• International conference on construction engineering and project management
• /
• 2020.12a
• /
• pp.75-84
• /
• 2020

Modular construction is a construction method whereby prefabricated volumetric units are produced in a factory and are installed on site to form a building block. The construction productivity can be substantially improved by the manufacturing and assembly of standardized modular units. 3D printing is a computer-controlled fabrication method first adopted in the manufacturing industry and was utilized for the automated construction of small-scale houses in recent years. Implementing 3D printing in the fabrication of modular units brings huge benefits to modular construction, including increased customization, lower material waste, and reduced labor work. Such implementation also benefits the large-scale and wider adoption of 3D printing in engineering practice. However, a critical issue for 3D printed modules is the loading capacity, particularly in response to horizontal forces like wind load, which requires a deeper understanding of the building structure behavior and the design of load-bearing modules. Therefore, this paper presents the state-of-the-art literature concerning recent achievement in 3D printing for buildings, followed by discussion on the opportunities and challenges for examining 3D printing in modular construction. Promising 3D printing techniques are critically reviewed and discussed with regard to their advantages and limitations in construction. The appropriate structural form needs to be determined at the design stage, taking into consideration the overall building structural behavior, site environmental conditions (e.g., wind), and load-carrying capacity of the 3D printed modules. Detailed finite element modelling of the entire modular buildings needs to be conducted to verify the structural performance, considering the code-stipulated lateral drift, strength criteria, and other design requirements. Moreover, integration of building information modelling (BIM) method is beneficial for generating the material and geometric details of the 3D printed modules, which can then be utilized for the fabrication.

• Korean Journal of Construction Engineering and Management
• /
• v.18 no.3
• /
• pp.33-41
• /
• 2017

A modular specification is a contract document that specifies the requirements of production, transformation and installation in a modular construction. A problem of the currently used specification is that it does not guarantee the level of performance required by the modular construction and fails to accommodate unique characteristics of each construction because it widely uses the standard specification as it is. This study proposes a specification that reflects the unique feature of modular construction in order to improve the quality of modular construction. Research focuses on the leakage in waterproof and mechanical equipment because it is the area with the highest rate of defects. This study suggests ways to improve the modular specification as follows: 1)Descriptive specifying (following MasterFormat) 2)Propose leakage verification method and test clause 3) Reflect characteristic of modular construction. Proposed modifications to modular specification are reviewed by experts for validation and their opinion verifies suggested improvements as a way to secure the quality of modular construction and to promise characteristics of the modular specification. This improvement will be used for reference when writing construction project specification, which can be an important contract document, so that it could lower occurrence rate of the modular defects.

• International conference on construction engineering and project management
• /
• 2022.06a
• /
• pp.484-491
• /
• 2022

A paradigm shift in teaching modular construction in higher education and K-12 is proposed as a means to increase the future adoption of the modular construction technique. To this effect, a new education module is presented to STEM educators. This education module is based on LEGOs and directed towards educators in the architecture, engineering, and construction (AEC) industry. The main objectives of the education module are to increase interest and knowledge of modular construction, acknowledge the benefits of using 3D design with 4D scheduling, and create a simulating hands-on educational opportunity. The education module is designed to allow participants to experience a hands-on simulation of modular construction and stick-built construction through building a LEGO project. Participants are challenged to find the advantages and disadvantages in both construction systems first-hand and record their findings. Results are presented from the preliminary testing of this education model on a group of construction management students at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. Overall, the survey results showed that the LEGO education module was successful at achieving the project's three main objectives: 1) increasing the participants' interest and knowledge of modular construction through an interactive project; 2) increasing the participants' understanding of the benefits of 3D design with 4D scheduling over the use of 2D drawings; and 3) creating a simulating hands-on educational opportunity to help participants compare modular construction to stick-built construction. In the end, this proposed a new LEGO education module addressing the problems identified from this study with more participants.

• International conference on construction engineering and project management
• /
• 2022.06a
• /
• pp.336-343
• /
• 2022

Industrial robotic arms are widely adopted in numerous industries for manufacturing automation under factory settings, which eliminates the limitations of manual labor and provides significant productivity and quality benefits. The U.S. modular construction industry, despite having similar controlled factory environments, still heavily relies on manual labor. Thus, this study investigates the U.S., Canada, and Europe-based leading modular construction companies and research labs implementing industrial robotic arms for manufacturing automation. The investigation mainly considered the current research scope, industry state, and constraints, as well as identifying the types and specifications of the robotic arms in use. First, the study investigated well-recognized modular building associations, the Modular Building Institute (MBI), and renowned architecture design magazine, Dezeen to gather industry updates. The authors discovered one university lab and a few companies that adopted Switzerland-based robotic arms, ABB. Researching ABB robotics led to the discovery of ABB's competitor, Germany-based KUKA robotic arms. Consequently, research extended to the companies and labs adopting KUKA models. In total, this study has identified seven modular companies and four research labs. All companies employed robotic arms and gantry robot combinations in a production-line-like system for partial automation, and some adopted design standardization for optimization. The common goal among the labs was to achieve greater flexibility and full automation with robotic arms. This study will help companies better implement robotic arm automation by providing recommendations from investigating its current industry status.

• Korean Journal of Construction Engineering and Management
• /
• v.15 no.5
• /
• pp.138-146
• /
• 2014

Modular construction is one of the arising issues in the Korean construction industry due to shorter construction period and higher productivity on site. It is also expected that modular construction market would expand rapidly because of increasing demand of small houses by nuclear families and eco-friendly construction. However modular construction cases have been limited in Korea because of little demand in the market and the construction prices are even higher that the regular reinforced concrete methods. Even worse, because there is no standard bill of services exists in the industry, it may lead to the risk of construction expenses. So, the purpose of this study is focused on the development of bill of services which reflects characteristics and process of modular construction. In order to do this, the concepts and process of modular construction, WBS and CBS are analyzed. Analyses of the case studies and experts interview were executed so that proper principles for organizing bill of service of modular construction is established. Finally according to the 3 steps of modular construction, factory manufacturing, on-site modular construction and on-site general construction, the standard bill of services were suggested with the related coding system.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Building Construction Conference
• /
• 2014.05a
• /
• pp.14-15
• /
• 2014

The modular construction is as yet early stage of market in Korea. So It is have difficulty of market demand forecast of the modular building. Therefore, this study was done analysis for market trends of the modular building using ARIMA(Auto Regressive Integrated Moving Average) model by time series data.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Building Construction Conference
• /
• 2016.05a
• /
• pp.19-20
• /
• 2016

Domestic construction industry has experienced many difficulties as it has been on a downward. It's a way that active modular structure market to solve this problem. However, as Modular structure technical standard in Korea is in the early stages, our modular factory maufactured rate is almost 40% lower than overseas. Besides, there is less design diversity so it just applies for a few buildings like low-rise building and general group barrackes. To deal with these problems, it is essential to modulating the equipment which can improve the production rate. This will help to ensure the quality, shortening of the construction period, the reduction of labor costs. We have defined the name of segmented by each installation location of the equipment to modulating equipment. And it was examined the suitability of the modulating of the location-specific utility system. The results of the analysis are discussed on the page.

• KIEAE Journal
• /
• v.12 no.6
• /
• pp.77-84
• /
• 2012

The current architectural design of unit modular has been based on 2D of CAD program, so unit modular character which needs unit information management, as a dried-member system, has no effect on design process. The purpose of this study is We have developed a suitable BIM design process, according to various works of construction, then tried to contribute to supply and activation of the urban-life-housing based on unit modular. The BIM modeling process based on unit modular has been in order of unit combination with preparing manual classification, and, it has been constructed, at construction site, from housing foundation to roof finish by Bottom-up method. At a manufacturing factory, it has been produced in order of 1) grouping materials and parts, 2) fabricating unit boxes, and 3) interference examination of unit boxes, and each order has been classified as housing structure, architecture, plumbing process separately. At a construction site, the fabrication has been done in order of, like as a real housing construction scenario, 1) RC foundation work 2) unit module job-site-fabrication work, 3) roof truss work, 4) plumbing and HVAC work, and 5) housing interior finish work. After modeling process, the interference examination on each work of construction has finally completed modeling. The Unit modular utilizing BIM modeling can make easy housing maintenance through systematic control with preparing manual of unit module information, and securing accurate and speedy construction information. And it will promote design credibility and create maximum effect of unit modular construction method, such as construction period reduction and upgrade of construction quality, etc., through the computer simulation as real as construction environment in cyber space, and with the interfering examination.

• International conference on construction engineering and project management
• /
• 2022.06a
• /
• pp.536-542
• /
• 2022

Cost overruns, schedule delays, and a shortage of skilled labor are common problems the construction industry is currently experiencing. Modularization and standardization strategies have the potential to resolve the various problems mentioned above and have been applied for various construction applications for a long time. However, the level of modularization remains low, and modular construction projects have not been getting the full benefits. Thus, this review investigated the cutting-edge technologies currently being utilized to develop the modular construction field. For this paper, qualified research papers were identified using predetermined keywords from previous related research papers. Identified literature was then filtered and analyzed. According to the included reviews, several technologies are being developed for modular construction. For example, automated design and monitoring systems for modularization were developed. In addition, research labs are utilizing robotic arms for modular construction to achieve a high level of completion in the construction industry, as is seen in the manufacturing industry. Despite these efforts, more research and development are necessary because some automation technologies still require manual activities. Thus, there is great potential for further development of modularization techniques, and further research is recommended to achieve high levels of modularization.

• Korean Journal of Construction Engineering and Management
• /
• v.19 no.6
• /
• pp.124-134
• /
• 2018

Despite the many advantages of modular housing, low preference for modular housing for consumers who are familiar with RC structure leads to high construction cost of modular housing. The cost of modular buildings is about 130% of that of RC structures, so it is urgent to secure economical efficiency of modular buildings. Therefore, in this study, after calculating the savings amount of modular housing by type of construction work, economic analysis was conducted from a long - term perspective. In order to carry out the research, the authors compiled and analyzed the material cost, labor cost, and expenses incurred by each type of work by reclassifying the statement of the modular housing into the factory production and the site installation. After that, Pareto diagrams were created to find a core work that is included in the cost ratio of about 80%, and selected it as a cost reduction subject. Based on the assumption that the market size of domestic modular housing is similar to the level of modular advanced countries such as Japan and European countries, six cost reduction methods were set up that reflects the characteristics of the modular construction method and used for the expert interviews. Cost saving potentials in percentage from the interview were converted to the amount of savings that can be achieved by each type of method when applying the method. Finally, the findings of the study are expected to suggest long-term directions for technical development for modular construction and cost savings.