Simulating uncertainties in construction projects with chronographical scheduling logic

Francis, A (2017) Simulating uncertainties in construction projects with chronographical scheduling logic. Journal of Construction Engineering and Management, 143(1): 04016085, ISSN 0733-9364

Abstract

The more complex a project, the more attractive nontraditional project delivery methods like design-build or fast-tracking become with these delivery methods and uncertainty has to be explicitly integrated into the network calculations. Uncertainties assess levels of compliance with various constraints. This paper contributes to the existing body of knowledge by modeling diverse types of execution uncertainties, such as construction operation, execution process, and work with doubtful results, and by extending the traditional logic and modeling uncertainties using the chronographic time-scaled, point-to-point relations, production-based dynamic relations, and function dependencies between in-progress activities. The dependencies between activities can be related to the external scale (usually representing time) or an internal scale (usually representing quantity). Using the Monte Carlo simulation, the paper simulates the impact of construction operations, execution processes, and work with doubtful results. For companies, this approach represents scheduling constraints in a flexible manner and provides a feasible solution for modeling the complexity of real-world projects.

Item Type: Article
Uncontrolled Keywords: chronographic; cost and schedule; project; scheduling; simulation; uncertainties
Index terms: modelling, project delivery, delivery method, Monte Carlo simulation, construction operation, construction project, fast-tracking, body of knowledge, complexity, compliance, scheduling
Subjects: production management, health safety and environment, delivery method, project controls, systems engineering, modelling and simulation, operations research, project delivery, analytical methods, construction operations, knowledge management
Topics: Procurement, Engineering Principles, Information Management, Research Practice, Project Management, Health and Safety, Time Control, Site Management
Descriptive scope: 3 PCA

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