Chen, W-T (1994) Developing a knowledge-based expert system to determine contract duration for highway construction. PhD thesis, University of Florida, USA.
Abstract
In today's highway construction industry, the focus of the work has shifted from the building of new highway systems to the resurfacing, rehabilitating and restoring (3Rs) of those already in existence. As a result, the flow of traffic must be maintained with the required lane and shoulder restrictions throughout the construction of the project. Appropriate contract durations allow the contractor sufficient time to complete the work, while at the same time minimizing the disruption to the flow of traffic and other construction-related inconveniences that may be experienced by the traveling public. An appropriate contract duration should be agreeable to both the state highway agencies (SHAs) and the contractor, thereby reducing the incidence and severity of potential contractual disputes. Most importantly, however, proper contract durations must be established so that the financial interests of both the SHAs and the general public remain paramount. This research was devoted to developing EXCONDD, a knowledge-based expert system (KBES) for contract duration determination for highway construction. Various contract duration influence factors and the overview of KBES were addressed in detail. Three commercial software packages are used in EXCONDD. Among these software, EXSYS Professional plays the most important role because it controls the execution of the entire system. Lotus 123 is utilized to establish various templates. Suretrak Project Scheduler takes charge of project scheduling. EXCONDD includes three modules: the parametric estimating time (PTE) module, the production rates module, and the "A + B" module. The production rates module can only be utilized to estimate contract duration for highway widening and resurfacing projects, while the other modules are applicable to any type of project with no restriction. Knowledge and expertise of EXCONDD was extracted mainly from SHAs guidelines and experienced schedulers in the field of highway construction. By integrating these three modules, contract duration of highway projects can be easily determined.
| Item Type: | Thesis (Doctoral) |
|---|---|
| Thesis advisor: | Herbsman, Z |
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | disputes; duration; estimating; expert system; highway; professional; scheduler; scheduling; traffic |
| Index terms: | software package, agency, module, parametric estimating, scheduling, scheduler, project scheduling, duration, estimate, dispute, estimating, expert system, highway construction |
| Subjects: | sociology, project controls, financial and cost management, data management, civil engineering, dispute resolution, software systems, architectural elements, practitioner, operations research |
| Topics: | Digital Applications, Research Practice, Roles and Professions, Time Control, Design Practice, Engineering Principles, Cost Management, Legal Issues |
| Descriptive scope: | 3 PCT |
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