U-Yeol Park

A Study on the Improvement of Erection Bar Detailing in Domestic Building Construction

The erection bar is defined as the assistant bar used to fix the position of the reinforcing steel as the reinforcing steel is placed on site. As the erection bar do not bear the structural load and is not showed in the structural drawings, it is not managed importantly. But as chair bars in mat footing is used in large quantities to support the upper main bars, the detailing standards need to be suggested. and some erection bar is placed by experience of the fabricator and placer. Therefore, in this study, a survey about the erection bars was conducted to the reinforcement detailer, the fabricator and placer of domestic construction industry. 11 placing drawings is analyzed to find out the problems of detailing and the quantities of the erection bars. According to the analysis of the survey, the erection bar details in placing drawings were not standardized, and some erection bars are omitted in placing drawings. The improvement in the erection bar detailing was sought by analyzing the results of the survey.

A Study on the Improvement of Reinforcing Bar Detailing

The reinforcing steel process is composed of the development of placing drawing, cutting and bending, and the placement and fabrication of the reinforcement, and is participated in by reinforcement detailer, the fabricator and placer. Because the reinforcing steel process-from estimating and rebar detailing, to production, material tracking, billing, and general accounting-is conducted by many participant, reinforcement details based on building code and reinforcing bar detailing standards are essential. The process, however, holds some problems. Building code has been revised recently, and the utilization of placing drawings was proved to be low, and the reinforcement estimating in early stage of the process is below what is required for placement. Therefore, in this study, a survey was conducted to the reinforcement detailer, the fabricator and placer of domestic construction industry. According to the analysis of the survey, the reinforcement details on site was not standardized. The improvement in reinforcing steel detailing standards was sought by analyzing the results of the survey including reinforcement constructability.

A Study on the Key Factors Influencing the Reliability of Conceptual cost estimates in Building Construction Projects

Cost estimates are very important to their decision-making in the early stages of a construction project. So Clients have wanted not only to know the results of conceptual cost estimates but also to assess their quality Conceptual cost estimates process is very complex process, so the results of cost estimates are influenced by various factors. So the purpose of this study is to reveal the key factors which influence the reliability of conceptual cost estimates in building construction projects. The analytic hierarchy process is used to determine the relative important weights of elements influencing the conceptual cost estimates. And factor analysis is used to reveal the key factors from the elements that influence the conceptual cost estimates. The results showed that the key factors is an experience level, available data level, level of will for winning the bid, difficulty level of conceptual cost estimate, uncertainty level.

Planning Guidance for Snow Control Material Storage Facilities Based on Case Studies

The snow control storage facilities have the physical requirements that are an anti-icing and deicing operations. They are efficiently and quickly performed, and composed of a vehicle depot for the snow removal equipment and truck, anti-icing and deicing chemical storages, and the control utilities. This study is to investigate the planning guidance of foreign countries, and the actual conditions of the snow control chemical storage facilities for expressway, the national highway and the local road, and is to suggest the planning guidelines. As some of the authorities have no fixed structures for the snow control storage, this study analyze the 5 cases constructed lately. From the result of the case studies, the operations performed in the snow control storage facilities and drawback of the facilities are analyzed with respect to layout, size, plan, and structure, and the improvement planning guidance is also suggested.

Experimental Study on Field Applicability of Tightened Coupler with Two-Way Threading

A tightened coupler with two way-threading is suggested to overcome the previous one-way threaded coupler. The experiment and a mock-up test were conducted to analyze the constructability of the suggested coupler. The aim of the mock-up test was to assemble the suggested coupler in horizontal rebar of mat footing and vertical rebar of semi-fabricated column bars. The method using the suggested coupler in semi-fabricated column bars is developed by analyzing the problem of fabricated column bars using the one-way threaded coupler. The result of the mock-up test showed that the time required to assemble the suggested coupler in the horizontal bars is shorter than it is for the one-way threaded coupler. In addition, the method using the suggested coupler in semi-fabricated column bars has advantages such as lower working loads, supporting safe work and strongly tightening the rebar. From these results, it is revealed that the suggested coupler is adequate to use in rebar work in terms of cost, quality and time.

A Study on the Loss Reduction Method of Reinforcing Bar through Case Study

Rebar work accounts for approximately 30% of the total construction costs for rebars and concrete. Recently, the high rising prices of rebars have become one of the principle factors of rising construction costs. Therefore, construction companies are putting much effort into loss reduction of rebars. Consequently, in this study, we wished to present loss reduction methods of rebars before the preparation of the placing drawings. To devise such methods, we collected previous case studies and analyzed methods that were applied for loss reduction. As a result of the analysis, we were able to find the following methods for loss reduction of rebars: method of reducing the number of splices at the mat foundation, method of reducing splice length at the internal columns or walls of the underground parking lot, method of reducing cap-ties of internal beams of basement floors excluding perimeter beams, and method of reducing anchorage length at the internal column or wall of the underground parking lot. Based on those analysis results, we presented our own loss reduction methods of rebars. Applying our methods resulted in considerable loss reduction.

A Study on the process for Managing the Reliability of Conceptual cost estimates in Building Projects

Conceptual cost is estimated with insufficient information at an early stage of a building construction project, resulting in an inevitable gap between conceptual estimated cost and real constructed cost. For a project to be successful, this gap must be managed to be lower than a reliable level. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to propose a structural process for managing the reliability of conceptual cost estimates at an early stage of a building construction project. In researching this study, conceptual cost estimate experts were interviewed,and a risk management process was studied. Reliability assessment and a review process for improving the quality of conceptual cost estimate and the planning strategy of reliability management based on previous similar projects were added to the present estimate process. The proposed reliability management process will improve the chances of a successful project, by helping to decrease the risk of conceptual estimated cost.

A Study on Optimization Model of Time-Cost Trade-off Analysisusing Particle Swarm Optimization

It is time-consuming and difficulty to solve the time-cost trade-off problems, as there are trade-offs between time and cost to complete the activities in construction projects and this problems do not have unique solutions. Typically, heuristic methods, mathematical models and GA models has been used to solve this problems. As heuristic methods and mathematical models are have weakness in solving the time-cost trade-off problems, GA based model has been studied widely in recent. This paper suggests the time-cost trade-off optimization algorithm using particle swarm optimization. The traditional particle swarm optimization model is modified to generate optimal tradeoffs among construction time and cost efficiently. An application example is analyzed to illustrate the use of the suggested algorithm and demonstrate its capabilities in generating optimal tradeoffs among construction time and cost. Future applications of the model are suggested in the conclusion.