Search results

1 – 10 of 15
Article
Publication date: 16 July 2024

Yin Junjia, Aidi Hizami Alias, Nuzul Azam Haron and Nabilah Abu Bakar

Hoisting is an essential construction work package, but there is still a high incidence of accidents due to insufficient attention to coping strategies. This study aims to provide…

Abstract

Purpose

Hoisting is an essential construction work package, but there is still a high incidence of accidents due to insufficient attention to coping strategies. This study aims to provide decision support to practitioners on safety protocols by developing a multi-stakeholder risk response model and a novel evaluation method.

Design/methodology/approach

Firstly, the study summarizes the hoisting risk response strategies system through a literature review and stakeholder theory. Secondly, the study constructed a quantitative theoretical model based on GLS-SEM and questionnaires. Third, the EWM-VA evaluation method was developed to determine the value coefficients of strategies.

Findings

The strategic interaction between government and consultants, consultants and builders, and government and builders are in the top three pronounced. Three coping strategies, “Increase funding for lifting equipment and safety devices,” “Improve the quality of safety education and training on lifting construction,” and “Conduct regular emergency rescue drills for lifting accidents,” have the optimal ratio of benefits to costs.

Originality/value

The hoisting risk strategy model from the perspective of multi-interested subjects proposed by the study is based on the global thinking of the project, which reduces the troubles such as the difficulty of pursuing responsibility and the irrational allocation of strategies that were brought by the previously related studies that only considered a single interested subject. In addition, the EWM-VA evaluation method developed in the study also provides new options for evaluating risk strategies and has the potential to be extended to other fields.

Details

Engineering, Construction and Architectural Management, vol. ahead-of-print no. ahead-of-print
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0969-9988

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 17 September 2024

Søren Skjold Andersen, Mahesh C. Gupta and Diego Augusto de Jesus Pacheco

Charles Sanders Peirce (1839–1914), recognized as the father of philosophical pragmatism, has been described as a philosopher’s philosopher. Eliyahu Moshe Goldratt (1947–2011)…

Abstract

Purpose

Charles Sanders Peirce (1839–1914), recognized as the father of philosophical pragmatism, has been described as a philosopher’s philosopher. Eliyahu Moshe Goldratt (1947–2011), considered the father of the management philosophy theory of constraints (TOC), has been described as being, first and foremost, a philosopher. The TOC body of knowledge is mainly preserved as concrete methodologies used in the management discipline. By examining the foundational elements of synechism and the TOC, the purpose of this study is to investigate the intellectual connections between the arguments and legacies of Goldratt and Peirce. Although this connection is worthy of much further investigation, the research emphasizes the possible implications from a management philosophy perspective.

Design/methodology/approach

Based on a “review with an attitude,” the authors first examined the foundations of Goldratt’s TOC through the lens of Peirce’s synechism. Next, the authors then examined how the study of Peirce combined with a selection of contemporary research in the management and organizational studies domain could point out a direction toward completing Goldratt’s unfinished intellectual work to establish a unified science management while addressing some of the current gaps in the TOC body of knowledge.

Findings

Major findings show that synechism’s growth may extend TOC knowledge, improving managerial practice in organizations. Findings on the convergent ideas of both also reveal that Goldratt valued all synechism categories, emphasizing the importance of not overlooking Firstness. Furthermore, the study analyzes the abductive inference demonstrated in the two use cases, introducing an additional metaphor to the management of organizational systems inspired by Peirce’s philosophical concepts. The research concludes that incorporating TOC and synechism principles can enhance management and organizational practices and enrich management philosophy and theories.

Research limitations/implications

This pioneering research opens promising opportunities to draw parallels between Peirce and Goldratt. Interdisciplinary collaboration will enhance the rigor and validity of integrating synechism and TOC. Experts in organizational behavior, systems theory and complexity science can provide valuable insights into this debate, while practitioners and consultants could help identify barriers and opportunities for integrating synechistic principles.

Practical implications

The study proposes a novel abductive approach using Peirce’s cable metaphor as an initial framework to build a unified science of management based on evolutionary stages: TOC, common sense and connectedness.

Originality/value

This research reinforces the argument that contemporary management practices need philosophical thinking. The authors argue that re-evaluating the foundations of management thought enriches the decision-making process in organizations and the understanding of contemporary theories in management and organizational studies.

Details

Journal of Management History, vol. ahead-of-print no. ahead-of-print
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1751-1348

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 3 September 2024

Ziwang Xiao, Fengxian Zhu, Lifeng Wang, Rongkun Liu and Fei Yu

As an important load-bearing component of cable-stayed bridge, the cable-stayed cable is an important load-bearing link for the bridge superstructure and the load transferred…

Abstract

Purpose

As an important load-bearing component of cable-stayed bridge, the cable-stayed cable is an important load-bearing link for the bridge superstructure and the load transferred directly to the bridge tower. In order to better manage the risk of the cable system in the construction process, the purpose of this paper is to study a new method of dynamic risk analysis of the cable system of the suspended multi-tower cable-stayed bridge based on the Bayesian network.

Design/methodology/approach

First of all, this paper focuses on the whole process of the construction of the cable system, analyzes the construction characteristics of each process, identifies the safety risk factors in the construction process of the cable system, and determines the causal relationship between the risk factors. Secondly, the prior probability distribution of risk factors is determined by the expert investigation method, and the risk matrix method is used to evaluate the safety risk of cable failure quantitatively. The function expression of risk matrix is established by combining the probability of risk event occurrence and loss level. After that, the topology structure of Bayesian network is established, risk factors and probability parameters are incorporated into the network and then the Bayesian principle is applied to update the posterior probability of risk events according to the new information in the construction process. Finally, the construction reliability evaluation of PAIRA bridge main bridge cable system in Bangladesh is taken as an example to verify the effectiveness and accuracy of the new method.

Findings

The feasibility of using Bayesian network to dynamically assess the safety risk of PAIRA bridge in Bangladesh is verified by the construction reliability evaluation of the main bridge cable system. The research results show that the probability of the accident resulting from the insufficient safety of the cable components of the main bridge of PAIRA bridge is 0.02, which belongs to a very small range. According to the analysis of the risk grade matrix, the risk grade is Ⅱ, which belongs to the acceptable risk range. In addition, according to the reverse reasoning of the Bayesian model, when the serious failure of the cable system is certain to occur, the node with the greatest impact is B3 (cable break) and its probability of occurrence is 82%, that is, cable break is an important reason for the serious failure of the cable system. The factor that has the greatest influence on B3 node is C6 (cable quality), and its probability is 34%, that is, cable quality is not satisfied is the main reason for cable fracture. In the same way, it can be obtained that the D9 (steel wire fracture inside the cable) event of the next level is the biggest incentive of C6 event, its occurrence probability is 32% and E7 (steel strand strength is not up to standard) event is the biggest incentive of D9 event, its occurrence probability is 13%. At the same time, the sensitivity analysis also confirmed that B3, C6, D9 and E7 risk factors were the main causes of risk occurrence.

Originality/value

This paper proposes a Bayesian network-based construction reliability assessment method for cable-stayed bridge cable system. The core purpose of this method is to achieve comprehensive and accurate management and control of the risks in the construction process of the cable system, so as to improve the service life of the cable while strengthening the overall reliability of the structure. Compared with the existing evaluation methods, the proposed method has higher reliability and accuracy. This method can effectively assess the risk of the cable system in the construction process, and is innovative in the field of risk assessment of the cable system of cable-stayed bridge construction, enriching the scientific research achievements in this field, and providing strong support for the construction risk control of the cable system of cable-stayed bridge.

Details

International Journal of Structural Integrity, vol. ahead-of-print no. ahead-of-print
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1757-9864

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 15 July 2024

Ying Liu and Fuminobu Ozaki

This study was aimed at clarifying the post-fire shear strength of self-drilling screws and the load-bearing capacity of single overlapped screwed connections using steel sheets…

Abstract

Purpose

This study was aimed at clarifying the post-fire shear strength of self-drilling screws and the load-bearing capacity of single overlapped screwed connections using steel sheets and self-drilling screws. The self-drilling screws for shear tests were made of high-strength, martensitic-stainless and austenitic stainless-steel bars.

Design/methodology/approach

Shear loading tests were conducted on self-drilling screws to obtain basic information on post-fire shear strength. Tensile tests were conducted on the screwed connections to examine the transition of failure modes depending on the test temperature after experiencing the heating and cooling procedures.

Findings

The post-fire shear strengths and reduction factors of self-drilling screws of each steel grade were quantified. Furthermore, heated temperature-dependent sheet bearing failure, net sheet failure and screw shear failure modes were observed for the screwed connections.

Originality/value

The transition of the failure modes of the screwed connection could be explained using the equations of the post-fire shear strength proposed in this study. The basic experimental data required to evaluate the post-fire shear strength of screws were obtained.

Details

Journal of Structural Fire Engineering, vol. ahead-of-print no. ahead-of-print
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2040-2317

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 31 July 2024

Shenglei Wu, Jianhui Liu, Yazhou Wang, Jumei Lu and Ziyang Zhang

Sufficient sample data are the necessary condition to ensure high reliability; however, there are relatively poor fatigue test data in the engineering, which affects fatigue…

Abstract

Purpose

Sufficient sample data are the necessary condition to ensure high reliability; however, there are relatively poor fatigue test data in the engineering, which affects fatigue life's prediction accuracy. Based on this, this research intends to analyze the fatigue data with small sample characteristics, and then realize the life assessment under different stress levels.

Design/methodology/approach

Firstly, the Bootstrap method and the principle of fatigue life percentile consistency are used to realize sample aggregation and information fusion. Secondly, the classical outlier detection algorithm (DBSCAN) is used to check the sample data. Then, based on the stress field intensity method, the influence of the non-uniform stress field near the notch root on the fatigue life is analyzed, and the calculation methods of the fatigue damage zone radius and the weighting function are revised. Finally, combined with Weibull distribution, a framework for assessing multiaxial low-cycle fatigue life has been developed.

Findings

The experimental data of Q355(D) material verified the model and compared it with the Yao’s stress field intensity method. The results show that the predictions of the model put forward in this research are all located within the double dispersion zone, with better prediction accuracies than the Yao’s stress field intensity method.

Originality/value

Aiming at the fatigue test data with small sample characteristics, this research has presented a new method of notch fatigue analysis based on the stress field intensity method, which is combined with the Weibull distribution to construct a low-cycle fatigue life analysis framework, to promote the development of multiaxial fatigue from experimental studies to practical engineering applications.

Details

International Journal of Structural Integrity, vol. ahead-of-print no. ahead-of-print
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1757-9864

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 2 August 2024

Sarel Lavy, Rahul Deshpande and Tushar Jadhav

This paper aims to analyze the impact of sustainability measures taken during the design and construction phases, by examining two categories of sustainability: energy efficiency…

Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to analyze the impact of sustainability measures taken during the design and construction phases, by examining two categories of sustainability: energy efficiency and reducing carbon emissions and material selection and waste management. These aspects are examined from the perspectives of long-term building performance and maintenance practices, as well as user/tenant satisfaction.

Design/methodology/approach

This study includes a literature review related to the two topics under consideration, followed by a comparative case study analysis of four projects to determine practical validity. All case studies in this paper used a semi-structured survey with various project stakeholders, which helped the authors identify measures taken as well as obstacles and challenges during the process.

Findings

According to the four case studies, adequate attention should be paid to the two areas of interest during a project’s design and construction phases. Including case studies from around the world (four case studies from three different countries) offers insights into effective sustainability practices in building design and construction, providing instances of successful implementation and emphasizing the obstacles and potential when incorporating sustainability into the design and construction phases.

Research limitations/implications

The findings also show that design and construction participants and companies should reduce waste generation and carbon emissions. In addition, they should make decisions on material selection to enhance projects’ sustainability and to contribute to creating a habitable planet for the future.

Originality/value

The influence of the design and construction phases on long-term project sustainability is of major importance and concern to users, owners, designers, contractors and facility managers. This study illustrates the necessity of including sustainability measures in the design and construction phases, highlighting the importance of sustainability in building design and construction through effective implementation techniques and interdisciplinary teamwork to realize sustainable goals.

Details

Journal of Facilities Management , vol. ahead-of-print no. ahead-of-print
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1472-5967

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 28 December 2023

Na Xu, Yanxiang Liang, Chaoran Guo, Bo Meng, Xueqing Zhou, Yuting Hu and Bo Zhang

Safety management plays an important part in coal mine construction. Due to complex data, the implementation of the construction safety knowledge scattered in standards poses a…

Abstract

Purpose

Safety management plays an important part in coal mine construction. Due to complex data, the implementation of the construction safety knowledge scattered in standards poses a challenge. This paper aims to develop a knowledge extraction model to automatically and efficiently extract domain knowledge from unstructured texts.

Design/methodology/approach

Bidirectional encoder representations from transformers (BERT)-bidirectional long short-term memory (BiLSTM)-conditional random field (CRF) method based on a pre-training language model was applied to carry out knowledge entity recognition in the field of coal mine construction safety in this paper. Firstly, 80 safety standards for coal mine construction were collected, sorted out and marked as a descriptive corpus. Then, the BERT pre-training language model was used to obtain dynamic word vectors. Finally, the BiLSTM-CRF model concluded the entity’s optimal tag sequence.

Findings

Accordingly, 11,933 entities and 2,051 relationships in the standard specifications texts of this paper were identified and a language model suitable for coal mine construction safety management was proposed. The experiments showed that F1 values were all above 60% in nine types of entities such as security management. F1 value of this model was more than 60% for entity extraction. The model identified and extracted entities more accurately than conventional methods.

Originality/value

This work completed the domain knowledge query and built a Q&A platform via entities and relationships identified by the standard specifications suitable for coal mines. This paper proposed a systematic framework for texts in coal mine construction safety to improve efficiency and accuracy of domain-specific entity extraction. In addition, the pretraining language model was also introduced into the coal mine construction safety to realize dynamic entity recognition, which provides technical support and theoretical reference for the optimization of safety management platforms.

Details

Engineering, Construction and Architectural Management, vol. ahead-of-print no. ahead-of-print
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0969-9988

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 17 September 2024

Jiao Ge, Jiaqi Zhang, Daheng Chen and Tiesheng Dong

The purpose of this paper is to actively calibrate power density to match the application requirements with as small an actuator as possible. So, this paper introduces shape…

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to actively calibrate power density to match the application requirements with as small an actuator as possible. So, this paper introduces shape memory alloy to design variable stiffness elements. Meanwhile, the purpose of this paper is also to solve the problem of not being able to install sensors on shape memory alloy due to volume limitations.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper introduces the design, modeling and control process for a variable stiffness passive ankle exoskeleton, adjusting joint stiffness using shape memory alloy (SMA). This innovative exoskeleton aids the human ankle by adapting the precompression of elastic components by SMA, thereby adjusting the ankle exoskeleton’s integral stiffness. At the same time, this paper constructs a mathematical model of SMA to achieve a dynamic stiffness adjustment function.

Findings

Using SMA as the driving force for stiffness modification in passive exoskeletons introduces several distinct advantages, inclusive of high energy density, programmability, rapid response time and simplified structural design. In the course of experimental validation, this ankle exoskeleton, endowed with variable stiffness, proficiently executed actions like squatting and walking and it can effectively increase the joint stiffness by 0.2 Nm/Deg.

Originality/value

The contribution of this paper is to introduce SMA to adjust the stiffness to actively calibrate power density to match the application requirements. At the same time, this paper constructs a mathematical model of SMA to achieve a dynamic stiffness adjustment function.

Details

Robotic Intelligence and Automation, vol. ahead-of-print no. ahead-of-print
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2754-6969

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 24 July 2024

Hui-Zhong Xiong, Xin Yang, Yong-Nan He and Yong Huang

This paper aims to optimize cable-stayed force in asymmetric one-tower cable-stayed bridge formation using an improved particle swarm algorithm. It compares results with the…

Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to optimize cable-stayed force in asymmetric one-tower cable-stayed bridge formation using an improved particle swarm algorithm. It compares results with the traditional unconstrained minimum bending energy method.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper proposes an improved particle swarm algorithm to optimize cable-stayed force in bridge formation. It formulates a quadratic programming mathematical model considering the sum of bending energies of the main girder and bridge tower as the objective function. Constraints include displacements, stresses, cable-stayed force, and uniformity. The algorithm is applied to optimize the formation of an asymmetrical single-tower cable-stayed bridge, combining it with the finite element method.

Findings

The study’s findings reveal significant improvements over the minimum bending energy method. Results show that the structural displacement and internal force are within constraints, the maximum bending moment of the main girder decreases, resulting in smoother linear shape and more even internal force distribution. Additionally, the tower top offset decreases, and the bending moment change at the tower-beam junction is reduced. Moreover, diagonal cable force and cable force increase uniformly with cable length growth.

Originality/value

The improved particle swarm algorithm offers simplicity, effectiveness, and practicality in optimizing bridge-forming cable-staying force. It eliminates the need for arbitrary manual cable adjustments seen in traditional methods and effectively addresses the optimization challenge in asymmetric cable-stayed bridges.

Details

International Journal of Structural Integrity, vol. ahead-of-print no. ahead-of-print
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1757-9864

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 9 July 2024

Heba Raslan, Khaled El-Nemr, Magdy Ali and Medhat Hassan

This study aims to investigate the influences of polyester fabric layers on the mechanical properties of SBR and devulcanized waste rubber composite materials, as well as the…

Abstract

Purpose

This study aims to investigate the influences of polyester fabric layers on the mechanical properties of SBR and devulcanized waste rubber composite materials, as well as the effect of gamma irradiation dose.

Design/methodology/approach

The devulcanized waste rubbers (DWR) were carried out by different methods. First, chemically, by two different reclaiming agents such as tetramethylthiuram disulfide (TMTD) and 2-mercapto benzothiazole disulfide (MBTS). Secondary by a physical method like microwave (MW). The devulcanized rubbers were mixed with virgin styrene butadiene rubber (SBR) in different ratios, as follows: SBR-DWR (TMTD) 50 / 50, SBR-DWR (MBTS) 80 / 20 and SBR-DWR (MW) 80 / 20. A series of sandwich polyester tire cord fabrics were used as reinforcement for making SBR and devulcanized waste rubber composite materials and molded on a hot press into rubber sheet films, then subjected to gamma radiation at different doses ranging from 100 up to 200 kGy.

Findings

The experimental results indicate that increasing the layer number improves the mechanical properties of composites. The tensile strength, tearing, hardness and elastic modulus of the rubber composites increased with the rise of the fiber layers and by increasing the irradiation dose up to 200 kGy. The reclaiming agent TMTD gave the best results for mechanical properties, followed by MW and then MBTS.

Originality/value

This phenomenon can be detailed based on the fact that when the fiber-reinforced composites are subjected to loading, the fibers act as load carriers, depending on the population and orientation of the fibers. Also, scanning electron microscopy (SEM) reveals that adhesion was caused by tire cord fabrics and rubber blend matrix.

Details

Pigment & Resin Technology, vol. ahead-of-print no. ahead-of-print
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0369-9420

Keywords

1 – 10 of 15