Productivity Study of Microtunneling Pipe Installation Using Simulation
This article has a reply.
VIEW THE REPLYThis article has a reply.
VIEW THE REPLYPublication: Journal of Infrastructure Systems
Volume 13, Issue 3
Abstract
Microtunneling is a complex operation that requires the integration of several systems, a variety of supporting equipments and personnel, and is heavily influenced by subsurface condition. The objective of this research is to analyze and evaluate the factors that affect the productivity in microtunneling operations. Computer simulation can be used to study microtunneling operations before they are actually performed, thereby identifying operational inefficiency at different stages of the project and finding soil impact on the productivity. For this research, an actual microtunneling field study conducted at Louisiana Tech University was selected. Based on the data collected during this field study, a cyclic operations network model was developed with consideration on the impact of variations in soil compositions on the productivity of the operation. Simulations were repetitively conducted with different soil compositions. The simulation results were studied with regression analysis. A linear function of productivity and soil compositions was found. Various combinations of resources were also simulated. In this research study, the hypothesis that microtunneling boring machine is the bottleneck of the operation was proved to be true, whereas labor resources were found to be secondary limitations.
Get full access to this article
View all available purchase options and get full access to this article.
References
Abd Al-Jalil, Y. Q. (1998). “Analysis of performance of tunnel boring machine-based systems.” Ph.D. dissertation, The Univ. of Texas at Austin, Austin, Tex.
AbouRizk, S., Manavazhi, M., and Dozzi, P. (1997). “Analysis of productivity on a tunnel operation using computer simulation.” Proc., ASCE Construction Congress V: Managing Engineered Construction in Expanding Global Markets, Reston, Va., 382–388.
ASCE. (2001). “Standard construction guidelines for microtunneling.” CI/ASCE Standard 36–01, Reston, Va.
Division of Construction Engineering and Management. (2005). Purdue Univ., West Lafayette, Ind., ⟨https://engineering.purdue.edu/CEM/People/Personal/Halpin/Sim/index_html⟩ (Apr. 22, 2005).
Halpin, D. W., and Riggs, L. S. (1992). Planning and analysis of construction operations, Willey, New York.
Halpin, D. W., and Woodhead, R. (1998). Construction management, 2nd Ed., Wiley, New York.
Najafi, M. (1993). “Evaluation of a new microtunneling propulsion system.” Ph.D. dissertation, Louisiana Tech Univ., Ruston, La.
Najafi, M. (2005). Trenchless technology—Pipeline and utility design, construction, and renewal, McGraw-Hill, New York.
Nido, A. A., Knies, C. J., and Abraham, D. M. (1999). “Role of operation simulation in the analysis and improvement of microtunneling projects.” Tunn. Undergr. Space Technol., 14(1), 1–19.
Rush, J. W. (2004). “Microtunneling in the U.S.A. and Counting.” Trenchless Technol., 13(5), 51–53.
Ruwanpura, J. Y. (2001) “Special purpose simulation for tunnel construction operations” Ph.D. dissertation, Univ. of Alberta, Edmonton, Alta., Canada.
Salazar, G. F., and Einstein, H. H. (1986). “SIMSUPER5: Tunneling construction simulation.” Proc., 4th Conf. on Computing in Civil Engineering, ASCE, Reston, Va., 461–476.
Tanaka, Y., (1993). “Cycle time simulation of shield-tunneling operation.” Proc., 5th Int. Conf. on Computing in Civil and Building Engineering, ASCE, Reston, Va., 1386–1389.
Touran, A. and Asai, T. (1987). “Simulation of tunneling operations.” J. Constr. Eng. Manage., 113(4), 554–568.
Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Infrastructure Systems
Volume 13 • Issue 3 • September 2007
Pages: 247 - 260
Copyright
© 2007 ASCE.
History
Received: Aug 25, 2005
Accepted: Oct 19, 2006
Published online: Sep 1, 2007
Published in print: Sep 2007
Authors
Metrics & Citations
Metrics
Citations
Download citation
If you have the appropriate software installed, you can download article citation data to the citation manager of your choice. Simply select your manager software from the list below and click Download.