Rania Fayed

Abstract

One of the most complex construction projects is electrical substations. An electrical substation is an auxiliary station of an electricity generation, transmission and distribution system where voltage is transformed from high to low or the reverse using transformers. Construction of electrical substation includes civil works and electromechanical works. The scope of civil works includes construction of several buildings/components divided into parallel and overlapped working phases that require variety of resources and are generally quite costly and consume a considerable amount of time. Therefore, construction of substations faces complicated time-cost-resource optimization problems. On another hand, the construction industry is turning out to be progressively competitive throughout the years, whereby the need to persistently discover approaches to enhance construction performance. To address the previously stated afflictions, this dissertation makes the underlying strides and introduces a simulation and optimization model for the execution processes of civil works for an electrical substation based on database excel file for input data entry. The input data include bill of quantities, maximum available resources, production rates, unit cost of resources and indirect cost. The model is built on Anylogic software using discrete event simulation method. The model is divided into three zones working in parallel to each other. Each zone includes a group of buildings related to the same construction area. Each zone-model describes the execution process schedule for each building in the zone, the time consumed, percentage of utilization of equipment and manpower crews, amount of materials consumed and total direct and indirect cost. The model is then optimized to mainly minimize the project duration using parameter variation experiment and genetic algorithm java code implemented using Anylogic platform. The model used allocated resource parameters as decision variables and available resources as constraints. The model is verified on real case studies in Egypt and sensitivity analysis studies are incorporated. The model is also validated using a real case study and proves its efficiency by attaining a reduction in model time units between simulation and optimization experiments of 10.25% and reduction in total cost of 4.7%. Also, by comparing the optimization results by the actual data of the case study, the model attains a reduction in time and cost by 13.6% and 6.3% respectively. An analysis to determine the effect of each resource on reduction in cost is also presented.

Department

Construction Engineering Department

Graduation Date

2-1-2017

Submission Date

January 2017

First Advisor

Ezeldin, A. Samer

Committee Member 1

Hosny, Ossama

Committee Member 2

Nassar, Khaled

Extent

279 p.

Document Type

Doctoral Dissertation

Rights

The author retains all rights with regard to copyright. The author certifies that written permission from the owner(s) of third-party copyrighted matter included in the thesis, dissertation, paper, or record of study has been obtained. The author further certifies that IRB approval has been obtained for this thesis, or that IRB approval is not necessary for this thesis. Insofar as this thesis, dissertation, paper, or record of study is an educational record as defined in the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) (20 USC 1232g), the author has granted consent to disclosure of it to anyone who requests a copy.

Institutional Review Board (IRB) Approval

Not necessary for this item

Comments

I wish to express my deepest gratitude and sincere appreciation to my supervisor Dr. A. Samer Ezeldin, for his unconditional support, valuable advice, constructive guidance and encouragement throughout all stages of this study. His effort and suggestions to improve the contents of this thesis are greatly appreciated. It has been an honor to work under his direction. I would also like to extend my gratitude to the other members of my advising committee, Dr. Khaled Nassar and Dr. Osama Hosny. I truly appreciate their valuable assistance and sincere guidance. The knowledge and input I learnt from my committee members and their courses have provided profundity and richness to this research. I would also like to express appreciation to each of my committee members for the time and effort they gave to my comprehensive and final defense. I would like to express my sincere thanks to Senior Java Developer Eng. Omar Elzeki for his technical support and extensive assistance. I would like also to express my sincere thanks to my colleagues in PGESCo, Egymac and Orascom companies for their technical support and information feed at all stages during the research. I really appreciate their efforts and support. I am grateful and will always be indebted to my parents, specially, my father who always encouraged me, believed in me and provided unlimited support during the course of this study. Through my work with him, he gave me a great opportunity to gain large experience, collect data and learn a lot in my practical field which made a good background for me, that helped me in my research.

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