Thesis (M. Sc.)--University of Hong Kong, 1999. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 83-88).

Thesis (MTech (Construction Management))--Cape Peninsula University of Technology, 2008. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 126-134). Also available online.

Construction progress monitoring allows schedule and/or cost deviations to be identified early enough to effectively implement corrective actions. At least 77% of transportation projects experience cost overruns, and as much as 75% of these overruns have been attributed to “real” construction management factors like progress monitoring. Progress is measured on road construction sites in terms of completion percentages at various activity and work package levels. This percentage is then used to identify schedule deviations and support the earned value analysis often used as the baseline for contractor progress payments. Unfortunately, the current methods for producing these completion percentages are not as correct or time efficient as they should be to enable effective project control. The objective of this research is to develop, test, and validate a novel solution for automatically producing completion percentages and progress status determinations that are more correct and time efficient than those generated in current practice. The proposed solution seeks to automatically detect incremental progress on road design layers in 3D as-built point cloud data generated using unmanned aerial photogrammetry and a novel data simulation approach. A parallel as-planned progress estimate is also automatically prepared using 4D information, and the progress status determinations are made by comparing the two results. This solution was tested on 15 datasets (13 simulated and 2 real-world) representing a variety of road designs and progress conditions. The method achieved an average 95% F1 score in layer detection on the real-world data, and mostly outperformed current practice in correctness. The automated processing of as-built and as-planned data to produce the progress estimate took 12 seconds for the real world data, which was indeed faster than the current practice equivalent. Although the research objectives were met, there remains room for further improvement, particularly in regards to the solution’s robustness to occlusions on the monitored surfaces.

Cheung Yu Leo. / "Architecture Department, Chinese University of Hong Kong, Master of Architecture Programme 2004-2005, design report." / Chapter 1. --- Local Case Studies / Chapter 2. --- Academic Research / Chapter 3. --- Structural Studies - Bamboo Pole / Chapter 4. --- Structural Studies - Split Bamboo / Chapter 5. --- Design Implication

Due to the inherent risks and increasing complexity of modern construction projects, delays and cost overruns have become common facts in the industry. Researchers and practitioners have used many techniques to assess project delays and apportion delay responsibility among the parties involved. Windows delay analysis has been recognized as one of the most credible techniques for analyzing construction delays. Despite its benefits, windows analysis can produce different results depending on the window size, it does not consider owner and contractor acceleration, it does not systematically consider the impact of several baseline updates made due to changes in the duration and logical relationships of the activities, and it does not consider the impact of the progress events on resource over-allocation and its consequent delays. This study proposes a computerized schedule analysis model that considers multiple baseline updates and resource over-allocation. The model uses a daily window size in order to consider all fluctuations in the critical path(s) and uses a legible representation of progress information to accurately apportion delays and accelerations among project parties. To facilitate its use, the model has been incorporated into a computer tool, EasyPlan, which integrates estimating, scheduling, resource management, and project control. A simple case study has been implemented on the proposed delay analysis model in order to demonstrate its accuracy and usefulness.

Due to the inherent risks and increasing complexity of modern construction projects, delays and cost overruns have become common facts in the industry. Researchers and practitioners have used many techniques to assess project delays and apportion delay responsibility among the parties involved. Windows delay analysis has been recognized as one of the most credible techniques for analyzing construction delays. Despite its benefits, windows analysis can produce different results depending on the window size, it does not consider owner and contractor acceleration, it does not systematically consider the impact of several baseline updates made due to changes in the duration and logical relationships of the activities, and it does not consider the impact of the progress events on resource over-allocation and its consequent delays. This study proposes a computerized schedule analysis model that considers multiple baseline updates and resource over-allocation. The model uses a daily window size in order to consider all fluctuations in the critical path(s) and uses a legible representation of progress information to accurately apportion delays and accelerations among project parties. To facilitate its use, the model has been incorporated into a computer tool, EasyPlan, which integrates estimating, scheduling, resource management, and project control. A simple case study has been implemented on the proposed delay analysis model in order to demonstrate its accuracy and usefulness.

This study investigates the importance the Spanish language has on the construction industry. Due to its highly concentrated Spanish populations, Texas construction sites are filled with Spanish speakers. This creates a need to overcome the language barrier and bridge the gap between the workers and the management, who generally speaks little or no Spanish. Two surveys provided the qualitative data for this study. The first survey gathers views of current students in the Department of Construction Science at Texas A&M University. The other survey gathers opinions from current professionals in the construction industry. The results of these surveys indicate a clear, strong importance of Spanish in the construction industry. In addition, they also point out a definite interest in this subject matter by current students in the program. Two universities that are currently attempting to overcome this problem are the University of Texas at San Antonio and Colorado State University. Colorado State University provides their students with the opportunity to take a class focused specifically on the Spanish language and culture that affects the construction industry. The syllabus for this class serves as a formwork for other similar classes that may follow in the years to come.

The properties of Construction Engineering include: (1) high building cost, (2) unpredictability of construction risk because of the fact that the period of executing the contract is long and the external environment is easy to change, (3) the phenomena that disputes and conflicts happen easily since a construction project normally requires a large number of constructing units, each of which owns their complicated construction technology and expertise. As the process of the construction project involves various risks, the awareness of these risks and the method of diversifying the risks become important. This dissertation focuses on study of the legal aspects of the construction contact; It first tries to analyze the properties of the construction contract, its related properties which cause higher risks than contract with consideration, and different types of disputes and conflicts in common dispute decision and arbitration judgment in construction projects. Then it studies the commitment resulting from the disputes, and the comments on disputes of same kind in the real cases. Further it makes a basic proposition to the comments. Finally it examines the feasibility of the proposition through interviewing with some experts (adopting the method of Delphi). Meanwhile it modifies the proposition and adds more comments onto it proposition, in the hope that both of the owner and the contractor can prevent the disputes at the time of making contract.¡@ In most of the real case, the owners normally transfer the risks they should have taken to the contractors. This way of distributing risks may not either bring efficiency or benefits to the contract; instead it brings more losses to both sides. There are no many clauses in the section Hire of Work in Civil Code regarding distribution of risks. Those clauses leave incomplete resolution of various risks likely to happen in the contract. Therefore it is necessary to emphasize the principles of risk distribution in the construction contract¡Gmainly the just and reasonable principle, principle of change of circumstances, and principle of good faith, etc. The construction conventions can be referred too, such as convention of project fact, and the commom law which ie formed of the opiom by the court¡Barbitration judgment¡Bmediation¡C

Texte remanié de: Th. doct.--Droit--Toulouse 1, 2002. / Bibliogr. p. 457-491. Index.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Alabama at Birmingham, 2009. / Title from PDF title page (viewed Feb. 8, 2010). Additional advisors: Uday Vaidya, Talat Salama, Wilbur Hitchcock, Ashraf Z. Al-Hamdan. Includes bibliographical references (p. 144-155).