Battikha, M G (2008) Reasoning mechanism for construction nonconformance root-cause analysis. Journal of Construction Engineering and Management, 134(4), pp. 280-288. ISSN 0733-9364
Abstract
This paper describes how problem patterns can be identified and analyzed for diagnosing and/or predicting nonconformance of constructed facilities. This will enable appropriate actions to be taken for eradicating the causes of nonconformance and preventing their recurrence and/or their occurrence. A structure has been defined for representing construction projects information and organizing knowledge extracted from past experience to facilitate the analyses. Pattern analyses have been directed at deriving root cause classes of problems including (1) design, which relates to the assigned specifications, methods, and/or procedures; (2) execution, which involves errors or the inability to execute tasks; and (3) external, which includes unforeseen events or accidents. Highway pavement construction has been selected as an application and illustrative domain. Expert knowledge related to low density and roughness of constructed pavements has been assembled and organized to support the analyses. The approach provides a generic mechanism to carry out integrated root cause analyses with design/planning, construction, and quality management information. Its application has been demonstrated and validated using case studies from different construction domains.
| Item Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | construction management; data analysis; diagnosis; predictions; quality control |
| Index terms: | pavement construction, case study, density, quality management, quality control, data analysis, specification, reasoning, root cause analysis, construction project |
| Subjects: | project delivery, analytical methods, data analysis and analytics, risk assessment, data collection methods, cognitive psychology, quality assurance, infrastructure engineering, contractual condition, production management |
| Topics: | Contract Administration, Quality Management, Urban Studies, Risk Management, Engineering Principles, Project Management, Research Practice |
| Descriptive scope: | 4 PCEA |
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