Ashraf El-Hamalawi

A fuzzy system for evaluating the risk of change in construction projects

A major source of risk in construction is the potential changes occurring during the project lifetime. Changes in construction projects often result from the uncertainty associated with the imprecise and vague knowledge of much project information at the early stages of projects. IT systems for change management largely focus on managing reactive changes, in which changes are recorded and then propagated to the concerned project members. However, proactive change management is hardly dealt with. Proactive change management requires estimating the likelihood of occurrence of a change event as well as estimating the degree of change impacts on project parameters. A fuzzy system is proposed in this paper to maintain these requirements. The system simulates the relationships between change causes and effects, and is intended to facilitate proactive change management on projects.

Information Management in UK-Based Architecture and Engineering Organizations: Drivers, Constraining Factors, and Barriers

The need to improve collaborative working, knowledge sharing, and operational effectiveness has made effective Information Management a growing priority for Architecture and Engineering (A & E) organizations in the UK construction industry. While significant research has been carried out in the construction industry on project Information Management, limited work has been carried out to understand Information Management from an organisational paradigm. This paper presents the findings of an investigation into the nature of Information Management within A & E organizations in the UK construction industry. Interviews were conducted with experts across nine large architectural and multidisciplinary consultancies, the outputs of which were analysed using thematic analysis. From this, 26 themes across three core categories classed as drivers, constraining factors, and barriers which shape Information Management practices in construction organizations emerged. The findings show that Information Management is indeed of strategic significance to organizations and an organizational dimension is necessary to better align information needs with an organisation’s operational processes. They also show that context-dependent factors exist which shape the nature of Information Management in line with the specific needs of each organizations. Therefore, the effectiveness of an organisation’s Information Management practices is not absolute, but rather relative to its level of alignment to the organisation’s chosen mode of operation. The findings provide a much needed practical view of the complexities of Information Management, highlighting that particularly within multidisciplinary organizations; a unifying approach is much more practical and appropriate than a single approach to managing information.

A simple and effective element distortion factor

Abstract In this paper, the main methods employed during mesh generation to control element distortion are reviewed and some shortcomings are outlined. New distortion factors are then introduced, which are both simple to implement, and along with the aspect ratio, provide a rapid measure of an element’s quality. Some meshes demonstrating their use are finally presented.

Mobile Technologies for Improved Collaboration on Construction Sites

Abstract There have been increased efforts to introduce information and communication technologies (ICT) in construction to support collaboration. However, there is still little focus on support for mobile users on construction sites. It can be argued that it is often on the construction site that ICT tools can offer the greatest benefits, as they can enable the timely collection of information and knowledge during the build process. Convergence in networks—the merging of voice, video and data—provides increased opportunities for mobile workers as it allows for a greater array of information to be shared to support collaboration on site. This paper looks at convergence, as well as other technologies including mobile computing, speech recognition and the use of multimedia content, to support the construction worker on site and ensure a smooth decision-making process. The paper describes several construction case studies, including the Heathrow Terminal 5 project, where decision-making processes were examined, along with ICT usage. A scenario illustrating the use of advanced ICT on site was developed to gather requirements for a technical solution that could support the decision-making process and, ultimately, collaboration during construction. Requirements for an ICT support system were defined with the use of the case studies and scenario analysis; the proposed solution, which combines many of the latest advances in ICT in a single system, is then presented. It is explained and demonstrated that this could support the decision-making process by allowing more information to be accessed and shared from the construction site. The use of advanced communication technologies such as convergence and Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) can ensure that audio information can be retrieved, along with other project data, to provide a clearer, more fluid decision-making process where all relevant project members can be easily updated with project progress.

Towards implementing integrated building product libraries

Electronic product catalogues and brochures are gaining popularity, but there is little agreement on content, format, and searching methods. This limits their usability and integration with existing construction software tools. This paper examines a product‐modelling approach to delivering building product information and describes a proposed multi‐tier client‐server environment. ISO/STEP and IAI/IFC building product models are considered to facilitate representation, exchange, and sharing of product information. The proposed architecture incorporates scalability with middleware components that would provide single or few points of entry to integrated product information. This paper is part of a research project that builds on the results of related projects including Construct IT Strategy, PROCAT‐GEN, Active Catalog, COMBINE, and ARROW, towards implementing the required software components.

Framework for Carbon Emission Evaluation of Road Maintenance

In the United Kingdom, carbon emissions associated with business activities have shifted from matters of policy to sources of legal responsibilities under the Climate Change Act of 2008. A flexible and easy-to-use technique is needed so that businesses can assess their carbon emissions in response to regulations on the environmental impact of construction activities. The aim of this study was to develop a methodology that could offer businesses a carbon life-cycle assessment tool to identify emissions hot spots across the value chain and inform a carbon-reduction hierarchy. The approach employed was based on methodology described in the publicly available specification (PAS2050) protocol. The objective was to identify locations where the largest production of emissions occurred and provide for the biggest potential reduction within routine highway maintenance processes. The methodology framework allows businesses to make informed decisions in carbon terms through the identification and prioritization of areas of potential reduction of emissions.

Applications of converged networks in construction

Converged networks, the merging of voice, video and data networks onto a single infrastructure, and in particular IP telephony offer the construction industry cheaper calling and the ability to log all voice communication in an efficient manner. The emergence of wireless networks on the construction site allow IP telephony to be deployed on the site replacing the mobile phone network, where it was discovered that UK construction companies would spend over £1 Million a year on communication. This paper looks at the emergence of Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) and examines how this can be brought to the construction site. The paper reports on research carried out with the UK construction industry, identifying communication trends as well as the storage of communication. With this information, the paper attempts to identify processes where VoIP and convergence technology can provide key benefits.

An a posteriori error estimator for plane-strain geotechnical analyses

In this paper, an a posteriori error estimator suitable for use in geotechnical engineering has been developed. This error criterion is based on the superconvergent patch recovery method with equilibrium and boundary conditions method, taking into account Biots coupled consolidation theory. After testing on several problems, the introduction of pore pressures and other parameters into the error estimator was found to improve results significantly, providing a convergence rate of approximately two orders higher than the global rate.

PROCEDURES FOR ESTIMATING ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT FROM RAILWAY INDUCED VIBRATION: A REVIEW

Railway induced ground-borne vibration is among the most common and widespread sources of perceptible environmental vibration. It can give rise to discomfort and disturbance, adversely impacting on human activity and the operation of sensitive equipment. The rising demand for building new railway lines or upgrading existing lines in order to meet increasing transit flows has furthered the need for adequate vibration assessment tools during the planning and design stages. In recent years many studies in the fields of rail and ground dynamics have encouraged many prediction techniques giving rise to a wide variety of procedures for estimating vibration on buildings. Each method shows potential for application at different levels of complexity and applicability to varying circumstances. From the perspective of railway environmental impact assessment, this paper reviews some relevant prediction techniques, assessing their degree of suitability for practical engineering application by weighting their methodology (i.e. considerations and requirements) against practicality and precision. The review suggests that not all procedures are practicable (e.g. the attainment of representative parameters needed to run the procedures) whilst others predicate on assumptions, which revealed to be too relaxed resulting in insufficient accuracy; however, a combination of methods may provide the necessary balance.Copyright

Wear in large diameter grouted connections for offshore wind energy converters

The paper provides a critical appraisal of the events surrounding the unexpected settlement of large-diameter monopile foundations for offshore wind energy converters, and will detail experimentation that is to be undertaken to determine the extent of the wear failure mode in such structures. The potential for wear deterioration at the grout-steel interface has been caused by the lack of axial load transfer of the grout and steel and so relative movement between the grout and steel is occurring. Hence, a better understanding of this phenomenon is of key importance to determine the long term integrity of the structure. The remedial solution currently favoured within industry consists of the installation of elastomeric bearings, which however may further exasperate the wear due to its lower stiffness than steel contact currently occurring, also because of the presence of water in the grouted connection. The aim of the testing is therefore to identify the risk to offshore foundation integrity due to grout wear under conditions typically observed during life-time operation of offshore wind turbines. The main factors influencing the wear rate of grout will be identified, and the possibility to define indicators for the integrity of the grout that could be used for offshore inspection will be also considered.