Dynamic planning of construction activities using hybrid simulation

Traditional planning methods such as CPM and PERT have been useful tools to manage construction projects' execution. However, models developed using these methods often fail to deliver realistic estimates of project duration, cost and productivity. Failure of traditional planning methods is attributed to the uncaptured causal-effect relationships that exist among the project variables. This paper presents a new method that integrates DES and SD models to address the operational and soft/strategic variables on a single computation platform. The expected outcomes are realistic project schedule networks and enhanced understanding of the interactions of the project's factors. Two cases from the construction sector are used to test and verify this method. Productivity and completion durations were monitored with/without the impact of factors, in-which a significant discrepancy has been observed. The new method provided better understanding of the project behavior and contributed to overcome limitations associated with traditional planning methods. (C) 2014 Elsevier BM. All rights reserved.