Minimizing duration and crew work interruptions of repetitive construction projects

This paper presents the development of a novel scheduling model for minimizing the duration and crew work interruptions of repetitive construction projects. The main contributions of the developed model are its ability to (1) generate early and late start schedules that minimize the duration of repetitive construction projects while keeping the total work interruptions of their utilized crews to a minimum; (2) calculate novel types of crew work-continuity floats that consider the impact of delaying the early start of repetitive activities on crew work continuity; (3) develop a wide range of intermediate schedules between the early and late start schedules that maintain the least project duration and minimum total crew work interruptions; and (4) compare shortest duration schedules with and without interruptions to identify the best schedule that fits the specific project needs. The model performance was evaluated using an application example of a repetitive construction project.