Optimization of environmental impacts of construction projects: a time–cost–quality trade-off approach

Author(s):  
S. A. Banihashemi ◽  
Mohammad Khalilzadeh ◽  
A. Shahraki ◽  
M. Rostami Malkhalifeh ◽  
S. S. R. Ahmadizadeh
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (19) ◽  
pp. 10922
Author(s):  
Sayyid Ali Banihashemi ◽  
Mohammad Khalilzadeh ◽  
Edmundas Kazimieras Zavadskas ◽  
Jurgita Antucheviciene

Currently, construction projects have a significant share in environmental pollution. Usually, the employers and managers of construction projects pay attention to the project implementation with the shortest duration and the lowest cost, whereas less attention is paid to the environmental effects of the implementation of projects. Sustainable development requires the planning and implementation of construction projects, taking environmental impacts, along with other factors, into account. Few studies have investigated the balancing time, cost, and environmental effects. Although the selection of an execution method for the project activity requires the use of decision-making methods, these methods have not been used in the project scheduling problems. This study seeks to simultaneously minimize the project time, cost, and environmental impacts. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the environmental impact of project activities in three physical, biological, and social aspects throughout the construction projects, and to attempt to minimize them as measurable values. In this paper, the environmental effects of an urban water supply construction project as a real case study are assessed in different activity execution modes by the Leopold matrix and the best execution mode of each project activity is selected using the CoCoSo (combined compromise solution) multi-criteria decision-making method, considering the time–cost-environmental impact trade-off. The CoCoSo method is employed because of its high flexibility compared to other multi-criteria decision-making methods. The results of this study will direct managers and stakeholders of construction projects to pay more attention to the environmental effects of construction project activities, together with the other conventional project goals and objectives, such as the time and cost.


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.


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.


Author(s):  
Ashish Sharma

Abstract: In every construction project, the time and cost are the two most important objectives/factors to be considered. Clients and contractors should strive to optimize the project time and cost to maximize the return. Resources are also one of the major constraints of the construction projects. In recent years, several studies have been conducted to optimize the time and cost of project under constraint conditions of resources. Since most studies assume the time and cost as deterministic parameters, uncertainties should be considered in estimating the time and cost of the project's activities when minimizing the duration and cost of the project. For this purpose, this paper embeds the fuzzy logic to handle the uncertainties in estimating the time and cost. Besides, the multi-objective genetic algorithm (MOGA) is used to develop the resourceconstrained time-cost trade-off model. Alpha-cut approach is utilized to define the accepted risk level of decision maker. The efficiency of the proposed model is demonstrated through solvinga case study project of highway construction. The results of case study project provide a set of Pareto-optimal solutions. The developed model encourage the decision making process by choosing specified risk levels and utilizing the related Pareto-front. Keywords: Construction projects, time-cost trade-off, uncertainties, fuzzy logic, MOGA,Pareto-optimal solution.


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