Mohamed, M (2022) A risk-based model for construction inspection in highways. PhD thesis, University of Kansas, USA.
Abstract
The quality and durability of highway construction projects have been a major concern to highway agencies and contractors. Quality assurance (QA) of highway construction is defined as a tool or means by which the owner and contractors ensure that the roads are constructed in accordance with approved plans and specifications by the most economical, efficient, and safe method. To ensure the quality of highway construction projects, transportation agencies typically perform a series of tests for construction materials and inspect workmanship processes through their QA programs. Transportation agencies face the critical challenge of increased demand for highway system rehabilitation and construction work with limited inspection resources. These resources play a crucial role in asserting the quality of highway projects. The shortage of experienced QA inspection staff due to retirement or migration to the private sector has significantly impacted construction inspection capabilities. The objective of this dissertation is to develop a risk-based inspection (RBI) framework. This framework optimizes inspection and testing activities of highway construction projects based on criticality. It introduces a core list of QA inspection and testing activities for the rigid pavement, flexible pavement, bridge deck, and structural concrete. This list highly contributes to the QA of design service life and long-term performance of the highway. The prioritized list of activities may help transportation agencies allocate their limited resources to the most critical construction operations. Additionally, this dissertation provides a RBI model that serves as a risk assessment tools for highway construction quality levels and identifies causes of any quality shortfall. Bayesian belief network (BBN), fuzzy set (FS) theory, and Delphi techniques have been applied to develop the RBI model. Further, this dissertation discusses different strategies to alleviate the risk of highway construction inspection.
| Item Type: | Thesis (Doctoral) |
|---|---|
| Thesis advisor: | Tran, D |
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | durability; fuzzy set; private sector; bridge; pavement; construction operations; inspection; quality assurance; rehabilitation; risk assessment; service life; workmanship; Bayesian belief network; highway; specification; Delphi technique |
| Index terms: | testing, dissertation, highway construction, risk assessment, construction material, construction work, durability, owner, transportation agency, migration, private sector, construction operation, inspection, fuzzy set, service life, agency, workmanship, program, Delphi technique, flexible pavement, strategy, face, quality assurance, bayesian belief network, rigid pavement, specification |
| Subjects: | research dissemination and communication, materials science, operations management, psychology, professional practice, construction operations, financial risk, asset management, demography, transportation engineering, quality assurance, decision-making and optimization, data collection methods, building materials, material degradation and durability, software systems, civil engineering, management, contractual condition, probabilistic model, sociology, industry analysis |
| Topics: | Stakeholder Management, Cost Management, Business Strategy, Research Practice, Construction Materials, Contract Administration, Organizational Design, Site Management, Digital Applications, Urban Studies, Project Management, Engineering Principles, Quality Management |
| Descriptive scope: | 4 PCTA |
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