Automated generation of workspace requirements of mobile crane operations to support conflict detection

Modeling workspace requirements related to mobile crane operations could minimize delays associated with spatial conflicts and hazards on construction sites. To identify spatial conflicts related to crane operations, project engineers need to model and reason about spatio-temporal behaviors of cranes and coordinate them within a dynamic construction environment across time. Current approaches for identifying equipment-related spatial conflicts are based on discrete-event simulation of dynamic equipment motion. The accuracy of spatial conflicts detected using such approaches can be error-prone since it depends on a rate of time increment for the simulation to be set by the user. This paper presents an approach for generating workspaces that encapsulate spaces occupied by mobile cranes moving during an operation. It also discusses an assessment of the effectiveness of the approach in identifying spatial conflicts between mobile cranes and building components. (C) 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.