Wang, Q; Guo, Z; Mei, T; Li, Q and Li, P (2018) Labor crew workspace analysis for prefabricated assemblies' installation: A 4D-BIM-based approach. Engineering, Construction and Architectural Management, 25(3), pp. 374-411. ISSN 0969-9988
Abstract
Purpose: Construction industrialization is emerging in the construction industry, as a result, buildings with prefabricated assemblies are gaining more and more ground. In most situations, the prefabricated building assemblies are installed by labor crews manually. If some assemblies are ill-designed, clashes between labor crews' workspaces and them may occur, which will have bad effect on workers' productivity and even incur hazard. The purpose of this paper is to provide a 4D building information modeling (BIM) based approach to find potential workspace conflicts during the installation process of prefabricated building assemblies in the detailed design process so as to eliminate them in advance. Design/methodology/approach: First, a workspace modeling method is provided; second, three kinds of workspace conflicts are analyzed; third, a 4D-BIM-based approach is established; fourth, a prototype tool based on the approach is developed; and finally, a case study is conducted to test the tool. Findings: The result shows that the proposed tool can detect or precaution workspace conflicts and visualize them in a series of views; in doing so, valuable information can be obtained for improving the design quality of prefabricated assemblies. Research limitations/implications: The proposed approach and tool only concern the congestions caused by ill-designed prefabricated components; the tool needed to be further optimized for speed; the tests on the tool are limited to a single case study; and more tests are needed to verify its effectiveness. Originality/value: This research provides a 4D-BIM-based approach and a prototype tool for installation workspace analysis. It can be used to provide support for design optimization of prefabricated building assemblies.
| Item Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | approach; building information modelling; construction; project management |
| Index terms: | effectiveness, project management, prefabricated component, prefabricated building, modelling, construction industry, case study, building information modelling, workspace, productivity, methodology, design optimization, design quality, design process, industrialization, prototype |
| Subjects: | modelling and simulation, professional practice, analytical methods, data collection methods, design methods, building construction, industry analysis, information systems, economic development, management, performance management, research methods, design process, project management theory and practice |
| Topics: | Quality Management, Digital Applications, Design Practice, Engineering Principles, Research Practice, Project Management, Business Strategy, Sustainability, Construction Technology, Stakeholder Management |
| Descriptive scope: | 4 PCTE |
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