Planning and design models for construction industry: A critical survey

Large construction engineering projects involve various types of resources, such as labor, equipment and materials, which require planning and design for efficient operations and economic benefits. Any component of these types of resources demand initial investment, costs, logistics operations, scheduling and many other associated aspects of planning, design and operations of the projects. This paper studies different planning and design models developed for various aspects of construction industry. Most of these studies incorporated mathematical models and simulation based on some real life data. Applications of basic principles of operations research and industrial engineering relating to logistics and procurement have been incorporated for an effective planning and operations of these projects. A critical survey of different important aspects of planning and designing used in construction operations has been pursued here. The general behaviors of design variables and evaluative measures have been presented and discussed in general fashion.