Digital simulation in a construction project in Colombia

Abstract

Construction operations are conditioned by a numerous of variables involved in the process as well as by the dynamics of the usable resources. Some of those variables include the lack of standardization of activities, the resource availability, the workers training, the use of a given machine or tool and the weather circumstances. Combined, they generate a great variability substantially increasing the uncertainty in the project planning. This situation creates the need of studying new scenes and tools to improve the different processes there involved. This article presents a digital simulation applied to the preparation of mixtures, transport and final concrete placement in a building project. From the model representing the actual system, different scenes were established (personnel reduction in the concrete preparation area, different systems of vertical transport and a change in the method for concrete dosage) in order to determine the most efficient one in terms of time and cost reduction.