Journal of Construction Engineering and Management

The objective of this paper was to study and optimize the concrete paving operations taking place in the reconstruction project of Interstate-74 using computer simulation. To achieve this objective, field data were collected during construction, and were then used to determine adequate probabilistic density functions for the activities’ duration and to test a developed simulation model. Upon testing, the developed model was used to study the impacts of resources on the flow of operations and on the cost effectiveness of the construction process. In general, application of simulation methods to concrete paving operations was successful and its accuracy was acceptable as compared to field measurements. Based on the results of a sensitivity analysis of the critical resources, multiple factors were considered in the decision-making process to ensure that all aspects of the operation are evaluated. This includes total operation time, productivity, costs of the operation, average truck delay, and idle times for the paver and the spreader. For the conditions pertinent to this construction site, ten trucks, one paver and one spreader, and three finishing and plastic-covering crews are recommended. Using this set of resources would result in a prompt and effective execution of the operation. Practical implementation and limitations of the developed model in similar construction operations is discussed.

In 1998 the New Mexico State Highway and Transportation Department (NMSHTD) agreed to pay $60 million for a 20-year pavement warranty on their Route 44 project (NM 44, now US 550). The warranty includes a ceiling clause that caps total expenditures at $110 million. As the first long-term highway warranty in the United States, the transaction set a controversial precedent that parties interested in innovative highway contracting, including other state department of transportations (DOTs), the USDOT, sureties, and contractors, view as a test case for evaluating pricing and cost-effectiveness. An interim audit report published by the State of New Mexico [Abbey (2004). Rep. to the Legislative Finance Committee, State Highway and Transportation Department, Santa Fe, N.M.] provides invaluable fiscal projections and challenges the cost effectiveness of the $60 million expenditure. This paper presents an independent analysis of the effectiveness of the warranty clauses. Based upon NMSHTD data, the analysis contends that $60 million was a fair cost of the 20-year pavement warranty at the time of acceptance if the expenditure ceiling is not considered. Furthermore, this paper argues that the ceiling on expenditure can be valuable. Using the real options approach, the paper evaluates the warranty ceiling clause on NM 44 and some policy suggestions are discussed.

The terms of concession including tariff and concession period are often discussed intensively during negotiations of build-operate-transfer (BOT) contracts. Based on prior studies on negotiation terms and risk of BOT contracts, this paper incorporates risk attributes of the BOT project into the formulation of a contractual-negotiation model. The proposed model allows the government and the sponsor to reach a consensus on the terms should the financial return as well as the risk of the project be determined. The pro forma cash flow of a BOT project is developed and used to generate the probability distribution of net present values (NPV) from the owner’s viewpoint by using Monte Carlo simulation. High- and low-risk scenarios are obtained to determine whether the contractual-negotiation models vary in accordance with risk levels. Results show that, given the expected NPV, the sponsor should be offered more favorable concessional terms for projects with high risk than that with low risk. We suggest that the government and industry practitioners embody the risk attributes of the project in the automated contractual-negotiation model.

Resource calendars specify nonworking days of driving resources involved in construction projects. As part of the resource availability constraints in critical path method (CPM) scheduling, resource calendars may postpone activity start time, extend activity duration, and hence prolong the total project duration. Ultimately, resource calendars bring about changes to the critical path identification. Research has yet to address how to incorporate the effects of multiple resource calendars on the total float determination. In this research, the popular P3 software is used as a tool for investigating the current practice of CPM scheduling under resource limit and calendar constraints. We assess P3’s advanced resource scheduling functions (including resource leveling and resource calendars) and identify P3’s potential errors in total float determination. Further, we propose a new method based on the forward pass analysis alone for accurately evaluating activity total float subject to resource calendar constraints. The application of the new method is illustrated with an activity-on-node case and a precedence-diagram-method case, with the results compared against those produced from P3. Our research has elucidated on some critical issues of resource-constrained scheduling in the application domain of construction project management. The findings will provide useful input for the vendors and users of the CPM software—which is not limited to P3—to improve the scheduling methodology as well as the accuracy of the resulting project schedules.

This paper proposes the use of a series of independent variables for an early estimation of the building construction cost of residential buildings. Based on 70 German residential properties, these variables serve as the cost drivers of a project, and the regression model, tested against the 70 properties, has a mean absolute percentage error of 9.6%. When applied to predict the cost of five more properties that were excluded from the 70 in the regression model, the percentage error ranges between–12 and 13%. The identified cost drivers are: compactness of the building, number of elevators, size of the project, expected duration of construction, proportion of openings in external walls, and region.

Airport expansion projects often require the presence of construction personnel, material, and equipment near airport secure areas/facilities, leading to an increase in the level of risk to airport security. Construction planners and airport operators need to carefully study this challenge and implement active measures in order to minimize construction-related security breaches and comply with all relevant Federal Aviation Administration guidelines. This paper presents the development of an advanced multiobjective optimization model for planning airport construction site layouts that is capable of minimizing construction-related security breaches while simultaneously minimizing site layout costs. The model incorporates newly developed criteria and performance metrics that enable evaluating and maximizing the construction-related security level in operating airports. The model is developed using a multiobjective genetic algorithm, and an application example is analyzed to demonstrate the use of the model and its unique capability of generating a wide spectrum of optimal trade-offs between construction-related airport security and site layout costs.

Schedules are the means of determining project duration accurately, controlling project progress, and allocating resources efficiently in managing construction projects. It is not sufficient in today’s conditions to evaluate the construction schedules that are affected widely by risks, uncertainties, unexpected situations, deviations, and surprises with well-known deterministic or probabilistic methods such as the critical path method, bar chart (Gantt chart), line of balance, or program evaluation and review technique. In this regard, this paper presents a new simulation-based model—the correlated schedule risk analysis model (CSRAM)—to evaluate construction activity networks under uncertainty when activity durations and risk factors are correlated. An example of a CSRAM application to a single-story house project is presented in the paper. The findings of this application show that CSRAM operates well and produces realistic results in capturing correlation indirectly between activity durations and risk factors regarding the extent of uncertainty inherent in the schedule.

Data envelopment analysis (DEA) measures the relative efficiency of decision-making units and avoids any functional specification to express production relationship between inputs and outputs. DEA-based Malmquist productivity index (MPI) measures the productivity change over time. In this paper, the MPI is used to measure the productivity changes of Chinese construction industry from 1997 to 2003. The results of analyses indicate that productivity of the Chinese construction industry experienced a continuous improvement from 1997 to 2003 except for a decline from 2001 to 2002. It is found that there are gaps in productivity development level among western, midland, eastern, and northeastern regions in the Chinese construction industry. The DEA-based MPI approach provides a good tool to support setting up policies and strategic decisions for improving the performance of the Chinese construction industry and promoting the sustainable development of the industry between different regions.

Safety of construction projects may be affected by various factors such as types and scale of projects, construction methods, safety management procedure, climate, site conditions, etc. Among them is the quality of design in relation to safety. Presently, however, designers typically are not involved in construction safety. They are often uncertain of their responsibilities in relation to construction safety and fail to be responsible for avoiding or reducing safety-related risks. In this study, the concept of safety impact assessment to achieve “design-for-safety” in the design phase is introduced. For this purpose, a safety impact assessment model was devised, and a methodology using the risk-based safety impact assessment approach for open-cut type underground construction projects in Korea is suggested. The suggested methodology includes a safety information survey, classification of safety impact factors caused by design and construction, and quantitative estimation of magnitude and frequency of safety impact factors. A checklist which can be easily used for assessing the safety performance of design products is also proposed. A real-world case study on the safety impact assessment of a subway construction project in Korea is also provided in the paper.