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Member of: ASU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Analysis of parameters affecting costs of horizontal directional drilling projects in the United States for municipal infrastructure

Description

Horizontal Directional Drilling (HDD) is a growing and expanding trenchless method utilized to install pipelines from 2 to 60 inch diameters for lengths over 10,000 foot. To date, there are not many public documents where direct costs and bid prices incurred by HDD installations are available and analyzed. The objective is to provide a better understanding of the factors affecting the bid prices of these projects. The first section of the thesis analyzes how project parameters such as product diameter, bore length and soil conditions affect the bid price of water and wastewater pipeline installations using HDD. Through multiple linear regressions, the effect of project parameters on bid prices of small, medium and large rigs projects is extracted. The results were further investigated to gain a better understanding of bid factors that influence the relationship between total cost and the project parameters. The second section uses unit cost, based on bid prices, to compare the costs incurred by defined categories. Parameters such as community type, product type, soil conditions, and geographical region were used in the analysis. Furthermore, using average unit cost from 2001 to 2009, HDD project cost trends are briefly analyzed against the main variations of the US economy from the same time horizon by using economic indicators. It was determined that project geometric factors influence more the bid price of small rig projects than large rig projects because external factors including market rates and economic situation have an increasing impact on bid prices when rig size increases. It was observed that bid price variation of HDD projects over years followed the same trend as the US economic variation described by economic indicators.

ContributorsVilfrant, Emmania Claudyne (Author) / Ariaratnam, Samuel T (Thesis advisor) / Lueke, Jason S (Committee member) / Chasey, Allan D (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)

Created2010

Performance of the construction manager at risk (CMAR) delivery method applied to pipeline construction projects

Description

Much of the water and wastewater lines in the United States are nearing the end of their useful life. A significant reinvestment is needed in the upcoming decades to replace or rehabilitate the water and wastewater infrastructure. Currently, the traditional method for delivering water and wastewater pipeline engineering and construction projects is design-bid-build (DBB). The traditional DBB delivery system is a sequential low-integration process and can lead to inefficiencies and adverse relationships between stakeholders. Alternative project delivery methods (APDM) such as Construction Manager at Risk (CMAR) have been introduced to increase stakeholder integration and ultimately enhance project performance. CMAR project performance impacts have been studied in the horizontal and vertical construction industries. However, the performance of CMAR projects in the pipeline engineering and construction industry has not been quantitatively studied.

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.

ContributorsFrancom, Tober C (Author) / Ariaratnam, Samuel (Thesis advisor) / El Asmar, Mounir (Thesis advisor) / Bearup, Wylie (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)

Created2015

Developing an Augmented Reality Solution for Mapping Underground Infrastructure

Description

Underground infrastructure is a critical part of the essential utility services provided to society and the backbone of modern civilization. However, now more than ever before, the disastrous events of a striking underground utilities cost billions of dollars each year in societal damages. Advanced technology and sophisticated visualization techniques such as augmented reality (AR) now play a significant role in mitigating such devastating consequences. Therefore, it is vitally important to coordinate resources, share information, and ensure efficient communication between construction personnel and utility owners. Besides, geographic information systems (GIS) provide a solution for interoperability in the construction industry. Applying such technologies in the field of underground construction requires accurate and up-to-date information. However, there is currently limited research that has integrated AR and GIS and evaluated the effectiveness and usability of the combination in this domain. The main objective of this research was to develop an integrated AR-GIS for mapping and capturing underground utilities using a mobile device. To achieve these objectives, a design research approach utilized to develop and evaluate a mobile extended-reality (XR-GIS) application. This research has produced an efficient solution for data collection and sharing among stakeholders in the underground construction industry. The main challenge in creating a reliable and adaptive outdoor AR system is the accurate registration of virtual objects in the real world. Due to the limited accuracy of smartphones, this study used an external Global Positioning System (GPS) devices to reduce positional error. The primary motivation behind this research is to make the construction industry more aware of the benefits of leveraging AR to prevent utility strikes and enhance public safety.

This dissertation fills the gap in the knowledge regarding applying Augmented Reality (AR) in the underground infrastructure mapping. This study’s three research objectives are:

(1) Identify the challenges and barriers facing the underground construction industry when applying AR.

(2) Develop an integrated AR-GIS for mapping and capturing underground utilities using a mobile device.

(3) Evaluate the horizontal accuracy of the captured data used by the AR phone application XR-GIS that has been developed by the author.

ContributorsFenais, Amr (Author) / Ariaratnam, Samuel T (Thesis advisor) / Ayer, Steven K (Committee member) / Kaloush, Kamil (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)

Created2020