An integrated system to aid the planning of concrete structures: introducing the system

摘要

This paper reports on the development at Loughborough University of a CAD-based integ­rated model to aid the planning of in-situ concrete structures. The system development started after a review of the planning models currently available and after a detailed questionnaire survey undertaken amongst the top UK and US contractors on the current status of planning techniques and information technology. The main aim of this system is to automate the planning process of in-situ concrete structures using data generated by CAD systems. So far, the integration of a CAD system (AutoCAD 10) and a computerized scheduling sys­tem (Artemis 2000) has been achieved on a typical IBM-PC. This enables the generation of network plans using AutoCAD which are then automatically transferred lo the Artemis system for time and cost analyses. udTraditionally, construction planners are faced with many conventional drawings and documents which are used lo re-extract information relevant lo their planning processes. Such an approach can be very inefficient as ii involves data double-handling and is often error prone. In addition, current computerized construction planning applications are little more than the automation of manual formulations of plans. For example, data are fed into the planning system and computations are performed using either CPM (Critical Path Method) or PERT (Programme Evaluation and Review Technique). However, data relating lo the planning process such as activity lists, resources requirements and durations are not automatically generated within the system. II would thus seem logical to devise a CAD-based integrated planning model which accepts data in its elec­tronic format and involves some integration of the traditional planning approach. This paper introduces the proposed CAD-based integrated planning model and describes its different components. In addition, it dis­cusses the system functional specifications and summarizes the main benefits and limitations of such a model.