Network Theory–Driven Construction Logic Knowledge Network: Process Modeling and Application in Highway Projects
Publication: Journal of Construction Engineering and Management
Volume 147, Issue 10
Abstract
Determining a reasonable project duration is one of the most critical activities required by project owner agencies for successful project letting and delivery. Most owner agencies, specifically in the highway sector, mainly rely on schedulers’ judgment and experience in determining the sequence of construction activities to estimate the required amount of time of a project. A vast amount of historical project performance data available in owner agencies’ databases provide rich and reliable resources that can significantly improve the current process to produce a consistent and repeatable quality of construction logic determination. This study proposes a novel data-driven process model utilizing pattern mining, statistical analysis, and network analysis techniques that can detect pairwise logical relationships among construction activities (e.g., Start-Start and Finish-Start) and develop knowledge networks of as-built construction sequence patterns to improve the scheduling process. Three algorithms are proposed to apply the knowledge networks to sequencing a new project: finding immediate predecessors and successors of an activity or ordering a given set of activities. Ten years of historical project data obtained from a state department of transportation were used in this research. A case study reveals that the process model developed in this study can successfully build the most reasonable construction sequences of a highway project, which can significantly improve the scheduling and contract time determination process.
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Data Availability Statement
The data used during the study were provided by a third party. Direct requests for these materials may be made to the provider as indicated in the Acknowledgments. Some models or codes that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.
Acknowledgments
The authors would like to acknowledge that the Montana DOT provided the daily work reports data for this study.
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Published In
Journal of Construction Engineering and Management
Volume 147 • Issue 10 • October 2021
Copyright
© 2021 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Dec 31, 2020
Accepted: Apr 30, 2021
Published online: Jul 21, 2021
Published in print: Oct 1, 2021
Discussion open until: Dec 21, 2021
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