Eul‐Bum Lee

Plant projects, referred to as Engineering Procurement and Construction (EPC), generate massive amounts of data throughout their life cycle, from the planning stages to the operation and maintenance (OM) stages. Many EPC contractors struggle with their projects due to the complexity of the decision-making processes, owing to the vast amount of project data generated during each project stage. In line with the fourth industrial revolution, the demand for engineering project management solutions t

In the Fourth Industrial Revolution, artificial intelligence technology and big data science are emerging rapidly. To apply these informational technologies to the engineering industries, it is essential to digitize the data that are currently archived in image or hard-copy format. For previously created design drawings, the consistency between the design products is reduced in the digitization process, and the accuracy and reliability of estimates of the equipment and materials by the digitized

Most state highways in the United States were built during the 1960s and 1970s with an infrastructure investment of more than $1 trillion. They now exceed their 20year design lives and are seriously deteriorated. The consequences are high maintenance and road user costs because of degraded road surfaces and construction work zone delays. Efficient planning of highway rehabilitation closures is critical. This paper presents a simulation model, Construction Analysis for Pavement Rehabilitation Str

This paper presents an analytic hierarchy process (AHP)-fuzzy inference system (FIS) model to aid decision-makers in the risk assessment and mitigation of overseas steel-plant projects. Through a thorough literature review, the authors identified 57 risks associated with international steel construction, operation, and transference of new technologies. Pairwise comparisons of all 57 risks by 14 subject-matter experts resulted in a relative weighting. Furthermore, to mitigate human subjectivity,

Engineering, Procurement, and Construction (EPC) of oil and gas megaprojects often experience cost overruns due to substantial schedule delays. One of the greatest causes of these overruns is the mismanagement of the project schedule, with the piping works (prefabrication and installation) occupying a majority of that schedule. As such, an effective methodology for scheduling, planning, and controlling of piping activities is essential for project success. To meet this need, this study used the

The steel industry has been forced to switch from the traditional blast furnace to the electric arc furnace (EAF) process to reduce carbon emissions. However, EAF still relies entirely on the operators’ proficiency to determine the electrical power input. This study aims to enhance the efficiency of the EAF process by predicting the tap temperature in real time through a data-driven approach and by applying a system that automatically sets the input amount of power to the production site. We dev

As an asphalt concrete demonstration project implemented under the California Department of Transportation's Long-Life Pavement Rehabilitation Strategies program, a 4.4 km stretch of Interstate-710 (1-710) in Long Beach was successfully rehabilitated during eight repeated 55-h extended weekend closures using around-the-c lock construction operations and counterflow traffic. This case study documented the accelerated rehabilitation process, assessed traffic impacts, and compared collecte

Life-cycle cost analysis (LCCA) for highway projects is an analytical technique that uses economic principles to evaluate long-term alternative investment options, especially for comparing the value of alternative pavement structures and strategies. Recently, the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) mandated LCCA implementation to evaluate the cost-effectiveness of pavement design alternatives for highway projects in the state. An LCCA approach was utilized for validation of the pa

Many urban concrete pavements in California need to be reconstructed, as they have exceeded their design lives and require frequent maintenance and repair. Information is needed to determine which methodologies for pavement design, materials selection, traffic management, and reconstruction strategies are most suitable to achieve the objectives of California Department of Transportation’s (Caltrans) long-life pavement rehabilitation strategies (LLPRS) program. To develop construction productivit

This paper introduces an innovative approach to development of construction and traffic management plans for the I-15 Devore project, a fast-track urban freeway reconstruction project with high traffic volume in Southern California. The goal of this approach is to determine the most economical reconstruction closure scenario by integrating construction schedule, traffic delay, and agency cost. Construction Analysis for Pavement Rehabilitation Strategies (CA4PRS) software was used for scheduling

A constructability analysis tool was developed to help the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) determine which rehabilitation and construction strategies were the most feasible in an urban environment to maximize production and minimize traffic delay. With the assistance of California concrete paving contractors, the constructability analysis explored the effects of the following parameters on the construction production of concrete pavement rehabilitation in California: pavement

Engineering, Procurement, and Construction (EPC) projects span the entire cycle of industrial plants, from bidding to engineering, construction, and start-up operation and maintenance. Most EPC contractors do not have systematic decision-making tools when bidding for the project; therefore, they rely on manual analysis and experience in evaluating the bidding contract documents, including technical specifications. Oftentimes, they miss or underestimate the presence of technical risk clauses or r

Korean offshore oil and gas (O&G) mega project contractors have recently suffered massive deficits due to the challenges and risks inherent to the offshore engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) of megaprojects. This has resulted in frequent prolonged projects, schedule delay, and consequently significant cost overruns. Existing literature has identified one of the major causes of project delays to be the lack of adequate tools or techniques to diagnose the appropriateness and suff

Life-Cycle Cost Analysis (LCCA) for highway projects is an analytical technique that uses economic principles to evaluate long-term alternative investment options, especially for comparing the values of alternative pavement design structures and construction strategies. Several approaches and software have been adopted to undertake LCCA by many transportation agencies in the United States over the last decade. In 2007, the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) adopted RealCost, the

This case study paper presents an innovative fast-track approach applied to a heavily trafficked urban freeway reconstruction project in Southern California. Badly deteriorated truck lanes in both directions along a 4.5-km stretch of I-15 were rebuilt from the gravel base up. The operations, estimated to take 10months using traditional nighttime closures, were completed in two 9-day continuous closures with round-the-clock (about 210h for each direction) operations. This “Rapid Rehab” project ad