Varghese, K (1992) Automated route planning for large vehicles on industrial construction sites. PhD thesis, University of Texas at Austin, USA.
Abstract
This dissertation presents the work done to automate the tasks required to plan access routes for large vehicles on industrial construction sites. Planning access routes within the site was identified to be an important consideration in the development of the project execution plan. Many important project management decisions such as site layout, construction sequence, facility design, and the extent of preassembly are influenced by the need for access. In this research, a structured approach to planning access routes is defined, the limitations of the current methods are identified and the requirements of an ideal planning tool are determined. Concepts from the areas of information representation, geometric reasoning, and artificial intelligence are found to be applicable for route planning. The route planning system was developed using the expert system Nexpert Object and the geographic information system Arc/Info in conjunction with the CAD package Microstation, the spreadsheet Excel, and custom programs. The primary features of the system are: (i) integration of schedule and design data with site geometry, (ii) automatic detection and display of obstacles on roads and turns, and (iii) automatic selection and display of the most suitable and alternate access routes. A route planning problem was used to test the system for functionality, solution quality, and utility. The primary conclusions made from this research are (i) the Expert GIS approach can be used to model and generate solutions to the access planning problem, (ii) Expert GIS is a powerful technology which can be applied to automate a variety of construction planning tasks.
| Item Type: | Thesis (Doctoral) |
|---|---|
| Thesis advisor: | O'Connor, J T |
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | geographic information system; reasoning; construction site; artificial intelligence; construction planning; expert system; information system; integration; site layout |
| Index terms: | project management, artificial intelligence, construction planning, dissertation, geographic information system, industrial construction, execution plan, geometry, package, spreadsheet, information system, expert system, program, integration, construction site, functionality, site layout, reasoning |
| Subjects: | project management theory and practice, software systems, information systems, building construction, cognitive psychology, organizational analysis, geographical techniques and analysis, project controls, data management, mathematical modelling, research dissemination and communication, site logistics, construction planning, data science, artificial intelligence, contractual arrangements, work location, design features |
| Topics: | Engineering Principles, Research Practice, Project Management, Geographical Context, Procurement, Digital Applications, Design Practice, Time Control, Site Management, Organizational Design |
| 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