Browsing by Author "Ruwanpura, Janaka Y."

Now showing 1 - 4 of 4
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    Design and Analysis of Tsunami Warning and Evacuation Systems
    (2010) Wickramaratne, Sanjeewa; Wirasinghe, S. Chan; Ruwanpura, Janaka Y.
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    A Framework for Enhancing Engineering Deliverables to Improve Construction Performance in Oil and Gas Projects
    (2018-12-20) Gholami Bavil Olyai, Farshid; Jergeas, George Farage‏; Jugdev, Kam; Dann, Markus R.; Hettiaratchi, J. P. A.; Ruwanpura, Janaka Y.
    Alberta’s oil industry is one of the largest constituents of Canada’s economy, and will remain a key determinant of the nation’s economic growth for the foreseeable future. Existing research conducted on the performance of Alberta’s oil industry capital projects reveals that construction cost overruns and schedule delays are among the leading contributors to capital expenditure in oil and gas projects. The significance of project cost and schedule growth has motivated industry and academia to initiate a great amount of research identifying the factors affecting construction performance in oil and gas construction projects. Problems in the project engineering phase, along with many other factors, have been identified as a root cause leading to cost and schedule slippage in construction within oil and gas projects. The current study aims at bridging the existing knowledge gap of: (a) what factors in engineering deliverables are actually contributing to poor cost and schedule performance, and (b) how those factors can be mitigated during the process of projects. This research has been conducted in two phases to address those objectives. A quantitative research approach was adopted in the first phase to detect the issues in engineering deliverables, and a qualitative method was used in the second phase to identify the root causes that contribute to those issues, and the measures to mitigate them. In the first phase, the research data were collected through a questionnaire survey, and were quantitatively analysed to rank the identified issues by their impact on construction performance. In the second phase, interviewing was the main instrument for collection of data, which were then analysed using qualitative research techniques. Three major groups of issues were identified as the top-rank contributors to poor construction performance: engineering design issues, engineering schedule issues, and design changes after IFC (Issued for Construction) revision. The qualitative study in the second phase of the research revealed communications as the root of what needs to be improved to enhance engineering deliverables. Built on the foundations of the findings in the two phases of the research, a framework was developed for enhancing engineering deliverables to improve construction performance. The outcomes of this study can be used by oil industry project officials at different levels, to prevent construction cost and schedule growth, through implementing the findings of the research in project process, procedures, and other activities.
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    Hybrid Simulation Environment for Construction Projects: Identification of System Design Criteria
    (2014-06-29) Moussa, Mohamed; Ruwanpura, Janaka Y.; Jergeas, George; Mohamed, Tamer
    Large construction projects are complex, dynamic, and unpredictable. They are subject to external and uncontrollable events that affect their schedule and financial outcomes. Project managers take decisions along the lifecycle of the projects to align with projects objectives. These decisions are data dependent where data change over time. Simulation-based modeling and experimentation of such dynamic environment are a challenge. Modeling of large projects or multiprojects is difficult and impractical for standalone computers. This paper presents the criteria required in a simulation environment suitable for modeling large and complex systems such as construction projects to support their lifecycle management. Also presented is a platform that encompasses the identified criteria. The objective of the platform is to facilitate and simplify the simulation and modeling process and enable the inclusion of complexity in simulation models.
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    The Impact of Design Changes on Project Performance in Oil Industry Projects
    (2016) Taghi Zadeh, Mahsa; Ruwanpura, Janaka Y.; Jergeas, George; Waugh, Lloyd McCara; Zareipour, Hamidreza; Jugdev, Kam; Dehghan, Reza
    The oil and gas industry is a sector providing significant contributions to Canada's economy and serves as a key determinant for future growth. A review of the surveys conducted on the performance of Alberta’s oil industry projects revealed most projects suffer from cost and schedule overruns. One of the main contributors to this poor performance of projects is design changes arising throughout the projects' EPC execution phase. Examining existing literature on the subject of project changes suggests that in spite of significant research efforts devoted to various aspects of changes, very few have focused on investigating design changes, particularly in oil and gas projects. Owing to the size and complexity of oil industry projects, along with their excessive fast tracking execution strategy, a significant need exists for more studies to provide a broader understanding of design changes in this specific industry. The present study aims to bridge some existing knowledge gaps by: (1) exploring design changes, causes and effects, and identifying the most influential factors contributing to this kind of change in oil industry projects, and (2) proposing a predictive model for pattern recognition of the cost and schedule impacts of design changes at the early stage of the project execution phase. The research method was a combination of qualitative and quantitative techniques—i.e. a mixed method approach— undertaken in five stages. The qualitative part was carried out to explore different aspects of design changes and develop the research conceptual framework. The study’s hypotheses and predictive models were then examined using a number of quantitative techniques including Pearson correlation and multiple regression analysis methods. The data was collected through literature survey, semi-structured interviews with industry practitioners, knowledge mining of sample projects completed in Alberta, two web-based questionnaire surveys, and focus group sessions held with PM professionals. The outcome of this study assists project participants in improving budgeting and scheduling practices at project sanction by estimating the contingency and mark-ups required for design changes. Furthermore, the rating indices established through the analysis stage can be used as appraisal tools to proactively assess different attributes of a project during the execution phase.