Concept Relation Extraction from Construction Documents Using Natural Language Processing

The objective of this research is to present an innovative technique for managing the knowledge contained in construction contract documents to facilitate quick access and efficient use of such knowledge for project management and contract administration tasks. Knowledge Management has become the focus of a lot of scientific research during the second half of the 20th century as researchers discovered the importance of the knowledge resource to business organizations. Despite early expectations of improved document management techniques, document management systems used in the construction industry have failed to deliver the anticipated performance. Recent research attempts to utilize analysis of the contents of documents to improve document categorization and retrieval functions. It is hypothesized that natural language processing can be effectively used to perform document text analysis. The proposed system, technique for concept relation identification using shallow parsing (CRISP), utilizes a shallow parser to extract semantic knowledge from construction contract documents which can be used to improve electronic document management functions such as document categorization and retrieval. When compared with human evaluators, CRISP achieved almost 80% of the average kappa score attained by the evaluators, and approximately 90% of their F-measure score.     

Areas of Application for 3D and 4D Models on Construction Projects

In recent years more and more construction projects used three-dimensional/four-dimensional (3D/4D) models to support management tasks. However, project managers still struggle with evaluating how the 3D/4D model technology can be most efficiently applied on their specific project. One main reason for this struggle is that an account about how 3D/4D models have been used in the past is missing. This paper offers practitioners and researchers such an account of the application areas of 3D/4D model technologies including the purposes for which these technologies have been applied. The paper qualitatively aggregates the results of 26 case studies of 3D/4D model applications on construction projects to show researchers and practitioners how 3D/4D models have been applied to address project challenges. Using a “project challenge—3D/4D model application” matrix the paper explains each application area and describes why the application has been beneficial to the case study projects. The paper then analyzes the challenges that practitioners have faced with 3D/4D models on the test case projects. The main findings of this analysis are that practitioners on most of the test case projects have used the models for only one application area. The paper suggests that further research on the integration of 3D/4D model technologies into work and business processes of project teams is needed to address this opportunity for a more widespread use of 3D/4D models throughout the lifecycle of a project.     

CAD and Management of Construction Projects

The increasing interest in computer‐aided design (CAD) has prompted research that is aimed at identifying the opportunities for construction managers and building contractors. It has been found that the use of CAD systems in the U.K. is mainly confined to the production of detailed drawings. Indeed, most of the systems used are 2‐D drafting tools and incapable of supporting the integration of even modest amounts of nongraphical (construction) data. On the other hand, many 3‐D modeling systems have the potential to integrate construction data, although they appear to be almost ignored. The use of 3‐D modeling systems is considered to be the most suitable vehicle for successfully integrating these data. However, this is likely to necessitate the introduction of separate databases, preferably of the relational type. The use of 3‐D modeling systems in assessing the construction implications of outline designs also presents interesting possibilities and is discussed.     

3D/4D CAD Applicability for Life-Cycle Facility Management

A range of studies have shown that three-dimensional (3D)/four-dimensional (4D) computer-aided design (CAD) has positively impacted the productivity and safety of construction processes. However, its potential impact on the entire life cycle of construction projects has not yet been fully investigated. The opinions of construction professionals have generally been reported on the basis of one-time interviews during several case studies. No statistical approach has yet been adopted to examine the whole spectrum of views about 3D/4D CAD use in construction projects. This study presents a comprehensive statistical analysis about how construction engineers perceive the effectiveness of 3D/4D CAD during various tasks of the construction project life cycle. A focus group interview and a review of the literature produced a total of 35?application areas in which 3D/4D CAD can possibly improve existing construction processes. We identified the areas in which 3D/4D CAD has a high potential to significantly enhance project results by using an importance-performance analysis (IPA) and a questionnaire-based survey involving 165?respondents. These study results are expected to provide new business strategies for 3D/4D CAD by broadening its traditional application realm.     

Computer-Aided Site Layout Planning

This paper presents an interactive computer-aided site layout model to support site planning in a computer-aided design (CAD) environment and expands upon a model presented earlier by the writers. The developed model performs its task at two levels: Site representation, and site space analysis and allocation. The site representation is carried out using an open architecture supported by object-based concepts. The model offers three tiers of objects: (1) site objects, (2) construction objects, and (3) constraint objects. This structure facilitates the creation of new objects and reuse of domain knowledge, which allows for the gradual expansion and enrichment of the model’s knowledge base. At the space analysis and allocation level, the model introduces a geometric reasoning approach to analyze site space for finding an optimum or near-optimum location for facilities. This feature facilitates easy visualization of the site planning process and encourages user participation. The model is structured in three main modules: Database, Project Module, and Layout Control Module. The functionality of each module, along with their interconnectivity is described. The model is implemented using Visual Basic for Applications in AutoCAD environment and Microsoft Access. A numerical example of an actual site layout is presented to illustrate the functionality of the developed model.     

Application of Small Computers in Construction

The deliberations of the ASCE Task Committee on the Application of Small Computers in Construction are presented. The paper first identifies needs that are stimulating the application of small computers in construction, and then examines their present and potential utilization in several representative application areas. Applications include accounting and payroll, estimating, field office administration, contract language retrieval, electronic communications, scheduling, process simulation, graphical reporting, computer‐aided design, and process control. The role that ASCE might take in supporting the effective application of small computers in construction practice is considered. Possibilities include participation in the development of standards, education of practitioners, stimulation of innovative techniques, liaison with other organizations, input to computer manufacturers and software developers about specific needs and requirements in construction, studying the organizational and behavioral aspects of computers in construction, and input to ASCE awards committees about meritorious work in this area. It is concluded that an ongoing ASCE Construction Division committee is needed to monitor and influence the effective application of this rapidly evolving small computer technology in construction.     

Medical Records for Building Health Management

Medical records provide essential information for evaluating a patient’s health. Without them, it would be difficult for doctors to make accurate diagnoses. Similar to diagnoses in medical science, building health management also requires building medical records for making accurate diagnoses. At later stages of a building’s life cycle, when the budget is limited, organizations responsible for building repairs and maintenance are unable to digitalize building health diagnoses and keep complete medical records of buildings; as a result, maintenance crews usually cannot fully understand buildings’ overall health conditions and their medical histories, which may result in erroneous diagnoses directly or public safety dangers indirectly. Using the problem-oriented medical record adopted for the medical diagnosis of human diseases, this paper designs a building medical record (BMR), which allows simple electronic archiving, and evaluates its practicability with a case study of school buildings. The purpose of a BMR is to enable maintenance engineers (building doctors), building managers, and contractors of school buildings to have low-cost access to required information for making complete evaluations and maintenance suggestions for buildings.     

Object-Oriented Scheduling for Repetitive Projects with Soft Logics

The application of network techniques of project scheduling to repetitive projects has been criticized for the inability of network techniques to help maintain work continuity. Moreover, current network techniques require a large number of activities to represent a repetitive project and presume that there is only one logical sequence. This makes schedules time consuming to develop as well as maintain. Further, the logic chosen by the planner might be far from the shortest possible duration. This paper, utilizing the soft logic sequencing principles developed by Fan et al., develops a system which provides an easy input module in addition to scheduling and work-continuity-maintenance modules. The system eases the network generation and update processes, which in turn provides the shortest possible duration logics and the start and finish dates required to maintain work continuity.     

Multiproject Planning and Resource Controls for Facility Management

Facility managers face the challenges of managing many different types of small, geographically dispersed construction projects. Depending on the complexity and distribution of projects, the time required to prepare for production consumes a large percentage of the total time required to complete the job. Increasing crews’ productive hours is a key objective when planning multiproject schedules. Existing methods, however, lack the effective means to explicitly model, analyze, and optimize resource utilization for these multiple concurrent projects. As a result, few facility managers fully exploit the potential to better manage their often limited budget and resources. This paper presents an explicit model of the mobilization requirements of multiple crews performing a variety of different activities over a geographic space. The model allows the facility manager to explicitly investigate the impact of crew composition, crew specialization, and depot locations. Using work rule decisions regarding alternative crew allocations, facility managers may dynamically allocate resources to optimize resources and to complete projects in a minimum amount of time. To verify and validate this new model, a computerized system, called FIRS (Facility/Infrastructure Resource Scheduler), was created to analyze the multiproject resource plans with data from two military organizations and a university campus. FIRS utilizes a new genetic algorithm that was developed specifically to work with multiproject scheduling. Using FIRS, facility managers can develop and test alternative crew allocations based on the qualifications of the crews available and the type of operation being performed.     

Simulation As a Tool to Assess the Vulnerability of the Operation of a Health Care Facility

Health care systems are classified as critical infrastructure systems when responding to disaster events. Physical damage to health care facilities or disruption of their operations or supply chains could prevent an effective response and aggravate the outcome of an emergency situation. Even if a hospital or public health facility were not directly affected by the disaster event, these facilities are required to operate efficiently during an emergency in order to manage a surge of capacity. When infrastructure systems are damaged as a result of man-made or natural disaster events, insufficient supply of resources through these systems affects their performance. In this paper, a system dynamics simulation model will be used as a tool to represent the operation of a health care facility, including the interaction between the different service areas (emergency room, intensive care unit, wards, operating room), the flow of patients inside the facility, and the condition of the infrastructure systems that supply resources (i.e., water, power, transportation of medical supplies) to maintain the operation of the facility. The results of this study may assist hospital administrators in their disaster preparedness plans, providing information regarding the level of occupancy and patients waiting to enter the service areas.     

Supporting Collaboration, in Colocated 3D Visualization, through the Use of Remote Personal Interfaces

Interactive three-dimensional visualization of urban models presents a powerful platform for communication and collaboration between project stakeholders in evaluating and exploring urban planning issues. One of the most common applications of this is to support a colocated group of project stakeholders through shared exploration of proposed developments as part of design/review meetings. However, current configuration of such environments place more emphasis on supporting communication, through shared visual exploration, than providing a collaborative working environment in which each of the participants can contribute from their own specialized perspective. This research presents a novel interaction mechanism that enables a group of colocated users sharing a common visualization to collaboratively interact with the visual environment through the use of light-weight personal computing devices operating as bidirectional remote interfaces. This aims to demonstrate a platform that promotes collaboration as well as communication, during multistakeholder design/review meetings.     

Generate-Select-Check Based Daily Reporting System

The daily report in construction projects is an important document managed on a daily basis for collection of as-built information regarding project progress, however, its processing is time consuming, based on manual inputting, and this makes it difficult to manage tasks at the construction operation level. For more efficient daily reporting and construction operation control, this research proposes a generate-select-check based daily reporting process, where (1) tasks are generated at the microlevel through an interactive mode with the user; (2) tasks to be performed are selected on the corresponding date; and (3) they are checked using a mobile device. To develop the process, an information framework and an information system were built with a focus on high-rise apartment housing projects. The research results were verified and validated through a pilot test at a high-rise apartment building construction project.     

Application of Peer-to-Peer Network for Real-Time Online Collaborative Computer-Aided Design

The Internet has revolutionized the way software systems work. Many applications, such as online games and instant messengers, have utilized Web-related technologies to cooperate over the Internet. Recently, some researchers have utilized Web-related technologies in computer-aided design to allow real-time collaboration between users over the Web. All these systems are based on the client-server model. In this kind of collaborative design environment, the system grouping, operation, and communication all have to rely on the central server. In order to improve accessibility and flexibility in collaborative design and to provide a more load-balanced and extensible environment, this paper presents a prototype implementation of collaborative design tools based on a peer-to-peer (P2P) model. The users can conveniently form design groups by connecting directly to each other, anytime and anywhere, without the presence of a central server. All peers are equal in functionalities and computing loads. In addition, application level multicast (ALM) technology is adopted in the proposed system to improve efficiency in Internet communication. Based on the P2P network model and ALM communication scheme, several mechanisms are proposed in this paper to form a working model of this system. Then, the object model design and implementation of this P2P system is presented.     

Research in Visualization Techniques for Field Construction

Field construction can be planned, monitored, and controlled at two distinct levels: (1)?the activity or schedule level; and (2)?the operation or process level. Graphical three-dimensional (3D) visualization can serve as an effective communication method at both levels. Many research efforts in visualizing construction are rooted in scheduling. They typically involve linking activity-based construction schedules and 3D computer-aided design (CAD) models of facilities to describe discretely evolving construction product visualizations (often referred to as four-dimensional CAD). The focus is on communicating what components are built where and when, with the intention of studying the optimal activity sequence, spatial, and temporal interferences. The construction processes or operations actually involved in building the components are usually implied. A second approach in visualizing construction is rooted in discrete-event simulation that, in addition to visualizing evolving construction products, also concerns the visualization of the operations and processes that are performed in building them. In addition to what is built where and when, the approach communicates who builds it and how by depicting the interaction between involved machines, resources, and materials. This paper introduces the two approaches and describes the differences in concept, form, and content between activity level and operations level construction visualization. An example of a structural steel framing operation is presented to elucidate the comparison. This work was originally published in the proceedings of the 2002 IEEE Winter Simulation Conference. This paper expands on the original work by describing recent advances in both activity and operations level construction visualization.     

Firm Performance and Information Technology Utilization in the Construction Industry

This paper, which is written to both researchers and practitioners, examines the impact of information technology (IT) on construction firm performance. Based on data collected from 74 construction firms, regression analysis is used to test the relationship between performance and IT. Analysis provides empirical evidence that IT is positively associated with firm performance, schedule performance, and cost performance. Firm performance is a composite score of several metrics of performance: schedule performance, cost performance, customer satisfaction, safety performance, and profit. The regression analysis shows that for every 1?unit increase in IT utilization, there is an increase of about 2, 5, and 3% in firm performance, schedule performance, and cost performance, respectively. No relationship is found between IT use and customer satisfaction, safety performance, and profitability.     

Virtual Reconstruction of Medieval Monastery Using Computer-Aided Design Model

A three-dimensional computer-aided design virtual reconstruction of the medieval monastery of Santa Maria de Salzedas (Portugal) is presented. This monastery is the second largest Cistercian monastery of Portugal. However, the majority of the monastery disappeared after the extinction of the religious orders in the Age of Enlightenment without letting any vestige, and with almost no existing documentation. In order to allow visitors to better understand the monument and to assist the current conservation works, a virtual reconstruction of the medieval monastery is presented. The adopted approach for reconstruction includes the identification of an ideal plan of the Cistercian Order, comparison with similar buildings of the same period and architectonic styles, a historic study and in situ survey to detect parts from the previous building, and definition of the modeling unit or proportion used by the builders.     

Constraint Programming Approach to Precast Production Scheduling

Current scheduling practices in precast plants are fairly basic and depend greatly on experience. This may lead to inefficient resource utilization, over-inventory, and/or missing delivery dates. Computer assisted scheduling may therefore be useful in producing better production schedules. This paper shows how constraint programming (CP) can be applied in production scheduling for precast plants. The paper describes a constrained precast scheduling model that incorporates the key constraints and objectives considered by production schedulers. A capacity-based backward-scheduling earliest due date rule and a CP approach are developed to solve the model. The CP approach is computationally efficient, even though it incorporates many problem-derived constraints. The efficiency of the CP approach lies in the fact that the representation (model) is separated from the algorithm (solver). Strategies to improve the performance of the CP approach are identified, and the CP approach is compared against commonly used heuristic rules on an example problem.     

Generic Process Mapping and Simulation Methodology for Integrating Site Layout and Operations Planning in Construction

The present research is intended to address dynamic construction-process simulation methods, with a focus on how to effectively model resource transit among various activity locations in the site system. Following a review of basic simulation paradigms and recent research developments, we propose a new process mapping and simulation methodology for modeling construction operations. The simulation algorithm is presented and the process mapping procedure is illustrated step by step using an earth-moving example featuring technology and resource constraints. It is straightforward to convert the resultant process mapping model describing workflows and resource flows over site locations into a simulation model. A STROBOSCOPE model is formed for the same problem definition to contrast and cross-validate our methodology with the established activity cycle diagram-based modeling approach. One additional case of modeling the concreting site operations by the hoist and barrow method is also given to demonstrate the application of the proposed methodology in practical settings.     

Construction Management of a Small-Scale Accelerated Pavement Testing Facility

Research in accelerated pavement testing (APT) facilities has traditionally focused on the pavement performance such as rutting and fatigue cracking, but documentation on construction management and information of the actual pavement construction quality is limited. There are typically four critical factors that need to be considered to achieve the best possible outcome in construction: cost, schedule, construction process, and quality control, and management. With the objective of developing guidelines for planning and executing construction of a small-scale APT facility, this paper presents a case study documenting and evaluating the construction process and construction management efforts of two sensor-instrumented hot mix asphalt pavement test sections built in a small-scale APT facility. The focus of the experiment was to study bottom-up fatigue cracking of the flexible pavement structure. The presented information and lessons learned serve as a template and guide for agencies pursuing this type of research and pavement construction.