with their hierarchies classified, which provides the inputs and indicates the sequence of rule execution in spatial reasoning. Second, semantic spatial relations are modeled on the basis of their metric and topological implications, enabling the automatic execution of multiple spatial rules. Experiments were conducted to test this framework. The average precision, recall, and combination of the two (F-measure) achieved by the NLP algorithm for extracting spatial rules are 87.88%, 79.09%, and 83.25%, respectively. In addition, the spatial reasoning mechanism also was found to be a powerful tool for compliance checking under various scenarios. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

By showing users different stages of building information modeling (BIM) development and offering a roadmap to these stages, BIM maturity models have become useful means of BIM diffusion around the world. Nevertheless, existing models fail to recognize and measure BIM maturity in different units of analysis, including individual projects, companies, or the construction industry as a whole. This research aims to develop a multifunctional BIM maturity model. A reiterative approach is adopted to identify domains, subdomains, and their rubrics, which are organized in a hierarchical structure to form the BIM maturity model. This research is of particular value. It joins the theoretical debate on the "stool" of BIM maturity including technology, process, and protocol, instead of treating BIM as a technology only. The model is also of immediate practical use. It can be used to evaluate BIM maturity in individual projects, companies with a portfolio of projects, or the industry as a whole. Moreover, the different units of BIM maturity analysis are innovatively integrated in a single, vivid presentation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The modular building construction method is the industry's effort for industrialization of building construction. Similar to other types of production, a product information model is required for lifecycle information management of modular buildings. In this research, the mutual hierarchy of typical multistory modular systems is identified and represented in a product architecture model (PAM). This provides the industry with an information model required for industrial design of this type of construction. Since modular construction is neither as heavily project-based as conventional construction methods nor as significantly mass-produced as manufactured products, none of the current in- formation management frameworks in manufacturing and construction industries are necessarily capable of addressing the needs of such projects. In the research reported here, this need is addressed by development of a product PAM for the most conventional modular systems. The PAM represents the hierarchy of modular building components along with their interactions, functionality, and attributes. This paper initially reviews major types of modular systems, and then focuses on the development methodology, validation, architecture, and content of the PAM. This is followed by an explanation of its different uses, including extension of the current construction industry's information management frameworks and platforms such as building information modeling (BIM) to support modular construction and providing a basis for product-base design of such buildings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Because of the uncertainties present in geology and construction processes, construction projects in underground cavern groups are typically characterized by high degrees of uncertainty. The real-time safety analysis of underground caverns during construction has been a key technological issue because previous three-dimensional simulations have commonly failed to consider the time-varying changes in construction schedules and geological conditions. Thus, this study couples a construction progress simulation with a real-time dynamic analysis of engineering safety. In this study, a real-time online safety analysis approach based on four-dimensional technology during the construction of underground caverns is introduced, and a dynamic visualization management system of safety information in underground caverns during construction is developed using the OpenGL (Open Graphics Library) Tao Framework and C#, with which integrated management of information related to safety, including geological information, construction progress information, monitoring information, and numerical simulation data, is considered. This study also demonstrates that real-time safety evaluation based on a construction safety information model during the construction of underground caverns is feasible and practical, as shown in a real example in China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For the implementation of building information modeling (BIM), an incompatible development among various aspects of a business can lead to different levels of BIM maturity (BIMM) or even project failure. Therefore, it is important to identify key causal factors of BIMM. This research develops a structural equation model of BIMM through three-step multivariate analysis. It starts with exploratory factor analysis to identify three key BIMM factors, which are further tested with confirmatory factor analysis. The causal relationships among the three factors and BIMM are then proposed and validated with structural equation modeling. This research has both practical and theoretical contributions. Practically, the proposed model can be used by practitioners to initiate and evaluate their BIM implementation. Theoretically, the result provides empirical evidence for the multidimensional nature of BIMM and insights into the causal relationships among the factors. Specifically, the factors of process management and technology management are correlated, and both have significant positive impacts on BIMM through the information management factor. However, compared with technology management, process management is identified as more important for BIMM. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mobile light detection and ranging (LiDAR) is currently one of the most used instruments in road inspections to collect geometric and radiometric data. Different strips of the same area are common and bring problems in data registration related to the inaccuracies of global navigation satellite systems. This paper shows a methodology for automatic and robust data registration. It is based on segmentation of highly reflective data (i.e., road signs) and avoids the use of control points manually marked, typically used in the traditional techniques. The data set must be acquired under favorable climatological conditions. Root-mean-square errors in registration show values around 2 cm, while if the high-reflectivity segmentation is not used values higher than 8 cm are obtained. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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

Building information modeling (BIM) fundamentally requires the importation of a three-dimensional (3D) model with a series of repository data. Numerous studies have been conducted to clarify the philosophy of BIM and promote its adoption in construction and engineering projects. The primary contributions of this research to the construction engineering and management body of knowledge are the technical review, analysis, and appraisal of various issues concerning the usability of four-dimensional (4D) BIM. The research aims to determine the readiness and development of 4D BIM. A technical literature review was conducted of various BIM software websites, journal articles, brochures, and videos about required 4D elements. A comparative analysis was conducted to compare the technical (TECA) and project-planning functionality (PPFA) aspects of developing 4D models with features provided by available BIM software. This analysis yielded matrices that can be used to guide decision making on which BIM software to invest in. The results reveal that all of the software packages in their way serve the purpose of developing a 4D BIM model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ground-penetrating radar (GPR) has proved to be a valuable method for tunneling quality management and evaluation. The research literature includes many successful works addressing the use of this technique with the aim to detect the existence of internal pathologies and anomalies. However, most of them have been carried out on tunnels in operation. In these situations, the identification of inner elements and possible damage has been severely limited due to a shallower rebar mesh that complicates the radar data interpretation process. Therefore, this paper presents the evaluation of an excavated high-speed railway tunnel during the early stages of construction instead of considering a finished one. The purpose of the study was to demonstrate the potential of this method when applied during these first critical phases. The results provided noteworthy information: namely, thickness of the gunite layer, lining voids and delamination, moisture problems, and the presence of reinforcing in the tunnel lining. All this information may be useful for civil engineers when they must make a decision on maintenance and prevention tasks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One of the key factors for enabling sustainable construction is promoting the acquisition of knowledge about sustainable construction practices (SCPs). Information retrieval (IR) is at the heart of knowledge acquisition. However, retrieving the right information about SCPs for the right context is not an easy task; information about SCPs is complex, interdisciplinary, multifaceted, and context sensitive. To enhance the process of IR, there has been recent calls for an information systems epistemology (the theory of knowledge and knowing) to support enhanced design and use of information systems based on a better understanding of knowledge and knowing. To address this need, this paper proposes an epistemology-based semantic model for representing and reasoning-in a context-aware manner-about the knowledge of SCPs and the process of knowing (i.e., acquiring) this knowledge. The proposed semantic model of SCPs is composed of a hierarchy of concepts, interconcept relations, and axioms. The model is intended to facilitate domain-specific, context-aware retrieval of information about SCPs. The model was evaluated through answering competency questions, automated consistency and redundancy checking, expert interviews, and application-oriented evaluation. The model was implemented in an IR system and has shown to improve the retrieval results significantly. This research contributes to the body of knowledge by offering an epistemology-based semantic model for supporting the retrieval of more relevant and specific information based on multidimensional contexts. The model, and its implementation in the IR system, would allow construction professionals, stakeholders, and information users to retrieve more relevant information about SCPs, which would in turn support enhanced decision making. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Public opinion is becoming increasingly involved in feasibility studies, construction, and post-evaluation of large hydro projects. Recently, with the rapid development of social network services, sentiment analysis can provide officials and managers with fresh perspectives on public-relation problems in project management. An effective sentiment analysis method can enable projects to gain from public participation. In this paper, a project sentiment analysis (PSA) system using a lexicon-based method is proposed. This system collects user opinions from social network sites, establishes emotion dictionaries, and builds basic rules that calculate those sentiment values embodied in a collection of messages. The Three Gorges project (TGP) was used as a case study for demonstrating the effectiveness of the proposed PSA. Sentiment analysis results show that about half (47.7%) of the collected messages expressed negative emotions towards the TGP, while the other messages were positive or neutral. The case study is of help to Chinese government and project managers in future decision-making regarding the TGP. The PSA system provides a new theoretical perspective and a practical method to assess public opinion during the whole life-cycle of a large hydro project. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The dynamic nature and limited work space of roadway work zones contribute to dangerous working environments for construction workers. This environment can result in hazardous proximity situations because pedestrian workers are required to operate in close proximity to heavy construction equipment. A total of 609 work zone personnel fatalities were reported in 2012. Previous analysis of work zone fatality data found that the majority of the pedestrian worker and mobile object struck-by fatalities resulted when pedestrian workers were struck by construction equipment. These statistics indicate that current safety practices for pedestrian workers and equipment operators are inadequate. The objective of this study was to create and evaluate a proximity detection and alert system using Bluetooth sensing technology. The scope included hazardous proximity situations between pedestrian workers and construction equipment in roadway work zones at grade. Evaluation metrics were implemented to assess the tested proximity sensing systems including the cost, time and ease of calibration, required hardware, system capabilities, and many others. Commercially available radio frequency identification (RFID) and magnetic field proximity sensing systems were also evaluated to provide a basis for comparison. Various interaction scenarios between pedestrian workers and construction equipment were used in the evaluation of the system. The performance evaluation based on the statistical results showed that all the tested systems were considered reliable with minimal false alarm rates. However, the magnetic system showed a significant drop in its coverage range, while still providing reliable coverage measures, with a set of tests that were more dynamic than other sets of tests. The created Bluetooth system provided the highest level of simplicity with its minimized infrastructure, ease of calibration, and ease of installation. In sum, experimental results demonstrate that the created proximity detection and alert system (1) requires minimal infrastructure; (2) provides adequate alerts to equipment operators and pedestrian workers; and (3) provides, through an alert, an additional layer of hazard avoidance in real time during hazardous-proximity situations in roadway work zones. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The advent of affordable jobsite cameras is reshaping the way on-site construction activities are monitored. To facilitate the analysis of large collections of videos, research has focused on addressing the problem of manual workface assessment by recognizing worker and equipment activities using computer-vision algorithms. Despite the explosion of these methods, the ability to automatically recognize and understand worker and equipment activities from videos is still rather limited. The current algorithms require large-scale annotated workface assessment video data to learn models that can deal with the high degree of intraclass variability among activity categories. To address current limitations, this study proposes crowdsourcing the task of workface assessment from jobsite video streams. By introducing an intuitive web-based platform for massive marketplaces such as Amazon Mechanical Turk (AMT) and several automated methods, the intelligence of the crowd is engaged for interpreting jobsite videos. The goal is to overcome the limitations of the current practices of workface assessment and also provide significantly large empirical data sets together with their ground truth that can serve as the basis for developing video-based activity recognition methods. Six extensive experiments have shown that engaging nonexperts on AMT to annotate construction activities in jobsite videos can provide complete and detailed workface assessment results with 85% accuracy. It has been demonstrated that crowdsourcing has the potential to minimize time needed for workface assessment, provides ground truth for algorithmic developments, and most importantly allows on-site professionals to focus their time on the more important task of root-cause analysis and performance improvements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Building information modeling (BIM) has garnered significant attention in the past several years as a process that can positively impact the performance of architecture, engineering, and construction (AEC) projects. This paper builds upon previous research to investigate the effect of BIM on two key measures of AEC project performance: project change metrics and facility quality metrics. The research methodology includes conducting univariate and multivariate analyses on quantitative performance data from more than 30 completed vertical construction projects. Thirty-six BIM input variables were measured, summarized, and analyzed against project performance. Interesting results and contributions emerge from the analysis, including the lack of a relationship between BIM use and the extent of total project change; instead, the projects saw a transformation in the initiator of these changes. As BIM use increased, projects exhibited fewer design changes and more owner-initiated changes, arguably due to better visualization and understanding, leading to a more constructive involvement of project owners in the process. The findings also included the potential of BIM to increase systems quality and decrease the warranty and latent defect costs. The findings of this study can help project stakeholders decide how to most effectively use BIM on their projects by providing a more comprehensive understanding of the impact of BIM on project change and quality performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the research on the background subtraction method that aims to automate the monitoring whether construction workers are wearing personal protective equipment (PPE) on construction sites. It states that the method detects human bodies and PPEs in video frames captured by on-site construction cameras. It mentions that the method demonstrates potential to promote construction site safety monitoring work.

Work-related musculoskeletal disorders (WMSDs) are reported to be the most common category of nonfatal occupational injuries that result in days away from work and are also a leading cause of temporary and permanent disability. One of the most effective approaches to preventing WMSDs is to evaluate ergonomics considerations early in the design and construction planning stage before the worker encounters the unsafe conditions. However, a lack of tools for identifying potential ergonomic risks in a proposed workplace design has led to difficulties in integrating safety and health into workplace design practice. In an effort to address this issue, this study explores a motion data-driven framework for ergonomic analysis that automates and visualizes the evaluation process in a virtual workplace. This is accomplished by coupling the ergonomic analysis with three-dimensional (3D) virtual visualization of the work environment. The proposed approach uses motion data from the 3D model of the jobsite to evaluate the risk factors that can produce excessive physical loads on the human body through a biomechanical analysis. A global risk assessment of musculoskeletal disorders is performed on worker motions first, and a biomechanical simulation is then used to further analyze unsafe motions by estimating internal loads on each selected body joint of the worker and redesigning the motion and workplace accordingly. As a case study, several tasks taking place in a construction prefabrication shop are modeled and analyzed to modify the workplace and ensure improved ergonomic safety. The results indicate that the proposed approach enables identification and minimization of awkward worker postures in the virtual model to mitigate ergonomic risk during workplace design. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Construction projects continue to be plagued by cost and time overruns, primarily due to poor information-sharing between project participants. Building information modeling (BIM) has emerged as a digital platform through which project teams can share information better and improve project performance. However, many barriers to BIM adoption exist. The successful alignment of BIMtechnology with work processes as well as willingness to coordinate among project participants are considered most critical for successful BIM adoption. Lean construction practices address the issue of improving coordination within a project team and provide some recipes for how enhanced coordination can be brought about. While the use of BIM as a mediating intervention to enable effective lean practice implementation as an outcome has been documented, the use of lean practices as mediators for achieving enhanced levels of BIM use has not been adequately studied. This paper attempts to address this gap and understand if and how lean practices can be used to enable BIM adoption. Using an ethnographic action research methodology, two metro rail station projects are studied in India, a country where cost and time overruns in many sectors are much higher than the global average. On one project, building information models were built and an attempt was made to use these models for enhanced decision making. On the second project, the last planner system was implemented for 6 months, after which BIM was introduced on the project. The extent to which BIM was used for effective decision making leading to accurate planning and timely completion of activities was measured. On the first project, BIM was hardly used for decision making. On the second project, lean practices created a culture of coordination that incentivized the planning team to specify the kinds of building information models that were to be built, which would align with challenges faced on site. These models were subsequently debated upon collectively and were used for decision making with regards to planning and sequencing, suggesting enhanced BIM adoption. It is argued that lean practices can enable BIM adoption and the two reinforce each other. This paper contributes to knowledge on BIM adoption by showing how lean practices reduce coordination-related issues within the project organization, paving the way for BIM adoption. Building information modeling in conjunction with lean practices can therefore be used on construction projects to improve project performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recently, with the rapid development of information technology, old methods have been superseded by web-based building product information systems that speak the same language as the international building product manufacturers. The purpose of this paper is to emphasize the necessity of an environment that enables building product information sharing across today's global world and that provides access to any kind of up-to-date and accurate building product information in the building production process. To achieve this purpose, two large-scale field surveys were conducted among the supply side and the demand side in the Turkish construction industry. According to the survey results, the demand side's existing practices, desires, and expectations differ from the supply side's existing methods and practices. The major differences are about the usage of web-based building product information systems and their desires and expectations from the characteristics of a web-based system. The field survey findings will help to determine the behaviors and perspectives of the supply side and the demand side on building product information to find out the problem areas in building product information acquisition, and to offer recommendations for a more rational process for building product selection. The survey findings will also be used to develop a web-based building product information system that will enable building product information sharing and introduce all the characteristics of the building products produced in Turkey to the international construction industry. This web-based system will not only enable global building information sharing, but also will provide an introductive tool for international companies planning to enter the Turkish construction industry. Furthermore, the findings of this study can be regarded as an alternative model for the other developing countries that need to develop a similar system to solve similar problems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Academic research in applied disciplines such as construction engineering and management (CEM) has the dual mission of simultaneously contributing to the solution of practical problems and creating theoretical and conceptual knowledge. To do so, appropriate research approaches are needed. However, extant literature in the field has paid little attention to this issue and research methods used have been almost entirely either quantitative surveys or case studies. In this paper, action research (AR) is proposed as an answer to this knowledge gap. AR aims at building and testing theory within the context of solving an immediate practical problem in a real setting. The paper describes the underlying philosophy and application procedure of AR and highlights its strengths and weaknesses. Then, the applicability of the method to CEM is illustrated through a case study of improving access to information to support planning and decision making in a construction owner organization through designing and implementing a data warehouse. The findings indicate that AR is a reliable, structured, and rigorous research approach that is very useful for conducting applied research in construction and enabling academia to influence and improve construction industry practices. It can also effectively help to improve collaboration between academic researchers and industry practitioners in research and development projects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper seeks to identify improvements in the level of implementation of the Last Planner System (LPS) with the use of information technologies (IT) based on its methodology. In addition, we correlate the level of implementation of specific LPS components to the plan percent complete (PPC). The conjoint analysis of IT benefits in implementation and correlation to PPC allowed identification of two critical components: the standardization of the planning and control process, which can be quantitatively assessed by the PPC, and the systematic analysis and removal of constraints assessed through the percentage of constraints removed (PCR). A sample of 50 projects was used to corroborate that projects that have higher PPC and PCR also have better performance, measured by the schedule accomplishment and number of noncompliances. Consequently, results inferred that projects that use IT systems based on LPS have a more systematic planning and control and better constraint management that also correspond to better schedule accomplishment and less noncompliance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Construction Industry Institute (CII) Research Team (RT) 300, a collaborative effort between CII and the Construction Users Roundtable (CURT), was chartered to define and document the full range of impacts that late deliverables to construction can have on a project, and to better understand the far-reaching impacts of late deliverables at the construction site. Towards these goals, RT 300 developed the late deliverable risk catalog (LDRC) to organize and display the data collected through academic literature, industry surveys and questionnaires, and project case studies. To accompany the LDRC, RT 300 has also developed (1) an overview of the LDRC with suggested implementation strategies, (2) example applications of the research reported in this paper, (3) prevention recommendations for the most common late deliverables, and (4) lessons learned in managing late deliverables and mitigating their impacts. These topics have all been included in this paper to help the construction industry leverage the knowledge developed in the research reported in this paper into improved cost, schedule, safety, quality, and organizational performance through a greater understanding of risks associated with late deliverables to construction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For decades, the North American construction industry has seen a decline in productivity due to many underlying reasons. Moreover, the construction industry in general and electrical construction companies in particular struggled with coordination and productivity. Within the last decade, building information modeling (BIM) has become the means for a real solution to these problems. This paper attempts to highlight the practices and state of BIM in the electrical construction industry. Through an extensive survey and interview process, this research has provided three main conclusions. First, electrical contractors have not yet advanced their implementation of BIM, with 59% of respondents having three years or less experience with BIM. Second, in order to maintain a positive outcome for the use of BIM on a project, contractors should maintain one to three staff members as BIM specialists, adding a cost of 2% or less from the total project cost to implement BIM. Third, BIM does indeed reduce field conflicts and improve coordination. Other than quantifying the current state of practice and impact of BIM on electrical contractors and approximating its future use in this industry, this study contributes to the body of knowledge about BIM by offering the electrical contractors recommendations that will assist them in allocating the proper resources and to understand the evolving use of BIM. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A variety of building information modeling (BIM) performance evaluation initiatives have been proposed to quantify BIM utilization capacity of enterprises. These initiatives were designed for evaluating, instead of benchmarking, an organization's performance in BIM utilization. Unlike evaluation that mainly focuses on ascertaining the achievement of BIM utilization within an organization, benchmarking is more interested in comparing one organization's BIM performance to their industry peers. By identifying gaps in specific areas, decisions to make improvements can be facilitated. This paper proposes a cloud-based BIM performance benchmarking application called building information modeling cloud score (BIMCS) to automatically collect BIM performance data from a wide range of BIM users nationwide. It utilizes the software as a service ( SaaS) model of cloud computing to make the collection, aggregation, and presentation of benchmarking data autonomous and interactive. Based on the big data collected from the BIMCS database, an overall view of the industry status quo of BIM utilization may be obtained, and ultimately, a protocol for BIM performance can be developed on the basis of a better knowledge discovery process. Furthermore, BIMCS data will help individual companies compare and improve their performance in BIM utilization with respect to their industry competitors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The major aspects of highway planning are cut and fill calculations, cost estimation, and schedule duration planning. These items of highway planning are often complex and time consuming. Designing and comparing different alignment alternatives is even more time consuming and tends to be very costly. When planning for a new highway alignment, the general practice is to identify multiple alignment options and determine the best option based on multiple factors. This research proposes to automatically generate multiple alignment alternatives and the cut and fill quantities, costs, and schedules associated with each alternative in comparing different highway alignment alternatives. Building information modeling (BIM) technology has been increasingly used in resolving the complexity of a project in the building industry. However, the development of highway data schema and model using an object-oriented three-dimensional (3D) visualization is still underway and has not been fully implemented yet. This research proposes an object-oriented data model in compliance with ISO 10303 for highway design and construction. With the newly proposed data structure in highway design and construction, the automation of cost estimating and duration scheduling was achieved in identifying and comparing an optimum solution for alternative modeling and data output whose values provided aid in the selection process of design comparison. In summary, the explicit contribution to the body of knowledge that this paper claims is to propose a research procedure to improve current highway design and construction practices by applying a 3D object-oriented modeling approach to solve the problem of time-consuming highway planning related to alignment comparison. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Workspace planning is critical for effective construction planning and control, and workspace modeling is an essential part of computer-aided workspace planning. The existing construction four-dimensional (4D) models, which have gained popularity in construction as an effective tool for planning, control, and communication, lack efficient means to capture the dynamic nature of workspaces to avoid potential workspace conflicts in future construction. This paper presents a life-cycle approach to workspace modeling and planning by first investigating the dynamic nature of the workspace requirements of construction activities and then introducing a conceptual framework to format space usages into life-cycle workspace evolution patterns. Specifically, an object-oriented data structure was designed and implemented to incorporate workspace representation into construction product models, and a workspace identification and adjustment method was created to facilitate the creation of construction workspaces. This newly created approach was tested in an implementation case study of a campus garage project with a number of application scenarios and was proven to be effective and convenient for modeling the dynamic workspace evolution associated with typical construction activities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While web-based project management (WBPM) systems have been widely implemented in most construction projects, the current literature lacks any clear consensus on rationalizing such decisions across the industry. In an attempt to understand the factors influencing the implementation of web-based systems and their performance in construction projects, a theoretical structural model has been established, termed the partial least-square structural equation model (PLS-SEM). The effect of six latent variables on the performance of WBPM systems has been analyzed using the empirical data collected from a questionnaire survey of 77 respondents within the construction industry. The results of the data analysis suggest that the implementation of web-based systems (PMB) is rationalized with the two key factors being complexity (PC) and information streamline (IS) in the project. The general perception of increased users' satisfaction (US) and transparency and accountability (TA) has no strong empirical basis for rationalizing the use of web-based systems across projects. Effective monitoring and control (EMC) during project delivery can only be marginally enhanced by implementing WBPM systems. The key significance of this research is the unfolding of tacit knowledge of these key factors and addressing the limitations reported in previous research in the context of implementation of WBPM systems. Appropriate consideration of these factors would potentially contribute to the development of company procedures or to enhance existing knowledge within the construction industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Construction companies are knowledge-intensive organizations which are highly dependent on the skills of their professionals and staff. In today's business world, knowledge management is a major competitive strategy. Effective knowledge management in construction companies requires first characterizing the current practices of knowledge management within the organization, then identifying knowledge networks located in collaborative projects, observing the degree of virtuality in these networks, and identifying the communication facilitators. This paper proposes a model for the design of strategies for knowledge management and maturation, originating with an analysis of collaborative social networks, including their application in the wide spectrum of projects tackled by many construction companies. This document presents the conceptual underpinning of the proposed model and the methodology to add input and make the model operational. This research is interested in the significant amount of knowledge that lies in collaborative networks, as well as potential patterns that may emerge from the type and size of projects, companies, organizational styles, forms of recruitment, etc. With the input of this information, it is possible to design ad hoc strategies for knowledge management and maturity for any construction company. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite the significant benefits associated with building information modeling (BIM), the industry has not properly addressed a host of legal issues, risks, and barriers. Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) is of primary concern; therefore, this paper attempts to discuss IPR in the context of BIM application. It reviews the two issues of who a BIM's copyright owner should be and how to avoid infringement of IPR raised by the previous literature and proposes solutions. Interviews were conducted with experts in Taiwan to discuss opinions on these two issues. Moreover, experts were also asked to comment on two new issues raised by this study: (1) possible ways in which professional knowledge relating to business can be protected; and (2) ways in which work on elements of BIM can be protected. Combining the results of literature reviews and interviews, this study concludes the issues of BIM application in IPR perspectives and suggests solutions. The importance of these issues and their proposed solutions is validated by a questionnaire distributed among various other experts, and the results are given. This paper not only summarizes the BIM's IPR issues but also proposes practical solutions accordingly. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Topography and physical characteristics of a project should be considered in the preconstruction planning for any construction site. However, many of the technologies used for generating digital models of site topography rely extensively on project site surveys. This paper contributes to the body of knowledge by improving the understanding of the nature and sources of remotely sensed data for construction applications as well as the accuracy of digital terrain models (DTMs) derived from remotely sensed data. Airborne light detection and ranging (LiDAR), satellite imagery, and models provided by the USGS are three different sources of remotely sensed data that have been used in this study. It is expected that the research outcome will overcome some of the drawbacks of the existing methods for modeling site topography. The elevation values derived from these terrain models are compared with the values that have been measured in the field. The results indicate that the LiDAR-based DTM represents the best vertical accuracy in comparison to satellite-image-based and USGS DTMs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Residential buildings are one of the major consumers of energy. The majority of the housing stock consists of existing homes, and a large number of these homes are energy inefficient. Retrofitting existing homes to make them energy efficient can contribute immensely to energy savings. Buildings in the United States consume 72% of electricity and 40% of all energy, and residential buildings account for over half of these percentages. Existing buildings consume more than 70% of the electricity consumed by the buildings. With more than 130 million existing homes, energy retrofitting of existing homes is a critical area. Literature has identified that a key impediment to home energy retrofits (HER) is the lack of information or the lack of information in a format that the homeowners can understand and use to make retrofit decisions. Homeowners traditionally depend on experts in the field of energy efficiency, such as energy auditors and trade contractors, for information. There are, however, several problems with such information, including comprehensiveness, inaccuracy, cost, and perception of bias. The proposed work contributes toward understanding and solving the information barriers in the adoption of energy retrofits in existing homes. Its primary contribution lies in developing an information model for the energy retrofit decision process that can serve as a basis for the future development of a fully functional intelligent decision support system (IDSS). The IDSS will integrate quantitative information with expert knowledge in an interactive computer-based decision tool to assist the user. It will analyze the current situation of a home through queries to the user, and based on the quantitative information and expert knowledge in the system, provide customized and prioritized information needed for decision making by the user. The paper describes and categorizes various types of information needed for a retrofit decision, proposes a decision-making process model for HER, and developes a framework for organizing and integrating the quantitative information with the expert knowledge in an expert system-based IDSS. The quantitative information was gathered from published sources and from a U.S. Department of Energy's cost database, and the expert knowledge was obtained by interviewing and job shadowing energy auditors and contractors. Finally, an example was provided to demonstrate the functioning of the proposed system. The example assists the user in identifying and prioritizing retrofit measures and provides expert advice on installation of selected measures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Construction operations are highly energy-intensive and account for significant environmental impacts, including greenhouse gases (GHG) and other engine exhaust associated with material procurement/delivery and on-site construction activities. The opportunities for mitigating air pollutant emissions from construction operations can be captured by estimating and benchmarking during the preconstruction phase and then monitoring during the construction phase. However, a formal process model to manage the environmental aspects of on-site construction activities has yet to be clearly delineated, although recently several research efforts have appeared in relevant areas such as the development of in-use emission factors of construction equipment, methods for reliably estimating emissions at the project level, embodied carbon footprint benchmarking methods, and practical monitoring tools. Such a lack of a formal process model causes the misinterpretation of the benefits from recent research efforts in each area and hinders their implementation in practice. In this context, this paper aims to establish a framework model that could be a systematic and generic reference to the management of pollutant emissions from construction operations with state-of-the-art methods and tools. To do so, the paper identifies a generic process to be supported by research efforts in each area and presents an integrated framework based on the analysis of data connectivity between processes. An example of the indirect emission measurement is presented to demonstrate how data connectivity can be ensured between processes within the framework. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The construction industry needs graduate engineers with knowledge and skills in building information modeling (BIM). A detailed set of 39 topics required for BIM competence in construction management, together with specific targets for competency in each topic, was recently compiled on the basis of research into the needs of industry. However, only a handful of universities have introduced BIM topics into their curricula for construction engineering and management (CEM) students. A set of guidelines for the integration of BIM topics into CEM curricula has been developed and tested at the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology. The BIM education interventions in four out of seven courses were planned, implemented, and evaluated over three semesters. The experiments showed that BIM should be introduced not only as a topic in its own right, but more importantly, also as a tool for performing the engineering tasks taught within design, analysis, and management courses. Further, knowledge of the soft skills of information sharing and knowledge management, professional roles, commercial context, etc. are as important as the technology aspects. The work contributes a set of procedures that educators can use to identify their local requirements and build comprehensive BIM education into their CEM degree programs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Suggestions abound for successful adoption of building information modeling (BIM); however, a company with limited resources cannot adopt them all. The factors that have top management priority for successful accomplishment of a task are termed critical success factors (CSFs). This paper aims to derive the CSFs for four questions commonly asked by companies in the first wave of BIM adoption: (1) What are the CSFs for adopting BIM in a company? (2) What are the CSFs for selecting projects to deploy BIM? (3) What are the CSFs for selecting BIM services? (4) What are the CSFs for selecting company-appropriate BIM software applications? A list of consideration factors was collected for each question, based on a literature review, and then refined through face-to-face interviews based on experiences of BIM experts. An international survey was conducted with leading BIM experts. From the 206 distributed surveys, 52 responses from four continents were collected. This study used quantitative data analysis to derive a manageable number (4-10) of CSFs for each category from dozens of anecdotal consideration factors. The derived CSFs are expected to be used as efficient metrics for evaluating and managing the level of BIM adoption and as a basis for developing BIM evaluation models in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As building information modeling (BIM) becomes increasingly standard practice in the construction industry, universities providing construction engineering and management education seek to incorporate BIM concepts and skills in their degree programs. The goal of this research was to compile a framework for BIM education that lays out the necessary topics and the levels of achievement required at each stage of degree programs. Industry's requirements for graduate engineers were elicited through surveys, workshops, analyses of job advertisements, and in-depth interviews. An outline of 39 topics in three broad classifications was established. Targets for competency in each topic were developed using the cognitive domain of Bloom's taxonomy, which expresses the learning objectives on six levels (from understand to evaluate). Gap analysis, which compared the state of the art in leading universities to industry requirements, led to the compilation of a framework for the development of BIM content for undergraduate and graduate construction engineering and management degree programs. The requirements and framework are intended to provide educators with essential knowledge as they develop and implement BIM content in their programs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Previous surveys on document management (DM) have focused on certain aspects such as the adoption of electronic methods by construction firms and the important features of electronic document management systems. This study presents the results of a survey of practitioners on various aspects of DM, including document storage, classification, search, and transmittal. The survey aims to identify practices that are implemented in large firms in the industry and the opinions of practitioners regarding such practices. Statistical models were used to map the relations between DM practices, characteristics of firms, and opinions of practitioners. The results indicate elaborate interactions between the different components, in which traditional and advanced methods are used simultaneously. The metadata approach for organizing documents is dominant; however, the use of text content is also common, especially for document search and retrieval. The results are considered to be a snapshot to benchmark the development of practices and opinions over time. They serve researchers and developers by identifying deficiencies in current practices and highlighting important issues from the perspective of industry practitioners. They serve practitioners by offering a picture of how other top industry firms operate when managing construction project documents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]