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A Multi-Layer Constraint and Decision Support System for Construction Operation

Authors:
Amir Elmahdi
Hong Ha Le
Hans-Joachim Bargstaedt

Keywords: Weather impact; spatial constraints; construction operation; plant simulation

Abstract:
Up till now, traditional methods of planning construction projects such as 2D technologies including bar charts, network diagrams and other scheduling tools, which are typical methods for modeling the progress of a project, have been the only methods considered. These planning tools are incapable of acknowledging different aspects of construction projects, that it to say, they ignore the space requirements, in which activities are executed and the impact of weather on construction processes. This leads to drawbacks during the execution of these tasks such as work area overlapping, reduction in productivity, safety hazards, long hauling paths and poor quality of work. Therefore, the objective of this paper is to acknowledge the requirements of spatial aspects and the impact of weather, and to integrate these requirements into one simulation framework model. We propose a constraints-based simulation framework. That is to say, the simulation framework executes only tasks, which satisfy the requirement of the space availability and sensitivity towards weather conditions. The implementation of the multi-layer decision support system for construction operations was carried out in Plant Simulation environment and the Simulation Toolkit Shipbuilding (STS) Tool Box Component. This concept will assist site managers in planning and updating the near-term activities for the exterior construction work of high rise buildings. This is on-going research; therefore, other aspects such as execution strategies for different tasks will be developed in a future approach. This research contributes a new approach to integrating different construction problems in one simulation model, which have not been much considered in previous work.

Pages: 94 to 100

Copyright: Copyright (c) IARIA, 2011

Publication date: October 23, 2011

Published in: conference

ISSN: 2308-4537

ISBN: 978-1-61208-169-4

Location: Barcelona, Spain

Dates: from October 23, 2011 to October 29, 2011