NSGA-III-Based Time–Cost–Environmental Impact Trade-Off Optimization Model for Construction Projects

Author(s):  
Aditi Tiwari ◽  
Kamal Sharma ◽  
Manoj Kumar Trivedi
2019 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Tianqi Wang ◽  
Moatassem Abdallah ◽  
Caroline Clevenger ◽  
Shahryar Monghasemi

Purpose Achieving project objectives in constructionprojects such as time, cost and quality is a challenging task. Minimizing project cost often results in additional project duration and might jeopardize quality, and minimizing project duration often results in additional cost and might jeopardize quality. Also, increasing construction quality often results in additional cost and time. The purpose of this paper is to identify and analyze trade-offs among the project objectives of time, cost and quality. Design/methodology/approach The optimization model adopted a quantitative research method and is developed in two main steps formulation step that focuses on identifying model decision variables and formulating objective functions, and implementation step that executes the model computations using multi-objective optimization of Non-Dominated Sorting Genetic Algorithms to identify the aforementioned trade-offs, and codes the model using python. The model performance is verified and tested using a case study of construction project consisting of 20 activities. Findings The model was able to show practical and needed value for construction managers by identifying various trade-off solutions between the project objectives of time, cost and quality. For example, the model was able to identify the shortest project duration at 84 days while keeping cost under $440,000 and quality higher than 85 percent. However, with an additional budget of $20,000 (4.5 percent increase), the quality can be increased to 0.935 (8.5 percent improvement). Research limitations/implications The present research work is limited to project objectives of time, cost and quality. Future expansion of the model will focus on additional project objectives such as safety and sustainability. Furthermore, new optimization models can be developed for construction projects with repetitive nature such as roads, tunnels and high rise buildings. Practical implications The present model advances existing research in planning construction projects efficiently and achieving important project objectives. On the practical side, the optimization model will support the construction industry by allowing construction managers to identify the highest quality to deliver a construction project within specified budget and duration, lowest cost for specified duration and quality or shortest duration for specified budget and quality. Originality/value The present model introduces new and innovative method of increasing working hours per day and number of working days per shift while analyzing labor working efficiency and overtime rate to identify optimal trade-offs among important project objectives of time, cost and quality.


2019 ◽  
Vol 2019 ◽  
pp. 1-7 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Ammar Alzarrad ◽  
Gary P. Moynihan ◽  
Muhammad T. Hatamleh ◽  
Siyuan Song

As is often the case in project scheduling, when the project duration is shortened to decrease total cost, the total float is lost resulting in added critical or nearly critical activities. This, in turn, results in decreasing the probability of completing the project on time and increases the risk of schedule delays. To solve this problem, this research developed a fuzzy multicriteria decision-making (FMCDM) model. The objective of this model is to help project managers improve their decisions regarding time-cost-risk trade-offs (TCRTO) in construction projects. In this model, an optimization algorithm based on fuzzy logic and analytic hierarchy process (AHP) has been used to analyze the time-cost-risk trade-off alternatives and select the best one based on selected criteria. The algorithm was implemented in the MATLAB software and applied to two case studies to verify and validate the presented model. The presented FMCDM model could help produce a more reliable schedule and mitigate the risk of projects running overbudget or behind schedule. Further, this model is a powerful decision-making instrument to help managers reduce uncertainties and improve the accuracy of time-cost-risk trade-offs. The presented FMCDM model employed fuzzy linguistic terms, which provide decision-makers with the opportunity to give their judgments as intervals comparing to fixed value judgments. In conclusion, the presented FMCDM model has high robustness, and it is an attractive alternative to the traditional methods to solve the time-cost-risk trade-off problem in construction.


Author(s):  
S. A. Banihashemi ◽  
Mohammad Khalilzadeh ◽  
A. Shahraki ◽  
M. Rostami Malkhalifeh ◽  
S. S. R. Ahmadizadeh

2012 ◽  
Vol 433-440 ◽  
pp. 5746-5752 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hadi Mokhtari ◽  
Ali Salmasnia ◽  
Mahdi Bastan

Time, cost and quality are crucial aspects of each project and tradeoff among them is important for improvement of the overall performance of industrial and construction projects. In this paper we suggest that the quality is added into the traditional time-cost trade-off problem (TCTP) and develop a three dimensional time, cost and quality trade-off problem (TCQTP) with some realistic assumptions. To the best of our knowledge this problem has not been extensively treated in literature yet. In order to deal with the suggested stochastic TCQTP, a statistical robust solution method is adapted in which not only the correlations among objectives are considered but also the variance of objectives is minimized. A computational study on an illustrative example is done and the results support the applicability and reliability of the suggested model.


Symmetry ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (12) ◽  
pp. 2402
Author(s):  
Omid Kebriyaii ◽  
Ali Heidari ◽  
Mohammad Khalilzadeh ◽  
Jurgita Antucheviciene ◽  
Miroslavas Pavlovskis

Time, cost, and quality have been known as the project iron triangles and substantial factors in construction projects. Several studies have been conducted on time-cost-quality trade-off problems so far, however, none of them has considered the time value of money. In this paper, a multi-objective mathematical programming model is developed for time-cost-quality trade-off scheduling problems in construction projects considering the time value of money, since the time value of money, which is decreased during a long period of time, is a very important matter. Three objective functions of time, cost, and quality are taken into consideration. The cost objective function includes holding cost and negative cash flows. In this model, the net present value (NPV) of negative cash flow is calculated considering the costs of non-renewable (consumable) and renewable resources in each time period of executing activities, which can be mentioned as the other contribution of this study. Then, three metaheuristic algorithms including multi-objective grey wolf optimizer (MOGWO), non-dominated sorting genetic algorithm (NSGA-II), and multi-objective particle swarm optimization (MOPSO) are applied, and their performance is evaluated using six metrics introduced in the literature. Finally, a bridge construction project is considered as a real case study. The findings show that considering the time value of money can prevent cost overrun in projects. Additionally, the results indicate that the MOGWO algorithm outperforms the NSGA-II and MOPSO algorithms.


Buildings ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (9) ◽  
pp. 387
Author(s):  
Sayyid Ali Banihashemi ◽  
Mohammad Khalilzadeh ◽  
Jurgita Antucheviciene ◽  
Jonas Šaparauskas

The increasing number of construction projects together with the limited resources of organizations led to tough competition for achieving project goals. Time, cost, and quality have been known as the project iron triangle. Project managers attempt to allocate the appropriate resources and make the best decisions for accomplishing projects with the shortest durations, lowest costs, and the highest quality. No study has examined the time–cost–quality trade-off problem with decision-making approaches. In this study, the fuzzy multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) methods are exploited to choose the best mode for performing each activity. For this purpose, the SWARA method is applied to determine the importance weights of time, cost, and quality. In addition, the TOPSIS (Technique for the Order Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution) technique is used to rank and select the best activity execution modes. The proposed model is implemented on two medium- and large-size construction projects to evaluate its efficiency. Several execution modes with fuzzy duration, cost, and quality are considered for each project activity. Finally, sensitivity analysis is conducted taking three different conditions into account: the shortest duration of the execution modes, the lowest cost of the execution modes, and the highest quality of execution modes for each activity. The solution of each trade-off is compared with the solution obtained from the fuzzy SWARA–TOPSIS method. The schedule is developed according to the best execution mode for each project activity. The obtained results in two different construction projects show significant improvements in the overall project objectives so that the projects can be completed in fewer durations and costs along with higher quality. Because of the higher importance of cost, the cost of each activity is closer to the lowest cost. The activity duration is also closer to the most likely duration, and quality is closer to the high-quality level. The application of this approach can create new opportunities for research and knowledge development in the field of construction project scheduling.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document