Allan D. Chasey

Comparison of Public–Private Partnerships and Traditional Procurement Methods in North American Highway Construction

The number of public–private partnership (P3) projects in North America has increased significantly since the early 1990s, as policy makers and transportation officials seek alternative methods to supplement traditional funding sources to finance and deliver projects. Scholars have compared the cost and schedule overruns of P3 projects against publicly funded projects in mature P3 markets in Europe, but not in the North American market. This paper begins filling that gap by comparing the cost- and schedule-overrun results of 12 completed large-scale (greater than ~US

Using simulation to understand the impact of deferred maintenance

90 million) P3 highway projects in North America with previous research studies reporting on large-scale design–bid–build (DBB) or design–build (DB) highway projects. P3 project performance data were collected through interviews with project executives, and then findings were used from previous studies of traditional projects for comparative benchmarking data. Research results indicate that the P3 sample cost overruns averaged 0.81% and schedule overruns averaged 20.30%, compared with 1.49% cost overruns and 11.04% schedule overruns for DB projects and 12.71% cost overruns and 4.34% schedule overruns for publicly financed large-scale DBB highway projects. With a relatively small universe of completed construction phase efforts to examine, it is premature to draw explicit conclusions, yet results reported in this study point to tighter control of highway construction costs and delivery schedules when projects are delivered by the P3 method. Findings from this study provide empirical evidence for various theoretical advantages and limitations of P3 projects, as well as serve as a reference tool to compare the appropriateness of different project delivery methods.

Implementing a Vertically Integrated BIM Curriculum in an Undergraduate Construction Management Program

Understanding the impact of deferred maintenance on a highway system can help policy makers and transportation planners in the decision process on how to best utilize limited resources to provide for an areas total infrastructure needs. This paper presents the development of a framework and methodology to use dynamic simulation to understand and quantify the impact of deferred maintenance and the effect on user and non-user benefits. This simulation will allow the testing of policies or assumptions for their impact over time, in order to gain insight into the problem solution. A hypothetical region is used to demonstrate the use of the framework, and three possible measures of effectiveness, total net benefits per capita, revenues less expenditures, and benefit-cost ratio, are introduced that could be utilized to help decision-makers understand the impact of various maintenance funding rates on different interest groups being served within the community. The model can be calibrated to a region to provide specific impact information for that location.

Automatic Imagery Data Analysis for Diagnosing Human Factors in the Outage of a Nuclear Plant

The popularity of Building Information Modeling (BIM) as an integral concept in the Architecture, Engineering, and Construction (AEC) industries has motivated its necessary inclusion in Construction Management (CM) education. Implementing BIM as a mainstream, elective or integrated subject within an established undergraduate curriculum is challenging due to limitations such as available teaching time, knowledge retention in students and the flexibility of the curriculum to adapt with a fast developing technology. Pedagogy must combine fundamental learning of theory, practical experience and the use of technology in a collaborative environment to effectively implement BIM. Vertical integration is one such method that was implemented and evaluated to promote BIM education in the undergraduate Construction Management program at Arizona State University. This article discusses the evolution of the BIM curriculum and focuses on the vertical integration of upper-division and lower-division students for a Site Logistics assignment to improve upon the BIM education continuum. Evaluation and surveys revealed that this methodology increased the appreciation for learning BIM, promoted the use of BIM tools for in-class projects and created an understanding of the importance of information management.

SUSTAINABILITY FOR ADVANCED TECHNOLOGY FACILITIES

Nuclear power plant (NPP) outages involve maintenance and repair activities of a large number of workers in limited workspaces, while having tight schedules and zero-tolerance for accidents. During an outage, thousands of workers will be working around the NPP. Extremely high outage costs and expensive delays in maintenance projects (around

Water Reclaim Strategies for the Microelectronics Industry

1.5 million per day) require tight outage schedules (typically 20 days). In such packed workspaces, real-time human behavior monitoring is critical for ensuring safe collaboration among workers, minimal wastes of time and resources due to the lack of situational awareness, and timely project control. Current methods for detailed human behavior monitoring on construction sites rely on manual imagery data collection and analysis, which is tedious and error-prone. This paper presents a framework of automatic imagery data analysis that enables real-time detection and diagnosis of anomalous human behaviors during outages, through the integration of 4D construction simulation and object tracking algorithms.

Simulating Highway Infrastructure Management Policies

The concept of “Green” building has been heightened in significance due to concerns regarding the world’s climate. This “Green” concept is increasingly accepted throughout the world and its impact is being felt in different sectors of the construction industry. Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED), developed by the U.S. Green Building Council, is a standard to rate different facility types relative to optimizing energy and environmental performance. Semiconductor manufacturing facilities, commonly referred to as ‘Fabs’, are special construction projects. LEED for New Construction (LEED NC) has been used to assess performance of resource intensive facilities, but modifications and improvements to the current LEED rating system are needed to help better define and construct high performing resource intensive facilities. This paper outlines a foundation for defining the parameters to help develop resource efficient facilities. This includes understanding the resource requirements of the semiconductors manufacturing facilities and how they differ from other facilities in terms of water and energy requirements. It identifies potential areas that need to be addressed when developing criteria to rate resource intensive facilities.

Cost and time benchmarking in semiconductor manufacturing facilities construction

This paper discusses water reclaim opportunities as a viable means of ensuring the future water needs of the microelectronics industry. Escalating factory costs; increased burdens on municipal infrastructure; governmental compliance; an awareness of limited resource availability to sustain a young, rapidly changing industry; a need to control escalating capital costs and investment risk; and the need to deliver new, expanded, and re-equipped semiconductor factories faster underscore the importance of developing a greater understanding and a more widespread implementation of process wastewater reclaim in the semiconductor industry. Water reclaim is important in semiconductor fabrication facilities and is supported by environmental, technology, regulatory, and economic issues. Water reclaim is possible and possesses potential for wide spread implementation in new and existing factory design. It can also be accomplished within the limits of available technologies and can be cost effective when considerations are given to the operational savings inherent in consumption and discharge reduction. In this paper a general water reclaim system is developed with system descriptions, diagrams, and flow analysis for a niche market fab.