Overview

This dissertation, Optimization of Construction Time and Cost Using the Ant Colony System Techniques by Yanshuai, Zhang, 張彥帥, was obtained from The University of Hong Kong (Pokfulam, Hong Kong) and is being sold pursuant to Creative Commons: Attribution 3.0 Hong Kong License. The content of this dissertation has not been altered in any way. We have altered the formatting in order to facilitate the ease of printing and reading of the dissertation. All rights not granted by the above license are retained by the author. Abstract: Abstract of thesis entitled OPTIMIZATION OF CONSTRUCTION TIME AND COST USING THE ANT COLONY SYSTEM TECHNIQUES Submitted by YANSHUAI ZHANG for the degree of Master of Philosophy at the University of Hong Kong in October 2007 In the construction industry, time and cost are the most important factors to be considered in the planning of every project. In order to maximize their returns, both the client and contractor strive to optimize both the project duration and cost concurrently. Time-cost optimization is a multi-objective problem which aims to minimize both the construction cost and the duration through selecting proper methods and resources for each project activity. In the past few years a number of research studies have been conducted to model the time-cost analysis, and the modeling techniques range from the heuristic methods and mathematical approaches to genetic algorithms. However, many of these studies have assumed time to be constant, leaving the analyses based purely on a single objective - cost. The approaches they recommend are also unsuitable in most cases for the planning of large-scale projects with long processing time. Acknowledging the limitations of the existing approaches, an evolutionary-based optimization algorithm known as ant colony system is applied in this study to solve the multi-objective time-cost optimization problems. The basic mechanism of the proposed model is explained. A prototype model is then developed based on Visual TM TM Basic for Application (VBA) integrated with Microsoft Project . With a friendly interface and simple operation procedure, the proposed prototype can be utilized by project planners, even though they may have little knowledge about the ant colony system algorithm. Through a case study, tests are conducted to compare the performance of the proposed model against other analytical methods previously used for time-cost modeling. The results show that the model based on ant colony system techniques is able to generate better solutions without utilizing excessive computational resources. At the same time, the results of sensitivity analysis indicate that the proposed model can accommodate a slight deviation in the time and cost estimation. Therefore, this model provides an efficient means to support planners and managers in making better time-cost decisions efficiently. ___________________________________ An abstract of exactly 317 words DOI: 10.5353/th_b3898436 Subjects: Construction projectsMathematical optimizationConstruction industry - Planning

Full Product Details

9781361429358

Table of Contents

Reviews

Author Information

Tab Content 6

Countries Available