Transformation of a 4D product and process model to generate motion of mobile cranes

Modeling and visualization of motion of mobile cranes enable project engineers to identify possible spatial conflicts related to cranes prior to actual operation on job sites and hence, could minimize hazardous conditions and delays associated with spatial conflicts. Current tools for visualizing equipment motion in three dimensions (3D) and across time have limitations due to their reliance on users in modeling a sequence of movement of each piece of equipment experientially and manually. This paper presents an approach for automatically generating motions of mobile cranes to support conflict detection. This approach builds on and extends existing approaches in product and process modeling and visualization of construction operations. It takes a product and process model that contains building design and schedule information of a specific project together with specifications of cranes and construction methods utilized by the project as input. The crane specifications and construction methods constitute project-independent information that describes how cranes should be operated during the execution of activities. The output of the approach is a transformed product and process model that incorporates a set of operations and motions of cranes, which can be used for identifying spatial conflicts associated with crane operations. Validation studies show that the developed approach can be used to model different types of mobile cranes and generate their motion during operations, which enables detection of spatial conflicts related to cranes.