The Contractor Perception Towers Industrialized Building System Risk

Abstract: The use of IBS (Industrialised Building System) has attracted a lot of countries like Singapore, Sweden, Germany, Japan and the United Kingdom. This system can replace the conventional building system which is labour oriented. However, since the first project of IBS in year 1964 till today, IBS in Malaysia is not well accepted by the construction parties because of failure to adequately deal with risks in the IBS projects. To address this matter, this study had identified the risks faced by contractor in IBS construction projects. The risk identification techniques used were brainstorming, analysis of journal and conference papers and discussion with practitioners and data were collected by a questionnaire survey on contractors. It was found that there are twelve major risks in construction using IBS which are; acts of God, change in work and defective design, changes in government regulation, contractor competence, delayed payment and resolving contractual issues, financial failure-any party, labour and equipment productivity, labour, equipment and material availability, quality of work, safety, site access/right of way and suppliers/manufacturers poor performance. Therefore, it is hoped that the finding of this research could assist Malaysian contractors in making risk management planning besides improving decisions making to achieve project

Laboratory performance of chained interlocking plastic-beads in stone mastic asphalt mixture

The use of Stone Mastic Asphalt (SMA) has been increasing from year to year especially in Europe and other developed countries even though the cost is 20-30% compared to the traditional hot mix asphalt (HMA). Many attempts have been made through research and innovations to minimize the cost of SMA. Most of the research carried out this far attempted to improve either the binder or aggregate MA mix designs. It is also a known fact that SMA is generally a rut resistant mix rather than a fatigue resistant mix. An idea was thought out to reinforce SMA mixtures in terms of fatigue and other properties using recycled waste plastics as This study was aimed to determine the effects of incorporating specially formulated chained interlocking beads from waste plastics. The shapes and sizes were developed based on the total Voids in mineral Aggregate (VMA) and the percentage of aggregates passing 8 mm and retained on 4.75mm sieve sizes. A total of five combination of mix designs were carried out using 4 and 6 mm bead sizes and link diameters of 0.5 and 1 mm with link length of 20mm. The beads were coded as M4/0.5, M4/1.0,M6/0.5, and M6/1.0and used in percentages of 0.5%, 1%, and 1.05% by total weight aggregates. The percentages were worked out based on a newly devised replacement technique in aggregates passing 8mm and retained on the 4.75mm sieve. The mix designs with various bead size and link thickness were analyzed for Marshall stability, flow, density, Marshall Quotient as well as air voids and voids in mineral aggregates. It e performance of the specimens with plastic beads out-performed the control samples without the bead reinforcement

Building cost comparison between conventional and fully prefabricated systems in Malaysia: a case study of single and double storey house

In the Malaysia context, the government's policy on housing is that, the traditional building practices must be replaced by Industrialised Building System (IBS), which could save on labour, cost and time of construction and confers quality and durability (Elias, 2000). In so far there is yet no organized body, which can provide information readily on a guideline or benchmark for building cost comparison especially between conventional and fully prefabricated system in Malaysia's construction industry. Hence, the focus of the particular study. A case study was carried out by the researcher. The data required for this case study was generated through interviews. From the results of the case study, it undertaken can be concluded that the conventional construction system is better building cost saving as compared to the fully prefabricated system

The development of Road Construction Material Selection System (RC-MSS)

This paper looks into the development of a prototype Road Construction Material Selection System (RC-MSS) which based on the outcome through interviewed to the pavement experts to obtain the appropriate material for each pavement layer under particular design conditions. Data collected from the experts would be analysis using nonparametric statistical method to determine the ranking of each pavement material alternative prior to the development of RC-MSS. RC-MSS is developed with a prototype of an expert system using written using programming tool Microsoft Visual Basic 6.0 according the framework from the system. With this tool, better road design can also be achieved and save more time in the initial stage of on material selection, before scrutiny to laboratory test. This software would be the pioneer and provide guidance to engineers and consultants

Development of interlocking chained plasti-beads for use in stone mastic asphalt

The main objective of this study is to design and fabricate chained plastic beads as reinforcing and interlocking strands for use in asphalt mixtures such as Stone Mastic Asphalt mixtures (SMA). This research looks into the shape, size, dimension and type of plastic materials to be fabricated into chained plastic beads that can be used in SMA to provided added resistance in terms of fatigue and rutting. Waste plastics of Nylon 66 type was used in this study as it met the characteristic of melting point of above 220°C. A preliminary analysis was carried out to determine an appropriate shape that could provide a better interlocking in between the aggregates. Finally a diamond shape was adopted for the beads with two different selected sizes of 4mm and 6mm in diameter. The reason for the adoption 4 and 6 mm sizes is that small sized beads provide a better flexibility with the links compared to larger bead and link sizes which may pose rigidity problems during construction. The beads then were linked up with two different sizes of string of 0.5and 1.0mm in diameter with the beads spaced at 20mm interval. With two different diameters for beads sizes and two different diameters for string or chained sizes, this study was carried out in eight matrix combinations consisting of two and three beads system to be incorporated in the mix composition of SMA14 using the Malaysian Public Works Department’s (PWD) specifications.A preliminary analysis on the plastic beads showed promising results. The percentage loss of soundness test ranged between 0.7% to 2.1% while the resilient modulus test results showed that, the 2 beads system performed up to 98% better compared to the 3 beads system. Overall none of the SMA mixtures with the chained plastic beads performed lower than the control mix. The wear and tear due to compaction of the mixtures was analyzed using an Asphalt Extraction Test that showed that the maximum tear of the chained plastic beads was less than 16%

A newly developed laboratory slab roller compactor (Turamesin): an overview

Methods of preparing test specimens in laboratories are particularly important. It also holds true in terms of compaction procedure in predicting pavement performance. The currently available laboratory compactor cannot adequately replicate field compaction conditions, especially the Stone Mastic Asphalt (SMA) mixture. The essential element of SMA mixture comprises of stones that are placed next to or on top of each other, and therefore are greatly affected by the compaction procedure. Conclusion of different studies have indicated that rolling wheel compactor, simulates properties that are closer to field compaction. Turamesin was developed as an improved method of laboratory slab roller compactor, to provide a solution for the problem of producing laboratory specimens, which would represent materials laid and compacted in the field. This paper gives an overview of Turamesin and discusses the findings of the units' first phase Pilot Study, conducted in order to provide specific information, to improve procedures for slab preparation and compaction,also determining the criteria for slab compaction and performance of Turamesin. Turamesin is able to compact, a slab area measuring; 600 mm by 500 mm, according to clients' specified thicknesses, with number of passes up to 75, within 15 minutes time period. One compacted slab could produce up to 16 cylindrical core specimens of 100 mm diameter. Turamesin has shown great potential to be adopted as standard laboratory slab compactor, for asphalt mixtures and seemes to be capable of simulating field compaction in terms of operational procedures. However, improvement of the Turamesin will need significant amount of research to develop and finalize the optimum procedures

Rheology of waste paint blended binders

Malaysia is spending Millions of dollars on the treatment and disposal of rejected paints from the manufacturing plants. A research was undertaken at university Putra Malaysia to look into the potential of using the waste oil paints as modifiers to certain percentage without compromising the minimum required physical properties of asphalt binders such as viscosity, penetration and softening point. Since oil paints are hydrocarbon in nature, the blending of paint in asphalt binders did not pose any problems in the homogeneity of the paint modified binders. Various proportion of paint was blended with 3 different asphalt binders namely the 80-100, 60-70 and PG 76 binders. The study showed that The 80-100 and 60-70 binder types can be modified with oil paint up to 5% and still comply with the minimum requirement set by Ministry of Public Work (JKR) Malaysia, while the PG 76 binder can be modified with waste oil paint up to 10% meeting the minimum physical properties requirement. Thus it is concluded that a large amount of waste oil paint can be incorporated in the road construction and thus saving huge sum of money spent on the treatment and disposal of the waste oil paint. This effort is also geared towards minimizing environmental problems due to the dumping of such toxic waste

Construction tender price estimation standardization (TPES) in Malaysia: modeling using fuzzy neural network

Purpose: The pre-tender estimation process is still a hazy and inaccurate process, despite it has been practiced over decades, especially in Malaysia. The methods evolved over time largely depend on the amount of information available at the time of estimation. More often than not, the estimate produced during the pre-tender stage is far more than the tender cost of the project and sometimes, it is perilously underestimated and caused major problems to the client in the monetary planning. The purpose of this paper is to determine the most influential factors on the deviation of pre-tender cost estimation in Malaysia by conducting a survey. Design/methodology/approach: Fuzzy logic, combined with artificial neural network method (fuzzy neural network) was then used to develop an estimating model to aid the pre-tender estimation process. Findings: The results showed that the model is able to shift the cost estimation toward accuracy. This model can be used to improve the pre-tender estimation accuracy, enabling the client to take the necessary early measures in preparing the funding for a building project in Malaysia. Originality/value: To the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study on tender price estimation standardization for a construction project in Malaysia. In addition, the authors have used factors from literature for the model, which shows the thoroughness of the developed model. Thus, the findings and the model developed in this study should be able to assist contractors in coming out with a more accurate tender price estimation

Performance of recycled ceramic waste as aggregates in hot mix asphalt mixtures

Ceramic waste materials are abundantly available in Malaysia from the production of ceramic tiles. In general, ceramic materials seem to possess low thermal conductivity characteristics that could reduce pavement temperatures when used as aggregates in asphalt mixtures. A study was undertaken to look into the performance of crushed ceramics incorporated in asphalt mixtures to replace the conventional granite aggregates from sizes 5.0 mm down including the 75 micron filler. The replacement was done proportionally with 0%, 20%, 40%, 60%, 80% and 100% ceramic aggregates by weight of granite. Several mix designs with various percentages of ceramic aggregates were formulated to determine the marshal properties such as stability, flow, and resilient modulus. In addition, the potential of ceramic aggregates in reducing the asphalt pavement temperatures was also studied. The outcome of the study showed that the ceramic aggregates in the asphalt mixtures were able to improve the performance of the mixture up to 20% which means there is a great potential for the use of it in road construction. Besides that, the rate of heating (RoH) compacted samples subjected to various temperatures dropped significantly as compared with the control granite specimens. The fatigue performance of the compacted and temperature conditioned ceramic asphalt mixtures displayed an interesting trend in terms of strain resistance at elevated temperatures

An overview of quantification of fatigue resistance of asphalt mixture using pre-aged binder

Asphalt binder is man’s oldest engineering material; its adhesive and waterproofing properties were known at the dawn of civilization. Asphalt paved roads have been used in the United States for about 100 years. They have been used in Europe since the 1850's. These asphalt pavements suffer from fatigue cracking and thermal cracking, aggravated by oxidation and hardening of asphalt. This negative impact of asphalt oxidation on pavement performance has not been considered adequately in pavement design. No doubt, pioneering pavement engineers soon realized that in the short-term asphalt hardened after heating, mainly due to volatilization, and, in the long term it hardened, mainly due to oxidation. Hardening is primarily associated with loss of volatile components in asphalt during the construction phase (short-term aging), and progressive oxidation of the in-place material in the field (long-term aging). Both factors cause an increase in viscosity of the asphalt and a consequent stiffening of the mixture. This may cause the mixture to become hard and brittle and susceptible to disintegration and cracking failures. Also, the products of oxidation may render the mixture less durable than the original mixture, in terms of wear resistance and moisture susceptibility. However, "aging" is not necessarily negative phenomenon, since some aging may help a mixture achieve optimum properties. Compared to research on asphalt cement and aging of asphalt mixtures, there has been little research on the blown asphalt and, to date, there is no standard test. Pavement engineers understand the need to model the effects of the blown asphalt -aggregate mixtures in structural design procedures, and while some research has addressed this need, as yet no standard procedure as emerged to address it. Part of this reason is that the process of asphalt oxidation in pavement is not well understood. The main contribution of this study is the introduction of a method to quantify fatigue damage accumulation of asphalt binders using a short-duration test procedure that can be easily implemented into current practice