Upon the successful completion of the course, students will be able to:
- Enumerate the state-of-arts of digital technologies in the construction industry;
- Associate the technologies with relevant applications in various types of civil engineering projects;
- Explain the benefits of digital technologies for improving safety, productivity, and quality at different phases of construction projects’ lifecycle;
- Reflect upon the adoption processes of the various technologies;
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Digital technologies are changing the world around us with a force and pace unmatched in the modern human history. Such technologies as digital twins, laser scanning, drones, robotics, artificial intelligence, embedded sensors, ubiquitous computing, Internet of Things, and 3D printing have already reshaped and pushed the boundaries of productivity, safety, and quality in many industries.
For the fragmented construction industry, it remains a significant challenge to keep abreast with these new developments. Recently, companies in the construction industry have started to explore and exploit the true potentials of digital technologies to remain competitive in the fierce market. Companies develop pilot projects with data-driven solutions to improve processes at different phases of construction projects’ lifecycle. This strengthens the general notion that the development, adoption, and integration of tailor-made and customized digital technologies will be the future for construction industry.
This course will focus on the implementation and potential (disruptive) impact of digital technologies in civil engineering. It provides a broad-brush overview of digital technologies in the construction industry and ways in which they can improve ‘conventional practices’. Besides receiving this overview-knowledge through lectures, students will learn how to draw a roadmap for the future of a domain in the construction industry through a group project. They learn how digital technologies can be used in the fragmented industry to achieve more integration and support productive, safe, and high quality civil engineering projects.
This course reviews the application of various types of design and data modelling applications (3D, 4D BIM, GIS), and data capturing technologies (e.g., sensors, GPS, inertial measurement unit, infrared camera, accelerometers) in the construction industry. In doing so, this course will touch on topics such as wearable technologies, ubiquities computing, embedded sensors, Internet of Things, connected and smart construction site and real-time operator guidance systems.
Additionally, this course discusses how these digital technologies support real-time and data-driven decision making throughout the lifecycle of construction projects. Various data analysis, simulation, visualization, and optimization methods that are used to address challenges in the construction industry will also be discussed.
The course will be assessed by means of a group assignment (60%) and an individual digital exam (40%).
Additional info
Links to other courses:
- Supply Chain Management & ICT
- Building Information Modeling and 5D Planning
- Real-time Process Control and Monitoring
- Technologies for underground utilities management
- Simulation and optimization in construction
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