Le, C; Jeong, H D and Damnjanovic, I (2021) Network theory-driven construction logic knowledge network: Process modeling and application in highway projects. Journal of Construction Engineering and Management, 147(10): 04021261, ISSN 0733-9364
Abstract
Determining a reasonable project duration is one of the most critical activities required by project owner agencies for successful project letting and delivery. Most owner agencies, specifically in the highway sector, mainly rely on schedulers' judgment and experience in determining the sequence of construction activities to estimate the required amount of time of a project. A vast amount of historical project performance data available in owner agencies' databases provide rich and reliable resources that can significantly improve the current process to produce a consistent and repeatable quality of construction logic determination. This study proposes a novel data-driven process model utilizing pattern mining, statistical analysis, and network analysis techniques that can detect pairwise logical relationships among construction activities (e.g., Start-Start and Finish-Start) and develop knowledge networks of as-built construction sequence patterns to improve the scheduling process. Three algorithms are proposed to apply the knowledge networks to sequencing a new project: finding immediate predecessors and successors of an activity or ordering a given set of activities. Ten years of historical project data obtained from a state department of transportation were used in this research. A case study reveals that the process model developed in this study can successfully build the most reasonable construction sequences of a highway project, which can significantly improve the scheduling and contract time determination process.
| Item Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | construction logic; daily work report; logical relationship; network analysis; scheduling; sequential pattern mining; statistical analysis |
| Index terms: | owner, construction activity, statistical analysis, database, network analysis, judgment, case study, estimate, duration, highway construction, mining, successor, project performance, project data, scheduler, scheduling, process modelling, agency |
| Subjects: | civil engineering, project management theory and practice, data management, project controls, sociology, geotechnical engineering, data collection methods, practitioner, dispute resolution, design analysis, operations research, construction operations, data analysis and analytics, data science, financial and cost management |
| Topics: | Time Control, Site Management, Digital Applications, Design Practice, Legal Issues, Roles and Professions, Stakeholder Management, Engineering Principles, Research Practice, Project Management, Cost Management |
| 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