Site Layout Planning using Nonstructural Fuzzy Decision Support System

Site layout planning can affect productivity and is crucial to project success. However, as construction is heterogeneous in the nature of its organizations, project designs, time constraints, environmental effects, etc., site layout planning for each project becomes unique. Affected by many uncertainties (variables) and variations, site layout planning is a typical multiobjective problem. To facilitate the decision-making process for these problems, a nonstructural fuzzy decision support system (NSFDSS) is proposed. NSFDSS integrates both experts’ judgment and computer decision modeling, making it suitable for the appraisal of complicated construction problems. The system allows assessments based on pairwise comparisons of alternatives using semantic operators that can provide a reliable assessment result even under the condition of insufficient precise information.     

Decision Support System for Stakeholder Involvement

Stakeholder involvement is essential to the development of a total maximum daily load (TMDL) and its implementation plan. A tool, beyond a simulation model, is needed to support the decision making process that requires negotiation and compromise among stakeholders. The decision support system (DSS) described herein has a TMDL module to calculate various combinations of point and nonpoint loads that can meet the water quality criteria. Its Consensus module allows stakeholders to formulate, evaluate, modify, and vote for alternatives. The DSS displays bar charts for pollution loads from various subwatersheds and attributes the nonpoint loads to land uses. The water quality consequence of the pollution loads is output in maps, which shows sections meeting criteria in green and those not in red. The DSS requires a front end effort of site specific adaptation and model calibration. An Internet-based stakeholder process was developed to allow more concerned citizens to participate in management decisions.     

Decision Support System for Microtunneling Applications

Microtunneling is a trenchless technology method used for installing new pipelines. The inherent advantages of this method over open-cut trenching have led to its increasing use since its first introduction into North America in the early 1980s. With this technology, surface disruption can be minimized, especially in urban areas, and high accuracy of installation (usually less than 2?cm over 100?m) can be achieved in both line and grade. But microtunneling machines are very expensive and few contractors have extensive experience with this technology. Microtunneling can also be risky when unexpected obstacles or soil changes occur. Careful constructability analysis is needed, and an appropriate microtunneling method should be selected in order to achieve successful completion of microtunneling projects. A computerized decision support system (DSS) for microtunneling was developed to support decision making for contractors who want to bid on microtunneling projects. This paper discusses the decision-making process for microtunneling and the development of the DSS. When the user enters basic information about the potential project such as drive length, installation depth, pipe diameter, and soil condition, the DSS evaluates whether microtunneling will be economically feasible and suggests appropriate types of microtunneling methods. The user can then select microtunneling machines, types of pipes, and types of shaft construction methods. This DSS is most beneficial when used at the preplanning stage by utility contractors.     

Decision Support System for Surface Irrigation Design

The SADREG decision support system was developed to help decision makers in the process of design and selection of farm surface irrigation systems to respond to requirements of modernization of surface irrigation—furrow, basin, and border irrigation. It includes a database, simulation models, user-friendly interfaces, and multicriteria analysis models. SADREG is comprised of two components: design and selection. The first component applies database information, and through several simulation and computational tools, produces a set of design alternatives in agreement with the user options. These alternatives are characterized by several hydraulic, economic, and environmental indicators that allow appropriate selection and ranking. The selection component bases upon multicriteria analysis using composite programming and ELECTRE II ranking models, which support the decision maker to select the best alternative. The decision maker participates in all decision processes through a user-friendly interface that allows expressing design options and priorities. SADREG was tested with data collected from field experiments. In addition to describing the modeling approach, an application to a sector of the Lower Mondego Irrigation Project, Portugal, is presented.     

矿仓优化配矿专家决策支持系统

以海南铁矿物质-信息流向的部分环节为例,设计了融专家系统和决策支持系统于一体的矿石质量控制系统,介绍了该系统的设计途径和方法,并对系统的运行效果进行了评价。     

Decision Support System for Manufactured Housing Facility Layout

Productivity improvement of manufactured housing (MH) production systems has been a great concern to manufacturers and production managers. Studies show that a typical manufactured housing plant fails to produce at desired capacity and production rate because of several shortcomings. The evaluation of the production system efficiency in the factory is essential for meeting the growing demand of customers with respect to design and size of the housing product. It is imperative to explore alternative layout designs that would be more efficient and productive. A decision support system (DSS) is proposed to assist the user in selecting an efficient layout design matching specified requirements and business constraints. The DSS framework covers interrelated factors of: (1) the market demand; (2) MH organization; (3) MH production process; and (4) MH production planning and facility design. Existing MH factories can utilize simulation and optimization components of the DSS in streamlining their activities and locating then solving potential bottlenecks. Additionally, the DSS can be used in selecting optimal production system layout for new plant design.     

Knowledge-Enabled Decision Support System for Routing Urban Utilities

This paper presents a Web-based system for supporting the selection of the most suitable routes for buried urban utilities. The aim of the proposed system is to support (not make) decisions through a collaborative semiautomated environment, in which stakeholders can share information and/or study the impacts of different routing alternatives with respect to decision constraints. First, the knowledge relating to route selection for urban utilities is represented through an ontology. The ontology defines the types and attributes of infrastructure products and the surrounding areas. It also defines the impacts of routing options on surrounding areas through a set of decision criteria adopted to evaluate the effectiveness of any route in terms of its potential impacts. A set of constraints are also defined to help represent/study the decision criteria. Second, a GIS-based system has been created to help visualize route data, interact with users, and support the needed discussions among stakeholders. The portal also achieves data interoperability through wrapping existing geospatial data with ontology structures. Finally, a set of reasoners have been created to help quantify/augment some of the constraints. The system is capable of (1)?extracting the attributes of each routing option, (2)?testing the interaction/conflicts between route attributes and the constraints of the surrounding area, (3)?studying the impacts of a route as stipulated in the ontology, (4)?referring users to existing best practices to help enhance routes or address conflicts and, when needed, (5)?develop objective measures for comparing different routes. On the microlevel (street level), route options are evaluated through a “constraint-satisfaction” approach. On the macrolevel (city level), route options are evaluated through a fuzzy inference scoring system. The proposed system focuses on facility life cycle, sustainability, and community impacts. Construction costing, scheduling, labor, and equipment along with other management issues can either be added to the system or, better, analyzed through integrating the system with four-dimensional (4D) modeling tools.     

Decision Support System for Scheduling Steel Fabrication Projects

One of the most important and difficult problems faced by the steel fabrication industry is the planning and scheduling of shop activities. Competitive pressures force fabricators to disrupt schedules in progress to accommodate frequent requests from key customers for changes in design and/or delivery schedules. Capacity management is a complex problem and is key to proper management of manufacturing/fabrication activities. This paper presents a decision support system for planning and scheduling of steel fabrication projects. Although the immediate application of this approach is steel fabrication, its fundamental heuristic approach can be applied to any construction job shop scheduling exercise. Its main advantage over techniques such as CPM is that it is resource driven; its advantages over simulation techniques are its simplicity and overall schedule development time.     

Decision Support System for Total Maximum Daily Load

A decision support system (DSS) was developed to calculate total maximum daily loads (TMDLs) of various pollutants for water quality limited sections (WQLS) within a river basin. The DSS includes a watershed simulation model, a database, a consensus building module, and a TMDL module that provides a worksheet for the calculations. The system can generate multiple combinations of waste load allocation and non-point-load allocation to meet the water quality criteria for the intended uses of the WQLS. Considering various possible solutions, the regulatory agency and local stakeholders can negotiate an option most agreeable to all parties. The methodology is demonstrated with an example application in the Catawba River Basin, which extends from North Carolina to South Carolina.     

D-SUB: Decision Support System for Subcontracting Construction Works

Letting work to subcontractors is a very common practice in construction industry. Subcontractors help contractors overcome problems including the need of special expertise, shortage in resources, and limitation in finances. The decision to subcontract involves designating work items to be subcontracted and making assignments to subcontractors. Generally, work assignments to subcontractors can be for the total quantity of a work item or a proportion thereof. This paper presents a decision support system that makes assignments to subcontractors of the work items designated for subcontracting. Moreover, the system calculates and plots the overdraft profile based on the financial terms of the contract and project schedule. The ultimate goal of the system is to make work assignments to subcontractors under constraints economical and predict the expected profit at the end of the project. The system encompasses four basic components including project data, linear programming module, sensitivity analysis module, and financial analysis module. The sensitivity analysis adds strength and flexibility to the system by allowing the user to experiment with different scenarios. Finally, the developed system that represents a structured method for making subcontracting decisions is demonstrated through an illustrative example project.     

Using Group Decision Support System to Support Value Management Workshops

A group decision support system (GDSS) is an interactive computer-based information system that combines the capabilities of communication technologies, database technologies, computer technologies, and decision technologies to support the identification, analysis, formulation, evaluation, and solution of semistructured or unstructured problems by a group in a user-friendly computing environment. As there is a strong demand for improvements to the practice of value management (VM), research has been conducted to design a GDSS prototype system, named the interactive value management system (IVMS), to explore its potential application in VM workshops and to investigate the effect of the application. The paper begins with an introduction to the problems of implementing VM in the Hong Kong construction industry and then proceeds to an illustration of the features of the proposed system, which has been developed in the research. Two validation studies designed to test the support of the proposed system are described and the results discussed. Findings from this research indicate that IVMS is supportive in overcoming the problems and difficulties in VM workshops.     

矿山质量控制专家决策支持系统

采用VP-EXPERT和LOTUS 1-2-3分别构建了专家系统(ES)和决策支持系统(DSS),并用VP BCALL和DOS BAT将ES与DSS连接,构成配矿专家决策支持系统(EDSS),对大型露天铁矿成品矿仓放矿质量施以控制。     

炼铁系统物流管制及生产优化决策支持系统

从炼铁生产过程分析入手,在功能模型的基础上建立了物流管制及生产优化决策支持系统。该系统将工艺控制与物流管制相结合,为炼铁生产的系统优化提供决策支持。     

Web-Based Client Advisory Decision Support System for Design–Builder Prequalification

The design–build procurement route is gaining popularity and being extensively used by many clients. Scrutinizing the capabilities of design–build “candidate” organizations (who submit proposals for prequalification/short listing), is a complex task that demands the evaluation of several quantitative and qualitative attributes. The crucial task of design–builder prequalification needs multidisciplinary expertise that often poses tough challenges to many construction clients. A Hong Kong based cross-sectional research study of various international clients’ design–builder selection approaches unveiled several selection strategies and criteria used; and benchmarked some best practices. Based on such consolidated knowledge, a structured design–builder selection model was developed. The conceptualized frameworks for design–builder prequalification are described in this paper. An overview of the development and preliminary validation of a prototype web-based decision support system for design–builder prequalification is also presented in this paper.     

Simulation-Based Decision Support System for Economical Supply Chain Management of Rebar

The economics of a materials management system is defined by the size of the shipments, the scheduling strategy that allows contractors to handle uncertainty and variability in the supply chain, and the timing of the shipments, which in turn depend on the environment in which the project is taking place. This study presents a simulation-based decision support system to assist contractors in selecting the most economical rebar management system prior to the start of construction by recommending lot sizes (large, small), a scheduling strategy (optimistic, neutral, pessimistic), and buffer sizes (large, medium, small) given the conditions of the project. This model is of benefit to contractors and researchers because it generates the probable cost of inventory of 18 alternative rebar management systems ranging from just in case (JIC) to just in time (JIT) and including different variations in between. It allows contractors to select the alternative with least cost of inventory at the planning stages of a project. The simulation model was tested by using actual data obtained from a trade center project in Istanbul, Turkey. As expected, the test indicated that JIC was the most economical rebar management system in a case study conducted in a developing country, as it generated a savings of 4.8% over JIT.     

Integrated Decision Support System for Optimal Renewal Planning of Sewer Networks

Municipalities are under increasing pressure to adopt proactive and optimized renewal strategies to reduce the risks, life-cycle costs, and resources needed to maintain acceptable performance and service levels of their infrastructure assets. A new integrated approach for optimal renewal planning of municipal infrastructure systems has been developed. This paper discusses the application of the proposed approach to implement a GIS-based decision support system (DSS) to support the renewal planning of sewer networks. Condition rating, risk assessment, and prioritization techniques are described. A procedure for identifying and selecting the most suitable renewal technologies is also presented. A genetic algorithm-based multiobjective optimization technique is used to find a Pareto front of feasible solutions, each comprising a set of sewers to be renewed each year, along with the associated costs and expected benefits in terms of condition improvement and risk reduction. The paper also presents an example application of the prototype DSS on the sewer network in Regina, Canada.     

Decision Support System to Evaluate and Compare Concession Options

With the increased popularity of concession projects over the last three decades, there is a need for a decision support system (DSS) capable of evaluating and comparing several concession project investment (CPI) options in an effective and efficient manner. Hence, a novel DSS has been developed that takes into consideration both financial and nonfinancial aspects of the investment option, as well as the uncertainties commonly encountered during the feasibility stage of a project. The DSS is fully implemented as a standalone computer software package, ECCO (evaluate and compare concession options), in order to be of practical use. This paper outlines and validates ECCO’s design and structure through the demonstration of its capabilities in the evaluation and comparison of three real-life CPI case studies.     

矿井采掘计划及智能决策支持系统

考察人工编制矿井采掘计划的特点,构造出面向对象的采掘接替专家系统,并用网络计划等技术对接替计划进行优化决策,同时根据实际需要对采掘计划进行检验、调整和统计分析,最后给出了一个采掘计划编制的应用实例。     

Decision Tool for Microtunneling Method Selection

Microtunneling is a type of trenchless technology for underground pipeline construction. Using the technology, surface disruptions can be minimized. Currently, open-cut trenching is often not allowed in urban areas or environmentally sensitive areas; therefore, demand for microtunneling is increasing. However, the decision to use microtunneling can be hard to make, because many decision makers are still not familiar with the technology. In fact, it can be a risky and costly process, when used improperly. In order to achieve a successful microtunneling project, it is important to select an appropriate method, considering its strengths and limitations. A decision procedure and tool that outputs appropriate underground pipeline installation methods for specific site conditions is presented here. It should be useful for decision makers who are relatively new to microtunneling, and can be used as a check by more experienced planners.     

城市垃圾填埋场选址地质影响因素分析

结合我国的标准提出了垃圾填埋场选址中应该注意的地质问题,主要包括第四纪沉积层、基岩和地质构造对选址的影响,并说明了城市垃圾场地质勘察的工作程序、方法.