Ke Chen

Smart Construction Objects

AbstractThe primary aim of this research is to define smart construction objects (SCOs), the fundamental building blocks of future construction. SCOs are construction resources (e.g.,xa0machinery, device, and materials) that are made smart by augmenting them with technologies conferring autonomy, awareness, and the ability to interact with their vicinity. This smartness can enable better decision making in construction. Understanding of SCOs, however, is still in its infancy. Informed by theories on ubiquitous computing and general smart objects, this paper first defines the panoramic and interconnected properties that differentiate SCOs from conventional construction objects. Second, representative scenarios of the use of SCOs are given to illustrate the new workflow with enhanced smartness in the future. Next, using prefabrication construction as an example, this paper further elaborates SCOs using Industry Foundation Classes Extensible Markup Language and exploring their software/hardware representations...

An SCO-enabled logistics and supply-chain management system in construction

AbstractLogistic and supply-chain management (LSCM) is of paramount importance to a construction project but is often problematic. Many researchers see LSCM per se as a web of decisions to be made, and attribute problems to a lack of process and information concurrence. This is exacerbated by fragmentation, discontinuity, and heterogeneity in construction LSCM. The bidirectional information flow remains unachieved in the existing sensing-based systems for construction LSCM. Without panoramically interconnecting to other smart abilities such as an automatic action-taking ability, most existing sensing-based systems are insufficient to realize their full potential in facilitating construction LSCM. Building on previous studies on smart construction objects (SCOs), this paper aims to develop an SCO-enabled system that can enhance concurrence of process and information, with a view to informing better decision making in construction LSCM. It does so by first analyzing the problems in prevailing LSCM practices...

Naming objects in BIM: A convention and a semiautomatic approach

AbstractA consistent and easily recognizable name is the primary identifier of an object in building information modeling (BIM). Existing naming conventions vary significantly and require extensive...

An Investigation of the Latent Barriers to BIM Adoption and Development

The building information modeling (BIM) has been under aggressive promotion by governments throughout the world. By contrast, the Architecture, Engineering, and Construction (AEC) industry shows reluctance to adopt BIM in its projects. Two questions are immediate: why the market hesitates with BIM adoption; and whether the governmental compulsory BIM implementation is regarded as reasonable. Previous literature is in-depth but is distant from the market, which have failed in analyzing the basic reasons lying behind. This study aims to provide an alternative explanation. Based on the assumption that any market activity is to maximize economic profits, this study concluded that (1) since BIM adoption involves opportunity costs, stakeholders would choose to adopt BIM at the market-determined time; (2) due to the social costs/benefits of using BIM, the market-determined timing of BIM adoption tends to be delayed, the governments’ enforcing BIM hence is reasonable; and (3) the compulsory requirements on clarifications of the responsibilities and the corresponding benefits among AEC disciplines reinforces the importance of governments in promoting BIM implementation.

The Fusion of GIS and Building Information Modeling for Big Data Analytics in Managing Development Sites

Due to increasing complexity of contemporary site development, more information about sites themselves and their related environmental, geographical, and surrounding infrastructure is highly desired to support informed decision-making. Fusion of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and Building Information Modeling (BIM) to support decision-making in site development has gained momentum from both academia and practitioners. Nevertheless, innovative applications of GIS and BIM integration are yet to be fully explored. Using several cases in Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (SAR), this article demonstrates how to integrate GIS and BIM to derive big data for decision-making in construction logistics and supply chain management (LSCM) and construction waste management in site development. In addition, this article proposes a conceptual framework of integrating BIM and GIS for better site development and urban management. The cases in this article not only shed light on big data analytics in a site development setting but also provide useful references to GIS and BIM fusion for better urban management.

Moral Hazard in Inter-Firm Cooperation: A Study of Building Information Modelling Implementation

Active cooperation of building information modelling (BIM) implementation will benefit the society such as facilitating sustainable constructions. Given the government’s promotion of BIM and report...

Disparity of Willingness-to-Pay and Ought-to-Pay for Construction Waste in Hong Kong: A Conceptual Model

There is an urgency to deal with the looming waste crisis, and ultimately to make Hong Kong a self-sustained city. Amongst many measures, a construction waste disposal charging schemes (CWDCS), espoused by the ‘polluter pays principle’, is often deemed as a very effective public policy not only to reduce waste but also to further reuse and recycle waste materials. In a nutshell, a waste disposal fee is devised to impose a levy on those who dispose of their construction waste into public landfills. There are two important research directions for exploring the charging price: one is willingness-to-pay (WTP) and the other is ought-to-pay (OTP). WTP, as a tool developed by the environmental economist, aims to identify the construction stakeholders’ maximum willingness to pay (WTP) for CWDCS. The result of WTP demonstrates the maximum subjective charging price for CWDCS. Meanwhile, OTP is the price level for realizing the effectiveness of CWDCS, which is determined by different decision rules. The outcome from OTP shows the minimum objective charging price to be set if the government is to achieve a certain goal in CWM, i.e. to maximize the potential of reduce, reuse, and recycle, or to deplete the landfills slower. However, the two methods were usually employed separately and few studies have investigated the disparity of WTP and OTP for a specific city. In order to rationalize the development of the CWDCS, these two important concepts must be better understood by contextualizing them in the particular socio-economic background for CWM in Hong Kong. This study aims to develop a conceptual model to investigate the disparity of WTP and OTP for C&D waste in Hong Kong. The logic and operation process of the conceptual model would be introduced. The conceptual model is helpful to guide data collection and data processing. The result from the conceptual model is helpful to improve the CWDCS in Hong Kong.

A Preliminary Study on the Framework and Technologies for Bridging BIM and Building

Currently, Building Information Modeling (BIM) has been increasingly used in the Architectural, Engineering and Construction (AEC) industry, and the exploration of BIM focuses on the design and some parts of the construction process. One of the major problems that limits the usage of BIM is that it generally contains up-designed information which is time-consuming and error-prone to manually update in the following stages of the construction project. The virtual model without real-life information can hardly support decision-making throughout the lifecycle of the project. This paper develops the framework for bridging BIM and buildings, and discusses the use of some technologies including radio frequency identification (RFID), laser scanner, webcam, local area network (LAN), and personal area network (PAN) to collect and transfer real-life information. It is emphasized that the availability of real-time information is essential for lifecycle management. BIM will be an ideal platform to provide real-time information if it is well connected with real-life processes through those technologies.