Estimating exact probabilities of occurrence of fault events for use in the conventional fault tree analysis (FTA) is difficult when failure data are insufficient or fault events are imprecise such as human error. A hybrid approach employing fuzzy sets and possibility theory is proposed to...

Reliable construction schedules are important for effective co-ordination across the supply chain and various trades at the construction work face. Reliability of construction schedules can be enhanced and improved through satisfying all potential constraints prior to execution on site....

Since most bridge life cycle cost analysis (LCCA) depends heavily on the analyst's experience to determine the times and costs of remedial actions over a bridge's lifetime, the results are often subject to question because of their subjectivity. While some work has been done over the years to...

The rough sets analysis focusing on the ownership, locational and internalization (OLI) advantages of Chinese construction multinational corporations (MNCs) in the international market under Dunning's Eclectic Paradigm was adopted to overcome the sample size constraint in MNC research that seeks...

Engineering work is intangible and difficult to measure and manage. Engineering project tasks entail various degrees of uncertainty and equivocality (U&E). Quantifying U&E of project tasks helps understand and manage engineering work. This study developed an assessing questionnaire from five...

Ranko Bon's Master's thesis at Harvard was devoted to the phenomenon of allometry in the forms of buildings. The concept of allometry comes from biology, and refers to changes in the forms of organisms as they alter in size. For example the ratio of volume to surface exposed to the air...

Building demolition is one of the most common activities in the construction industry. Several demolition techniques are commonly used, including mechanical demolition, deconstruction and hybrid demolition. Although deconstruction has been advocated for its environmentally friendly approaches,...

James' Storey Enclosure Method (JSEM), developed in 1954, is considered by many to be the most sophisticated single-rate method ever devised for early-design-stage tender price forecasts. However, the method is seldom used in practice partly because it has been superseded by multi-rate methods...

The vast economic growth in China in the past decade has brought forth opportunities for the development of its construction industry. However, the construction industry in China has been criticised for poor performance and low effectiveness in terms of quality and profitability in the face of...

Preventative maintenance has been identified as a key intervention in protecting built cultural heritage. How organizations approach the maintenance management of listed buildings in their care is explored using a framework which integrates best practice from the general maintenance management...