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Creative Construction Conference 2012 June 30 July 3, 2012 Budapest, Hungary Editors-in-chief: Mikls Hajdu Mirosaw J. Skibniewski
All rights are reserved for the Faculty Ybl Mikls at Szent Istvn University, Budapest, Hungary, except the right of the authors to (re)publish their materials wherever they decide. This book is a working material for the Creative Construction Conference 2012. The professional and grammatical level of the materials is the authors' responsibility.
Published by Diamond Congress Ltd., the secretariat of the Conference H-1012 Budapest, Vrmez t 8. Responsible publisher: Rbert Hohol www.diamond-congress.hu Technical editing by Krmn Stdi, Budapest
ISBN 978-963-269-297-5
CONTENT
Refaat Abdel-Razek, Hesham Bassioni, Marwa Tahseen MANAGING INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY IN CONSTRUCTION FIRMS: A SUGGESTED FRAMEWORK Joseph Ahn, Hyun-Soo Lee, Moonseo Park, Bo-Sik Son, Minhyuk Jung IFC-CBR BASED COST MODEL FRAMEWORK DEVELOPMENT Ibrahim Al-Hammad EVALUATION OF SAUDI PUBLIC WORKS CONTRACT Abbas Al-Hdabi, Hassan Al Nageim, Felicite Ruddock, Linda Seton COLD ROLLED ASPHALT SURFACE COURSE CONTAINING WASTE MATERIALS Hassan Al-Nageim, Monower Sadique RECYCLING OF INDUSTRIAL WASTES TO PRODUCE NEW CEMENT FOR CONSTRUCTION Salman Azhar, Samuel Philips, Malik Khalfan, Syed M. Ahmed APPLICATIONS OF BIM FOR FACILITY MANAGEMENT: CASE STUDIES Menoka Bal, David Bryde, Damian Fearon, Edward Ochieng THE INFLUENCE OF STAKEHOLDER ENGAGEMENT IN CONSTRUCTION SUSTAINABILITY Dennis C. Bausman, Snowil Lopes POST OCCUPANCY PERFORMANCE EVALUATION OF LEED CERTIFIED BUILDINGS Dennis C. Bausman, Daniel R. Mattox QUALITY MANAGEMENT Thomas Bock, Thomas Linner, Christos Georgoulas, Melanie Mayr, Johannes MeyerAndreaus INNOVATION DEPLOYMENT STRATEGIES IN CONSTRUCTION Orsolya Bokor, Tams Kocsis THEN AND NOW: COST CALCULATION OF CONSTRUCTION PROJECTS IN THE 20TH AND 21ST CENTURY David Bozsaky LABORATORY TESTS AND COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF CORNSTALK INSULATION BLOCKS Alberto De Marco, Muhammad Jamaluddin Thaheem, Sabrina Grimaldi, Carlo Rafele A FRAMEWORK METHODOLOGY FOR SELECTION OF RISK ANALYSIS TECHNIQUES IN CONSTRUCTION PROJECTS Selim Tugra Demir, David James Bryde, Damian John Fearon, Edward Godfrey Ochieng AGILEAN PROJECT MANAGEMENT TIME FOR CHANGE IN CONSTRUCTION PROJECTS Zlata Dolaek-Alduk, Ksenija ulo, Mario Gali SUBCONTRACTING IN CROATIAN CONSTRUCTION INDUSTRY Nabil Ibrahim El Sawalhi MODELLING THE PARAMETRIC CONSTRUCTION PROJECT COST ESTIMATE USING ANN
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B. Er, A. Kazaz, S.Ulubeyli JUST IN TIME IN CONSTRUCTION PROJECTS: A CASE STUDY Mikls Hajdu IMPACTS OF RISKS ON PROJECT SCHEDULING: CAN OPTIMISTIC PROJECT DURATION BE GREATER THAN THE PESSIMISTIC ONE? Istvn Hajnal ESTIMATION OF VALUE MODIFICATION FACTOR WITH HEDONIC MODELING: A CASE STUDY Tarek Hegazy, Wail Menesi CONSTRUCTION SCHEDULING: CPM FOR PLANNING AND CPS FOR CONTROL P. M. Gameiro Henriques, N. F. Godinho Teodoro CONTRIBUTION TO SUSTAINABILITY IN CONSTRUCTION: RECYCLING AND REUTILIZATION OF MATERIALS P. M. Gameiro Henriques, S. C. Morais Neves STUDY OF THE APPLICABILITY OF CONSTRUCTION SYSTEMS IN THE PERFORMANCE OF SUSTAINABILITY IN CIVIL ENGINEERING Christabel M. F. Ho SITUATIONAL INFLUENCES ON QUANTITY SURVEYORS WHEN FACING ETHICAL DILEMMAS Boena Hoa, Andrzej Polak, Krzysztof Gawron, Marek Sawicki, Maciej Morka, Wiktor Gronowicz, Mirosaw Skibniewski KNOWLEDGE MAPS FOR SMALL AND MEDIUM-SIZED CONSTRUCTION FIRMS A. Tolga Ilter, Attila Dikbas A REVIEW OF TURKISH CONTRACTORS ICT APPROACHES Shabtai Isaac, Mohsen Andayesh, Farnaz Sadeghpour A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF LAYOUT PLANNING PROBLEMS Shafik M. Jendia, Abed Al-hameed A. Qreaq'a REUSE OF RECYCLED AGGREGATES OF DEMOLITION BUILDING DEBRIS AS AN ASPHALT BINDER COURSE IN ROAD PAVEMENTS Tnde Jenei ANALYSIS OF THE POTENTIAL RISKS OF GEOTHERMAL INVESTMENT, RISK MANAGEMENT TOOLS A. Kazaz, B. Er, S. Ulubeyli APPLICABILITY OF INTEGRATED PROJECT DELIVERY SYSTEM TO PUBLIC CONSTRUCTION PROJECTS IN TURKEY Jae Hee Kim, You Gyeong Jo, Min Ji Kim, Han Soo Kim CURRENT TRENDS IN GREEN CONSTRUCTION POLICIES AND IMPLICATIONS IN KOREA Serkan Kivrak, Gokhan Arslan, Mustafa Tuncan IMPACT OF NATIONAL CULTURE ON SAFETY MANAGEMENT PRACTICES IN INTERNATIONAL CONSTRUCTION PROJECTS
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Iva Kovacic, Lars Oberwinter BIM-SUPPORTED LIFECYCLE-ORIENTED DESIGN FOR ENERGY EFFICIENT INDUSTRIAL FACILITY - A CASE STUDY Renata Kozik, Elbieta Starzyk ANTI-CRISES REGULATION INTRODUCED INTO THE PUBLIC PROCUREMENT LAW AND THEIR IMPORTANCE FOR THE CONSTRUCTION MARKET IN POLAND K. C. Lam, C. Y. Yu AN INVESTIGATION TO THE CONCESSION PERIOD LENGTH DETERMINATION OF BOT PROJECT Gza Lmer SOME NOTES ON THE DEFINITION OF RISK AND THE PREDICTABILITY OF RISKS Jeoung Hoon Lee, Moonseo Park, Hyun-Soo Lee, Sungjoo Hwang, Myoung gy Moon ANALYZING KOREAN BUILDING CONSTRUCTION MARKET RESPONSE TO THE APPLICATION OF PERFORMANCE WARRANTY CONTRACT USING SYSTEM DYNAMICS Yong-Wook Lee, Seokjin Choi, Seung H. Han, Jae-Jin Lee SELECTING THE BRIDGE TYPES THROUGH AHP PLUS CONJOINT ANALYSIS APPROACH Agnieszka Leniak, Krzysztof Zima SELECTED PROBLEMS OF COST ESTIMATION USING BIM Sherif Malek, Kareem Zahran, Ossama Hosny, Ahmed Elhakeem INTEGRATING ARTIFICIAL NEURAL NETWORK & GENETIC ALGORITHM TO OPTIMIZE HIGH PERFROMANCE CONCRETE MIX DESIGN A MANAGEMENT PERSPECTIVE Levente Mlyusz, Attila Pm PREDICTION OF the LEARNING CURVE IN ROOF INSULATION PyongSu Min, Woosik Jang, Seung Heon Han, Kang Wook Lee DECIDING PROCUREMENT STRATEGIES FOR CONSTRUCTION PROJECTS WHILE CONSIDERING OFF-SITE ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS Andrzej Minasowicz, Janusz Kulejewski, Andrzej Foremny, Pawe Kluczuk, Aleksander Nica CONSTRUCTION MANAGERS LIBRARY AS A NEW METHOD OF PROMOTION, CERTIFICATION AND MUTUAL RECOGNITION OF MANAGERIAL SKILLS ACCORDING TO THE EU REQUIREMENTS Andrzej Minasowicz, Janusz Kulejewski, Andrzej Foremny, Pawe Kluczuk, Aleksander Nica DISTANCE LEARNING WITHIN MANAGEMENT IN CONSTRUCTION - POLISH AND NORWEGIAN EXPERIENCES WITH EUROPEAN PERSPECTIVE Cristbal Moena, Alfredo Serpell UNIT PRICE ESTIMATING OF ROADS MAINTENANCE ACTIVITIES USING EXPONENTIAL ROBUST REGRESSION Gray Mullins, Rajan Sen, Danny Winters, Mike Stokes, Julio Aguilar SUSTAINABLE FRP REPAIR USING EXTERNAL PRESSURE Claus Nesensohn, David James Bryde A REVIEW OF THE EVOLUTION OF LEAN CONSTRUCTION
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Lars Oberwinter, Iva Kovacic BUILDING INFORMATION MODEL VISUALIZATION THROUGH JAVASCRIPT-ENHANCED 3D-PDF INTERFACES Kas Oosterhuis NEXT GENERATION BUILDING Kamalesh Panthi, Syed M. Ahmed, James Patterson, John Hillman SAFETY INCENTIVE PROGRAMS- GOOD OR BAD RESOURCE FOR CONSTRUCTION COMPANIES? John-Paris Pantouvakis, Antonios Panas SIMULATION ANALYSIS FOR FLOATING CAISSONS CONSTRUCTION OPERATIONS John-Paris Pantouvakis BUILDING INFORMATION MODELING (BIM) FOR DATA SHARING & COLLABORATIVE WORKING IN CONSTRUCTION Lu Chang Peh, Sui Pheng Low CASE-BASED REASONING DECISION SUPPORT SYSTEM FOR ARCHITECTURAL AND ENGINEERING CONSULTANCY FIRMS Nicolae Postvaru, Radwan Aktaa, Cristina V.Icociu INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT IN CONSTRUCTION, WITHIN THE FRAMEWORK OF THE PROJECTS FINANCED BY E.U. IN ROMANIA FOR 2007 2014 AND PERSPECTIVE FOR 2020 Nicolae Postvaru, Klmn Ills CONSTRUCTION COMPANIES INVESTMENT ECONOMICAL EFFICIENCY ANALYSIS Augustin Purnus, Victoria Shavyrina TOOLS AND TECHNIQUES FOR DECISION SUPPORT IN CONSTRUCTION PROJECTS Ibrahim Abdul Rashid, Hesham Bassioni, Faez Ba-Wazir A TOOL FOR ASSESSING AND IMPROVING SAFETY PERFORMANCE IN LARGE CONSTRUCTION COMPANIES IN EGYPT Adrian Robinson, Jeremy Wedge, Edward Sauven, Tony Swindells, Alistair Gibb, Simon Austin EMBODIED CARBON OF SHIPPING CONTAINER ARCHITECTURE BASED ON AN ISO STANDARD PLATFORM Zoltn Rosts USING VISUAL PROJECT MANAGEMENT TOOLS IN MUSEUM DEVELOPMENT Urszula Ryciuk, Mirosaw Skibniewski TRUST MANAGEMENT ISSUES IN CONSTRUCTION SUPPLY CHAINS Rizal Sebastian DEVELOPMENT AND REFURBISHMENT OF ENERGY-EFFICIENT RESIDENTIAL DISTRICTS BASED ON COLLECTIVE SELF-ORGANISED HOUSING PROCESSES Zvonko Sigmund, Mladen Radujkovi, Damir Lazarevi INTEGRATED SEISMIC RISK MANAGEMENT THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE CODES AND THE REAL LIFE PRACTICE
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Mirosaw J. Skibniewski CREATIVITY IN CONSTRUCTION: A LOOK AT THE PAST AND A PEAK INTO THE FUTURE Anna Sobotka, Daniel Walach, Dorota Pawlus, Agata Czarnigowska SURVEY ON PROJECTS SUPPLY CHAIN IN POLISH ROAD CONSTRUCTION Anna Sobotka, Piotr Jaskowski, Agata Czarnigowska, Daniel Walach AGGREGATE SUPPLY DECISION MODEL FOR ROADWORKS Muhammad Jamaluddin Thaheem, Alberto De Marco, Kristen Barlish A REVIEW OF QUANTITATIVE ANALYSIS TECHNIQUES FOR CONSTRUCTION PROJECT RISK MANAGEMENT Zbigniew Tokarski, Anna Sobotka, Dorota Pawlus, Agata Czarnigowska SUPPLY CHAIN OF A HIGHWAY REPAVING PROJECT - CASE STUDY OF A2 HIGHWAY SECTION IN HOLLAND Tams Tth, Zoltn Sebestyn, Mikls Hajdu FINANCIAL RISK MANAGEMENT ASPECTS OF CONSTRUCTION PROJECTS Marco Lorenzo Trani, Benedetta Bossi, Luca Guastalegname ENERGETIC CONSUMPTION PREDICTION ON CONSTRUCTION SITE Yick-tat Tsang, S. Thomas Ng, Kachi Lam SELECTION OF FINANCIAL PERFORMANCE INDICATORS FOR CONSTRUCTION COMPANIES IN HONG KONG BY FACTOR ANALYSIS Jieh-Jiuh Wang, Xin-Rong Wu, A STUDY ON THE CONTEXT AND PRACTICE OF NATURAL BUILDING Chih-ming Wu, Wen-der Yu, Tai-shiuh Chen ENHANCED FUNCTION MODELING FOR ANALYSIS OF INNOVATIVE CONSTRUCTION TECHNOLOGIES Patcharaporn Yanpirat, Tirayot Thamwongsa PRODUCT COST REDUCTION OF READY-MIXED CONCRETE BY UTILIZING MANUFACTURED SAND: A CASE STUDY Bilal Zafar, Rafiq Muhammad Ch. FACTORS AFFECTING COMPETENCY OF MASONS IN CONSTRUCTION Kareem Zahran, Ahmed Waly APPLYING LEAN THINKING TO CEMENT PLANT CONSTRUCTION PROCESS Cheng Zhou, Lieyun Ding, Ran He PSO-BASED ELMAN NEURAL NETWORK MODEL FOR PREDICTIVE CONTROL OF AIR CHAMBER PRESSURE IN SLURRY SHIELD TUNNELING Josef Zimmermann, Wolfgang Eber PARAMETERS OF PERCEPTIBILITY OF RISKS IN REAL ESTATE AND CONSTRUCTION PROJECTS
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Abstract Studies show that a significant number of problems in the construction industry are due to lack, or delay, of communication and information. The industry relies heavily on information and communication technology (ICT) applications. This research aims at developing a framework that improves the management of ICT applications in terms of their evaluation, selection and implementation. The framework builds on the Information Technology (IT) Audit Tool introduced by the Construction Industry Council in the UK, and on concepts of information economics, the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP), and project selection methods. The four main framework procedures are: assess the current ICT situation; determine required improvements; prioritize ICT applications by measuring their financial and non-financial aspects; and the final selection of appropriate ICT applications. The assessment of the current ICT situation is performed using the IT Audit Tool. Criteria of financial and non-financial evaluation are based on relevant literature and information economics concepts. Their relative weights are assessed using the Delphi Technique and AHP to prioritize ICT applications. Finally, project selection methodology is used to select the most appropriate ICT applications. Each framework procedural step is explained, particularly the financial and non-financial evaluation of applications selection procedure. The main outcome of this paper is the introduction of a suggested framework that can be used to manage ICT applications in a more effective and efficient manner. It can also be used for guidance to companies in measuring the benefits and risks of ICT applications. This is particularly useful since the cost of implementing some applications appears to be overly high, until account is taken of the indirect and intangible benefits which are incorporated into the selection process outlined in this framework. Furthermore, suggestions for improvement to the IT Audit Tool are discussed. The criteria used in the framework are based on relevant literature and confirmed and evaluated by experts. These criteria and their relative importance might differ from one firm to another
depending on the firms infrastructure and levels of expertise. However, the criteria and their relative importance can be assessed to reflect their appropriateness in different contexts without invalidating the framework. This makes the framework practical and flexible to suit different firms. Keywords: Analytic Hierarchy Process, Information and Communication Technology, Audit Tool.
1. INTRODUCTION
Construction Information and Communication Technology (ICT) encompasses the range of technologies for gathering, storing, retrieving, processing, analyzing and transmitting information (South Dakota Educational Technology Standards Glossary, 2010). It is of paramount importance in the construction industry since it can greatly assist decision makers and solve innumerable construction problems (Gyampoh & Moreton, 2003). Surveys and studies showed that about 5080% of the industrys problems are due to lack of information, or delays in receiving it (Akinci, Kiziltas, Ergen, Karaesmen, & Keceli, 2006). Most of this information is collected from the construction site and delivered to another project party, so an effective collection, control and transfer tool should be used to increase operation efficiency. Moreover, construction development and growth in national economy are tied to the development in ICT. Therefore, introducing ICT in construction will lead to the effective planning, execution and control of all organizational and project activities (Shash & Al-Amir, 1997). This study aims to. The remaining paper is divided into the following sections: ICT benefits and implementation barriers in construction; development and procedures of the framework; and Conclusion and Recommendations. The framework process itself is divided into: assessing current ICT status; determining required improvements; prioritizing ICT applications; and finally selecting appropriate ICT applications.
that the most suitable applications are adopted (Marsh & Flanagan, 2000). Vidogah and Moreton (2003) explained that due to legal and cultural aspects, paper rather than software is used for exchanging information; construction industry problems are unique (coordination between drawings, industry fragmentation, under-capitalization, etc), rendering technologies which have been applied successfully in other industries unusable or difficult to implement. They also stated that managers are not convinced about the benefits of technology, since they usually consider short term rather than long term benefits, or they are simply not aware of the advantages of using ICT, or do not want to take the risk of trying the technology (Information Technology Construction Best Practice, 2008), (Vidogah & Moreton, 2003). From an overview of the literature it is concluded that the various tools that already exist do not totally overcome these barriers to ICT implementation. What is suggested is a more effective tool especially tailored to the needs of the construction industry, a tool which would: a) enable managers/decision makers to be aware of the appropriate ICT applications that are beneficial to their organizations; b) measure the benefits and risks of each application; c) prioritize these applications; and finally, d) select the ICT applications most beneficial to the organization according to the budget assigned.
3.1 Assess Current Organizational ICT Situation The first step in evolving the framework is to clearly define the companys current ICT situation, so as to be aware of which areas are lagging behind in the adaptation of the technology. The companys current situation is obtained through the use of the IT audit tool presented by CIC. The tool divided the organizational processes into nine sections, representing the areas of gaining, doing and supporting work. It also used a Likert scale that ranks the firms implementation of ICT on a scale of 0 5, where a score of 0 indicates complete non-use of ICT and a score of 5 indicates extensive use.
3.2 Determine Required Improvements The IT audit tool also determines the required improvements needed by the organization in order to change the level of ICT applications in a certain area to a higher more advanced one.
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Based on the information about the organizations current situation performed in the previous procedure, the required steps for improvement can be determined using the IT audit tool.
3.3 Prioritize ICT Applications The organization will not be able to adopt all the ICT applications determined in the previous step, so applications need to be prioritized. The prioritization and selection process consists of three steps: financial evaluation of applications, measuring benefits and risks, and prioritization and selection of the appropriate ICT Applications.
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A. Financial Evaluation of Applications Total implementation costs are the summation of purchasing costs (P) and annual operating costs (A) calculated using tables illustrated by Parker and Benson (1988), and using the following equation: Total Implementation Cost = P + A
(1 + i )n 1 i (1 + i )n
Eqn. 1
Where n is the number of years the ICT application is implemented and i is the interest rate, cost of capital, or minimum attractive rate of return that should be assigned by the organization (Degarmo et.al. 1997).
B. Measuring ICT Benefits and Risks
The financial returns/benefits of ICT applications are usually not tangible, and thus the benefits of ICT applications are used to assess intangible factors. An enhanced framework from that proposed by Stewart and Mohamed (2002) was developed. The enhancements are in the criteria, weights and scoring system which differ from the original framework. The technique used in such framework is the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP). The AHP was first developed by Thomas Saaty in the 1970s. This approach facilitates the decision making activity regardless of its degree of complexity. The approach starts with the definition of a major problem, which is then divided into a number of sub-problems. These latter are broken down into more detailed criteria, and so on. This is done in the form of a hierarchy, starting with an unstructured problem directed down to detailed criteria whose weights determine the evaluation of the problem. Each criterion is assigned a weight reflecting its importance relevant to the other criteria, noting that the sum of weights of criteria under a certain topic must be equal to one or 100%. In order to measure the benefits and risks of each application, three groups of information should be present. Firstly, there should exist criteria by which ICT applications are selected. Secondly, comparison between criteria reflecting the importance of each criterion compared to the others is to be found. This comparison is the weights given to criteria. For example, is the criterion strategic match more important for the organization than the criterion competitive advantage, and if so, then by how much? Thirdly, each application is given a score which reflects how much this application fulfills each criterion. For example, if ICT application (x) is to be implemented, will it give the organization any competitive advantage, if so, then by what degree? Criteria and weights will be determined and assigned by experts. The Delphi method and the AHP are the methods used to perform such a study. i. Selection of Criteria: Banuelas et al (2006), Gindy et al (2006), and Kulak et al (2005) all discuss criteria based on which projects are selected. All these criteria were summed up by Steward and Mohamed (2002) and Parker and Benson (1988). It can be concluded that the Parker and
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Benson (1988) criteria represent the guiding and overall criteria for ICT project selection, which were evaluated using the Delphi method (Bassioni, Abdel-Razek, & Tahseen, 2010). These criteria are: return on investment, strategic match, competitive advantage, management information, competitive response, strategic information system architecture, organizational risk, definitional uncertainty, technical uncertainty, and information system infrastructure risk. An analytic hierarchy process for measuring ICT applications benefits and risks was established based on these criteria, as shown in Figure 2 and briefly explained below. Strategic Match criterion means the degree to which the ICT fulfills the strategic goals of the organization. Competitive advantage criterion represents the business main strategy, cost leadership, differentiation or focus. Management information criteria measures the degree by which management information and systems add to the organization strategy. The competitive response criterion reflects how the project postponement or avoidance would cause competitive problems or damage to the organization. For each organization there should exist an information systems strategy, showing the development in technology and prioritizing the various applications. According to this plan projects are to be evaluated; this is presented in the strategic information system architecture criterion. The organizational risk criterion represents the ability of the organization to face changes resulting from the project implementation; this includes the management ability to withstand changes and the ripeness or knowledge in using computers in the organization. The definitional uncertainty criterion measures the degree to which requirements and specification are known, the complexity of the application and the probability of non-routine changes. The technical uncertainty criterion measures the ability of the present technology to perform the project, the presence of available skills, software and hardware. The last criterion is the information system infrastructure risk, which determines the degree of non-project investments required for the implementation of this particular project; examples may be the need for new forms of communications, data access or data dictionary (Parker & Benson, 1988). The first six criteria have a positive effect on the organization; they reflect benefits gained by the organization from implementing a certain project. The last four criteria are negative, reducing the willingness to take over the project, as they represent risks which would be faced by the organization during its implementation. ii. Determination of Criteria Weights and Application Scores: The Delphi method and AHP were used for the determination of criteria and weights (Bassioni, Abdel-Razek, & Tahseen, 2010). A score is a value assigned to each alternative, reflecting to what extent this ICT application fulfills the criterion; that is why scores vary from one application to the other. Parker and Benson (1988) give a scale for scoring each of the ten criteria used to evaluate project selection. The weights obtained for each criterion are shown in Figure 2 (Bassioni, Abdel-Razek, & Tahseen, 2010).
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Level 1
Level
Level
0.08 0.07
0.11
0.09
0.11
0.08
0.12
0.11
0.11
0.11
Figure 2: Measuring ICT Applications Benefits and Risks using AHP Weights
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C. Prioritization of Applications
Finally, once criteria have been defined, weights estimated and scores assigned, there remains the part of prioritizing applications by determining which application has the highest score, i.e. greatest benefits and least risks. The Project Evaluation Technique entitled Evaluation Matrix is used. This technique known in decision making and utilized in value engineering (Dell'Isola A. , 1997). In order to rank ICT applications, first, for each application the weighted score (weight x score for each application) of each criterion is obtained, as was discussed in the previous paragraph. The summation of the weighted scores ( [weight x score]) will result in the overall score or application utility value. Applications are ranked based on each utility value, where the highest utility value represents the most appropriate application; i.e., ranking will be from higher to lower values. As an example in such field the case study prioritization results are shown in Table 1.
Criterion Weight Score Alternative (1) Weighted score = weight x score Score Alternative (2) Weighted score = weight x score Score Alternative (4) Weighted score = weight x score Score Alternative (5) Weighted score = weight x score A 0 B 4 C 0.11 3 D 0.09 5 E 0.11 5 F 0.08 2 G 0.12 0 H 0.11 0 I 0.11 0 J 0.11 0 1.77 0 0.28 0.33 0.45 0.55 0.16 0 0 0 0 2 Total Rank
0.08 0.07
0 1.77 2
0.28
0.33
0.45
0.55
0.16
0 1.84 1
0.35
0.33
0.45
0.55
0.16
0 1.77 2
0.28
0.33
0.45
0.55
0.16
The selection of the applications that are to be applied in this final step will be according to the project selection methodology for independent projects (Degarmo, Sullivan, Bontadelli, & Wicks, 1997). The cost of each application in the previous step is given, and their rank or prioritization is also known. Accordingly, the costs of applications having the highest rank will
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be added till reaching the budget specified by the company. If the financial returns are tangibly calculated, the return on investment method can be used (Parker & Benson, 1988), whereas, the total implementation costs are compared to assigned budget available for investing in ICT applications. Those ICT applications whose total implementations costs exceed the budget defined are then neglected. For these selected applications the financial feasibility of the applications are determined by using the simple return on investment method dividing the average annual net income of the project by the internal investment in the project; refer to Parker and Benson (1988).
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REFERENCES
Akinci, B., Kiziltas, S., Ergen, E., Karaesmen, I., & Keceli, F. (2006). Modeling and Analyzing the Impact of Technology on Data Capture and Transfer Processes at Construction Sites: A Case Study. Journal of Construction Engineering and Management, 11481157. Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) Professional REP letters. (n.d.). Retrieved January 15, 2007 Bassioni, H., Abdel-Razek, R., & Tahseen, M. (2010). Using the Delphi Method in Evaluating Critieria of ICT Project Selection. Third International World of Construction Project Management Conference, 2022 October, (pp. 5562). Coventry. Brandon, P., Li, H., & Shen, Q. (2005). Construction IT and the tipping point14. Automation in Construction Journal, 281 286. Cordella, A. (2006). Transaction Costs and Information Systems: Does IT Add Up? Journal of Information Technology, 195202. Degarmo, E., Sullivan, W., Bontadelli, J., & Wicks, E. (1997). Engineering Economy. New Jersey: Prentice-Hall. Dell'Isola, A. (1997). Value Engineeing: Practical Applications. Kingston, USA: RS Means. Dell'Isola, A. (1997). Value Engineering: Practical Applications. Kingston: RSMeans. El-Mashaleh, M., OBrien, W., & Minchin, E. (2006). Firm Performance and Information Technology Utilization in the Construction Industry. Journal of Construction Engineering and Management, 499507. Gyampoh, R., & Moreton, R. (2003). Implementing information management in construction: establishing problems, concepts and practices. Construction innovation, 15773. Information Technology Construction Best Practice. (2008). Retrieved from Making IT work for your business, An Executive Summary: http://www.Construct-it.org.uk/, Accessed May 2008. Marsh, L., & Flanagan, R. (2000). Measuring the Costs and Benefits of Information Technology in Construction. Engineering, Construction and Architectural Management Journal, 423435. Parker, M., & Benson, R. (1988). Information Economics: Linking Business Performance to Information Technology. New Jersey: Prentice-Hall. Shash, A., & Al-Amir, M. (1997). Information technology in contractors' firms in Saudi Arabia. Construction management and economics, 187200. South Dakota Educational Technology Standards Glossary. (2010). Retrieved November 20, 2009, from http://doe.sd.gov/contentstandards/nclb/documents/Glossary_000.doc. Accessed Feb 2010. Vidogah, R. G., & Moreton, R. (2003). Implementing information management in construction: Establishing problems, concepts and practice. Construction Innovation Journal, 157173.
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Abstract IFC standard is a vast and complex specification; and it has been continuously developed to achieve reliability and credibility of it. Apart from examining the level of compatibility and interoperability, many researches on utilization of IFC standard in construction management, especially in cost estimating, have been continuously conducted. As an extension to the previous cost estimation researches applying IFC, this research aims to propose IFC-CBR (case-based reasoning) based cost model framework. It is important to take a concept of the IFC as a standardized database and further shift to utilization of an IFC database in construction management sector. This paper assumes that IFC files which contain project information will be increased and accumulated in future. IFC based quantity takeoff information model which can produce quantities according to each building element, space and work trade is explained. Then, CBR method, CBR application on IFC as a database and IFC-CBR based cost model framework are explored, respectively. In overall, it is expected that CBR can be the useful medium to deal with a large amount of standardized building information in AEC/FM industry. Keywords: BIM, CBR, cost estimating, IFC, quantity takeoff
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1. INTRODUCTION
AEC/FM industry is very unique where various stakeholders such as owner, architect, contractors, and engineers are involved and exchange their specific information during the building life cycle to achieve successful completion of a project. Building Information Modeling (BIM) has been actively introduced to building construction projects as it is designed to facilitate sharing information between project participants and support numerous complex decision-makings (Hardin 2009). To carry out a project throughout the lifecycle, various participants utilize many kinds of BIM support applications to achieve allocated responsibilities; however, an interoperability issue has arisen among BIM applications. To deal with this challenging issue, buildingSMART International previously known as International Alliance for Interoperability (IAI) published IFC (Industry Foundation Classes), which can be utilized as an open, neutral and standardized specification for BIM data exchange in AEC/FM industry. IFC standard is a vast and complex specification; and it has been continuously developed to achieve reliability and credibility of it. Apart from examining the level of compatibility and interoperability, many researches on utilization of IFC standard in construction management, especially in cost estimating, have been continuously conducted (Hietanen 1999; Fu et al. 2004; Hwang 2004; Tanyer and Aouad 2004; Zhiliang et al. 2011). As an extension to the previous cost estimation researches applying IFC, this research aims to propose IFC-CBR (case-based reasoning) based cost model framework. A primary concept of the study is taking a perspective of IFC file as a database and making an assumption that IFC files which contain project information will be increased and accumulated. By adopting CBR method, this research suggests how IFC can be utilized in the construction management sector. The organization of this paper is as follows. Firstly, preliminary research on IFC and literature reviews is conducted. The next section suggests IFC based quantity takeoff information model which can produce quantities according to each building element, space and work trade. Then, CBR method, CBR Application on IFC as Database and IFC-CBR based cost model framework are explained, respectively.
2. PRELIMINARY RESEARCH
2.1. IFC brief IFC is an open, neutral and standardized specification for BIM data to facilitate interoperability in AEC/FM industry. IFC is exchanged and shared among the various participants such as an owner, architect, contractors, CMr, engineers using various BIM applications in a project throughout its lifecycle. IFC has been continuously developed and improved since IFC 1.0 in 1997 to achieve total interoperability among the BIM software. Current release is IFC 2x4 RC3 as of October 2011 and IFC 2x4 release is submitted and in the
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process of becoming an official international standard ISO 16739. It is expected that the reliability and credibility of IFC standard will be secured once it is accepted as a formal ISO standard (buildingSMART International 2012).
2.2. IFC Structure According to IFC model implementation guide (Liebich 2009), IFC consists of four different layers, which are domain, shared element, core and resource, in intention to attain flexibility and extendibility of them. Each layer comprises set of schemas, which are a collection of entities, classes, attributes, and relationships among entities. These schemas delineate the patterns that sets of entities and relationships characterize. There are total 164 schemas represented by EXPRESS-G diagrams (30 Core data schemas, 12 Shared element data schemas, 22 Domain specific data schemas, 100 resource definition data schema) and 775 entities in IFC 2x4 RC3 version. It is important to note that IFC schemas follow a rule called a ladder principle. A class may reference any classes only at the same or lower layer not from a higher layer. Furthermore, references within the same layer are only allowed in the core and resource layers. Although IFC specification is very systematic and hierarchical, there are 8 different domains (Architecture, Building Controls, Construction Management, Electrical, HVAC, Plumbing Fire Protection, Structural Analysis, and Structural Elements) and 775 different entities. Therefore, it is apparently difficult to utilize all of them; accordingly various project data models or building information models satisfying certain purposes need to be built (Zhiliang et al. 2011).
2.3. Literature Review Zhiliang et al. (2011) explored the possibilities and methods of applying IFC standard to construction cost estimating for tendering in China. This research explained seven aspects of required information entities in detail and examined the completeness of IFC standard. Also, the study suggested some extensions of IFC standard to satisfy Chinese standard for construction cost estimating for tendering. Hwang (2004) conducted a pilot research to verify the capabilities of IFC model for automatic quantity takeoff from 2D drawings. This research developed a system which can browse and provide quantity information of building elements within spatial hierarchy. The author validated quantity can be automatically extracted and stored in Relational database (RDB). Hietanen (1999) delineated how and to what level IFC model can support quantity takeoff to help applying it in different construction culture. Tanyer and Aouad (2004) conducted background research in 4D tools and presented the development and implementation of a new 4D tool, which is a IFC model. Especially, this paper took a perspective of an IFC model as a project database. They further performed 4D simulation and cost estimation together to achieve what-if analysis in construction project. Won and Lee (2011) proposed algorithms which can extract only necessary information
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required by each project participants. The extraction algorithms can contribute to the increase of the productivity in project information exchange and reduce the size of IFC files. Lee (2009) suggested a method of extracting minimum valid subsets from the IFC schema matching the concepts. An et al. (2007) proposed a case-based reasoning cost-estimating model and attempted to include experience using an analytic hierarchy process. Dogan et al. (2006) introduced a spreadsheet-based CBR prediction model of structural systems and assessed its performance by testing the impact of attribute weights generated by three different techniques, namely, feature counting, gradient descent, and genetic algorithm. Ji et al. (2011a) developed a military facility cost estimation system using CBR method. This research validated estimation accuracy and user-friendliness. The study presented a CBR application example of construction cost estimation. Furthermore, apart from CBR application in cost estimation, CBR has been utilized in many areas such as international market selection, decision-making support, planning/scheduling, safety hazard identification, and predicting litigation outcomes (Ji et al. 2012)
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Figure 1: QTO information model according to building elements, space and work trade
4.2. CBR Application on IFC as Database It is important to recognize that project information and bills of quantities have been generally in the form of documentation in construction industry. Here an issue arises with regard to traditional CBR application for cost estimation. That is, 1) items of BOQ and project information format are different across companies and countries. 2) Data collection is very difficult as construction companies keep cost data secret for security reasons; furthermore,
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3) data analysis and parameter extraction to build database appropriate for CBR utilization require much effort and time. As IFC is expected to continue to develop and be widely used to deal with the interoperability issue and data exchange, it is necessary to take the concept of the IFC as standardized database and further shift to utilization of IFC database in construction management sector. Figure 2 illustrates an example of the utilization of IFC as a database.
4.3. IFC-CBR based Cost Model Framework In this section, a framework of the IFC-CBR based cost model is explained in overall. Firstly, IFC files are extracted from BIM models and stored in IFC DB as raw data. Generally, the size of completed BIM models are large; hence, storing in an IFC format rather a BIM model itself can be an efficient way of managing building project information unless in situation where visualization is especially emphasized or required. Secondly, to maximize IFC data utilization from IFC DB, various IFC information models such as a project general information model, a quantity take off model according to building elements, space and work trades, an energy performance analysis model , a safety analysis model, etc need to be established. It is important to perceive that certain information is required in certain time by certain project participants. Having this primary understanding in mind, carefully designed IFC information modeling can be achieved. Furthermore, once these models are clearly identified and validated, they can be a base for a BIM modeling guideline indicating what kinds of information is required to input to achieve certain purposes throughout a building lifecycle. Thirdly, CBR method is applied in two alternative ways to estimate cost. 1) Required cost or project information is searched, retrieved and accumulated in RDB (Relational Database).
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Then CBR is applied based on RDB. 2) Only necessary information from IFC models is searched, retrieved and straightly used to estimate cost of a project. The IFC-CBR based cost model framework is illustrated in Figure 3.
5. CONCLUSION
This research proposed an IFC-CBR based cost model framework. Related preliminary research was conducted and IFC standard was analyzed. The IFC based quantity takeoff information model that can derive quantities according to each building element, space and work trade was explained. The proposed QTO model can be utilized in both design development and construction phases. Especially, quantity information according to work trade can be further utilized for progress payment management in construction phase. IFC model analysis need to be further carried out in more detail; and it is necessary to develop various IFC information models required in the construction management sector. Also, since this research proposed the IFC-CBR based cost model framework only, validation and realization of the model should be executed. Search and retrieve algorithms from IFC files and a carefully designed system prototype need to be further developed. It is expected that CBR can be the useful medium to deal with a large amount of standardized building information and it can be applied to not only cost estimating, but also other areas such as feasibility study, energy analysis, planning/scheduling, safety prevention, contracts, etc.
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
This research was supported by a grant (code # 09 R&D A01) from Super-Tall Building R&D Project funded by the Ministry of Land, Transport and Maritime Affairs of Korean government.
REFERENCES
An, S-H. et al., 2007. A Case-based Reasoning Cost-estimating Model Using Experience by Analytic Hierarchy Process. Building and Environment, Vol. 42, No. 7., pp. 25732579. buildingSMART International. IFC Roadmap Summary [cited 2012 April 27]. Available from: <http://buildingsmarttech.org/future-extensions/ifc-roadmap/summary> Chou, J. S., 2009. Web-based CBR System Applied to Early Cost Budgeting for Pavement Maintenance Project. Expert System with Applications, Vol. 36, No. 2., pp. 29472960. Dogan, S. Z. et al., 2006. Determining Attribute Weights in a CBR Model for Early Cost Prediction of Structural System. Construction Engineering and Management, ASCE, Vol. 132, No. 10., pp. 10921098. Fu, C. et al., 2004. IFC Implementation in Lifecycle Costing, Journal of Harbin Institute of Technology, Vol. 11, No. 4., pp. 437441. Hardin, B., 2009. BIM and Construction Management, Wiley Publishing, Indianapolis. Hietanen, J., 1999. Quantity Takeoff using IFC R2.0 Draft 1. Hwang, Y. S., 2004. Automatic Quantity Takeoff from Drawing through IFC Model. Architectural Institute of Korea, Vol. 20, No. 12., pp. 8997. Ji, S. H. et al., 2011a. Military Facility Cost Estimation System Using Case-Based Reasoning in Korea. Computing in Civil Engineering, ASCE, Vol. 25, No. 3., pp. 218231. Ji, S. H. et al., 2011b. Cost Estimation Model for Building Projects using Case-Based Reasoning. Canadian Journal of Civil Engineering, Vol. 38, No. 5., pp. 570581. Ji, S. H. et al., 2012. Case Adaptation Method of Case-Based Reasoning for Construction Cost Estimation in Korea. Construction Engineering and Management, ASCE, Vol. 138, No. 1., pp. 4352. Lee, G., 2009. Concept-Based Method for Extracting Valid Subsets from an EXPRESS Schema. Computing in Civil Engineering, ASCE, Vol. 23, No. 2., pp. 128135. Liebich, T., 2009. IFC 2x Edition 3 Model Implementation Guide version 2.0. buildingSMART International. Available from: <http://buildingsmart-tech.org/downloads/accompanying-documents/guidelines> Pal, S. K. and Shiu, S. C. K., 2004. Foundations of Soft Case-Based Reasoning, Wiley Interscience. Schuette, S. D. and Liska, R. W., 1994. Building Construction Estimating, McGraw-Hill, New York. Tanyer, A. M. and Aouad, G., 2005. Moving Beyond the Fourth Dimension with an IFC-based Single Project Database. Automation in Construction, Vol. 14, No. 1., pp. 1532. Watson, I., 1997. Applying Case-Based Reasoning: Techniques for Enterprise System, Morgan Kaufmann Publishers. Won, J. S. and Lee, G., 2011. Algorithm for Efficiently Extracting IFC Building Elements from an IFC Building Model. Proceedings of the 2011 ASCE International Workshop on Computing in Civil Engineering. Zhiliang, Ma. et al., 2011. Application and Extension of the IFC Standard in Construction Cost Estimating for Tendering in China. Automation in Construction, Vol. 20, No. 2., pp. 196204.
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Abstract In the last few years, with souring Oil prices, Saudi Arabia has re-engaged in mega construction projects which are mainly institutional infrastructure in nature. Those public projects are subject to Saudi Procurement Regulations (2007) and governed by the outdated Saudi Public Works Contract (1985). The consequence of continued use of old existing model construction contract, has led to delays, cost over runs, and more disputes. Improving the performance of public projects in Saudi Arabia can be achieved by revising and updating the public works contract in bar with international standard contracts and practices. A step in this direction, this paper aims to review and contrast the Saudi Public Works Model Contract vis-a-vise accepted international construction model contract of FIDIC. The FIDIC Red Book is used as a base for comparing it with the Saudi public work contract. This decision is made as most of the Saudi public works projects are of the type low bid lump sum contracts. By carrying out comparison of the two model contracts, some provisions of the Saudi public work contract needed to be redrafted, or deleted, or added in a harmony with the culture of work and international practices. A new proposed Construction Model Contract has been created and presented in a public workshops for commentary and feedback from various parties including public agencies engineers, consulting firms, contractors, and academics. Highlighting such shortcomings of the Saudi Public Works Contract should pave the way for re-drafting it to bring up to accepted international practices, minimize litigation, and improve contract administration efficiency. Keywords: Saudi Arabia, Engineering Contracts, National Public Work Contracts, FIDIC, Procurement
1. INTRODUCTION
In the last few years, with souring Oil prices, Saudi Arabia has re-engaged in mega construction projects which are mainly institutional infrastructure in nature. Those public projects are subject to Saudi Procurement Regulations (1976) and governed by the outdated Saudi Public Works Contract (1985). The consequence of continued use of old existing model construction contract, has led to delays, cost over runs, and more disputes.
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Improving the performance of public projects in Saudi Arabia can be achieved by revising and updating the public works contract in bar with international standard contracts and practices. A step in this direction, this paper aims to partly review and contrast the Saudi Public Works Model Contract vis-a-vise FIDIC Model Contracts. This decision is made as most of the public works projects are of the type low bid lump sum contracts (with Measurement). By carrying out comparison of the two model contracts, some provisions of the Saudi public work contract needed to be redrafted, or deleted, or added in a harmony with the culture of work and international practices. The contribution of this research will contribute to the purpose of a revised Construction Model Contract. Highlighting such shortcomings of the Saudi Public Works Contract should pave the way for re-drafting it to bring up to accepted international practices, minimize litigation, and improve the efficiency of contract administration.
2. LITERATURE REVIEW
In an expanded study for reviewing the existing model public works contract of Saudi Arabia, the author (Al- Hammad et al. 2008) stressed the importance of reviewing the public works contract for suggesting a balanced formulation of construction contract to be used in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia for developing its construction industry. A literature survey has been made for research covering the different types of model construction contracts especially in industrial countries. There are numerous international model construction contracts which the author categorize per country and institute as follows: 1. 2. 3. UK: JCT, ICE, NEC, Government GC/Works/10 (2000), US: AIA, AGC, EJECT, and FIDIC.
With the exception of the latter FIDIC (issued by the International Federation of Consulting Engineers", these contracts are affected by each country legal system and culture of work. All of the above cited model contracts have their own websites which are accessible using their acronym. Each website describes briefly all their model construction contracts, training courses, events, and material order.
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Middle East and Asia. Earlier versions of FIDIC contracts were made modular and flexible to add, revise, and delete provisions; and additionally, they are not tied to a complex system of law as in the UK or US or any other developed/Industrialized country. Many non-developed national model contracts were based on FIDIC earlier version of the sixties and seventies and eighties of the last century with some adaptation and interplay with their national laws. FIDIC model contracts have been further revised to cope with contemporary and new practices along all past years, while most of the non-developed countries did not do so. This is due to the buruecartic system and slow process of promulgation of laws. For the previous causes, it is imperative that FIDIC construction model contracts are selected to bench mark the Saudi Public Works Contracts.
4. SELECTED COMPARSION
It may be difficult for a researcher to be acquainted with all aspects comparison between the Saudi Public Works Contract and FIDIC (1977). For historical reasons, and due to its continuing wider use, FIDIC 4th Version of the "Conditions of Contract for Works of Civil Engineering Construction"; is chosen for this research paper. From the outset overview of the two contracts, the researcher found that there are differences in the general frame of constructing and influencing the contract formulation and implementation. Table 1 provides a partial comparison between the two types. First observation, we see the Saudi Contract last issuance date is 1986 while FIDIC last issue is at 1999 with a gap of 13 years!. Second, there are several form of FIDIC such Red Book, Yellow Book, Sliver Book, Golden Book suiting the project conditions when and if the Design is performed by the Owner or Contractor, Design Build, Long lead projects. The Saudi Model Contract is of the type of Lump Sum and close to the Red Book in many clauses. Third, there are some provisions in FIDIC that will be contravened or superseded by the Saudi National Procurement Law such time extension, payment, and arbitration. Fourth, FIDIC is continuesly updated with Amendment while the Saudi counterpart is amended by Royal Ordinances that suits the present local economic conditions. Fifth, FIDIC provisions have been explained how and why they are drafted in numerous guidance and commentaries, while the Saudi version has neither preface alluding to the basis of its formulation nor an explanation on how it has been drafted. For instance, for interpreting some of the Saudi Contract provisions, one refers to a catalogue of official generalizations for answering questions and inquiries from different governmental bodies.
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FIDIC General Conditions for Civil Engineering Construction 1999G Several Forms according to the project type Arbitration Provision Time Extension Delay Damages Payment New Practices
Contested 3 Provisions
Table 1: Selected Comparison between FIDIC General Conditions for Civil Engineering Construction vs. Saudi Unified Contract for Public Works
5. CONCLUSION
The aforementioned comparison of FIDIC vis-a-vise Saudi Unified Public Works Contract showed how much the latter is lagging behind international practice. Saudi Arabian construction market nowadays is one of the largest in the World, and with using its outdated Public Works Contract, led to many projects failures and delays. This research provided a small prototype method of how to update the Saudi Public Works Contract while a larger scope is required to do a more comperhensive redrafting. A more modernized Saudi Public Works Contract will improve the performance of the construction industry and minimize the economic loss of using the current version.
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REFERENCES
Al Jazierrah Daily Newspaper (9/02/2008), Discussion of the Saudi Model Public Works Contract with Prof. Ibrahim Alhammad, Economy Section, Issue No. 12917, pp. 28. Federation International Des Ingenieurs-Conseils. 1977. Conditions of Contract for Works of Civil Engineering Construction, 4th Ed. International Federation of Consulting Engineers, www.fidic.org. Model Public Works Contract. (1985). Ministerial Council Resolution No 136 dated 13/06/1408 Higra. Saudi Public Procurement Regulations. (1976). Royal Decree No 58 dated 4/09/1976.
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Abstract Reduction of Hot Asphalt Mixtures for the usage and development of sustainable supplementary Cold Asphalt Mixtures (CAM) for the construction of road and highway surface layers is a hot issue for researchers around the world. This will cover many gains in terms of: environment impact, cost effectiveness and energy saving. Furthermore, because CAM comprises a remarkable portion of industrial waste which is claiming virgin land for its disposal, it is attractive to road and highways authorities. The main aim of this investigation is the development of new Cold Rolled Asphalt (CRA) and improvement of its mechanical properties by using waste materials as mineral filler. The experimental results have shown a significant improvement in the stiffness modulus and creep stiffness with the new filler. Therefore, the new CRA mixture has comparative mechanical properties to that of conventional HRA, and demonstrates the feasibility of the use of CRA in road construction. Keywords: cold rolled asphalt, creep stiffness, indirect tensile stiffness, water sensitivity, waste materials.
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1. INTRODUCTION
Hot Rolled Asphalt (HRA) surface course is a continuous gap graded mixture of coarse aggregate, mineral filler, sand and bitumen. The mechanical properties of the mixture are controlled by the strength properties of the mastic i.e. mineral filler, sand and bitumen. The material is widely used for surfacing major roads in the United Kingdom because it provides a dense, impervious layer resulting in a weather resistant and durable surface able to sustain the demands of todays traffic loads, providing good resistance to fatigue cracking. However it may experience some weakness to deformation resistance (NICHOLLAS, 2004). Additionally, issues like safety and energy saving at work have encouraged efforts to introduce alternative method of using cold mixture technology, in which the production of bituminous mixtures are at ambient temperatures by utilising liquid asphalts (bitumen). Liquid bitumens are achieved by decreasing the straight run bitumen viscosity in several different ways. The bitumen emulsification is one of these methods and the decreasing of viscosity takes place by emulsifying the bitumen in water (THANAYA, 2003). Chevron Research Company in California after many research studies reported that full curing of cold bituminous mixtures on site depending on the weather conditions and curing times may extend from 2 24 months. Unfortunately, UK weather conditions are not assistant to decrease the curing time; humid, cold, and rainy most time of the year (LEECH, 1994). Besides being environmentally more friendly, energy saving, and safer to handle, there are a number of other gains in implementing cold bituminous emulsion mixtures. They are easier to mix and handle, the size and the time for process of installation (or reinstallation) of mixing plant is lesser and shorter respectively compared to a hot mix plant (NIKOLAIDES, 1994). Li et al. (Li, 1998) conducted experiments to assess the mechanical properties of a threephase cement-asphalt emulsion composite (CAEC). Through experimental study, they reported that CAEC possessed most of the characteristics of both cement and asphalt, namely the longer fatigue life and lower temperature susceptibility of cement concrete, and higher toughness and flexibility of asphalt concrete. There are several studies to improve mechanical properties of the cold mixes. Initial study conducted by Head in (1974) reported the results of research on cement modified asphalt cold mixes (HEAD, 1974). He showed that addition of cement had a very significant effect on mix stability; addition of 1% cement produced an increase in stability of 250300% over that of untreated samples. Specimens without cement immersed in water after stability tests disintegrated after 24 h, while cement-treated specimens indicated no deterioration. Pouliot et al. (Pouliot, 2003) aimed at understanding the hydration process, the microstructure, and the mechanical properties of mastics prepared with a new mixed
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binder made of cement slurry and a small quantity of asphalt emulsion (SS-1 and CSS-1). They showed that the cement hydration process was nominally influenced by the presence of a small quantity emulsion. They also indicated that mortars made with the cationic emulsion (CSS-1) revealed higher strengths and elastic modulus than mortars made with anionic emulsion (SS-1). Other study by Wang & Sha (2010) (WANG, 2010) indicated that the rise of cement and mineral filler fineness has a positive impact on micro hardness of the interface of aggregate and cement emulsion mortar. Moreover, they presented that the limestone and limestone filler impact hardness value are highly when compared with granite and granite filler. There are several attempts tried to use of waste and by-product materials to improve cold mixes, where four main benefits can be achieved when utilizing by-product materials on CBEMs. Firstly, improving mechanical properties, in general there will be an enhancement of ultimate strength due to the cementitous properties. Secondly, gaining economic benefit as the pozzolanic and cementitous materials used are mostly industrial by-products. Thirdly, trapped water could be reacted with these materials to complete the hydration process and the result is getting rid of this water which is the main reason of increasing the curing period in CMAs, and lastly, the ecological benefit factor. A research works implemented by Thanaya et al (THANAYA, 2006 ) indicated the suitability of using of Pulverised Fly Ash (PFA) as filler in cold mixes. Also they concluded that the stiffness of cold mix achieved is very comparable to hot mixtures at full curing conditions. It is believed that this study will add new contributions to improve CRA mechanical properties and water sensitivity through replacement of conventional filler by waste materials. The LJMU Filler i.e. LJMUF was used as replacement to conventional filler in the range from 0 to 6% by total weight of aggregate.
2. EXPERIMENTAL PROGRAM
2.1 Materials Properties The coarse and fine aggregate used in this study were crushed granite from Bardon Hill quarry and their physical properties are shown in table (1). Two types of filler were used in this study, traditional mineral filler (limestone dust) and LJMUF (waste material). The aggregate was dried, riffled and bagged with sieve analysis achieved in accordance with BS EN 933-1(BRITISH STANDARD INSTITUTION, 1997).
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Property Coarse aggregate Bulk specific gravity, g/cm3 3 Apparent specific gravity, g/cm Water absorption, % Fine aggregate Bulk specific gravity, g/cm 3 Apparent specific gravity, g/cm Water absorption, % Mineral filler 3 Specific Gravity, g/cm
Table 1: Physical Properties of Aggregates
3
The cationic slow setting bituminous emulsion (K3-60) supplied by Nynas was used to produce the new CRA to improve high adhesion between aggregate particles. In contrast, the 122 pen and 43 pen bitumen grades were used to produce two types of HRA. Table (2) shows the properties of the selected bituminous emulsion and bituminous binder.
2.2 Gradation of CRA and HRA The aggregate gradation of wholly mixtures (CRA and HRA mixtures) used in this study was based on BS EN 13108-4 (BRITISH STANDARD INSTITUTION, 2006) for HRA; 55/14C gap graded surface course mixture gradation has been used in this work. Table (3) shows the selected gradation.
Bitumen emulsion (K3-60) Property Value Black to dark brown liquid 100 C 1.05 64 Bituminous binder (40 60) Property Value Bituminous binder (100150) Property Value
Appearance
Appearance
Black
Appearance
Black
43 54 1.02
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20 100 100
14 98100 99
10 4263 52
6.3 -----
2 40 40
0.5 19 31 25
0.25 931 20
0.063 6 6
Table 3: Aggregate gradation for 55/14C Gap Graded Surface Course (BS EN 13108-4)
2.3 Preparation of CRA and HRA mixtures The design procedure for the new CRA mixtures used in this investigation was based on the method approved by the Asphalt Institute (Marshall Method for Emulsified Asphalt Aggregate Cold Mixture Design (MS-14)) (ASPHALT INSTITUTE, 1989). Firstly, different prewetting water contents (3, 4 and 5% by total weight of aggregate) were inspected to find the lowest percentage to ensure adequate coating. Secondly, the mix density test (dry density results) was used to determine the optimum total liquid content at compaction i.e. emulsion plus pre-wetting water contents which gives the highest mix density. Finally, indirect tensile strength test (soaked indirect tensile strength results) was used to determine the optimum residual bitumen content. According to the selected materials features, pre-wetting water content was observed to be 5%, the optimum total liquid content at compaction was 15.16% and the optimum residual bitumen content was 7% (bitumen emulsion content=10.94%). Different percentages of LJMUF (0, 1.5, 3, 4.5 and 6% by weight of aggregate) as a replacement of conventional mineral filler were used in preparation of the specimens of CRA mixtures. In contrast, conventional HRA mixture samples were prepared with the same aggregate type and gradation, 5.5% optimum binder content was used according to the BS 594987 Annex H (2010) (BRITISH STANDARD INSTITUTION, 2010) for the 55/14C Hot Rolled Asphalt surface course-design mixture. Both cold and hot mixes were prepared to produce three specimens for each specific mix. The cold mix specimens were mixed and compacted at lab temperature (20 C), while hot mix specimens were mixed at (150160 C) and compacted at (135140 C).
2.4 Curing of the CRA samples The conditioning of the CRA specimens is depending on the procedure adopted by the Asphalt Institute MS-14 (ASPHALT INSTITUTE, 1989). The curing process consists of two stages; the first stage was achieved with 24 hours at 20 C as the sample needs to be left in mould before being extruded to prevent specimen disintegration, whereas stage two was achieved with 24 hours at 40 C (the samples have been left in the ventilated oven). After these stages, the samples have been left in the lab (20 C) and tested at different ages i.e. 2, 7, 14 and 28 days to indicate the indirect tensile stiffness modulus. Jerkins (JERKINS, 2000) reported that 24 hour @ 20 C plus 24 hour @ 40 C represents 714 days in the field.
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3. TESTING
3.1 Indirect Tensile Stiffness Modulus ITSM is a non-destructive test mainly used to evaluate the stiffness modulus of hot mixes. As, bituminous mixtures are significantly sensitive to tensile stress than compressive stresses, thus tensile stiffness are normally investigated. However, indirect tensile stiffness modulus test is utilized to measuring small recoverable strains on bituminous sample and comprises a set of pulse loadings applied on two diametrically opposed generating lines of a cylindrical sample. The test is conducted in accordance with BS EN 12697-26:2004 (BRITISH STANDARD INSTITUTION, 2004), the Cooper Research Technology HYD 25 testing apparatus is used (Figure (1)), and the test conditions are shown in Table (4). The Indirect Tensile Stiffness Modulus has been used in this study as an indicator of the mechanical properties of the CRA incorporated LJMUF as well as the conventional HRA.
Item Specimen diameter mm Width of loading strip, mm Rise time, micro strain Transient peak horizontal deformation, m Load repetition, s Poissons ratio No. Of conditioning pulse No. of test pulse Test temperature C Specimen thickness mm Compaction effort, Marshall Hammer (blows) Specimen temp. conditioning
Figure 1: HYD 25 Indirect Tensile Apparatus
Range 1003 121 1244 52 30.1 0.35 10 5 20 0.5 633 502 4hr before testing
3.2 Uniaxial compressive cyclic test The Uniaxial Compressive Cyclic Test (UCCT) is a destructive test used mainly to evaluate the permanent deformation characteristics of hot mixes. UCCT at 40 C was used to evaluate the effect of addition LJMUF to CRA on creep stiffness. The test was conducted in accordance with BS EN 12697-25 (BRITISH STANDARD INSTITUTION, 2005), the Cooper Research Technology HYD 25 testing apparatus was used. The test conditions as in Table (5).
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Item Frequency Loads Loading pulse Rest period preloading Poissons ratio No.of test plus Test temperature C Specimen diameter Specimen thickness
Range 0.5 Hz 1002 KPa 10,05 s 10,05 s 10 KPa for 10 min 0.35 for 20 C test tem. 3600 40 0.5 1485 602 mm
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According to the ITSM results shown in figure (2) and (3), three points can be concluded: 1) the ITSM results of the CRA improved considerably when the percentage of replacement of LJMUF to the conventional filler increased; 2) the ITSM increased dramatically for all CRA mixtures with LJMUF with curing time especially for the higher percentages of LJMUF, whereas conventional HRA shows unnoticeable variations in ITSM with time; and 3) the 1941 MPa target ITSM i.e. the stiffness modulus of the 122 pen HRA can be achieved easily after two days for the CRA mixtures with 4.5% and 6% LJMUF and after about 8 days for the mixtures with 3% LJMUF.
4.2 Uniaxial Compressive Cyclic Test Results The results of the uniaxial compressive cyclic tests are given in Figures (57). The creep strain versus number of pulse applications, the ultimate creep stiffness and creep rate of mixtures with different LJMUF are shown in Figure (5), (6) and (7), respectively. Normally, creep stiffness is the applied test stress over the accumulative strain, while creep rate is the rate of increment in strain during the test between 12003600 pluses. These Figures reveal the positive effect of LJMUF on the creep properties of CRA; specimens with higher LJMUF content had significantly longer life under cyclic load creep test when compared to control specimens as well as with HRA Mixtures.
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Figure 5: Creep strain versus number of pulse applications of specimens with different % of LJMUF
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5. CONCLUSIONS
Replacement of conventional mineral filler in the conventional HMA granular mixture by LJMUF provides a general enhancement to the mechanical properties of the new CRA mixtures to a level that they are comparable with those of hot rolled asphalt mixtures. The main conclusions drawn from this investigation are as follows: 1. The replacement of conventional mineral filler by LJMUF into CRA mixtures improves significantly the ITSM results especially with higher percentages of filler replacement (4.5% and 6%). 2. The target ITSM value (i.e. stiffness modulus of 125 pen HRA) can be easily achieved by using the new CRA with 4.5% and 6% of LJMUF filler, and only after two days of curing. 3. The CRA mixtures with LJMUF filler can provide a stiffness modulus of more than nineteen times that of the control CRA mixtures at a curing time of two days. 4. The addition of LJMUF can also improve the permanent deformation resistance when compared to both control CRA and traditional HRA. The creep stiffness of CRA containing 3% LJMUF improved more than 6 times compared to the control CRA.
REFERENCES
ASPHALT INSTITUTE 1989. Asphalt Cold Mix Manual, manual series No.14 (MS-14). Maryland, USA. BRITISH STANDARD INSTITUTION 1997. BS EN 933-Part 1: Determination of partical size distribution-sieving method-Test for Geometrical Properties of Aggregate. London, UK. BRITISH STANDARD INSTITUTION 2004. BS EN 12697:Part 26.Bitumenous Mixtures-Test Methods for Hot Mix Asphalt- Stiffness. London, UK. BRITISH STANDARD INSTITUTION 2005. Bituminous mixtures Test methods for hot mix asphalt Part 25: Cyclic compression test. London, UK. BRITISH STANDARD INSTITUTION 2006. BS EN 13108: Part 4. Bituminous Mixtures Materials specification-Hot Rolled Asphalt. London, UK. BRITISH STANDARD INSTITUTION 2010. BS 594987: Asphalt for Roads and Other Paved Areas-Spacefication for Transport, Laying, Compaction and Type Testing Protocols. London, UK. HEAD, R. W. An informal report of cold mix research using emulsified asphalt as a binder. Association of Asphalt Paving Technologists Proceeding (AAPT), 1974. JERKINS, K. 2000. Mix design consedration s for cold and half-warm bitumious mixes with emphasis on foamed asphalt. PhD thesis, university of Stellenbosch. LEECH, D. 1994. Cold Bituminous Materials for Use in the Structural layers of Roads. Traspotation Research laboratory, Project Report 75, Uk. LI, G., ZHAO, Y., PANG, S., AND HUANG, W. 1998. Experimental study of Cement-Asphalt Emulsion Composite. Cement Concrete Research, 28 (5).
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Creative Construction Conference 2012 June 30 July 3, 2012, Budapest, Hungary NICHOLLAS, J. C. 2004. Asphalt Surfacings. In: TAYLOR AND FRANCIS E-LIBRARY (ed.). NIKOLAIDES, A. F. Construction and Performance of Dense Cold Bituminous Mixtures as Strengthening Over Layer and Surface Layer. Proceedings of the 1st European Symposium on Performance and Durability of Bituminous Materials, 1994 University of Leeds, London. POULIOT, N., MARCHAND, J. AND PIGEON, M. 2003. Hydration Mechanism, Microstructure, and Mechanical Properties of Mortars Prepared with Mixed Binder Cement Slurry-Asphalt Emulsion. Journal of Material of Civil Engineering, 15 (1). THANAYA, I., FORTH, P. AND ZOOROB, S. Utilisation of Coal Ashes in Hot and on Cold Bituminous Mixtures. International Coal Ash Technology conference, Paper ref. A9, 2006 Birmingham, UK. THANAYA, I. N. A. 2003. Improving the Performance of Cold Bituminous Emulsion Mixtures (CBEMs) Incorporating waste Materials. Ph D Thesis, University of Leeds, UK. WANG, Z. S., A. 2010. Micro hardness of interface between cement asphalt emulsion mastics and aggregates. Journal of Materials and Structures, vol.43, pp.453461.
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Abstract The objective of this study was to formulate a new cement replacement material without any burning process using fly ashes generated from incineration of domestic and industrial wastes. The strength development characteristics of two types of new ternary blended cementitious materials produced form three different types of fly ashes and silica fume was investigated in this study. The developed blended formulation showed versatility in terms of offering different grade mortar like conventional cement. Though the early strength was slightly lower than the control mortar but after 14 days of curing, the rate of strength development was higher than the control mortar in both types of products. The influence of water content, alkali activation, synthesis by water dispersing agent has also been analysed. The optimised blended mortar containing two different types of fly ashes synthesised with silica fume was reported to shows more compressive strength than the control cement mortar when dispersed with polycarboxylate based super plasticiser (SP) rather than NaOH activation. Key words: binder content, compressive strength, fly ashes, mortar, water/binder ratio.
1. INTRODUCTION
Wide acceptance of any supplementary cementitious material (SCM) is depending on successful symbiotic correlation among economical, technical and environmental benefits. The uses of various types of materials such as blast furnace slag (BFS), silica fume (SF), limestone, pulverised fuel ash etc., as SCM are widely accepted by specifiers. But globally the continuous upward growth trend of cement uses and its associated carbon emission demands more extensive research for replacing cement with SCM in bulk. The proportional reduction of strength of composite cement than that of control with replacement level of cement has been reported in various studies (S.Kenai et al., 2004; R.G. DSouza et al., 2007). At the same time blending cement with optimised amount of SF for producing high strength
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cement is widely accepted. The versatility in terms of different grade strength mortar or concrete with optimised mix proportion in association with economic or practical consideration will play a vital role in selecting a new cementitious material. B. B. Sabir, 1995 showed that addition of 28% SF with ordinary Portland cement (OPC) is able to generate 60% to 70% more strength than control. This beneficial effect of SF was due to creation of densified matrix in hydrated state for its super fineness and catalytic role in hydration reaction. The mechanical activation of supplementary materials for their higher reactivity is also very well known (P. Stellacci et al., 2009; R. Kumar et al., 2007; Z. Sekulic et al., 1999; S. Rukzon et al., 2009). However in the course of this study, three types of activated fly ashes synthesised with SF has been scheduled to produce two types of cementitious materials for full replacement of OPC. The physical, chemical and mineralogical characterisation as well as optimisation of mix matrix and sensitivity towards water/binder ratio of the developed product has been characterised in this paper for achieving highest strength from these new cementless cementitious materials.
2. MATERIALS
Three types of by product fly ashes FA1, FA2 and FA3; originating from three different industrial sources (incinerated domestic and industrial wastes) has been collected and used for formulation of new products at laboratory scale. The source materials of said fly ashes were different and resulting after combustion between 700C to 1200C in their industrial operation using fluidized bed combustion system. Fluidized beds use calcium hydroxide and activated carbon to capture sulphur and nitric oxide (NOx) released during combustion. The chemical and mineralogical analysis of fly ashes has been illustrated in table 1 and figure 1. Commercially available silica fume and Portland composite cement type CEM-II/A/LL 42.5-N have been used throughout the research. Sand passing through 2 mm sieve was adopted for making mortar sample. Liquid Sodium hydroxide (NaOH) alkali waste generated from acid neutralization plant containing 8% NaOH in water has been collected for using as alkali activator and polycarboxylate based super plasticiser (SP) has been used for higher dispersion of fly ashes and SF.
3. CHARACTERISATION OF MATERIALS
3.1 Method The elemental composition of used materials (major oxides and trace elements) have been determined by Shimadzu EDX 720, energy dispersive X-ray fluorescence (EDXRF) spectrometer and mineralogical characterisation were carried out by x-ray diffraction (XRD) using a Rigaku Miniflex diffractometer (Miniflex gonimeter) with CuK X-ray radiation, voltage 30 kV, and current 15 mA at scanning speed of 2.0deg./min in continuous scan mode. Beckmen coulter laser diffraction particle size analyser has been used for determining the
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particle size distribution (PSD) of normal and activated fly ash particles in aqueous liquid module (ALM) mode. The external surface area of particles in liquid mode has also been measured in ALM mode and expressed in terms of m2/lit. NOVA 2000 Brunauer, Emmett and Teller (BET) analyser has been used to measure the specific surface area (SSA) of fly ashes. NOVA 2000 uses gas sorption techniques to obtain information about the surface area (external and internal) and density of the materials in dry state. Scan electron microscope (SEM) in association with energy dispersive spectrometer (EDS) has been utilised for microstructural analysis .The aqueous solution of the fly ash or bound material (1 part with 5 part distilled water stirred for 30 minutes) has been used for measuring pH at 20C.
3.2 Physical and chemical properties The chemical composition of individual constituents (FA1, FA2, FA3 and SF) has been tabulated in table 1. All fly ash particles have been mechanically activated by grinding with a mortar and pestle grinder (Low energy intensive agitation, 1 horse power motor with 2.5 litre bowl capacity with 250 gm/batch). The physical modification in terms of specific surface area (SSA), particle size, density for the comminution has been tabulated in table 2. The increase in BET fineness and density for grinding fly ash samples (except FA3) after grinding will provide more exposed surface to participate in to hydration in association with dense interlocking.
pH
CaO
SiO2
Al2O3
MgO
Fe2O3
SO3
Cl
K2 O
TiO2
ZnO
LoI
3.7 3.0 -
0.35 8.7 -
5.3 -
1.1 -
D50 m OPC FA1 Normal FA1 Ground FA2 Normal FA2 Ground FA3 Normal FA3 Ground 13.3 86.8 3.82 62.8 15.8 40.0 21.6
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Initially for activating FA1 by FA2 or FA3 in binary blends, the optimum mix proportion (based on 28 day mortar compressive strength of binary blend) of FA1:FA2 or FA1:FA3 was identified as 3:1 in both cases. The use of SF as a cement replacement for high strength concrete is widely used. But there is strong disagreement regarding the dosage of SF. Previous study showed the optimum SF replacement should be in the range from 15% to 30% (H. A. Toutanji et al., 1995; V. Yogendran et al., 1987; E. Rasa et al., 2009). Rasa et al. also concluded that the optimum content of silica fume increases with increasing the value of the water-cementitious materials ratio, while the corresponding compressive strength decreases. Based on Rasa et al. study and in order to achieve a hundred per cent cement replacement which is the core objective of this current study, initially 20% SF has been used in the new blends for FA1, FA2 and FA3. Hence the mix proportions (FA1:FA2: SF or FA1:FA3: SF) of the two the new blends entitled in this study as HSC-3 and HSC-4 respectively were selected as 3:1:1. Both blends contain individually mechanically activated fly ashes. The detail compositional matrix of HSC3 and HSC-4 has been tabulated in table 3. The comparative PSD, physical and chemical analysis of the two blends and the reference OPC cement have been shown in figure 1 and table 3. The PSD of HSC-3 is very similar to OPC whereas the HSC-4 shows slightly coarser grain size than OPC. Though both blended products have very analogous chemical composition in terms of major oxides but the disparity in terms of SO3, K2O, Fe2O3 and ZnO contents and fineness will influence the hydration kinetics upon mixing with water among the two blends. The sulphate and chloride content in both blends are within the specified limit mentioned in BS EN 197-1.
Individually mechanically activated FA1 HSC-3 HSC-4 Control 60% 60% FA2 20% FA3 20% SF 20% 20% OPC 100%
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OPC pH Na2O CaO SiO2 Al2O3 MgO Fe2O3 SO3 Cl K2O TiO2 ZnO CaO/SiO2 [BS EN requirement>2] SiO2+Al2O3+Fe2O3 Na2O-equ [%] 12.5 1.5 62.58 25.06 2.26 1.59 1.82 1.92 0.75 0.40 0.03 2.49 29.14 2.0
HSC-3 12.80 1.8 45.15 31.19 3.49 2.17 0.44 3.5 0.5 3.71 0.33 0.07 0.87 35.12 4.2
HSC-4 12.62 1.7 42.21 47.85 7.41 2.49 0.89 0.71 0.93 0.25 0.88 56.15 2.1
Table 4: Comparative EDXRF analysis of new dry blended products and cement
Figure 2: XRD powder diffraction pattern of new blended products and OPC[calcite-C, gehlinite-G, lime-L, larniteLa, arcanite-A, pervoskite-P, alite-Al, ferrite-F]
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The major crystal peaks identified in powder diffraction analysis of HSC-3 and HSC-4 (figure 2) were calcite (CaCO3), gehlinite (CaAl[AlSiO7]), lime (CaO), pervoskite (CaTiO3) and larnite (Ca2SiO4). The presence of arcanite (K2SO4) in HSC-3 is due to the tied up of K2O and SO3 of FA2 and application of FGD gypsum as grinding aid (GA) during comminution of FA1 and FA2 used in this blend.The major peaks identified in control OPC were alite (Ca3SiO5 ), larnite, calcite and ferrite [Ca2(Al,Fe)2O5].
4. SAMPLE PREPARATION
100 mm test specimens have been prepared in Hobart mixer .The samples were demolded after 24 hour and kept in sealed humid environment at 20C for testing at designated period. Control AUTOMAX5 automatic compression tester has been used for determining the strength of mortar cubes at designated time with 0.2MPa/sec loading rate. The average strength value of four specimens prepared for; i) any binder content ii) water content and iii) age were taken for analysis throughout the study.
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Strength of a fully compacted concrete or mortar at a given age may be estimated by the well-known Abrams law which states that the strength of concrete is inversely proportional to the water-cement ratio. From various studies it has also been found that, not only the water-cement ratio (w/c) influences the compressive strength, but also affected by the content of other constituents of the concrete (S. Popovics, 1990; F. A.Oluokun, 1994; M.Ozturan et al., 2008). The other constituents might be binder content (generally OPC), aggregates (sand and stone) and plasticiser (retarder, air entraining or water reducer etc.). The selection of concrete proportions involves a balance between economy and requirements of workability, strength requirement, durability, density, and appearance. These multi- dimensional characteristics of conventional cement makes it very versatile. For comparing the behaviour offered by the developed HSC-3 and control mortars; the strength development of the blend have been analysed at following multi-dimensional environment: at various water-binder ratio (starting from 0.40 to 0.60) at various binder and sand content (starting form binder: sand ratio of 1: 3 to 1: 1) with and without plasticiser (1.5% polycarboxylate super plasticiser, SP) with and without 2% (of binder) NaOH alkaline activator For comparing purpose, the strength at 14 days offered by HSC-3 using 2% NaOH alkaline activator has been analysed. From figure 4 it can be stated that in all cases of binder content except 620kg/cum (binder: sand ratio of 1:2.5), HSC-3 mortar shows highest strength at water/binder ratio of 0.45. Among all mix proportions, the mortar mixed at 1:2.25 (HSC-3 content of 690kg/m3) showed highest strength development at 14 days. The compressive strength of HSC-3 mortar does not linearly vary with binder content and water content. Similar results were identified by C Chee Ban et al., 2010. In case of control mortar though the strength was linearly varies with water content but not with the cement content as shown in figure 5. The optimum water/cement ratio of 0.35 and mix proportion of 1:1 was identified for control.
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Figure 4: Strength profile of HSC-3 at varying water / binder and binder/sand ratio
Figure 5: Strength profile of control mortar at varying water / binder and binder/sand ratio
5.1 Mortar and paste strength Analysing the paste and mortar strength offered by any cementitious material is an important tool for characterising its behaviour in hydrated state. The mortar of new blended product shows higher strength development than its paste while using NaOH or super plasticiser (SP) as shown in figure 6 .The improved bond strength between binder paste and aggregate rather than binder paste matrix showed by HSC-3 is in contrast with control. In case of control mortar, the presence of weak interfacial zone is liable to show lower strength
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than its paste. But, in HSC-3 mortar, the presence of silica fume eliminates this weak link by strengthening the binder paste-aggregate bond and forming a less porous and more homogeneous microstructure in the inter-facial region thus produce higher mortar strength (H. A. Toutanji et al., 1995). For this reason the mortars compressive strength increases linearly with the increase of cement content in case of cement but not for new blends. Based on this characteristic of cement and for practical consideration; the cement: sand ratio of 1:2.25 at water/cement ratio of 0.35 has been used in preparing the control mortar for comparing purpose in this study.
5.2 Influence of water/binder ratio Abrams law is a very effective instrument for establishing relationship between compressive strength and water/cement ratio of pure cement mix at given age. But for supplementary cementitious materials especially in case of 100% cement replaced by other pozzolanic materials, the water/cement ratio law demands calibration. Analysing different samples at optimum binder: sand ratio of 1:2.25 as shown in figure 7, it can be concluded that for the developed products HSC-3 and HSC-4, the Abrams law is applicable at water/binder ratio more than 0.4. G Appa Rao, 2001 also observed similar characteristics in the range of very low and very high strength mortars using 43 grade cement. In case of every mix proportions falling in the range of 1: 3 to 1:2; Rao observed that water/cement ratio of 0.35 offer highest strength. The generalised relationship between strength at 14 day (S14) and water /binder (w/b) ratio for the developed blends HSC-3 and HSC-4 can be written by following equation (1) and equation (2) respectively. S14 = 14.221 (w/b)1.318 (1) S14= 9.366 (w/b)1.325 (2)
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5.3 Alkali activation versus water disparsing plasticiser For quantifying the effectiveness of using NaOH as an actvator and superplasticiser (SP), two types of mortar specimens of HSC-3 have been prepared using 2% NaOH and 1.5% SP (of binder) respectively.Cement paste containg 10% SF was reported to show highest compressive strength when induced by 1.5% SP (M. HeikaL et al.,2006). The average strength development at different ages has been illustarted in figure 8. From figure 8 it can be concluded that dispersing SF and fly ash particles is more effective than NaOH alkali activation of fly ashes used in the new blend.
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690
690
690
1.5% 1.5%
52
53
7. CONCLUSION
New two cementless blends have been developed using byproduct fly ashes generated from electric power plants through the incinaration of domestic and industrial wastes. Both blends showed similar physical and chemical properties to conventional cement with lower sulphate and chloride contents HSC-3 blended formulation showed a similar versatality to reference cment by producing different grade mortar at varying binder and water content The new blend (HSC-3) showed an improved bond strength between binder paste and aggregate rather than binder paste matrix as the case in the control cement paste Dispersing the fly ashes and silica fume particles within the mortars produced by adding polycarboxylate based plasticiser was found more effective in improving the products compressive strength compared with the use of alkali activation
Currently the authors are engaged in further research activities to address the following issues: Investigating the conformity of the new cementitious products to the criterion of cement mentioned in BS EN 197
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