Week 6: Uses of Databases in Construction Firms

Databases are very useful in keeping an organized record of information and there is a vast range of types of information that can be stored in these databases. Construction firms many times look to keep record of their construction equipment, designs, construction members within designs, previous projects, clients’ contact information, materials and/or their costs and manufacturers, elevations of a construction site, rainfall data of a subject area, and lots of other valuable information they may look to store away for later use. A lot of times a database is put together for information that is no longer of urgent use but that may be of value to access at a later date in time.

In addition to simply accessing the raw data that is stored into a database, certain programs are able to use these databases to analyze the data and output referenced analyses. Programs such as ArcGIS are able to use databases in order to spatially analyze the data and create maps that show the stored information in ways that can be useful for the needs of the user. For instance, a construction firm could use a database that has the addresses or coordinate locations of material manufacturing plants to find the closest plant to their construction site and even find the quickest, shortest route from the plant to the site. Another example could be analyzing a database that has the cost information for specific types of a common construction material over time. With a database of this information, one could find the trend or growth rate of the cost for these materials and come up with an estimate for the price of the material in the future when a project will actually enter the construction phase.

I found it interesting in Issa’s post (http://ae-510-ay12-13.blogspot.com/2013/02/databases-in-construction-firms.html) to see that databases have been in use since the 1970’s and I too have seen first-hand at some of my co-op’s the transition from paper to electronic copies of files. The progress that has been made over the years is vast and much room is left for advancement in the use of these databases and how we can implement them to our advantage in construction.


Source:
http://pmbook.ce.cmu.edu/14_Organization_and_Use_of_Project_Information.html

Databases in Construction Firms

“Databases allow you to manage your data more efficiently, avoid errors and manipulate it easily.” 

Construction firms are acknowledging the fact that staff and subcontractors come and go and the retrieval of data and information about projects becomes difficult.  With this in mind, construction firms find ease with databases.  There always comes a time when you either have a staff member replaced or simply after the project is completed, years later there is a need to recover the documents from a past project.  This is where databases come into play.  By saving and storing past, current, and potential projects, contractors, suppliers and clients, the workplace becomes organized as well as time and cost efficient.  With a database, everything is stored in one place where authorized staff has access to find the most up-to-date information. In order to obtain such information, the System Query Language (SQL) plays a role as the data language that helps organize and retrieve stored information from the database.  As Elda mentioned in her blog, having a standardized language is very important as it “allows everyone to access and manipulate databases.” 

After my last coop in a construction claims company, I soon came to realize the necessity of databases in the industry.  Considering that the company hired interns for a period of six months, they needed to have a certain file storage unit where future employees could easily attain information.  Because this company had international offices and worked globally, operating with a database was very useful and practical.  In Ryan’s post he said that for large construction firms that operate in multiple states or countries, databases come in handy “to ensure they are in compliance with disposal standards of the local area that the project is in.”  I agree with this statement because this would be a great communication source in order for companies to comply with standards.

Since the 1970s, databases have progressively been integrated in all industries and now we can see a greater implementation in construction firms.  Now, companies are found in a transition stage where the mountains of file boxes are being converted into database files, improving document and information retrieval in an efficient manner.

Sources:

"Benefits of a Relational Database." Sunadal Data Solutions. SDS, 2013. Web. 12 Feb. 2013. <https://www.sunadal.co.uk/db.php>.

"Construction and General Contractors Database." Oddity Software - Databases, Development and Design. Oddity Software LLC, 2013. Web. 12 Feb. 2013. <http://www.odditysoftware.com/page-datasales165.htm>.

"Database." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 02 Dec. 2012. Web. 12 Feb. 2013. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Database>.

"Why Use the Planchest Database?" Planchest. N.p., n.d. Web. 12 Feb. 2013. <http://www.planchest.net/Why.aspx>.

Final Project: Robotics in Construction

The topic my partner (Elda Cilifgu) and I will research about is Robotics in Construction. This was the one of the topics suggested by Prof. Mitchell of most interest to us.

Building objects are generally produce by people who perform a task using an equipment. Generally the worker performs several tasks and the equipment does the rest. Nowadays due to the increase in technology newer and more suitable machines are available in the market. Being able to design and create this robots and automated construction process has provided multiple benefits in the construction department. Some of the major benefits are reduction of time and cost, better performance, improve working condition, avoid dangerous work, and perform jobs that people cannot do. Robotics in construction is related to intelligent building, because the making of this robotics is directly affecting human building process. Intelligent building is not only in the technology inside the building but the one use to construct it.

The research will focus on the study of 4 robots: Wall and Brick assembly robots, Tele-operated concrete distribution, automated building construction system and robotic arc welding system.  Tele-operated concrete distribution is a material manipulator machine. Its purpose is concrete placing with higher quality and safety, while reducing the number of worker required. Wall and brick assembly robots are machine operated by a human in which are being use to assemble or dissemble wall panels in high-rise buildings. The main benefit of this machine is that it provides great safety to workers. Automated construction system is a new construction method that installed steel members, panels among others on high-rise buildings. It defers form the conventional tower crane system, because it integrates weather warehouse facilities, automated conveyor equipment and computer controls. It job is to increase the productivity and improve the working environment. Robotic arc welding system is a performed and controlled by a robotic working in high duty cycles. Our research will finish by talking about the future of robotics in the construction industry and its social impacts. The main challenge we could phase, is finding enough information on the future robotics in construction.  There are so many ideas but not all might be realistic.

My classmate Rita Pauliushchyk and her team have a very interesting topic for their final project. They will study and analyze the library to see how people feel in its environment and related to sensors (temperature control, humidity levels, noise from HVAC equipment). I believe they will come back with interesting information from the students. I personally believe the library is lacking in many basic needs. Depending in where you are it can get really hot when it is crowed and uncomfortable to study in. Im looking forward to hear what you guys find. 

Project: Intelligent and/or Green

For my term project, I will be focusing on the topic “Intelligent and/or Green”.  I really wanted to work on this topic for two reasons.  The first reason is that I have been interested in green buildings since high school.  I was in a magnet program in high school that focused on the environment.  The program not only showed us what was currently out there (we visited a landfill and an incinerator) and what was emerging technology (we visited BP’s solar cell factory and learned a little bit about alternative building materials, like hay bales), but also taught us about the pros and cons of everything (existing and emerging).  During my senior year of high school is when green buildings were just starting to make a name for themselves and people were starting to really analyze their impacts.  It was also at this time that construction of the Philip Merrill Center, headquarters of the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, had been completed.  The Philip Merrill Center is the first LEED Platinum building; it was so “green” that USGBC had to create the Platinum certification for it because it exceeded the Gold certification standard by such a large amount.  Since it was the agenda of the program to turn out “save the trees (and the animals and the catfish and the spiders and the ….)” high school graduates (who would then hopefully go on and become lawyers or engineers or anyone who would be able to change policies to save the planet), we drove 2 hours to visit the CBF headquarters.  From that day on, I knew that I wanted to be a part of the green industry – whether it was design or construction.  At my alma mater, we were encouraged to always think sustainably.  When we learned new material, someone would inevitably always ask about its sustainability and life cycle.  Thankfully, I get to work at the company that constructed the Merrill Center and try to realize my dream to construct every building “green”.  Since I will be able to make green buildings a part of my career, I chose this topic to learn more about the topic I am so passionate about.

Secondly, I know very little about intelligent buildings.  When I used to hear the term “intelligent buildings”, it was usually the TV version of intelligent buildings that popped into my mind – house that talks to you, cooks food for you, etc.  From the first couple of classes, I know that this may be a future version of intelligent buildings, but right now intelligent buildings are about how they regulate themselves.  This regulation may be adjusting the temperature in a room to be a set temperature or adjusting window shades to allow more or less light inside.  From the knowledge I have of sustainability and how it pertains to green buildings, I am very interested to learn how these two combine with intelligent buildings and how it makes each of the them better.

As Matthew wrote in his blog, infrastructure improvement is a dire need for this country.  The last time this country pushed for infrastructure improvements was in the 60's.  This means that the majority of our infrastructure is over 50 years old and reaching the end of its design lifespan.  The longer we wait to improve infrastructure, the more we jeopardize the safety of the public that we are committed to protect.  In Matthew's post, he also mentioned the importance of improving water systems and conserving water.  As he says, water in this country is taken for granted as we assume that we will have clean water to drink and use when we turn on the faucet.  This assumption is quickly becoming history as the population grows and fresh water is becoming a scare resource.  Through our urban development, we have drastically reduced the pervious surfaces that allow water to infiltrate the ground and recharge our aquifers.  Instead, this water runs off into our surface waters carrying pollutants, which leads to contaminated and dirty water.  Ignoring the problem will lead to countries having to implement other, more expensive, methods at turning unusable water (e.g. saltwater) into drinking water.  Unfortunately, despite the continuing decline in water availability, it remains a minor issue with green buildings.  When I was studying for my LEED exam, I noticed that the section on water management was small compared to the other topics.  When you look at the 2009 scorecard, Water Efficiency only has 10 points compared to 26 for Sustainable Sites and 35 points for Energy and Efficiency.  Only Innovation and Design (6 points) and Regional Priority (4 points) are less than Water Efficiency.  This limitation with green buildings is something that I will be addressing in my paper.

I think the biggest challenge of this project is going to be finding material on intelligent buildings.  Green buildings will be easy to find as everyone is talking about green buildings and their impacts on the triple bottom line.  Intelligent buildings though may be referenced it various terms in research papers which may make them difficult to find.

USGBC LEED Green Associate Study Guide. Washington, DC: U.S. Green Building Council, 2009. Print.

BIM in Future Construction

In construction, I talked last week about the essentials for incorporating BIM into the design process at every level, from the beginning, including the contractors. This will not only allow for the most proficient design that could be handed to the owner at the time of completion to be used in the future for remodels, additions and maintenance but it will also allow for the most efficient process. I believe that the future will bring in a completely new methodology into the construction world with the incorporation of BIM.

If BIM can be used properly, efficiently and effectively than it would only make sense to develop a new line of construction process into the mix. Like Carpenter said, I believe that BIM will grow increasingly easy to use, not for everyone but for those in the industry it will become a necessity to gain business and a career. If BIM gives us the advances that AutoCAD did then in the next five to ten years it only would seem fitting to see a model of construction process to be developed as outlined below:

-Owner/Architect has general idea and lays out needs, wants and issues to deal with
-The Architect would then create the initial BIM model, possibly utilizing a laser scan of the site to ensure completely accurate information is used whether it is new plot or an existing building that will be remodeled or refurbished.
-After the architectural "shell" is created then the rest of the design team would be chosen, including civil, structural, MEP, specialty contractors and every other necessary member.
-The BIM model would be opened to the entire team allowing for everyone to work simultaneously to complete the design in all aspects.
-Once the design is complete and all clashes were double checked it could then go into construction (construction could possibly begin before hand depending on the project and timeline)

This new model that I am predicting would allow for the most complete and clash free construction process to ever be performed which would not only cut down on cost but, if done properly, would reduce the overall time of construction down dramatically. No one would have to wait around waiting for clashes to be solved with multiply formal rfi's and change orders, all the supplies could arrive exactly when they needed to and be ready when the team was ready because the entire construction process could be planned out to the hour if necessary.

Week 3: BIM for the Construction Industry (Ch. 6)

This week's topic for Group E focused on the advantages of the use of Building Information Modeling in the construction industry and how contractors can benefit from its uses. Chapter 6 of the BIM Handbook supplied us a lot of supporting evidence of the benefits of using BIM for contractors along with some of the challenges that may be faced along the way.

I believe that the Handbook best described the benefits of BIM by saying that “It allows for a smoother and better planned construction process that saves time and money and reduces the potential for errors and conflicts.” Many times contractors are forced to come up with designs for a construction project with very limited information on the building in question because they have to provide these designs in time for the bid meeting. It is not until after winning a construction project that contractors are given much more detailed information to then refine their original designs in order to create building plans (with the traditional design-bid-build approach). These building plans are then limited in what can be done because some of the significant information on the building is not available to the contractor during the design phase. However, with BIM efforts in place early in the design phase of a construction project, contractors and subcontractors are able to coordinate and accurately plan the construction of the building as the project moves along instead of coming across clashes and corrections while in the field and in turn delaying the progress of construction along with increasing the cost of the project as a whole.

Although there are many fields within the construction industry, with the use of BIM prior to construction all of these fields may be tied together in a building information model and the collaboration of all types can be accurately represented in a more organized and timely fashion. BIM application allows contractors to use the model for “estimating, coordination, construction planning, fabrication, procurement, and other functions.” Also, besides having benefits for pre-construction efforts BIM can be used in the field during construction for onsite verification, guidance, and to track the current or previous construction activities as they take place. In conclusion, although the efforts in order to have a construction project effectively use Building Information Modeling and the transition from traditional drawings may be extensive and a bit complicated at first, the benefit of using BIM in construction is immense and I believe BIM will become a very widely used and almost mandatory process in the very near future.


One of my peers Ryan Krall's post on the use of BIM for the Construction Industry (http://ae-510-ay12-13.blogspot.com/2013/01/week-3-ch-6-bim-in-construction.html) made an interesting point in mentioning that "If the model can include every discipline’s drawings within it than there is the potential for not only a zero clash project but also a tool that can be handed over the owner for future maintenance and alterations that they may want to make later on down the road." I thought it was interesting to take into account the uses of BIM in the future of a construction project rather than just during the design and building phases of a project. BIM can be used to keep order to the building's complete life cycle way after construction and far into the future of its maintenance and changes that are made as the building's purpose and uses may change with time to better meet the needs of its users and/or the goals the owner wants to meet with the building.

BIM for Construction Industry

         BIM has its advantages in a design-build firm as it can help in the beginning designing process as it can facilitate in building the model and sharing between all the team members.  With its advantages, BIM also has its disadvantages because it is limited to its productivity when designers work with 2D or 3D CAD tools.  If so, “much of the value that BIM brings to the project is lost”.  By using BIM tools from the beginning of the designing process, models that are provided by the architects can then be used by contractors to develop accurate and time-efficient estimating, scheduling, fabrication, and other functions for construction.
 

Now a days, BIM tools today include detailed building information like the graphics of a 3D model and temporary components to represent equipment that are essential to the planning of the project. Future BIM implementations should support specification information linked with each building component, analysis data such as structural loads that can serve as proof for performance levels and requirements, and finally design and construction status for each component in order to understand and observe the progress.  With the use of all of the mentioned BIM tools in a project, this can ultimately be very useful because during project completion, the handover process to the owner will be facilitated as all the information of the project from the beginning through the end will be provided.

As I was reading some of my classmates’ posts that covered other chapters in the BIM Handbook, I learned about some other aspects of BIM, including Interoperability.  John Scanlon expresses that “we as a building society should focus on how well we can transfer data from one aspect of the building phase to another” and uses as an example “cost to design to construction to occupancy”.  That is how he defines interoperability and I could not agree with his definition and its importance in building systems more. In order for BIM to succeed in the construction industry, we need to find an efficient way in which interoperability can be achieved.

Source:
Eastman, Chuck, Paul Teicholz, Rafael Sacks, and Kathleen Liston. "Chapter 6 BIM for the Construction Industry." BIM Handbook. N.p.: John Wiley & Sons, 2008. 207-42.Online Library Wiley. Web. 22 Jan. 2013. <http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/9780470261309.ch6/pdf>.

Week 3 Ch. 6 BIM in Construction

                This week in the 6^th chapter of the BIM Handbook, the integration of BIM in the construction industry as discussed. Before BIM was used widely throughout the industry, and even partially today, there were a multitude of opportunities for clashes to occur. A clash can either be classified as hard or soft, a hard clash is on in which the physical members of a system would not fit within or next to each other, whereas a soft clash is one in which the members may fit together, however, their proximity causes an issue with operation. These clashes were prevalent because we relied on 2D drawings that would be overlaid with other 2D drawings in order to create a complete construction drawing. If changes, dimensions, or locations were not precisely transferred from one set, say structural, of drawings to another set, like the MEP, drawings than there would most definitely be a clash that would need to either be redesigned (causing more cost and lost time) or a field amendment to make it work (which may lead to fittings and installations that are not 100% proper as they were designed to be). By using what is known to be 4D BIM drawing tools, which allows for a 3D model to be presented along with details (4^th dimension) that otherwise might be lost throughout the process. By doing this a single model can contain each and every set of drawings, from architectural to MEP, which drastically reduces the number of clashes that appear throughout the construction process.

                One thing that is needed as the industry transfers over into the BIM world is the inclusion of contractors along with every member of the design team. By making the model more inclusive as opposed to exclusive in terms of those who are working and implementing their own industry designs into the project model the more complete the model becomes. If the model can include every discipline’s drawings within it than there is the potential for not only a zero clash project but also a tool that can be handed over the owner for future maintenance and alterations that they may want to make later on down the road. 
                As  Gayaneh Gulbenkian said BIM is a tool that most importantly reduces costs. It reduces the amount of information that is lost throughout the design and into the construction phase by keeping a record. One of the most beneficial features, I liked Gulbenkian's analogy, is that it updates all aspects of the design when a user updates the model in one of the views, just like Excel will automatically update throughout the spreadsheet as individual numbers change. After being lead to  Gabrielle Carpenter's post by Gulbenkian, it was made clear how crucial the reduction of changes can be. Carpenter showed this by using the Boeing 777 design in which they saved over 6000 changes. Just the time saved by not needing to describe each of those 6000 changes is remarkable. 

Having an old-fashioned frame of mind, the use of all of these sensors terrifies me.  John mentions that by 2040, 75% of cars will be self-driving.  That is right around the time that my children will be learning how to drive.  It’s not that I don’t trust technology to do it’s job, I’m just concerned about the life of the sensors and other technology behind these self driving cars.  A good majority of people that I know has had issues with the wiring, or the electronics in their car.  Luckily, the issues have been minor like not being able to put down the window.  But the more sensors and wiring that manufacturers put into vehicles the more probabilistic that something will go wrong with a major function.  If those sensors would fail on the road, what kind of repercussions will take place?  Don’t get me wrong, the use of sensor and the technological advances have made our lives easier and more convenient but I think we need to be careful to what point we take human interaction with the machine. 

Moving past my concern about the sensors, I find the use of sensors to create a more efficient building fascinating.  Elaborating more on what Elda posted, NASA designed what they call an Ultra Green Building.  Using 5000 sensors on their 50,000 sqft building they were able to produce a net positive energy building, meaning that it creates more electricity than needed and puts energy back into the grid.  The sensors are wireless making them easy to manage and place, they measure carbon dioxide levels, temperature, lighting, and air flow.  The use of the sensors lets the building use 90% less potable water than an average building its size.

Steven Zornetzer, the associate center director at NASA Ames Research Center, stated that “[this building] will prove to be one of the highest performing federal buildings ever.” 

The construction of this building is comparable to others its size.  Even with the sophistication of the construction it only cost 6% more than an average build.  It is estimated that the extra expense will be made up within the first 10 years of energy and maintenance costs.  This fact proves that designing a green building doesn’t have to mean that it is too expensive.  The construction world has definitely been raising its standards through the years with the implementation of LEED.  However, I don’t believe LEED will be effective until it is common sense that we should build that way. 

http://www.forbes.com/sites/kerryadolan/2012/01/10/nasas-new-sensor-driven-ultra-green-building/

Future - Analysis Techniques

As someone who has been extremely fascinated with green structures since high school, I wanted to research how current and future analysis techniques would be beneficial to improving green buildings.  In order for a new construction building to earn LEED certification, the building's energy use must be monitored after occupancy and documentation must be submitted to prove that the building is performing as designed.  These expected performance values are based on baseline calculations.  This week I investigated how current technology can analyze conventional and proposed structures to determine more accurate values and where the technology still needs to be improved.

According to Kanal and Flores, there are currently six commercial software programs in use.  Three are best for architects (EcoDesigner, Ecotect, and Green Building Studio) while the others (eQuest, Energy Plus, and IES) are recommended for engineers as they require extensive training.  While architects typically utilize the software for determining building dimensions (massing) and facing direction (to optimize passive lighting), engineers use the software to evaluate energy  use and building systems.

Although Kanal and Flores state that these software programs are an effective tool for basic energy calculations, there are two major drawbacks of these programs.  The first drawback is file conversion.  Currently, the file formats between these analysis programs and other design programs are not compatible.  Kanal and Flores cite a BIM specialist who points out that it is easier for him to start from scratch than to fix the imported file.  Although some improvements have been made in this area – AutoDesk purchased two of the programs so it could incorporate it into its programs – improvement is still needed to better aid engineers.  According to Stadel et. al., the "challenges of combining software tools include data aggregation, error transfer, and propagation when moving data from one model to another".  In this paper, BIM and SimaPro were utilized to determine the carbon footprint a model office building using LCA.  According to Stadel et. al., while SimaPro provides a more comprehensive range of environmental impacts, it is also time consuming; however, while BIM is quicker, it provides inconsistent results.  Improvement and integration of these energy calculation software tools with current design programs (e.g. AutoCad, BIM) will decrease the complexity of the program and provide more accurate results.

Another major drawback for improvement of these programs is the late incorporation of engineers in the design process.  Kanal and Flores state that the manhours it requires for an engineer to be at the same point in the design process as the architect (e.g. 30% design completion) exceeds the architect's manhours.  Parallel design of the engineer and architect can slow the design process down, but will result in a more incorporated systems design and less conflicts down the road (e.g. change orders, RFIs).  If the AEC community moved from the traditional design-bid-build process to design-build, analysis of green and traditional structures will vastly improve.  Having building systems that work together and respond to each other's changes will provide a more efficient total-building system and, therefore, will lead to better analysis of the effectiveness of green buildings.  As Xiang Li’s blog points out, utilizing sensors in a building can increase the sustainability of the building.  Energy consumption can be saved by utilizing sensors that detect light levels so indoor lighting is only turned on when the room gets too dark and air conditioning can be adjusted based on room temperature.

Kanal, Vijay, and Kelly Flores. "Greener Buildings Through Energy Analysis Tools." Green Buildings Through Energy Analysis Tools. AECbytes: Building the Future, 2 Dec. 2010.

      <http://www.aecbytes.com/buildingthefuture/2010/EnergyAnalysisTools.html>.

Stadel, A., Eboli, J., Ryberg, A., Mitchell, J., and Spatari, S. (2011). ”Intelligent Sustainable Design: Integration of Carbon Accounting and Building Information Modeling.” J. Prof. Issues Eng. Educ. Pract. 137, SPECIAL ISSUE: Sustainability in Civil and Environmental Engineering Education, 51–54.

Group E Is this the future?

We thought this video showed us how construction can be automated, can lower construction costs, labor costs, construction time, can increase efficiency. We think this kind of technology can be used in the future but most likely to be used along side traditional construction techniques. By looking at the video there seemed to be different sensors, such as on the ceiling and the rovers most likely had sensors to know where they are. It could also show that different materials might need to be used if a building were to be constructed by automated machines. The blocks that the rovers were picking up had white painted strips on each end which was either a marker or a kind of glue. It is the future of construction!