Classical Planning Model‐Based Approach to Automating Construction Planning on Earthwork Projects

Extensive research in automated operation planning has led to significant advances in the area of robotics. Theories and methods resulting from robotics have yet to be adapted to enable automated project planning in construction engineering. Aiming to demonstrate the potential of implementing automa...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Computer-aided civil and infrastructure engineering 2019-04, Vol.34 (4), p.299-315
Main Authors: Li, Duanshun, Lu, Ming
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Automation
Computer simulation
Construction engineering
Construction management
Construction methods
Construction planning
Evaluation
Mathematical programming
Optimization
Planning
Project planning
Robotics
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Summary:Extensive research in automated operation planning has led to significant advances in the area of robotics. Theories and methods resulting from robotics have yet to be adapted to enable automated project planning in construction engineering. Aiming to demonstrate the potential of implementing automated planning theory and methods in construction project planning, we developed an automated earthwork planner prototype following the principles and framework of classical planning model in computer science. As time is not explicitly represented, implementing classical planning model to perform optimization and planning simultaneously results in potential temporal–spatial conflicts (TSCs). The present research develops a two‐step approach to separate operations optimization and earthwork planning in typical rough grading projects. As such, TSCs encountered in existing mathematical programming based earthwork planning methods are resolved. To enable fully integrated and automated earthwork planning, the prototype system has been seamlessly integrated with project scheduling and operations simulation software for higher level analyses. To demonstrate advantages of the automated planning methodology, construction plans were independently produced by 14 graduate student teams on the same “testbed” project; results were evaluated and compared with the plan generated by the proposed system.
ISSN:1093-9687
1467-8667
DOI:10.1111/mice.12420