Concrete can sequester carbon, and the cement that glues its components together has been used since antiquity. Now, CBE professor Fred Aguayo is introducing students to the complex world of concrete research.
Lab/Center: Center for Education and Research in Construction
Formal Prevention through Design Process and Implementation for Mechanical, Electrical, and Plumbing Worker Safety
Osburn, Laura; Lee, Hyun Woo; Gambatese, John A. (2022). Formal Prevention through Design Process and Implementation for Mechanical, Electrical, and Plumbing Worker Safety. Journal Of Management In Engineering, 38(5).
Abstract
There are many studies that focus on Prevention through Design (PtD) for construction workers and developing formalized PtD processes for construction projects. However, few studies have aimed at developing a formalized PtD process for mechanical/electrical/plumbing (MEP) worker safety. A formal process for implementing PtD for MEP worker safety is badly needed because MEP work onsite and during operation and maintenance (O&M) can lead to injury and death. To address this knowledge gap, our research team aimed to create a formalized PtD process for MEP safety and developed case studies that detail how the process can be implemented in the field. The formalized process and case studies would then be used in an implementation guide created specifically for the industry. This project was completed through expert interviews, six case studies, and ongoing discussion and review by an Industry Advisory Council. Using these methods, the team identified factors for implementation success and developed a formalized PtD process specific to the MEP worker context. The process consists of five phases: (1) hazard identification, (2) risk assessment, (3) design review, (4) implementation, and (5) learning. We anticipate that this study will contribute to the field of PtD research through creating one of the first formalized PtD processes for MEP construction and O&M worker safety, and through a cross-case analysis of the six PtD cases that indicated not only the importance of stakeholder engagement and cross-disciplinary dialogue, but that effective PtD implementation can occur even outside of a collaborative project delivery context at any point during design and construction.
Keywords
Construction Safety; Health; Attitude; Prevention Through Design (ptd); Construction Worker Safety; Mechanical; Electrical; Plumbing (mep)
Quantifying the Impact of Facilitation on Transactive Memory System Formation in Global Virtual Project Networks
Comu, Semra; Iorio, Josh; Taylor, John E.; Dossick, Carrie Sturts. (2013). Quantifying the Impact of Facilitation on Transactive Memory System Formation in Global Virtual Project Networks. Journal Of Construction Engineering & Management, 139(3), 294 – 303.
Abstract
Building strong ties between geographically dispersed project participants is crucial to project success. In global project networks, many firms have adopted virtual collaboration tools to address the challenges imposed by temporal and geographical distance. Some researchers have examined the role of facilitators and found that process facilitation can improve collaboration. Research has also shown that facilitators can be drawn into content interactions, which may negatively impact collaboration effectiveness in virtual workspaces. Research to date has not quantified this negative impact. In this study, the formation and maintenance of transactive memory systems (TMS) in two facilitated and two nonfacilitated global virtual project networks were investigated, each executing a 2-month project. Using TMS formation and cohesive subgroup formation as a proxy for performance, quantitative evidence was found that demonstrates a negative impact on collaboration effectiveness when facilitators engage in content facilitation in virtual project networks. This paper shows that this negative impact restricts the establishment of TMSs. These findings have important implications for understanding and designing appropriate facilitator interactions in global virtual project networks. DOI: 10.1061/(ASCE)CO.1943-7862.0000610. (C) 2013 American Society of Civil Engineers.
Keywords
Globalisation; Groupware; International Collaboration; Production Engineering Computing; Project Management; Process Facilitation; Transactive Memory System Formation; Global Virtual Project Network; Virtual Collaboration Tool; Temporal Distance; Geographical Distance; Content Interaction; Virtual Workspace; Tms Cohesive Subgroup Formation; Content Facilitation; Knowledge Transfer; Group Cohesiveness; Group Cohesion; Performance; Teams; Models; Globalization; Networks; Project Networks; Social Network Analysis; Transactive Memory Systems; Virtual Teams
Feasibility of Using QR Codes in Highway Construction Document Management
Lee, Hyun Woo; Harapanahalli, Bharat Anand; Nnaji, Chukwuma; Kim, Jonghyeob; Gambatese, John. (2018). Feasibility of Using QR Codes in Highway Construction Document Management. Transportation Research Record, 2672(26), 114 – 123.
Abstract
Highway construction occasionally takes place in remote locations, making its document management challenging especially when frequent document revisions occur. With the recent advancement of smartphones and tablets, Quick Response (QR) codes can provide project teams rapid and reliable access to up-to-date documents required for field operations. As a result, the use of QR codes can lead to a reduced need for traveling or meeting for document revisions, and reduce the amount of hardcopy documents and storage space. Despite the potential for significant benefits, there have been few studies aimed at assessing the feasibility of using QR codes in highway construction. In response, the objective of the study was to investigate the benefits of and barriers to using QR codes in highway construction for document management. To conduct the study, first a multi-step process was used, involving an online survey and interviews, with a goal of determining the status quo of highway construction in terms of document management and mobile information technology (IT). The results indicate that hardcopy documentation is still the most prevalent form of document management in highway construction, and hence there is an opportunity for implementing QR codes in conjunction with mobile IT. In the second part of the study, a time study using a real-world infrastructure project was conducted based on three activities: detail look up, specification check, and version check. As a result, the study found statistical evidence that using QR codes can lead to significant time savings.
Keywords
Highway Planning; Information Services; Road Construction; Document Management; Field Operation; Highway Construction; Infrastructure Project; Online Surveys; Quick Response Code; Remote Location; Statistical Evidence
Disruptive Information Exchange Requirements in Construction Projects: Perception and Response Patterns
Abdirad, Hamid; Dossick, Carrie S.; Johnson, Brian R.; Migliaccio, Giovanni. (2021). Disruptive Information Exchange Requirements in Construction Projects: Perception and Response Patterns. Building Research And Information, 49(2), 161 – 178.
Abstract
The current proliferation of custom information exchange initiatives in projects disrupts information exchange routines of design and construction firms. This paper investigates how firms perceive, interpret, and act upon information exchange requirements that do not align with their existing routines. This case study examines a construction project for which the owner specified highly custom requirements for digital production and delivery of project submittals. Using ethnographic methods, the project parties' existing routines and their patterns of perceiving and responding to the requirements were identified. These patterns showed that the parties perceived disruptions to the existing dispositions and rules that guided their routines and shaped their performance across projects. The project parties used a combination of deductive, inductive, and abductive reasoning mechanisms to interpret the requirements, expose the inefficiencies associated with their workflows, and set new ground rules for action. The grounded propositions in this study hold that the limited opportunities for inductive reasoning and reflective assessment of workflows in projects can press project parties into identifying alternative workflows through cognitive search and abductive reasoning. This, in turn, results in highly situated, temporary, and fragmented workflows that are not durable and effective to contribute to refinement of existing information exchange routines.
Keywords
Construction Industry; Abductive Reasoning; Cognitive Searches; Construction Projects; Design And Construction; Ethnographic Methods; Inductive Reasoning; Information Exchange Requirements; Information Exchanges; Organizational Routines; Risk; Bim; Implementation; Innovation; Information Exchange; Disruptive Requirements; Routines; Construction Companies; Cognitive Ability; Project Engineering; Reasoning
Guideline for Building Information Modeling in Construction Engineering and Management Education
Lee, Namhun; Dossick, Carrie S.; Foley, Sean P. (2013). Guideline for Building Information Modeling in Construction Engineering and Management Education. Journal Of Professional Issues In Engineering Education And Practice, 139(4), 266 – 274.
Keywords
Buildings (structures); Computer Aided Instruction; Construction Industry; Educational Courses; Management Education; Structural Engineering Computing; Building Information Modeling; Construction Engineering And Management Education; Cem Education; Bim; Cem Curriculum
Temporal Effect of Construction Workforce Physical Strain on Diminishing Marginal Productivity at the Task Level
Lee, Wonil; Migliaccio, Giovanni C. (2018). Temporal Effect of Construction Workforce Physical Strain on Diminishing Marginal Productivity at the Task Level. Journal Of Construction Engineering And Management, 144(9).
Abstract
Physiological status and environmental stressors are known to influence workforce performance at the individual worker level. A previous study, which conducted a cross-sectional comparison in repetitive material-handling construction activities, suggested that a U-shaped relationship existed between physical strain and productivity at the group level. This research revisits those findings to further investigate the U-curve relationship between physical strain and productivity at the group level and validate the concept of diminishing marginal productivity. Heart rates were measured as an indicator of subjects' physical strain, whereas task productivity was estimated by work sampling. Eighty person-hour data were converted into panel data sets by dividing each subject's 4-h experimental data into 5-min intervals. These data sets were subsequently used to evaluate the effects of time on physical strain and productivity with 5-min lags. The study found a U-curve relationship between physical strain and task-level productivity at the group level while controlling for individual characteristics. The U-shape relationship was constant in the low-performance and high-performance groups, although the degrees of the polynomials differed. Productive workers will remain more productive than low-productive workers with increased physical strain.
Keywords
Construction Industry; Industrial Psychology; Labour Resources; Occupational Health; Polynomials; Productivity; Physiological Status; Environmental Stressors; U-shaped Relationship; Productive Workers; Polynomials Degree; Diminishing Marginal Productivity; Construction Workforce Physical Strain; Labor Productivity; Scientific Management; Shift Work; Performance; Model; Taylorism; Burnout; Design; Impact; Safety; Construction Productivity; Labor And Personal Issue; Work Physiology; Physical Strain
Act(2): Time Cost Tradeoffs from Alternative Contracting Methods
Choi, Kunhee; Bae, Junseo; Yin, Yangtian; Lee, Hyun Woo. (2021). Act(2): Time Cost Tradeoffs from Alternative Contracting Methods. Journal Of Management In Engineering, 37(1).
Abstract
Incentive/disincentive (I/D) and cost-plus-time (A+B) are two of the most widely used alternative contracting methods (ACMs) for accelerating the construction of highway infrastructure improvement projects. However, little is known about the effects of trade-offs in terms of project schedule and cost performance. This study addresses this problem by creating and testing a stochastic decision support model called accelerated alternative contracting cost-time trade-off (ACT(2)). This model was developed by a second-order polynomial regression analysis and validated by the predicted error sum of square statistic and paired comparison tests. The results of a descriptive trend analysis based on a rich set of high-confidence project data show that I/D is effective at reducing project duration but results in higher cost compared to pure A+B and conventional methods. This cost-time trade-off effect was confirmed by the ACT(2) model, which determines the level of cost-time trade-off for different ACMs. This study will help state transportation agencies promote more effective application of ACMs by providing data-driven performance benchmarking results when evaluating competing acceleration strategies and techniques. (C) 2020 American Society of Civil Engineers.
Keywords
Highway; Construction; Model; Alternative Contracting Methods; Cost-plus-time; A Plus B; Incentive; Infrastructure Trend; Time-cost Trade-off
Where to Focus for Successful Adoption of Building Information Modeling within Organization
Won, Jongsung; Lee, Ghang; Dossick, Carrie; Messner, John. (2013). Where to Focus for Successful Adoption of Building Information Modeling within Organization. Journal Of Construction Engineering And Management, 139(11).
Abstract
Suggestions abound for successful adoption of building information modeling (BIM); however, a company with limited resources cannot adopt them all. The factors that have top management priority for successful accomplishment of a task are termed critical success factors (CSFs). This paper aims to derive the CSFs for four questions commonly asked by companies in the first wave of BIM adoption: (1)What are the CSFs for adopting BIM in a company? (2)What are the CSFs for selecting projects to deploy BIM? (3)What are the CSFs for selecting BIM services? (4)What are the CSFs for selecting company-appropriate BIM software applications? A list of consideration factors was collected for each question, based on a literature review, and then refined through face-to-face interviews based on experiences of BIM experts. An international survey was conducted with leading BIM experts. From the 206 distributed surveys, 52 responses from four continents were collected. This study used quantitative data analysis to derive a manageable number (4-10) of CSFs for each category from dozens of anecdotal consideration factors. The derived CSFs are expected to be used as efficient metrics for evaluating and managing the level of BIM adoption and as a basis for developing BIM evaluation models in the future.
Keywords
Architectural Cad; Building Information Modeling; Bim; Critical Success Factors; Csf; Management; Building Information Models; Organizations; Computer Software; Building Information Modeling (bim); Critical Success Factor (csf); Organizational Strategy; Bim Software Application; Bim Service; Bim-assisted Project; Information Technologies
Developing a Decision-Making Framework to Select Safety Technologies for Highway Construction
Nnaji, Chukwuma; Lee, Hyun Woo; Karakhan, Ali; Gambatese, John. (2018). Developing a Decision-Making Framework to Select Safety Technologies for Highway Construction. Journal Of Construction Engineering And Management, 144(4).
Abstract
Highway construction has consistently reported relatively high fatality rates largely because of the considerable exposure of workers to live traffic. To address this anomaly, traffic control planners are tasked with making decisions geared toward reducing hazardous situations caused by transiting vehicles and construction equipment. The growing application of technologies to enhance worker safety should be considered during the traffic control planning process. In certain cases, decisions such as choosing among technology options are made using experiential individual knowledge without the application of scientific and systematic decision-making methods. Use of experience-based decision making in this context is largely the result of sparse literature on scientific methods of selecting between alternatives in highway construction work zones. By applying the Choosing by Advantages (CBA) decision-making method, a process that achieves sound and effective decisions, the current study aims to fill the gap in practice by proposing a decision-making framework that could enhance the value-cost selection process of safety technologies in highway construction work zones. A situation that applied work zone intrusion alert technologies (WZIATs) was selected as a case study. Using a focus group session and case projects as an evaluation study process, the proposed framework based on the CBA decision-making process was applied to evaluate three WZIATs. Findings from the current study will benefit safety professionals and practitioners by providing a step-by-step approach to make sound decisions that can enhance the level of safety in highway construction work zones.
Keywords
Construction Equipment; Decision Making; Occupational Safety; Project Management; Road Building; Effective Decisions; Decision-making Framework; Value-cost Selection Process; Highway Construction Work Zones; Work Zone Intrusion Alert Technologies; Cba Decision-making Process; Sound Decisions; Traffic Control Planners; Worker Safety; Traffic Control Planning Process; Technology Options; Scientific Decision-making Methods; Systematic Decision-making Methods; Experience-based Decision Making; Advantages Decision-making Method; Safety Technologies; Knowledge; Signs