Journal of Construction Engineering and Management

Construction projects are subject to a wide range of constraints, such as project complexity, resource scarcity, and duration uncertainty. The critical chain project management (CCPM) has emerged as a method for construction scheduling. This paper proposes an improved CCPM framework to enhance the implementation of CCPM in construction project management practices. The framework addresses two major challenges in CCPM-based construction scheduling, including buffer sizing and multiple resources leveling. Buffers play a key role in ensuring successful schedule management. However, buffers generated by the existing sizing methods are either unnecessarily large, which wastes resources, or insufficiently robust against various uncertainties. Resource leveling is another critical challenge in CCPM-based construction scheduling because it requires a fundamentally different approach from the resource leveling used in traditional scheduling methods. The proposed framework improves buffer sizing by integrating into the buffer sizing process various uncertainties that affect construction scheduling but are not factored in by current practice. These uncertainties are assessed in five dimensions with their respective metrics developed in the framework. Furthermore, the framework explores the feasibility of multiple resources leveling in CCPM-based construction scheduling, with a novel method that manages the trade-offs between activity duration and resource usages based on a multimodal activity execution structure. Three case studies were undertaken in this paper. The results showed that the proposed framework outperformed existing buffer sizing methods by generating buffers with reasonable sizes and sufficient robustness against uncertainties. The results also proved the feasibility and effectiveness of performing multiple resources leveling in CCPM-based construction scheduling.

Drawing on institutional theory, this study examines how three types of isomorphic pressures (i.e., coercive, mimetic, and normative pressures) impact building information modeling (BIM) adoption activities in construction projects. The effects of these pressures are empirically tested with survey data collected from 92 construction projects in China. The results from partial least squares analyses indicate that coercive and mimetic pressures both significantly influence the extent of project-level BIM adoption. However, this study does not find support for a significant influence of normative pressures. The results further indicate that client/owner support plays a crucial but varied mediating role in the influences of these different isomorphic pressures. This study reinforces the need to regard project BIM adoption as a complexly socialized activity that is not only motivated by participants’ rational needs to proactively address internal process problems, but also driven by external isomorphic pressures related to the acquisition of institutional legitimacy. The findings also provide insights into how different types of institutional forces can be better manipulated to facilitate the diffusion of BIM in the construction industry.

This research is intended to generate relevant and quantitative decision support based on limited data and information available in the context of planning earthmoving operations at the site-grading design or early project planning stage. The researchers apply and extend the concept of haul effort in a two-axis grid. This enables calculation of the average weighted haul distance, which is shown to be invariant by conducting simulation experiments using a heuristic algorithm and making a quantitative comparison to the center of mass for a rigid body. This research applies the discrete event simulation approach commonly used to model the handling of multiple earthmoving jobs in a grading site, each job having a particular haul distance. The significant and unique contribution that has been made in this research is to substitute one unique average weighted haul distance for multiple haul distances between numerous cut and fill cells in the site grid system as simulation modeling input. When the same fleet is applied in both detailed and simplified simulation models, the question of validation concerns whether the simplified model still maintains the accuracy of the detailed model. Using a simple test problem and a real-world case, the researchers validate the proposed method and demonstrate the benefits of applying simulation for construction planning without incurring the previously necessary and prohibitively high cost associated with constructing detailed simulation models.

The social quality of life (SQOL) for single-family housing residents can be improved by enhancing their thermal comfort, indoor lighting quality, indoor air quality, and locating the housing unit in high-quality and safe neighborhoods. Accomplishing these SQOL improvements often leads to an increase in the life-cycle cost (LCC) of the housing unit. This paper presents a multiobjective optimization model that is capable of generating optimal trade-offs between the two conflicting objectives of maximizing the SQOL for single-family housing residents and minimizing the LCC of single-family housing units. The model is designed to maximize the SQOL for housing residents by improving their thermal comfort, indoor lighting quality, indoor air quality, and neighborhood quality. The model is also designed to minimize the LCC of housing units by minimizing the initial housing unit cost as well as its annual energy, utility, and maintenance costs. The model is developed in three main stages that focus on (1) identifying relevant criteria and metrics to measure the performance of these two optimization objectives; (2) modeling all decision variables, objective functions, and constraints; and (3) implementing a multiobjective genetic algorithm model to evaluate its performance. An application example of a housing unit is analyzed to illustrate the use of the developed model and demonstrate its capabilities in identifying optimal configurations of single-family housing design and construction decisions.

Tower cranes commonly constitute the bottleneck of production on today’s typical building construction projects, so shortening of crane cycle durations is often the key to increased site productivity. This case study examined one potential determinant of cycle duration that has been largely overlooked in the wide body of cycle time research, which is the operation mode (OM) of top-slewing tower cranes: from the cab or by remote control. This knowledge gap was addressed by providing quantitative substantiation to qualitative evaluations regarding the advantages and disadvantages of both OMs. The results revealed that there prevail certain conditions under which the two OMs may yield identical cycle times or even give remote operation an advantage. The study also identified that it is the balance between the fast-travel part of the cycle and the fine-maneuvering part that determines which of the two OMs will generate shorter cycle times. These findings will be useful for construction professionals who are charged with the task of selecting the OM best suited for their project when both OMs are optional or when assessing the cost of using a dictated OM. Equally important is the contribution for scholars of crane work as offered by the research method used in this study.

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.

This paper presents the development of a risk assessment methodology applicable to the analysis of exterior surfaces defacement from algae growth. The specific case of external thermal insulation composite systems (ETICS) is frequently associated with a higher perceived risk if compared with other façade solutions. The design of the proposed methodology includes: the scope of the risk analysis definition, the determination of the parameters involved using a qualitative analysis of the problem, the collection of relevant data, and a quantitative probabilistic risk analysis based in Monte Carlo simulations. The detailed implementation of the methodology involved the preparation of a meta-model, response surface methodology, that was developed and compared with a hygrothermal simulation tool. The meta-model allowed a faster application of the Monte Carlo method, providing results of the methodology application to the use of ETICS in selected locations and a sensitivity analysis of the stochastic parameters.