《Simulation-based methodology for project scheduling》.pdfVIP

Construction Management and Economics (2002) 20, 667–678 11 11 11 11 Simulation-based methodology for project scheduling 11 11 11 1 1 2 H . ZHAN G *, C . M . TA M an d J ONAT HAN J . SHI 1Department of Building Construction, City University of Hong Kong, 83 Tat Chee Avenue, Kowloon, Hong Kong 2Civil and Architectural Engineering Department, Illinois Institute of Technology, USA Received 9 November 2001; accepted 17 July 200 This paper describes a discrete-event simulation that incorporates the critical path method (CPM) in gen- erating comprehensive information for construction project scheduling or planning. An activity-based graph- ical model able to consider complexities in construction, for example, unbalanced logical dependencies, unbalanced resource involvements and repetitive activity operation is proposed. An activity scanning (AS)- based forward pass algorithm for early-time information and a backward search algorithm for late-time infor- mation are developed. The simulation results that include both resource utilization statistics and late-time information (i.e. latest start or nish time and total oat (TF)) of every activity for each cycle of operation cannot be easily achieved through traditional simulation or CPM. Illustrations demonstrate the advantages of the activity-based graphical model and the impacts of resource allocation policies on the schedule. The proposed methodology aims at widening the application of construction simulation by providing oat time information and enhanced modelling capability. Keywords: Construction project scheduling, simulation, modelling, critical pat