ASU Electronic Theses and Dissertations
This collection includes most of the ASU Theses and Dissertations from 2011 to present. ASU Theses and Dissertations are available in downloadable PDF format; however, a small percentage of items are under embargo. Information about the dissertations/theses includes degree information, committee members, an abstract, supporting data or media.
In addition to the electronic theses found in the ASU Digital Repository, ASU Theses and Dissertations can be found in the ASU Library Catalog.
Dissertations and Theses granted by Arizona State University are archived and made available through a joint effort of the ASU Graduate College and the ASU Libraries. For more information or questions about this collection contact or visit the Digital Repository ETD Library Guide or contact the ASU Graduate College at gradformat@asu.edu.
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safe, reliable and adequate energy resources to the county's growing urban areas as well as to its expanding rural populations. To meet this demand, the country has initiated massive construction projects to expand its national energy infrastructure, particularly in the form of natural gas pipeline. The most notable of these projects is the ongoing West-East Gas Pipeline Project. This project is currently in its third phase, which will supply clean and efficient natural gas to nearly sixty million users located in the densely populated Yangtze River Delta.
Trenchless Technologies, in particular the construction method of Horizontal
Directional Drilling (HDD), have played a critical role in executing this project by
providing economical, practical and environmentally responsible ways to install buried pipeline systems. HDD has proven to be the most popular method selected to overcome challenges along the path of the pipeline, which include mountainous terrain, extensive farmland and numerous bodies of water. The Yangtze River, among other large-scale water bodies, have proven to be the most difficult obstacle for the pipeline installation as it widens and changes course numerous times along its path to the East China Sea. The purpose of this study is to examine those practices being used in China in order to compare those to those long used practices in the North American in order to understand the advantages of Chinese advancements.
Developing countries would benefit from the Chinese advancements for large-scale HDD installation. In developed areas, such as North America, studying Chinese execution may allow for new ideas to help to improve long established methods. These factors combined further solidify China's role as the global leader in trenchless technology methods and provide the opportunity for Chinese HDD contractors to contribute to the world's knowledge for best practices of the Horizontal Directional Drilling method.
This dissertation fills the crucial knowledge gap in contract administration functions and tools for DB and CM/GC highway project delivery. First, this research identifies and models contract administration functions in DBB, CM/GC, and DB using integrated definition modeling (IDEF0). Second, this research identifies and analyzes DB and CM/GC tools for contract administration by conducting 30 ACM project case studies involving over 90 ACM practitioners. Recommendations on appropriate use regarding project phase, complexity, and size were gathered from 16 ACM practitioners. Third, the alternative technical concepts tool was studied. Data from 30 DB projects was analyzed to explore the timing of DB procurement and DB initial award performance in relation to the project influence curve. Types of innovations derived from ATCs are discussed. Considerable industry input at multiple stages grounds this research in professional practice.
Results indicate that the involvement of the contractor during the design phase for both DB and CM/GC delivery creates unique contract administration functions that need unique tools. Thirty-six DB and CM/GC tools for contract administration are identified with recommendations for effective implementation. While strong initial award performance is achievable in DB projects, initial award performance in this sample of projects is only loosely tied to the level of percent base design at procurement. Cost savings typically come from multiple ATCs, and innovations tend to be incremental rather than systemic, disruptive, or radical. Opportunity for innovation on DB highway projects is influenced by project characteristics and engaging the DB entity after pre-project planning.
This dissertation fills the gap in the knowledge regarding the life-cycle-cost effectiveness of green infrastructure in current urban developments. This study’s two research objectives are:
(1) Develop a life cycle cost calculation template to analyze the cost benefits of using LID compared to the traditional drainage system
(2) Quantify the cost benefits based on the real-world construction projects
A thorough literature review led to the data collection of the hydrological benefits of using LIDs in conjunction with overviewing three real-world construction projects to quantify the cost benefits of LIDs.
as front end planning (FEP), have a large impact on project success and significant
influence on the configuration of the final project. As a key component of FEP, front end
engineering design (FEED) plays an essential role in the overall success of large industrial
projects. The primary objective of this dissertation focuses on FEED maturity and accuracy
and its impact on project performance. The author was a member of the Construction
Industry Institute (CII) Research Team (RT) 331, which was tasked to develop the FEED
Maturity and Accuracy Total Rating System (FEED MATRS), pronounced “feed matters.”
This dissertation provides the motivation, methodology, data analysis, research findings
(which include significant correlations between the maturity and accuracy of FEED and
project performance), applicability and contributions to academia and industry. A scientific
research methodology was employed in this dissertation that included a literature review,
focus groups, an industry survey, data collection workshops, in-progress projects testing,
and statistical analysis of project performance. The results presented in this dissertation are
based on input from 128 experts in 57 organizations and a data sample of 33 completed
and 11 on-going large industrial projects representing over $13.9 billion of total installed
cost. The contributions of this work include: (1) developing a tested FEED definition for
the large industrial projects sector, (2) determining the industry’s state of practice for
measuring FEED deliverables, (3) developing an objective and scalable two-dimensional
method to measure FEED maturity and accuracy, and (4) quantifying that projects with
high FEED maturity and accuracy outperformed projects with low FEED maturity and
accuracy by 24 percent in terms of cost growth, in relation to the approved budget.
The dissertation fills this gap in knowledge by performing the first quantitative analysis of CMAR performance on pipeline engineering and construction projects. This study’s two research objectives are:
(1) Develop a CMAR baseline of commonly measured project performance metrics
(2) Statistically compare the cost and schedule performance of CMAR to that of the traditional DBB delivery method
A thorough literature review led to the development of a data collection survey used in conjunction with structured interviews to gather qualitative and quantitative performance data from 66 completed water and wastewater pipeline projects. Performance data analysis was conducted to provide performance benchmarks for CMAR projects and to compare the performance of CMAR and DBB.
This study provides the first CMAR performance benchmark for pipeline engineering and construction projects. The results span across seven metrics in four performance areas (cost, schedule, project change, and communication). Pipeline projects delivered using CMAR have a median cost and schedule growth of -5% and 5.10%, respectively. These results are significantly improved from DBB baseline performance shown in other industries. To verify this, a statistical analysis was done to compare the cost and schedule performance of CMAR to similar DBB pipeline projects. The results show that CMAR pipeline projects are being delivered with 6.5% less cost growth and with 12.5% less schedule growth than similar DBB projects, providing owners with increased certainty when delivering their pipeline projects.