Infrastructure Engineering - Research Publications
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ItemImproving Design by Partnering in Engineering-Procurement-Construction (EPC) Hydropower Projects: A Case Study of a Large-Scale Hydropower Project in China(MDPI, 2021-12)Hydropower, as a renewable energy resource, has become an important way to fit for Chinese long-term energy policy of energy transformation. Engineering–procurement–construction (EPC) has been increasingly adopted for improving hydropower project delivery efficiency in the utilization of water resources and generation of clean energy, where design plays a critical role in project success. Existing studies advocate the need to use partnering for better solutions to designs in EPC hydropower projects. However, there is a lack of a theoretical framework to systematically address design-related issues considering different participants’ interactions. This study coherently examined the causal relationships among partnering, design management, design capability, and EPC hydropower project performance by establishing and validating a conceptual model, with the support of data collected from a large-scale EPC hydropower project. Path analysis reveals that partnering can directly promote design management and design capability and exert an effect on design capability through enhancing design management, thereby achieving better hydropower project outcomes. This study’s contribution lies in that it theoretically builds the links between intra- and inter-organizational design-related activities by systematically mapping EPC hydropower project performance on partnering, design management, and design capability. These findings also suggest broad practical strategies for participants to optimally integrate their complementary resources into designs to achieve superior hydropower project performance.
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ItemNew normal remote communication for collaboration (presentation)( 2021-12-19)Presented at the 12th International Conference on Structural Engineering and construction Management (ICSECM) 2021, Kandy, Sri Lanka (17-19 December)
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ItemManaging Interfaces in Large-Scale Projects: The Roles of Formal Governance and Partnering(ASCE-AMER SOC CIVIL ENGINEERS, 2021-07-01)Interface management has been viewed as one of the important organizational capabilities to promote coordination and integration among stakeholders in construction project delivery, especially for large-scale projects. This paper examines the role of formal governance, partnering, and organizational boundary activities and their interactions in interface management performance. An integrated framework with consideration of the influence of formal governance, partnering, and boundary activities on interface management performance and associated project outcomes was developed and empirically tested with data collected from 85 large-scale international projects. The results show that formal governance is the dominant determinant of interface management performance and can indirectly influence it through improving partnering and boundary activities. Partnering and boundary activities are also significant antecedents of interface management performance, which, in turn, improves project outcomes of large-scale construction projects. Formal governance and partnering mutually reinforce each other. Interface management performance is positively related to project outcomes in terms of quality, cost, and schedule. This empirical research contributes to the fundamental understanding of the critical factors that govern the interface management performance and, ultimately, the project outcomes. In addition, the outcomes of this study highlighted the broad managerial implications for participants in large-scale projects.
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ItemA Competency Framework for Construction Engineering Graduates: An Industry Perspective(Tempus Publications, 2021-06-20)Engineering education plays a key role in training talent engineers to meet the challenges of sustainable development in the construction industry. To address the requirements of construction engineering and sustainable development, a new competency framework was developed based on a systematic literature review. This framework incorporates five categories of competencies, including interdisciplinary knowledge, technical expertise and innovation, identifying and solving problems, managerial capacity, and ethical and professional responsibilities. The framework was validated using a questionnaire survey and eight rounds of interviews. The results suggest that all the five competencies within the proposed framework are important and should be incorporated in the construction engineering education, and this can help graduates deal with sustainability issues in the future.
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ItemEnvironment Management of Hydropower Development: A Case Study(MDPI AG, 2021-04-06)Environment management is one of the key aspects of hydropower development in acquiring sustainable energy. However, there has been limited research demonstrating the overall aspects of environment management of hydropower development with support of sound empirical evidence. In present study, the status of environment management in hydropower development was comprehensively investigated by conducting a case study based on the data collected from a field survey. The results show that, as environment management is largely subject to legal requirements, the environment management system needs to be established by integrating the legal requirements and needs of project implementation. This could potentially reduce the influence of legal restrictions on hydropower development. The main hydropower project environment management processes include identifying key environmental factors, implementation, monitoring, and performance measurement, which deal with environmental issues such as terrestrial and aquatic ecology protection, wastewater treatment, solid waste disposal, and acoustic-environment protection. Project participants should establish partnering relationships to cooperatively deal with environmental impacts of hydropower project development, in which public participation and sufficient resources input into environmental protection are essential for project success. The results of this study provide a sound basis for participants to deal with the key issues of environmental protection such as meeting legal requirements, training for improving environment management process, cost control, and cooperative environment management. The results of this study could help practitioners to tackle the interactions among project delivery, environmental protection, and engagement of local communities in an optimized way with the aim of maximizing effectiveness of the resources of all participants.