With ongoing advancements in information and communication technologies (ICTs) in all stages of the construction lifecycle, information from entities related to construction workflow (CW) can now be ...automatically collected. These implementations are point solutions, which require systematic integration to combine their information to enable a holistic picture of CW. The major barrier to such integration is information heterogeneity, where the information is collected from different systems under multiple contexts. Scholars in the construction domain have explored the use of ontology to solve the information-integration problem, although an ontology that both adequately represents the CW and integrates the digitalized information of CW via various systems and multiple contexts is currently missing from the existing literature. This research thus presents an ontology set for formalizing and integrating CW information within the digital construction context. The proposed digital construction ontologies (DiCon) are shared representations of construction domain knowledge that specify the terms and relations of CWs and their related information. We developed the DiCon based on a hybrid ontology development approach. The DiCon includes six modules: Entities, Processes, Information, Agents, Variables, and Contexts. The developed DiCon was further evaluated by approaches including automatic consistency checking, criteria-based evaluation, expert workshops, and task-based evaluation and involved two use cases by answering relevant competency questions via SPARQL queries. The results of the evaluation demonstrate that the DiCon ontologies are sufficient to represent domain knowledge and can formalize and integrate CW information within the digital construction context.
•A shared ontology suite (DiCon) for representing detailed construction workflow is proposed.•The DiCon facilitates the integration of construction workflow information from heterogeneous ICT systems.•The ontology suite is implemented with OWL and modularized into six modules.•The DiCon was evaluated, and the result shows it is assessed to be competent, consistent, concise, clear, and usable.•The ontology be used to develop further application to aid construction workflow management.
A new design method is proposed to calculate outdoor air ventilation rates to control respiratory infection risk in indoor spaces. We propose to use this method in future ventilation standards to ...complement existing ventilation criteria based on the perceived air quality and pollutant removal. The proposed method makes it possible to calculate the required ventilation rate at a given probability of infection and quanta emission rate. Present work used quanta emission rates for SARS-CoV-2 and consequently the method can be applied for other respiratory viruses with available quanta data. The method was applied to case studies representing typical rooms in public buildings. To reduce the probability of infection, the total airflow rate per infectious person revealed to be the most important parameter to reduce the infection risk. Category I ventilation rate prescribed in the EN 16798-1 standard satisfied many but not all type of spaces examined. The required ventilation rates started from about 80 L/s per room. Large variations between the results for the selected case studies made it impossible to provide a simple rule for estimating the required ventilation rates. Consequently, we conclude that to design rooms with a low infection risk the newly developed ventilation design method must be used.
•New design method for respiratory infection risk-based ventilation rates•Provides the required ventilation rate at a given probability and quanta emission•Estimates a low-risk ventilation rate from the event reproduction number•Case studies show ventilation rates starting from about 80 L/s per room•Is proposed for ventilation standards to complement existing ventilation criteria
Construction operations suffer from fragmented structures and loose coupling among project actors. Building on direct digital manufacturing (DDM), we describe direct digital construction (DDC) as a ...technology-based operations management practice aiming to improve construction performance through design reuse and diminished human interpretation. We develop the operational principles, describe the operations in practice, and identify alternative implementation paths based on case examples of partial implementations. The core principle of the practice is to direct the value-adding operations over the building's lifecycle through the digital design model, resulting in increased reusability, project-specific differentiation, and automation of designs and processes across projects. Three implementation paths are identified: (a) as-built modeling-driven path, (b) modular product architecture-driven path, and (c) algorithmic and parametric design-driven path for the incremental transformation of the construction industry.
•A new construction operations management practice; Direct Digital Construction (DDC).•All value-adding operations directed by updated digital design model in a building.•High quality and efficiency by increased reusability and automation.•Eliminate improvisation and enable continuous improvement for industrial construction.•Design science with eight cases used to develop DDC practice via design theory.
In recent decades, uncertainty management has increasingly elicited attention in construction management research due to increasing project complexity. However, existing management methods have not ...been able to solve the issues around risk and uncertainty, and regardless of the proposed network-based risk modeling approaches, there are insufficiencies in contemporary methods, such as their practical applicability. This study examined the current state and issues of uncertainty and risk management and proposed a novel uncertainty network model (UNM) as a solution. The uncertainty network model was designed and validated using design science methodology (DSM), drawing on literature and empirical data from interviews, questionnaires, case observations, and case testing. The UNM visually presents project risks, uncertainties, and their interconnections and criticality transforming project stakeholders' tacit knowledge into an explicit, systematic representation of a project's uncertainty and risk architecture. Applied to a real-world construction project, the model received positive feedback, demonstrating its effectiveness in enhancing practitioners' understanding of networked risks and the potential to guide cost-effective risk-control activities by applying a systemic lens to project management. This practical validation showcases the model's potential in addressing the shortcomings of existing methods and improving construction project risk management.
Improving the effectiveness of production control has attracted the interest of researchers and lean construction practitioners over recent years, through techniques such as Last Planner System (LPS) ...and Location-based Management System (LBMS). However, in these techniques, data collection and analysis still remain manual. Remotely locating workers on site has been suggested as a potential technology to collect crucial data required for production control. The purpose of this study is to test the applicability of a real-time tracking system for collecting data for production control in different types of construction projects. We applied Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) technology in real-time tracking of workers in three case projects, including residential, office building, and plumbing renovation. We compared various tracking device placement strategies and analyzed the share of uninterrupted presence of workers in work locations based on the collected data. The findings show that both location-based and time-based information of workers can be obtained in real time from the proposed system, but issues of accuracy and coverage need to be considered when defining the data collection plan for each project. Accuracy and coverage issues can be resolved to a significant degree by applying heuristics in data analysis rather than investing in a more sophisticated tracking technology. The conclusion is that real-time tracking technologies are ready for implementation when certain heuristics and guidelines for installation are followed. It is possible to calculate a real-time presence index on a construction site. These data could be used to evaluate the impact of construction management interventions on waste on-site.
•Real-time tracking system shows uninterrupted presence indices at work which is highly correlated with value-adding time.•Heuristics in data analysis improves tracking system accuracy and coverage.•Automatically obtained presence indices in the system ranging from 0.25 to 0.67.
Decentralised, autonomous planning and control is a potential avenue of improvement in several fields, including construction. However, research on this topic, particularly involving the production ...crew viewpoint, remains scarce within the construction production management domain. This study explores the effects of decentralisation (and in contrast, effects of centralisation) for construction production planning and control (PP&C) from the combined perspectives of production crews and managers, and utilises these viewpoints to suggest improvements for PP&C practices. The study answers the following research questions: How do decentralisation/centralisation affect construction PP&C practices when considering both the production crew and manager perspectives? and Based on the aforementioned perspectives, how may construction PP&C practices overall be improved? To achieve holistic assessment, the research is conducted as a multi-method comparative case study using survey-based social network analysis (SNA) and semi-structured interviews. The results show that decentralised PP&C offers several benefits-such as improved transparency, conflict resolution, commitment, and lower stress-while allowing a proactive building of resilience, trust, ownership and autonomy for crews. In its current applied form, however, the approach does not fully reach the worker level. Regardless of the approach that is used, production crews perceive PP&C as decentralised, while managers perceive PP&C as having centralised structures. This gap between perceptions forms barriers for effective PP&C that must be properly addressed. Eight improvement suggestions are constructed to improve PP&C, that generally emphasise more deliberate decentralisation but that also indicate the necessity of partial central planning and control.
Building design and design management practices are beset by many problems to which satisfactory solutions have not yet emerged. The recognition of the Aristotelian legacy on design theorization has ...given rise to the proposition that the development of a new design concept that integrates the technical and social aspects of design might provide a general solution. This study aims to chart the intellectual history of the design discipline, clarify core design terms, concepts, and relationships, and propose a design model that integrates technical and social phenomena. An integrative literature review is a basis for the assessment and synthesis of representative literature and the construction of the new design model. The new design model, presenting the integrated design process structure for technical and social design activities, is the main contribution of this study. The model was constructed based on the identification of design theory core elements and relationships and the ancient design theories (the method of analysis and rhetoric).
PurposeThe objective of this research is to investigate the capabilities of the ChatGPT GPT-4 model, a form of artificial intelligence (AI), in comparison to human experts in the context of ...construction project risk management.Design/methodology/approachEmploying a mixed-methods approach, the study draws a qualitative and quantitative comparison between 16 human risk management experts from Finnish construction companies and the ChatGPT AI model utilizing anonymous peer reviews. It focuses primarily on the areas of risk identification, analysis, and control.FindingsChatGPT has demonstrated a superior ability to generate comprehensive risk management plans, with its quantitative scores significantly surpassing the human average. Nonetheless, the AI model's strategies are found to lack practicality and specificity, areas where human expertise excels.Originality/valueThis study marks a significant advancement in construction project risk management research by conducting a pioneering blind-review study that assesses the capabilities of the advanced AI model, GPT-4, against those of human experts. Emphasizing the evolution from earlier GPT models, this research not only underscores the innovative application of ChatGPT-4 but also the critical role of anonymized peer evaluations in enhancing the objectivity of findings. It illuminates the synergistic potential of AI and human expertise, advocating for a collaborative model where AI serves as an augmentative tool, thereby optimizing human performance in identifying and managing risks.
Objective of this paper is to examine whether the available epidemiological evidence provides information on the link between outdoor air ventilation rates and health, and whether it can be used for ...regulatory purposes when setting ventilation requirements for non-industrial built environments.
Effects on health were seen for a wide range of outdoor ventilation rates from 6 to 7 L/s per person, which were the lowest ventilation rates at which no effects on any health outcomes were observed in field studies, up to 25–40 L/s per person, which were in some studies the lowest outdoor ventilation rates at which no effects on health outcomes were seen. These data show that, in general, higher ventilation rates in many cases will reduce health outcomes, and that there are the minimum rates, at which some health outcomes can be avoided. But these data have many limitations, such as crude estimation of outdoor ventilation rates, diversity and variability of ventilation rates at which effects were seen, a diversity of outcomes (in case of health otcomes being mainly acute not chronic). Among other limitations there are incomplete data on the strength of pollution sources and exposures as well as a wide range of sensibility of the exposed populations.
The available data do not provide a sound basis for determining specific outdoor air ventilation rates that can be universally applicable in different public and residential buildings to protect against health risks. They cannot be used for regulative purposes, unless the required ventilation rates are related to actual exposures and are prescribed only when full advantage of other methods for controlling exposures has been taken.
•Ventilation is a factor modifying exposure that does not affect health directly.•Epidemiological data not provide a basis for health-based ventilation requirements.•There are minimum ventilation rates at which some health outcomes have been avoided.•Ventilation rates are prescribed after other source control methods are implemented.
Modularization has recently attracted considerable interest among academics and practitioners. In the construction industry, several modular solutions have been introduced and examined; however, ...hardly any study comprehensively classifies the different modularization strategies according to their possibility to achieve various objectives of building investments. This research aims to develop a framework for identifying and classifying modularization strategies in construction according to their suitability to achieve the specific outcomes intended for a building or its subsystem. Using the literature on product modularity, product platforms and production strategies as a basis, this study has developed a theoretical framework that proposes connections between the main objectives of a building investment and the dimensions of modularization strategies. The framework is elaborated by testing the propositions, based on an empirical analysis of nine real-life case studies. The findings reveal that modularization can be a suitable approach to develop an innovative design solution; improve a project's quality, cost and schedule performance; and enable flexibility in building use and maintenance. However, suggestions for achieving these objectives vary from project organization-driven to collaborative, integrated or supplier-driven modularization strategies. Developers, owners, contractors and module suppliers can use the framework when positioning and developing their roles in the construction supply chain.
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