Award Date

December 2019

Degree Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science in Engineering (MSE)

Department

Civil and Environmental Engineering and Construction

First Committee Member

Jin Ouk Choi

Second Committee Member

Moses Karakouzian

Third Committee Member

Jee Woong Park

Fourth Committee Member

Eric Weber

Number of Pages

133

Abstract

The use of a 4D schedule as technological advancement has brought significant improvement to the planning and execution of construction projects, through visualizing stepwise construction progress, following a sequence of pre-planned activities, and finalizing a baseline schedule with necessary changes. Moreover, the application of virtual reality (VR) to create interactive 3D models of a planned structure has made it possible to make a detailed planning of any construction project. Because of these benefits, the use of 4D schedules and VR in the construction industry has increased drastically, leading to improved planning and execution. However, past studies have given little attention to the applications of such technologies on modular projects. Therefore, this study attempts to analyze the benefits and effectiveness of combining and utilizing a 4D schedule along with VR on modular projects. This study is based on an actual modular house that is currently being executed, in 2019, at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, for the Solar Decathlon 2020 competition.

In this study, a 4D schedule was developed by combining a developed 3D model with a project schedule. Additionally, the 4D model in Revit was converted to VR using the Revit plugin - EnscapeTM. This study used VR model visualization followed by a questionnaire survey that included 31 participants (students). The survey questionnaires were used to compare the effectiveness of the developed 4D schedule and VR model with a 2D drawing and project schedule. The survey was divided into two parts: the first part required participants to schedule the assembly sequence of the models with the help of a 2D drawing and project schedule once, and then again with the 4D schedule and VR; the second part contained comparisons of a 2D drawing and project schedule with a 4D schedule and VR on six different topics. Results showed that in all six topics, participants agreed that a 4D schedule and VR were more effective than a 2D drawing and project schedule; however, from the open-ended questions provided to the participants at the end, it was noted that for a first-time user, 4D scheduling and VR are difficult to use. Additionally, responses on ten direct comparison topics further showed the benefits of the 4D schedule and VR. Further, the survey results show that the use of a 4D schedule and VR, with proper training, is more effective in the construction planning and execution of modular projects. These findings suggest that the implementation of 4D and VR technologies would enhance the fabrication and assembly of modules in the modular construction industry. Thus, this study encouraged the practitioners and educators in the modular construction industry to use a 4D schedule and VR, based on its success with students.

Keywords

4D Schedule; Modular Construction; Solar Decathlon; Virtual Reality

Disciplines

Civil Engineering

File Format

pdf

File Size

5.1 MB

Degree Grantor

University of Nevada, Las Vegas

Language

English

Rights

IN COPYRIGHT. For more information about this rights statement, please visit http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/

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