Construction Management Program

The typical limitations of the existing construction management programs are the lack of an integrated approach to managerial decisions in real life construction environment, not enough emphasis on engineering design, construction methods and communication skills, and poor coordination between the undergraduate and the graduate studies. An effective construction management program should. integrate teaching on undergraduate and graduate levels and research. On the undergraduate level it should provide the students with a good insight into all managerial tasks in civil engineering projects. On the graduate level it should allow specialization in the various areas of interest both to the practicing engineers and also to students who wish to pursue an academic career. The program should strongly interact with research and engineering practice.     

Professional Design Component for Civil Engineering Curriculums

The Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology has adopted a revised set of accreditation criteria that is designed to assure that graduates of accredited programs are prepared to enter the practice of engineering. The proposal also specifies that engineering programs must demonstrate that their graduates have an understanding of professional practice issues in addition to the ability to design civil engineering projects by taking various realistic constraints under consideration. The findings of this study indicate that engineering undergraduate and graduate students as well as practitioners perceive that three constraints that represent the traditional technical aspect of engineering are of great importance for design projects. They include engineering codes and standards, economic factors, and manufacturability (constructability). In contrast, two constraints received lower ratings. They include social ramifications and political factors. Overall, 60% of the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology recommended design constraints are rated by students and practitioners with a composite score ? 3.0. This may be interpreted as strong support for the Engineering Criteria 2000 design requirements.     

Civil Engineering Education and Complex Systems

Civil engineering is an interdisciplinary field, and most of the projects designed and built represent very complex systems, both during the construction phase and in the built phase. This research describes how a course in land development that included engineering design elements, lectures that also touched on other related fields, and a field journal assignment at a “green” (sustainable) construction site facilitated students’ understanding of complex systems. Results suggest that this course design facilitates the development of students’ proficiencies in several skill sets, and can increase students’ understanding of the complexity involved in civil engineering projects.     

Contemporary Design-Bid-Build Model

Empirical research was performed into the hypothesis that a substantial number of building performance engineering tasks on design-bid-build projects are typically provided by entities associated with the construction phase, not with the architect-engineer (AE) of record. This hypothesis is contrary to the traditional understanding of design-bid-build and is theorized to result from increased time pressures on AEs, decreased AE profit margins, AEs’ attempts to minimize liability, increased design and construction specialization, and increased prefabrication. Project technical specifications were analyzed for 20 $5–45M building construction projects and 16 individuals directly associated with these projects were interviewed. It was found that 35 building performance engineering tasks were required by the project specifications to be performed by entities associated with the construction of the buildings. This large number of delegated design tasks suggests the conventional understanding of the design-bid-build process is not accurate. The increasing fragmentation of the design and construction process may have implications for the efficiency of communication on design-bid-build projects, lean construction processes, and constructability.     

Educational Partnership to Establish Engineering/Construction Management Graduate Programs in Algeria

This paper describes a partnership between the University of Missouri–Rolla and the Université Abou-Bekr Belka?d de Tlemcen in Algeria in order to support the development of programs of instruction and faculty training in Algeria in the areas of engineering and construction management in order to create a self-sustaining educational infrastructure in Algeria. Specifically, the partnership aims to provide educational and technical assistance to Algeria in order for them to develop: (1) new graduate programs in engineering and construction management and (2) modern teaching methodologies including Internet and distance learning. Objectives of the partnership were to provide engineering and construction management skills and expertise in order to achieve international standards in the management area. The desired impact is summarized in terms of the ability to identify operations problems and implement solutions for improved strategic competitiveness, make sound decisions, plan, and control the key resources of an organization—money and people, critically analyze, evaluate, improve, or adapt existing technical and managerial systems, design and develop new technical and managerial systems, and coordinate different projects with a better harmony and cost effectiveness. The long-term expected outcomes of the partnership are Algerian faculty with strong backgrounds in engineering and construction management, a self-sustained learning environment for Algerian institutions, including engineering management and construction management graduate programs, continuing education, and short courses, and Internet-based multimedia teaching material for collaboration between the Algerian institutions and local industry.     

Communication Patterns in Construction at Construction Manager Level

The procurement process of construction projects has been affected by developments in the field of Information Technology, as well as by the need to cope with growing technological challenges stemming from the integration of multiple building systems into tall and complex buildings. Furthermore, since the procurement phases are undertaken simultaneously, project complexity is increased, and increased integration among them is therefore required. These constraints have made the management of complex construction projects less of an architectural and engineering issue and more of a managerial one. In turn, this has led to an increasing use of the “construction management” concept in the procurement process. This study focused on communications in construction management procurement of building and residential projects in Israel. Communications between the construction manager and the design team were found to be vital in ensuring adherence to project objectives. Communication means were classified as “formal”—written technical information, and as “informal”—verbal communications. Construction managers in Israel still use informal communications in 50% of their interactions with their project counterparts. The study concludes that design capabilities should be one of the essential qualifications required of a construction management firm. In addition to the more traditional responsibilities, such as planning, scheduling, and coordination, the scope of the construction manager’s professional duties should emphasize the aspect of quality management.     

Construction Engineering Process and Knowledge Requirements for Fostering Creative Design Solutions on Infrastructure Projects

Construction engineering for major infrastructure projects covers a wide range of activities to evaluate and select the techniques for assembling materials and components. Construction engineering inherently presents a very challenging opportunity for creative design, particularly on infrastructure projects. This construction engineering activity can be described as one of creating and developing workable, cost-effective, low-risk technical solutions for an array of infrastructure construction problems that must be solved from the plans and specifications stage through facility completion. The purpose of this paper is to illustrate a 10-step construction engineering process and define important knowledge requirements to foster creative design solutions using four case studies, including (1) positioning and holding a concrete bridge caisson in a 7-knot tidal current for a 4-month period; (2)?skidding a 55,000-t immersed tube tunnel element 200?m on dry land from casting site to launch site; (3)?building a major dam without the use of river diversion or on-site dewatering systems; and (4)?building underwater bridge piers without the use of conventional bottom-founded cofferdams. The creative design process was able to successfully devise a plan for solving highly technical construction challenges using a process-based approach. The key requirements of knowledge, skill, and experience necessary to perform these activities are presented to assist construction engineers in preparing for these creative opportunities.     

Forensics and Case Studies in Civil Engineering Education: State of the Art

This paper reviews the state of the art in the use of forensic engineering and failure case studies in civil engineering education. The study of engineering failures can offer students valuable insights into associated technical, ethical, and professional issues. Lessons learned from failures have substantially affected civil engineering practice. For the student, study of these cases can help place design and analysis procedures into historical context and reinforce the necessity of lifelong learning. Three approaches for bringing forensics and failure case studies into the civil engineering curriculum are discussed in this paper. These are stand-alone forensic engineering or failure case study courses, capstone design projects, and integration of case studies into the curriculum. Some of the cases have been developed and used in courses at the United States Military Academy and the Univ. of Alabama at Birmingham, as well as at other institutions. Finally, the writers have tried to assemble many of the known sources of material, including books, technical papers, and magazine articles, videos, Web sites, prepared PowerPoint presentations, and television programs.     

Construction Engineering Requirements for Integrating Laser Scanning Technology and Building Information Modeling

Laser scanning for rapid spatial data acquisition is an established technology in the architecture, engineering, and construction (AEC) sector with a wide range of applications. An understanding of the wide variation of technical requirements and considerations associated with these applications is critical to decision making about laser-scanning implementation on projects. Furthermore, significant industry transformations in the use of building information modeling present extraordinary opportunities for AEC professionals to employ the use of laser scanning in the context of holistic, collaborative workflows grounded in three-dimensional model-based design. This report analyzes the construction engineering requirements of laser scanning technology for applications across all phases of the project life cycle and proposes a multidisciplinary framework to integrate applications of laser scanning technology with the fundamentals of three-dimensional model-based design.     

有色金属采矿施工中不安全技术因素与对策

有色金属是一类对国民经济至关重要的资源,国民经济特别是实体经济发展需要耗费大量的有色金属,所以在中国,有色金属的施工场地非常密集,由此产生的安全隐患就成为了非常值得关注的问题。本文从我国有色金属开采项目的实际情况出发,介绍了矿产企业在技术管理和安全生产方面应采取的积极措施。由于有色金属采矿工程的复杂性,文章将从多个维度全面解析有色金属的不同环节的安全问题,合理运用多种技术,高效管理,建立健全安全高效的采矿工程建设安全机制,为以后中国的各类有色金属采矿项目提出合理建议。     

Resident Engineering in Power Plant Construction

The resident engineering scope has broadened on recent power plant projects. Providing the technical and administrative support necessary for plant construction is a key requirement for successful projects. The elements of this responsibility and the activities required are described. Critical activities by the resident engineering organization in each of the project phases are described. Three approaches to the structuring of this organization (field, area, and discipline) are presented and described. The importance and benefits of recognizing each of these tasks and providing adequate staffing are emphasized.     

Construction Engineering Today

The factors that are considered in analyzing technical solutions and the tools used to obtain technical solutions have changed for construction engineers over the past 30 years. This paper discusses these changes and their impacts. It then outlines a process that several heavy civil contracting firms use to generate work plans for their field operations, using the details of the process at Granite Construction as an example. The paper concludes by identifying the key factors in the success of a work plan and providing some thoughts on what construction engineering education should emphasize.     

Undergraduate Summer Research in Structural Engineering

For the last seven years, a summer Research Experiences for Undergraduates site in structural engineering, funded by the National Science Foundation, has operated at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. During this time, 33 students from 22 colleges and universities have participated in the site. Participants are recruited nationally and have come from as far away as California and Puerto Rico. The program is intended to provide students interested in graduate studies with an introduction to research methods, and to provide students who will not continue their studies past a bachelor of science in civil engineering with a better understanding of how research provides the theoretical foundation of engineering practice. Students work individually with faculty on literature reviews, computer modeling, laboratory testing, and field research. Three students have researched structural failure case studies and the technical and ethical lessons to be learned from them. Participants also have the opportunity to tour construction sites and construction material manufacturers’ and fabricators’ facilities. During the past three years, an ethics seminar series has been added. At the end of the program, students prepare research papers and Web pages documenting their work and present their results to faculty, students, and other participants.     

Approach for Integrating Professional Practice Issues into Undergraduate Environmental Engineering Design Projects

According to C. L. Dym and P. Little, the complete design process includes identifying a need or problem, recognizing constraints, identifying and developing courses of action, testing potential courses of action, selecting optimum courses of action, preparing the documents required for the design, managing the overall process, communicating the design, construction, and testing. We have addressed these design considerations by linking design projects in our introductory physicochemical treatment processes course (EV401, taken by second-semester juniors) and our senior capstone design course (EV490, taken by second-semester seniors). The process developed and implemented addresses the integration of professional practice into design inexperience. We require our cadet students to communicate with their customers, an illustrator, and tradesmen, three forms of communication that are necessarily quite different from traditional student-professor exchanges. Also, students must design under constraints, this time not because of the closed nature of the project but rather because of “real world” resource constraints: time to complete the project, a limited budget to purchase materials and labor, availability of materials, ease of construction, and balancing competing projects (in other courses). The first attempt at implementing this engineering design learning model occurred during the spring of 2001 in EV401. Herein we assess the design and construction of one of two projects, oriented toward modification of a surface-water treatment plant model. Results suggest that iterative growth can occur and a more complete appreciation of the design process can result.     

Innovations in Nuclear Concrete Construction

The technical requirements and scope of concrete work on nuclear projects present significant engineering and construction challenges. These demands represent the extremes in many areas of construction operations. In meeting these challenges, engineering and construction forces have developed several innovations which can be beneficially applied to other types of construction. Innovative approaches in the general categories of engineering scope, construction input to engineering, work planning, special methods and techniques, and satisfaction of quality assurance requirements are given in this paper. The transfer of this technology to other segments of the construction industry will improve overall performance by avoiding the problem areas encountered on nuclear projects.     

Toward a Broader Technical Education for Engineers

Engineers are educated with significant technical depth in their chosen engineering discipline. Yet almost exclusively engineers work in teams made up of those educated in many different disciplines. And the design tasks that engineers face are becoming much more complex requiring engineers with a broader technical education to develop innovative solutions. Due to the increasing complexity of modern engineering projects, successful engineering leaders must have some degree of competence in more than one engineering field. Educators should recognize that modern engineers require this diversity in technical skills, and should identify in engineering courses the “connections” in topics that are common to more than a single discipline. In addition, engineering students should be required to work in multidisciplinary teams before they graduate.     

当代水工环地质及岩土工程理论体系应用与发展

水工环地质在工程项目的建设中与岩土工程有着十分密切的关系。工程项目建设之中,只有将这两项理论体系紧密的结合起来应用于项目建设过程中,利用精确的技术手段确保施工的进度和施工的质量,才能提高经济效益。本文将从水工环地质的概念和应用体系进行深入的探究,并将岩土工程理论体系与应用体系进行紧密的结合,为施工项目的建设提供一些可行性的建议。     

Past Perfect: Historical Antecedents of Modern Construction Practices

This paper describes initial research on a project designed to understand the experiences of past generations of constructors and make that knowledge accessible to future generations of engineering students and construction practitioners. Much in the same way as medical students can trace their lineage back to Hippocrates, this project aims to provide architecture, engineering, and construction students, and professionals alike, a sense of their professional history. The project was developed around five time epochs, four geographic regions, and three different project types. We investigated issues such as the flow of money, training of workers, sharing of design knowledge, and nature of contracts and agreements. The central question posed by this work is how should knowledge of the history and evolution of construction practices be incorporated in the dialog that educators have with students and with the larger professional community? This research has led to multifaceted results. On the one hand, the message to students should be pride in their professional heritage because throughout time constructors and designers have used knowledge, perseverance, and innovation to accomplish remarkable projects. On the other hand, we have shown that much of what is considered new in the industry (alternative project delivery methods, worker safety programs, public private partnerships, and globalization) have historical antecedents and are not new at all.     

Applications of Horizontal Characterization Techniques in Trenchless Construction

Horizontal site characterization technologies present a rapidly evolving alternative to traditional vertical site investigation methods for subsurface investigations of large diameter trenchless construction projects. A state-of-the-art review of horizontal site characterization tools, both currently available and under development, is presented. Additionally, a rational methodology for the selection and deployment of horizontal site investigation techniques in trenchless construction projects is also presented. The methodology enables the user to define and quantify the risks involved in a particular project, as well as to evaluate the degree to which these risks can be mitigated using various site characterization techniques. The proposed model is demonstrated using a working example. The paper concludes with a discussion of future trends in this exciting new field. The main conclusions drawn from this work are (1) adequate subsurface information is invaluable for underground construction; (2) site investigation programs of linear construction projects can be enhanced by horizontal characterization techniques; and (3) the availability of continuous and near-continuous subsurface information enables the utilization of new approaches for the analysis and representation of subsurface data.