IIT Madras is a public technical and research university located in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. Founded in 1959, it is recognised as an Institute of National Importance.

IIT Madras has been ranked as the top engineering institute in India for four years in a row by the National Institutional Ranking Framework of the MHRD

It currently offers undergraduate, postgraduate and research degrees across 16 disciplines in Engineering, Sciences, Humanities and Management. About 596 faculty belonging to science and engineering departments and centres of the Institute are engaged in teaching, research and industrial consultancy.

IIT Madras

The DIMS methodology gives guidelines to the construction designer manager for decomposing and integrating the project design. The drawing DSM is developed through PIM DIM and DIA. These drawing dependencies are used for making decision in the drawing execution sequence. Also it is giving guidance to the designers to identify the affected parties because of the changes made in their drawings by the updated design information. The dynamic nature of this drawing DSM will also reduce the complexity in the interfaces as the design progresses.

Department Of Civil Engineering

Proceedings of the 10th International DSM Conference

Design interface management system (DIMS) for construction projects

This paper discusses the work done to develop a group-interaction methodology that uses the systems approach to identify the critical variables required for coastal profiling. The work was done as a part of the larger Integrated Coastal and Marine Area Management (ICMAM) project of the Government of India. The broad objective of the project was to formulate a framework for developing integrated coastal-zone management (ICZM) plans for the sensitive coastal zones in India. Identifying the critical variables in each of these zones and developing the coastal profile was the initial step towards formulating the framework. As very little documentation was available on the key factors affecting the areas, this information had to be elicited and prioritized based on group/stakeholder interaction. Available methodologies and tools for carrying out the tasks were reviewed. It was found that the sequence of identification of the coastal profile variables did not complement the intuitive approach of the group. The group adapted the existing methods with additional terminology and methodological steps to meet their requirements. This paper discusses the terminology and methodology of the approach developed by the group and presents a software tool developed to assist the team in applying the methodology. © 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Department of Management Studies

Ocean and Coastal Management

Identifying critical variables for coastal profiling in ICZM planning-A systems approach

Planning multiple heavy lifts on heavy industrial projects has a major impact on construction sequencing, scheduling, budgeting and safety. Hence it has to be planned carefully to reduce the risk and to reduce the cost and duration of the projects. Traditional planning techniques are quite unproductive as they use iterative and trail and error techniques. This paper discusses the work done towards development of computer aided multiple heavy lift planning system. The features of the software tool developed on AutoCAD platform includes- selection of cranes, crane location identification, 3D simulation of the multiple lifts and 4D representation of the site. The system developed is evaluated by using a case study. The features of the software like crane location, 3D simulation are evaluated using 25 lifts.

Automation and Robotics in Construction - Proceedings of the 24th International Symposium on Automation and Robotics in Construction

A computer-aided system for planning and 3D-visualization of multiple heavy lifts operations

Though it is well established that coastal zones are development sensitive with its variety of resources and multiple stakeholder presence, (Clark.J.R. 1997) there is no holistic metric to measure this sensitivity. This paper encapsulates the outcome of a doctoral level work to evolve a set of indicators named Coastal zone Health Indicators (CHIs) as metric for this purpose. CHI looks upon a coast as composed of its 6 core component environments and coastal zone health is holistically reflected by the value of critical parameters pertaining to specific component environments. CHIs are developed based on an extensive nation wide experts' survey conducted across major coastal cities in India. Though the study is confined to experts chosen from Coastal cities of India, the generic framework it evolves is globally valid. Analytical Hierarchical Processing (AHP) based weightages of parameters as extracted from the expert survey are used in these models. The paper covers the conceptual basis and methodology of developing CHI. With a CHI map in place for a coastal city, constantly monitoring and evaluating CHI variations against set goals provide valuable feedback on the implementation efficiency of ICZM process. It also helps in analysing future landuse allocations for their impacts on the CHI profile. This practice ensures landuse planning to be a meaningful exercise always tested for synergy with ICZM measures and thus ensuring sustainability in the long run.

GENERAL

Coastal Management - Proceedings of the two-day International Conference organised by the Institution of Civil Engineers, ICE

Evolution of Coastal zone health Index (CHI) as a metric to evaluate ICZM implementation efficiency

DSM (Design/Dependency Structure Matrix) is a potential tool for planning iterations and also for evaluating alternate sequences. The standard DSM operations can determine the basic sequence and can identify the existence of cycles/loops. These cycles/loops are grouped as blocks. There can be many strategies for executing the activities within the block. The strategy proposed in the present study is ‘speed’ of execution/iteration. It happens when an activity waits for information from all its predecessors or when it proceeds as soon as new information arrives from any one of its predecessor. The choice on the ‘speed’ is decided based on the (a) estimation of duration and (b) number of repetition of the activities. Stroboscope, a Monte Carlo simulation engine is attempted to model the proposed strategy. The scope of the present study is limited to time aspects alone and the concepts are elaborated with an example.

World University root node

Modeling Design Iteration Using DSM and Simulation

Automated project monitoring system has the potential to be effective in controlling project performance through continuous monitoring and control of the project in real time using Automated Data Collection tools. This paper presents a system that is designed to investigate the use of RFID for automated schedule and inventory monitoring in real time. The system considers the use of precast concrete or prefabricated steel structural elements like columns, beams, floor slabs and wall panels as building components. The building components are identified in real time through automated data collection using RFID technology. This RFID technology with other application software is integrated to identify the installed component and update the project schedule in MSProject and present the as-built progress status. The 3D model of the building which is also updated is visualized in AutoCAD. The construction industry response towards the use of the developed system is also reported.

Automated project schedule and inventory monitoring using RFID

ipelines are the most efficient, cost effective and environmentally friendly means of fluid transport [1]. When selecting the route of a cross country pipeline, the goal is to route it so that it has the greatest utility to the public while minimizing negative impacts to people and the natural environment. In order to accomplish this goal of addressing several factors, a large amount of location based information needs to be analyzed. Hence the manual routing processes are very tedious in nature. The advent of new techniques like that of Geographic Information System (GIS) has made the routing process of pipelines more systematic and effective.This work identifies the various factors which need to be considered while routing a pipeline in the Indian scenario. A GIS to represent the various factors and automatically route the pipeline has been developed. A main drawback in the system is the lack of a structured methodology to derive the relative preferences of the different factors affecting the route. To address this issue, an AHP based methodology was developed. The GIS and the AHP methodology have been tested on case studies in the Indian scenario.

Investigation of an AHP Based Multi Criteria Weighting Scheme for GIS Routing of Cross Country Pipeline Projects

An integrated study into the sustainability of human settlements requires a holistic consideration of the interlinked natural and human processes. This paper presents an integrated study on the sustainability of a human settlement, using community attitudes and the living environment as determinants of sustainability. This exercise is unique in the fact that it emphasizes a systemic evaluation of sustainability, avoiding the temptation of simulation models. Such exercises would improve the modelers' insight and ability to understand the likely implications of human actions and their impact on sustainability. Human settlements, particularly suburban residential areas in the developing world, face an unprecedented array of problems attributed to unhealthy living environments. This study is based on a suburban community of approximately 3,000 families, residing around a lake in Velachery, South India. The study involves three community surveys and adopts a systemic approach to evaluate sustainability by assessing likely impacts of the community's lifestyle on its living environment.

Fulltext

International Journal of Sustainable Development and Planning

A systemic sustainability evaluation based on water and sanitary conditions in Velachery settlement in South India

This paper describes the development of a simulation model to assess and forecast (evaluate) sustainability of an urban residential settlement. The model-concept considers the community’s attitude and living environment as determinants of sustainability. It is based on an integrated approach involving studies in human settlements, living environment, and community attitude. This paper describes the implementation of the model simulation system. The model has been successfully adopted to evaluate the sustainability of an urban residential settlement in South India, based on its water-usage and sanitation practices. The simulation adopts a hybrid system integrating Cross Impact Analysis and Geographic Information System. © 2007, Gheorghe Asachi Technical University of Iasi, Romania. All rights reserved.

Environmental Engineering and Management Journal

Sustainability evaluation of an urban residential settlement

The dependency structure matrix (DSM) has been identified as an apt tool to represent information flows between activities. Using this representation, information dependency attributes can be organized and analyzed in a structured manner to identify activity groups and sequences for concurrent execution. Current DSM methodology requires significant efforts from the experts to estimate information dependency attributes. The methodology can be more widely used if the estimating efforts are reduced. This paper proposes two concepts to reduce the estimating efforts required for the DSM methodology. The first concept reduces the number of information dependency ratings required and the second concept reduces the effort to estimate the rating. The proposed concepts are structured into a procedure. This procedure is applied to the design phase of an induced draft cooling tower (IDCT) project and discussed. The paper also discusses the shortcomings and future directions of the present approach and concludes that the present approach is applicable in IDCT projects and can be extended to other types of projects. © ASCE.

Journal of Construction Engineering and Management

Application of dependency structure matrix for activity sequencing in concurrent engineering projects

This paper reports the work done towards planning the trajectory for cooperative crane lifts. The location of the hook points between the pick and place positions are determined using a path-planner. These are inputs to the trajectory planner. The goal of the trajectory planner is to connect all the path-points while ensuring the overshoots, velocities, accelerations and jerk for each degree of freedom to be within acceptable limits for the system. A number of alternate techniques are available for defining the trajectory between the path-points. This paper reports on the evaluation of algebraic and trigonometric splines for trajectory planning. Splines of various orders were initially evaluated for a single joint. This evaluation found that 4 th order trigonometric splines were most appropriate. Hence, this was applied to a lift problem involving the 2×4 DOF cooperative manipulator system and the results are presented.

Department of Mechanical Engineering

2006 Proceedings of the 23rd International Symposium on Robotics and Automation in Construction, ISARC 2006

Spline based trajectory planning for cooperative crane lifts

Dependency Structure Matrix (DSM) has been identified as a powerful tool to plan the activity sequences, identify and manage information exchanges. However, its application in scheduling is very limited. So far, DSM has been used to enable critical path calculations by assigning the 'amount of effort/work done' as duration to the activities. This paper addresses 'communication time', a new concept while estimating the normal project duration. The other issue arises, while planning and scheduling compressed projects with DSM. When the activities are overlapped to achieve the compressed duration, there arise two cases - the natural overlap (involving minimum risk) and the forced overlap (involves more risk). This paper focuses on the estimation of natural overlap project duration using DSM. Further, the author also proposes a detailed implementation procedure focusing on the above ideas and is illustrated through an example. © 2004 Elsevier Ltd and IPMA. All rights reserved.

International Journal of Project Management

Project Scheduling using Dependency Structure Matrix

The sequence of design activities is vital, particularly in interdisciplinary projects. Sequencing of activities is influenced by the information dependency among the activities. The dependency relationships among the design activities in a project are of three types - independent, dependent and interdependent or loops. Interdependent activities (or loops) require assumed information to start and progress. If these assumptions are erroneous, it can lead to rework of a single or a group of dependent activities. One of the challenges in planning the sequencing of design activities is to decide on appropriate information or assumptions which can be made to break the interdependent activities (or loops). Conventional tools such as Critical Path Method (CPM) and Program Evaluation and Review Technique (PERT) are not suitable for representing information flow because interdependent activities or loops cannot be modeled. Dependency Structure Matrix (DSM) has been identified as a potential tool to model feedback loops/ cycles. One of the main difficulties in implementing DSM is in comprehensively identifying the activities and information dependencies which are required to formulate the DSM. Based on the experience in attempting to develop a DSM for an interdisciplinary project, the authors have proposed a new approach in identifying all the possible activities and their information dependencies. A prototype software also had been developed in Excel VBA for implementing the methodology. The proposed concepts are illustrated through application to Induced Draft Cooling Tower (IDCT) projects. This illustration is multidisciplinary in nature consisting of mechanical, civil, electrical and instrumentation. The proposed concept has proven fruitful and hence this approach is anticipated beneficial for construction applications.

22nd International Symposium on Automation and Robotics in Construction, ISARC 2005

A structured approach to form dependency structure matrix for construction projects

This paper presents a new approach for automated path planning of cooperative crane manipulators using a genetic algorithm (GA). The inverse kinematic problem, i.e., determining the joint angle configuration for the cooperative crane manipulator system in moving the object from pick location to place location, is defined as an optimization problem and solved using GA. For generating the collision-free path, GA with an interference detection algorithm is employed and search is made in the manipulator joint angle space (configuration space). The effectiveness of the proposed approach for automated path planning is demonstrated by comparing the performance of the present approach with the earlier heuristic search proposed by Sivakumar et al. The GA approach finds a near-optimal path with lower path cost and less computational time than earlier heuristic searches. © ASCE.

Journal of Computing in Civil Engineering

Collision free path planning of cooperative crane manipulators using genetic algorithm

The concept of sustainable development is now valued to be fundamental to most issues concerning human activities for development. As sustainable development requires balancing conflicting requirements, rational decision making is necessary to achieve sustainability. Simulation models to assess and forecast sustainability can aid rational decision making. In the context of human settlements, human-nature interactions need to be considered in an integrated manner to build appropriate simulation models. The integrated model framework proposed here serves as a base for such simulation models. The model framework is based on the premise that a community's attitude and its living environment determine human settlement sustainability. A generic model design comprising fundamental components of the proposed sustainability assessment and forecasting model framework is also presented in this paper. Discussion on relevant implementation issues including a simulation system and key limitations of the framework are also presented. This framework can be adopted for development and implementation of a simulation system for sustainability assessment and forecasting studies. Journal of Urban Planning and Development © ASCE.

Journal of Urban Planning and Development

Integrated model framework to simulate sustainability of human settlements

The use of cooperative cranes can improve the cost effectiveness of heavy lift operations. However, the complexity in developing a reliable lift plan prevents the widespread use of cooperative crane lifts. The availability of a computer-aided planning system can improve planning efficiency and reliability. Path planning is an important subtask of the lift planning process. This paper presents work done to develop a computer aided path planner for two crane lifts. Two heuristic search methods, hill climbing and A*, were implemented for automating the path-planning task. Search space was represented using the concept of configuration space. The effectiveness of the search methods was evaluated by solving three problems with increasing levels of complexity. The formulation of these problems was based on the type of movement of cooperative cranes (in synchronous or asynchronous manner) and the presence of trapping space. It was found that while the hill climbing approach found feasible paths in a few seconds or minutes, these paths were far from optimal in situations containing trapping space. In contrast, the A* search resulted in near optimal paths, but the execution time was of the order of hours. © ASCE.

Automated path planning of cooperative crane lifts using heuristic search

Tunnels are subterranean conveyance systems. Historically tunnelling projects have suffered significant cost and time overrun on account of variation in geological formation. Variation in strata may lead to various problems like tunnel caving in, water seepage etc. An attempt has been made to extend the Q-system of rock mass classification for reliable prediction of these tunnelling problems. For the purpose tunnelling problems have been identified and classified. A computer tool has been developed to aid the process. Also simulation as an aid for time planning while tunnelling under such varying geological conditions has been investigated. Reliable estimates of tunnelling problems and effect of geological variations on the project schedule will help the project management in informed decision making as regards issues like resource requirement. This paper describes the compilation and classification of tunnelling problems, matching problems to the Q-system parameters and the simulation model developed.

Journal of the Institution of Engineers (India): Civil Engineering Division

Computer aided planning for tunnel construction

Planning the lift path of a crane is an important subtask within the heavy-lift planning process. This paper reports the work done toward applying configuration space (C-space) and search concepts to develop a tool to identify lift paths that satisfies the planning requirements. The C-space is generated using an interference detection technique. Two levels of heuristic search are performed within the C-space. The first search is a heuristic depth search to determine the obstacle-free lift paths. The second search performs a more detailed optimization of the path within a constrained search space. The tool can be used within the AutoCad environment and is based on program modules developed using AutoLisp and external programs. The system was tested on a number of problems. It was found that the system was capable of generating good paths in complex situations.

Computer-Aided Civil and Infrastructure Engineering

Automated path planning for mobile crane lifts

To meet the increasing demands to deliver projects within a short period of time, many projects are being executed on a fast-track basis. On fast-track projects, the construction begins when the design is between 35% and 65% complete. This poses numerous challenges. One of the key challenges is to ensure that the flow of information and deliverables between the engineering, procurement, and construction is synchronized. This work initially studied the information flow on process plant projects, the disruptions to information flow, and the problems faced due to the disruptions. It was identified that an information system that has the capability to (1) capture the relationships between different deliverables, (2) record the status of deliverables, and (3) process queries from any of the teams regarding status and impact of disruptions will support the decision-making required for rapid development of pragmatic plans. Further, as the information requirements require the representation and querying of both spatial and nonspatial data, the design and implementation of the system using the concepts and features of a geographic information system was explored. The paper discusses the design of the geographic information system and its implementation within the AutoCAD Map environment. The use of the system to retrieve information required for project coordination is illustrated through sample queries.

Geographic Information System for Coordination of Fast-Track Projects

Management of a construction project is challenging due to the unique nature of each project. Even though the project itself is unique, the activities within it are generally repetitive. Network techniques which were developed for overall management of projects are not appropriate for detailed planning as they are highly abstract representation of the actual project activities. Simulation has the potential to be used for detailed planning as it permits the modelling of cyclic activities and uncertainties, such as, variations in duration and occurrences of probabilistic events, such as, equipment breakdown. The objective of this study is to investigate the application of discrete event simulation as a tool for detailed planning of repetitive construction processes. As a part of the investigation, CPM and simulation models representing the girder casting and placing activities a of bridge construction project was developed. Two alternate construction processes were modelled using the techniques. The models were tested by varying the resource levels and factors, such as, duration of project. Utilization of key resources were assessed. The results obtained are presented and discussed. It was found that the simulation is a useful tool for detailed planning of repetitive construction activities.