The Development of Automated Code Compliance Checking System in Ontario
For construction projects, the compliance checking of the project design against building codes and regulations is one of the most essential processes during project planning. Traditionally, this process is performed manually on drawings and design specification documents, which is rather laborious, cumbersome, and error-prone. The need for permitting process advancement and optimization has been echoed in recent years by the industry, but research effort on such area is lacking. Therefore, this research is conducted to develop and validate a framework for BIM-enable automated code checking to inform the local municipalities of the potential of transitioning to automated code checking from manual code examination. The proposed framework has the potential to be extended to and adopted by other regions in Canada.
Safety Culture and Performance Benchmarking
The safety performance in the construction industry has reached a plateau in many regions. To unceasingly improve the safety performance on construction sites, this research uses statistical modeling techniques and machine learning approaches to identify, compare, and rank key indicators of safety outcomes in different construction sectors or locales. Based on that, a safety culture and performance benchmarking tool will be developed for safety professionals to better understand and monitor the safety culture and performance in their organization. Once completed, this research will suggest efficient safety management strategies and facilitate safety improvement.
BIM-DRIVEN SPATIAL PLANNING AND PERMITTING EFFICIENCIES FOR MUNICIPALITIES
Municipalities are moving towards replacing paper-based permit processes with e-permitting solutions to increase efficiencies; reduce turn-around time, and eliminate heavy paper trails. Based on the technological advancements in the AEC industry and their potential benefits during the permitting process, a framework was previously developed as a roadmap for municipalities contemplating the adoption. The present work will investigate the disruptive organizational changes that municipalities will experience while adopting different levels of e-permitting. In addition, the integration of BIM and GIS and its potential benefits in permitting practices will be explored in greater detail.
Municipal Permitting Systems and Processes
As municipalities across Ontario grow and densify the increasing number and complexity of permits creates many new challenges and often result in lengthy delays. The current status of municipal permitting needs to be understood to address these challenges and identify the role that new, innovative technologies have in resolving these issues. This research aims to analyze permitting durations, determine trends in permitting data, investigate relationships between permitting statistics and economic factors, and outline considerations that municipalities should take into account before transitioning to electronic permitting systems.
Automated Progress Tracking of Construction Projects
Owing to the inefficiencies in the construction industry and the increasing complexity of construction projects, projects may become more susceptible to cost overruns, delays, and disputes which threaten their success. In light of this, approaches for automated progress tracking can be used in the site-to-BIM data transfer to facilitate the early detection of performance deviations and update of work progress. While automated progress tracking has been widely researched, high accuracy and full automation have not been achieved. This research investigates opportunities for improved progress tracking capabilities to support an efficient project management process.
Knowledge Representation and Artificial Intelligence in Management of Megaprojects
The project is aimed at capturing the probabilistic dependencies of project variables by creating an intelligent decision-making model, and a knowledge base that contains expert inputs and historic data. Therefore, the project is incorporating several topics including “Knowledge Representation”, “Graph Data Structures”, and “Artificial Intelligence”, and “Probabilistic Graphical Models” all in the context of application in management and forecasting of industrial megaprojects. This research is primarily focused on mining and energy sectors, with the potential future integration with infrastructures.
Autonomous Navigation of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles in Indoor Construction Environments
Despite advances in automatic indoor progress monitoring and quality control using images, the required visual data is still captured manually. To reduce manual non-value-added activities, this research offers using an autonomous camera-equipped UAV as a mobility platform for automated visual data collection in indoor built environments. This requires an integrated approach to perception, state estimation, planning, and control. With a focus on state estimation, this research investigates fusing data from on-board sensors and the retrieved spatiotemporal information in a 4D BIM for autonomous navigation of UAVs in GPS-denied and ever-changing indoor construction environments.
Reported Safety Incidents in Construction
This project focuses on investigating the characterizations of more than one thousand incidents records from the different construction sites during a year. Information such as the trade of the worker, the type of the construction site, and the consequences are analyzed in detail. Among those records, near misses and injury records are studied separately, and a comparison between them is conducted. Different from the surveys that have been distributed and collected during the past few years, this data is more official rather than self-reported. Correlation between the incident records and safety outcome results derived from available surveys are also explored and explained.
BIM Adoption in Canada
The research aims to capture the state of BIM implementation in Canada and identify the gaps and barriers ahead. This is achieved through a nationwide survey of professionals in the AEC/FM industries of Canada. The results of the analysis will be disseminated through an industry report. Finally, it is investigated how state-of-the-art visualization technologies, mainly virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR), can facilitate BIM adoption across the industry.
Cladding Systems in Tall Residential Buildings
The research was focused on analyzing the performance and policy regarding glass cladding systems. I conducted an in-depth comparison between Curtain Walls and Window walls, and also reviewed the effects of the Window-to-Wall Ratio on Liveability, energy efficiency and comfort for Tall Residential Buildings.
Related Publications
Policy and Performance Evaluation of Cladding System with Large Window Areas in Tall Residential Buildings
2019 CSCE 2019 Laval: Growing with Youth
Marquis, P., McCabe, B.Y., Shahi, A., De Berardis, P., Lyall, R.
Window Wall and Curtain Wall: An Objective Review
May 31, 2017 CSCE 2017 Vancouver: Leadership in Sustainable Infrastructure conference
Marquis, P., Ali, H., Mirhadi, F., McCabe, B.Y., Shahi, A., De Berardis, P., Lyall, R.
Marquis, P., Ali, H., Mirhadi, F., McCabe, B.Y., Shahi, A., De Berardis, P., Lyall, R.
Challenges of Site Logistics for Tall Building Construction
Jun 1, 2016 CSCE 2016 London: Resilient Infrastructure
Ali, H., Marquis, P., McCabe, B., Shahi, A., Lyall, R., Francavilla, J.
Ali, H., Marquis, P., McCabe, B., Shahi, A., Lyall, R., Francavilla, J.
Applications of blockchain and smart contacts in construction industry