Danel, T; Lafhaj, Z; Puppala, A; BuHamdan, S; Lienard, S and Richard, P (2024) Identifying tower crane activities with data: The case of the concrete pouring. Engineering, Construction and Architectural Management, 31(2), pp. 939-956. ISSN 0969-9988
Abstract
Purpose: The crane plays an essential role in modern construction sites as it supports numerous operations and activities on-site. Additionally, the crane produces a big amount of data that, if analyzed, could significantly affect productivity, progress monitoring and decision-making in construction projects. This paper aims to show the usability of crane data in tracking the progress of activities on-site. Design/methodology/approach: This paper presents a pattern-based recognition method to detect concrete pouring activities on any concrete-based construction sites. A case study is presented to assess the methodology with a real-life example. Findings: The analysis of the data helped build a theoretical pattern for concrete pouring activities and detect the different phases and progress of these activities. Accordingly, the data become useable to track progress and identify problems in concrete pouring activities. Research limitations/implications: The paper presents an example for construction practitioners and researcher about a practical and easy way to analyze the big data that comes from cranes and how it is used in tracking projects' progress. The current study focuses only on concrete pouring activities; future studies can include other types of activities and can utilize the data with other building methods to improve construction productivity. Practical implications: The proposed approach is supposed to be simultaneously efficient in terms of concrete pouring detection as well as cost-effective. Construction practitioners could track concrete activities using an already-embedded monitoring device. Originality/value: While several studies in the literature targeted the optimization of crane operations and of mitigating hazards through automation and sensing, the opportunity of using cranes as progress trackers is yet to be fully exploited.
| Item Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | data logger; project progression; signal analysis; smart tracking; tower crane signals; tracking concrete pouring |
| Index terms: | monitoring, future study, construction productivity, automation, case study, productivity, tower crane, decision-making, methodology, progress monitoring, construction project, construction practitioner, usability, big data, construction site |
| Subjects: | project controls, decision analysis, information systems, management, research methods, maintenance engineering, automation and robotics, production management, professional development, operations management, work location, data collection methods, user-centered design, research design and methodology, control systems |
| Topics: | Risk Management, Research Practice, Project Management, Information Management, Business Strategy, Time Control, Site Management, Design Practice, Digital Applications |
| Descriptive scope: | 5 PCTEA |
N.B. Descriptive scope is a count of how many of the five facets of empirical research are indicated by the words used in title, abstract and keywords. It is not intended as a judgement on the research; merely a count of the kind of word we would expect to indicate Phenomenon, Concepts, Theoretical framing, Empirical techniques, Analytical techniques. If all five are present, then a code of “5 PCTEA” will indicate this. If you feel the coding for this record is questionable, we welcome discussion around the terms we matched or the way we categorized them. The facet you would expect may not be coded, or a facet may be coded inappropriately. This can also bear on a larger question, of which facets should be treated as defining in construction management research. Please get in touch, and we will look at it. More details here