Applications of electroencephalography in construction

A wearable electroencephalogram (EEG) is considered a means for investigating psychophysiological conditions of individuals in the workplace in order to ameliorate occupational health and safety. Following other sectors, construction scholars have adopted this technology over the past decade to strengthen evidence-based practices to improve the wellbeing of workers. This study presents the state-of-the-art hardware, algorithms, and applications of EEG as a platform that assists in dealing with the risk-prone and complex nature of construction tasks. After summarizing the background of EEG and its research paradigms in different sectors, a comprehensive review of EEG-enabled construction research is provided. First, through a macro-scale review aided by bibliometric analysis a big picture of the research streams is plotted. Second, a micro-scale review is conducted to spot the gaps in the literature. The identified gaps are used to classify the future research directions into theoretical, application, and methodological developments

Automated Planning of Concrete Joint Layouts with 4D-BIM

Concrete pouring represents a major critical path activity that is often affected by design limitations, structural considerations and on-site operational constraints. As such, meticulous planning is required to ensure that both the aesthetic and structural integrity of joints between cast in-situ components is achieved. Failure to adequately plan concrete pouring could lead to structural defects, construction rework or structural instability, all having major financial implications. Given the inherent complexity of large-scale construction projects, the ‘manual planning’ of concrete pouring is a challenging task and prone to human errors. Against this backdrop, this study developed 4D Building Information Management (BIM) approach to facilitate automated concrete joint positioning solution (as a proof of concept) for design professionals and contractors. The study first developed structural model in Revit, then extracted spatial information regarding all construction joints and linked them to dynamic Microsoft (MS) Excel and Matlab spreadsheets using integration facilitated by Dynamo software. Midspan points of each beam as well as floor perimeter information were gathered via codes developed in MS Excel macros. Based on the Excel outputs, Matlab programming was used to determine best concreating starting points and directions, and daily allowed concrete volume, considering limitations due to cold joints. These information were then pushed back to Revit via Dynamo in order to develop daily concrete scheduling. The developed automated programme framework offers a cost-effective and accurate methodology to address the limitations and inefficiencies of traditional methods of designing construction joints and planning pours. This framework extends the body of knowledge by introducing innovative solutions to integrate structural design considerations, constructional procedures and operational aspects for mitigating human error, and providing a novel, yet technically sound, basis for further application of BIM in structural engineering

Viability of the BIM Manager Enduring as a Distinct Role: Association Rule Mining of Job Advertisements

© 2018 American Society of Civil Engineers. Building information modeling (BIM) has developed as the definitive technology for managing construction projects. With its rise, the corresponding role of BIM manager has emerged as a necessary adjunct role in coordinating BIM-enabled projects. The ascent of the BIM manager has attracted a significant body of research, investigating the various competencies and responsibilities required of the role. While BIM is here to stay, a recent study, however, asserts that a distinct role oriented around BIM is transitory, which represents a significant departure from accepted assumptions regarding the viability of the BIM manager role. This research sets out to test the likelihood of a long-term market demand for the BIM manager, as a distinct role, based on a robust quantitative analysis of open-source data from a rich empirical dataset of global relevance for North America, Europe, and Australasia. Text mining methods are used. A total of 199 BIM-related jobs were retrieved from 14 of the most relevant job websites, representing the global English speaking job markets. Key knowledge, skills, and abilities that are attributes of BIM jobs were extracted and analyzed. Analysis reveals that there is no significant difference between the roles BIM manager and BIM coordinator. Moreover, the findings highlight that these two BIM roles align with that of project manager. Most importantly, analysis shows that BIM roles supplement the lack of BIM expertise within the role of project manager, and that, as BIM capabilities are increasingly absorbed by project managers, the rationale for an independent BIM expert will fade. The corollary is that BIM roles are a stopgap measure that can be expected to disappear as project managers absorb requisite BIM skills. The practical implication for construction engineering HR departments is that the prevailing policy of retaining dedicated BIM managers into the longer-term future should shift to one in which project managers are retrained to a level at which they possess comprehensive, independent BIM expertise