1,721,047 research outputs found
Macrolevel and microlevel frameworks of experiential learning theory in construction engineering education
No full textA construction engineering platform for the integration of constructability concepts and lessons learned at the point of design
No full textTo improve constructability, experienced design and construction engineers often select processes and develop details that require less labor, equipment, or management resources to build. These innovative ideas, enabling circumstances, and their effect on the construction process are not usually recorded in a reusable format. Without such a mechanism, recalling this experience under the appropriate circumstances, or transferring the technology to new management has generally not happened. Further, civil engineers are generally educated to optimize cost by minimizing the material quantity. Through experience gained after graduation, they are expected to pick up options for engineering impact on the labor, equipment, and overhead expense. This school of experience extracts too high a price in trial and error, and the need for redevelopment of lessons learned by others. Presented is a constructability concept and lesson-learned storage and retrieval platform. This case based technical assistant has been ergonomically designed to employ natural problem-solving heuristic methods used by human experts. Within this platform, the process of locating an appropriate lesson learned matches closely the storage and retrieval mechanisms of the human long term memory. The result is lessons learned which are easy to find. Once found, the circumstances and construction processes are presented in a multimedia format that can represent all factors affecting construction cost. Human factors research was again applied to the development of this presentation system. It involves the learner, and deepens the understanding, elaborately relating the lesson to prior knowledge, which will further improve the memory recall mechanism created during the search process. DICEP (Design Integrated Construction Engineering Platform) is presented herein to effectively involve the human design engineer in the application of constructability at the right time during design
Automated Construction Data Management System
Get PDFProject engineers and managers involved in construction spend a disproportionate amount of time collecting and processing construction data. This processing of data typically causes the construction manager to be distracted from the more important task of supervising and controlling the project. The amount of construction data will most likely continue to expand in the future creating more of a burden on the construction manager. So reducing the volume of data most likely will not occur. New innovative data management systems that utilize the latest in computer and automatic identification technologies should be developed. This report describes such a system for use by INDOT. The goal of the system is to create a paperless environment for INDOT personnel that are involved with the construction program. This system will provide better data organization and flow resulting in reduced paperwork processing time and providing more time to devote to managing the construction process
Total Liquid Routes and Anti-Icing Liquids
Get PDFINDOT has successfully used salt brine in anti-icing efforts as a way to deliver preventative treatment before an event (e.g., bridge deck frost) occurs. In 2011 INDOT wanted to investigate the use of salt brine in de-icing operations. This study executed a comparative analysis of brine routes and salt routes during two winter seasons (2011-2012 and 2012-2013). The first winter season there were twenty-one study routes and the second winter season forty-one routes. Both winter seasons would be classified as “mild” and most winter events would be characterized with low levels of precipitation. The 2012-2013 winter was a month longer with two major events occurring in March.
Another study item designed and fabricated a combination winter vehicle and analyzed its performance.
Data collected during these two winter seasons and the following data analysis revealed that liquid routes are more cost effective than granular routes under most weather conditions and pavement temperature ranges. Other recommendations are included in the report findings
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Get PDFThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
Level of Service Program for INDOT Operations
Get PDFINDOT has used an inspection program named Maintenance Quality Survey (MQS) to perform a state-wide inspection of their roadway assets, right-of-way to right-of-way. This inspection requires two two-person teams approximately 18 months to complete as it determines the condition of individual features and produces a grade for each one. Results from this program were used to define a work program.
INDOT uses the software Work Management System (WMS) for their operations. A WMS feature that has not been utilized is the Level of Service (LOS). LOS establishes performance standards for activities and then uses an inspection program to evaluate compliance with these standards.
The objective of this project was to develop a LOS program at INDOT that utilizes WMS. One key component of this program is a statistical based inspection program that inspects and grades random roadway segments. The development of this inspection program required determining the number of samples per sub-district, the features to inspect, defining the pass/fail criteria for each feature, and field training and testing. Another key part is to develop the required WMS LOS data tables.
Outcomes from the LOS program will be an improved inspection program, a data driven tool that can be used to perform LOS analyses resulting in improved work planning. Looking at operation activities from a LOS perspective provides opportunities to balance resources better and improve the planning aspect. One benefit being experienced with the implementation of the inspection program is inspection personnel time savings in collecting the LOS data
INDOT Research Program Benefit Cost Analysis–Return on Investment for Projects Completed in FY 2023
Get PDFTo demonstrate the value of research and its implementation, the Governor’s Office in 2016 requested an annual financial analysis of the INDOT Research Program to determine the return on the research investment (ROI). The INDOT Research & Development (R&D) has continued to publish an annual Return on Investment report. The current financial analysis is for research projects that completed in FY 2023. Analyses on previous year’s projects is necessary primarily due to the time it takes some project outcomes to be implemented and verifiable data generated, extending into the following year. Therefore, the FY 2024 analysis is completed research projects in calendar 2023.
The analysis evaluated 29 research projects completed in 2023 to determine if through implementation, benefits could be quantified resulting in either agency savings, road user savings, or safety savings. Of the 29 projects, six (6) had benefits that could be quantified. The rest, twenty-three (23) had benefits classified as qualitative
- …
