Amin Hammad

Concordia University Montreal · Concordia Institute for Information Systems Engineering

Occupational exoskeletons (OEs) are wearable devices designed to assist and enable human motion for workers in industries ranging from manufacturing to construction. As with workers in other industries, the opportunity provided by OEs for construction workers is to reduce injury rates for the benefit of worker health and productivity. Potential ris...

This research investigated the performance of a surrogate modeling approach for the simulation of solar radiation potential on the vertical surfaces of tall buildings. Surrogate modeling is used to approximate the input–output behavior of the existing simulation model. The Random Forest (RF) machine learning approach was used to investigate three d...

Global economic growth is leading to a higher demand for energy. Considering the declining cost of technology and rising fossil fuel prices, the application of renewable energy technologies is promising. The worldwide use of photovoltaic electricity is growing rapidly by more than 50% a year. In the urban environment, buildings are central to human...

Purpose This study highlights the findings of an empirical study to investigate waste factors (WFs) affecting the performance and delivery of construction projects in developing countries. The objectives of this study are to identify non-physical WFs in developing nations and rank the identified factors based on their degree of influence on the key...

Excavators and trucks are important equipment for earthwork operations, which make major contributions to construction productivity. To control the work efficiency and productivity of earthwork equipment, computer vision (CV) methods have been proposed to monitor equipment operations from site surveillance videos. Existing methods can recognize equ...

Visualizing and analyzing the specifics of delay claims in relation to effects and causes and assigning responsibility are a challenge for attorneys, jurists, and judges. Four-dimensional (4D) simulation can be considered as a part of a claim management system for representing the responsibility and impact, and can be used as the main scheduling me...

Purpose This study proposes a framework for Earthwork Ontology (EW-Onto) to support and enhance data exchange in the project and the efficient decision-making in the planning and execution phases. Design/methodology/approach The development of EW-Onto started from defining the concepts and building taxonomies for earthwork operations and equipment...

While temperature rises in urbanized area there is a growing concern among key decision-makers and urban planners to actively incorporate Urban Heat Island (UHI)-related considerations in their development/design. However, given that the existing models (mainly physics-based) are too complex to use, there is a need for an easy-to-use decision suppo...

Buildings consume a huge amount of energy, resulting in a considerable impact on the environment. In Canada, almost 70% of the total energy used by the commercial and institutional sectors was consumed by Heating, Ventilation and Air-Conditioning (HVAC) and lighting systems, which makes them the main targets of energy performance optimization metho...

The traditional method of buried utilities (i.e. water, sewer and gas pipes, and electrical and tele-communication cables) has been using for many decades particularly in urban areas. Repeated excavations are needed to access these underground utilities for maintenance, repair, and renewal activities. Urban areas have been experiencing many street...

Conventional visual bridge inspection methods are time consuming and may put the inspector in dangerous situations. Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) have been recently introduced as an effective tool for bridge inspection. This paper proposes a 3D path planning method for using a UAV equipped with a Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) scanner for br...

A construction project progresses through different phases, including summary and feasibility studies, engineering design, bidding, construction, commissioning, and operations and maintenance. At each of these phases, the project schedules and 3D models have various levels of development (LOD’s) ranging from summarized to detailed models. The quali...

Construction projects result in the generation of wastes, which can be broadly classified into physical and non-physical wastes. Non-physical wastes present a different challenge than physical waste due to their intangible nature. This study focuses on understanding the importance of the classical Lean Construction (LC) wastes and their degree of i...

Four-dimensional (4D) simulation is not frequently used in courtrooms because it is considered costly, complex, and risky. The experience in litigation systems reveals that many expert witnesses at present are not familiar with 4D simulation and are reserved about using technology. The objectives of this article are to discuss the efficiency and va...

Safety is a main concern for the construction industry because of the high rate of accidents and casualties on construction sites. Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) is a major part of safety regulations to prevent accidents. However, workers may neglect to wear the required PPE while working, which subsequently increases the potential risk for ac...

Construction workspace management has been a big issue in research and practice in recent years due to the need to improve productivity and safety by reducing spatio-temporal clashes in the management of construction projects. The complexities and dynamic nature of construction sites make construction workspace management difficult due to the conti...

Optimal management of buildings’ energy-consuming systems is of great importance for minimizing building energy consumption while satisfying the occupants. Since the operation of building systems are highly dependent on the presence of occupants, considering the dynamic occupancy information has become crucial to reflect the occupancy dynamism with...

Photovoltaic (PV) energy is a promising source of clean energy that can contribute to the development of sustainable cities and the mitigation of global warming. Conventionally, PV modules were only considered for installation on the rooftop of buildings. However, nowadays there are various types of PV modules that can be installed on different sur...

The sustainable development of the building sector relies on having more accurate data pertinent to the different energy aspects of building design and operation phases. One of the accepted methods for estimating building energy consumption is simulation, which requires building parameters and occupancy information as inputs to model the energy per...

Facilities Management (FM) day-to-day tasks require suitable methods to facilitate work orders and improve performance by better collaboration between the office and the field. Building Information Modeling (BIM) provides opportunities to support collaboration and to improve the efficiency of Computerized Maintenance Management Systems (CMMSs) by s...

Occupant behaviour (OB) is a critical factor affecting the building performance from aspects such as energy/comfort management, emergency planning, space management, and safety/security. Several ontologies were previously developed to formalize modelling/exchanging occupant-related information for each of these applications. The present study aims...

Equipment activity recognition plays an important role in automating the analysis of onsite construction productivity, considering that human observation is always labor-intensive and time-consuming. Recently, several methods have been proposed to recognize the activity of construction equipment from videos. However, one of their common issues is t...

The construction industry is known for numerous and severe accidents. For the hydroelectric industry, nine dominant critical risks have been identified in the construction phase. This paper aims to develop a 4D simulation technique to minimize potential accidents at different phases of a project considering different 4D levels of development (4D-LO...

Efficient planning of construction operations is deemed necessary to meet project objectives. Researchers have used simulation optimization to select the optimum amount of equipment and number of crews for construction operations. However, the current state of the practice suffers from the long computation time and the presence of inferior solution...

Virtual Reality (VR) based training simulators are successfully employed in many industries (e.g., aviation) to help train operators and professionals in a safe environment. The construction industry has also started to use this technology in recent years for training operators of heavy equipment. However, the context presented in the available tra...

Structural inspection of bridges is essential to improve the safety of the infrastructure systems. Visual inspection is the principal method of detecting surface defects of bridges. In order to automate the process of structural inspection, it is important to collect proper datasets and use an efficient approach to analyze them and find the defects...

4D simulation is commonly used in building construction projects as part of Building Information Modeling (BIM) processes. Recently, the concepts and methods used in BIM and 4D simulation have been extended to civil infrastructure projects (e.g. roads and bridges) under the umbrella of Civil Information Modeling (CIM). CIM can be further extended t...

Equipment activity recognition plays an important role in automating the analysis of onsite construction productivity, considering that human observation is always labor-intensive and time-consuming. Recently, several methods have been proposed to recognize the activity of construction equipment from videos. However, one of their common issues is t...

Transportation developments are shifting from the construction of new highways to the reconstruction of existing ones. The reconstruction of elevated urban highways requires the use of heavy construction equipment, and therefore, planning the equipment workspace becomes very important to ensure that there are no delays to the project completion ari...

Construction sites are well known for their dynamic and challenging working environment. Several researchers are investigating the application of various Real-time Location Systems (RTLSs) for improving the safety and productivity of construction projects. When integrated with real-time data analysis systems, RTLS can contribute to making the const...

Buildings are responsible for more than 30% of the total energy consumption and an equally large amount of related greenhouse gas emissions. Improving the energy performance of buildings is a critical element of building energy conservation. Furthermore, renovating existing buildings’ envelopes and systems offers significant opportunities for reduc...

Implementing intelligent control strategies of building systems can significantly improve building energy performance and maintain or increase occupants’ comfort level. However, these control strategies are dependent on the occupancy models. A good occupancy prediction model requires enough input data pertinent to the occupants’ space utilization p...

Each construction project goes through the cycle of different phases such as feasibility studies, engineering design, bid, construction, commissioning, and operations and maintenance. Within these phases, the 3D models and the project schedules have different levels of development (LODs) ranging from summarized to detailed operational information....

The application of computer vision (CV) in construction projects has been investigated for many years, resulting in several advanced algorithms and methods. However, there is still a need to advance the current methods for improving the productivity of operations and safety on job sites. The excavator is one of the highly used pieces of equipment o...

Buildings are responsible for a significant amount of energy consumption resulting in a considerable negative environmental impact. Therefore, it is essential to decrease their energy consumption by improving the design of new buildings or renovating existing buildings. Heat losses or gains through building envelopes affect the energy use and the i...

The precedence diagram method (PDM) is an accepted standard in the construction industry and a recognized method in courts in case of delay claims. In particular, four-dimensional (4D) simulation is becoming more prevalent in the construction industry as a means of decreasing productivity losses and delay claims. A 4D simulation is generated by lin...

When multiple video cameras are set up to monitor construction activities, onsite construction resources (e.g. equipment and workers) might be captured by two or more cameras at the same time. It becomes important to identify whether the resources captured into separate camera views refer to the same one on the site. Otherwise, the automatic report...

When a video camera network is placed on a construction site to monitor onsite activities, construction resources , such as equipment and worker, might be captured by two or more cameras at the same time. Therefore, it is important to conduct the matching to identify whether the resources captured into separate camera views refer to the same one on...

Construction Information Modeling (CIM), is a new approach to model all the information related to Civil Infrastructure Systems (CIS) by integrating this information with 3D models representing the geometrical and spatial characteristics of these systems. The main usage of CIM at the time being is limited to the design phase and some aspects of the...

In developing the planning and scheduling of a rehabilitation project in an electrical powerhouse, there are numerous inputs to include in a 4D simulation. 4D simulation is generated by linking a project 3D model with a Precedence Diagramming Method (PDM) schedule. These inputs consider various levels of detail (LODs), such as a very detailed sched...

While construction projects play a significant role in growing the economy of the societies by creating jobs, developing infrastructures, etc., accidents can be the downside of these projects. In addition to the direct physical and financial impacts of the accidents, they also have negative impact on the morale of project participants. Safety regul...

The precedence diagram method (PDM) is an accepted standard in the construction industry and a recognized method in courts in case of delay claims. In particular, four-dimensional (4D) simulation is becoming more prevalent in the construction industry as a means of decreasing productivity losses and delay claims. A 4D simulation is generated by lin...

The ability of construction projects in satisfying the key performance indicators of time, quality and cost have long been the subject of concern to industry practitioners and the academia over the years. Many project management tools, techniques, and processes have been suggested as means of managing projects to ensure that they better meet the ex...

A Multi-purpose utility tunnel (MUT) is one of the civil infrastructures in urban areas, which accommodates several networks, such as electrical cables, gas, water, and sewer pipes, inside a tunnel. There are several benefits of MUTs compared to buried utilities. However, MUTs are not widely used at the time being due to the high initial constructi...

The complexity and uncertain nature of bridge construction projects require simulation for analyzing and planning these projects. On the other hand, optimization can be used to address the inverse relationship between the cost and time of a project and to find a proper trade-off between these two key elements. In addition, the large number of resou...

The massive number of infrastructure intervention activities occurring in cities leads to detrimental social, environmental, and economic impacts on the community. Thus, integrating the asset intervention activities is required to minimize the community disruption and maintain an acceptable level of service throughout the assets' lifecycle. This pa...

Construction, maintenance, and renewal of underground utilities (e.g. gas, water and sewer pipes, and electrical and telecommunication cables) impose a large lifecycle cost on utility companies and the citizens of urban areas. Integrating all the utilities in a Multi-purpose Utility Tunnel (MUT) can reduce post-construction costs of accessibility,...

In construction, major capital projects are in need of a visualization method for scheduling and integrating the spatial dimensions with the time dimension. Traditional scheduling methods are limited to the time dimension, and can be used to visualize the critical path of schedules and to compare the criticality of activities. However, they do not...

Many organizations claimed that the installation and maintenance of surveillance cameras in buildings is costly. In addition, once the surveillance cameras are placed, it is too costly to change their positions. The optimal placement of cameras aims to maximize the camera coverage and minimize the cost. This paper proposes a novel method using buil...

According to the ascending worldwide energy consumption records and limitations of fossil energy sources, it is important to exploit more sustainable resources. Photovoltaic (PV) solar energy is one of the most promising renewable energy sources. Based on International Energy Agency (IEA) analysis, 20–25% of the world electricity supply will be PV-...

Knowing the near real-time pose of the construction equipment is an important necessity for improving safety and productivity of construction processes. A safer construction site can be achieved by accurately capturing the movements of the equipment and their parts using motion tracking techniques. Recently, the application of Computer Vision (CV)...

Estimating the productivity of construction operations is one of the most challenging tasks for project managers. Therefore, the construction industry always looks toward new advancements for automating this process. New automated methods for productivity estimation aim to detect the types, locations, and activities of construction equipment based...

Buildings consume a tremendous amount of the total use of secondary energy resulting in a considerable impact on the environment. Therefore, it is necessary to reduce their energy consumption by improving the design of new buildings or renovating existing buildings. However, renovating building envelopes and energy systems to lessen energy losses i...

The economies of the countries of the world are constantly changing and the need for more efficient and effective delivery of construction projects has forced stakeholders to seek ways of improving the productivity and maintaining relevance. This research focuses on highlighting the impact of buildability assessment and value management on the perf...

In 2012, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics, the major earthmoving equipment are reported to have accounted primarily or secondarily for nearly 10% of fatalities on construction sites. This alarming statistics, together with the fact that the construction working environment is less structured and predictable than other industries, indicate th...

Many organizations claimed that adopting surveillance cameras is costly for both installation and maintenance. This issue is mainly related to the camera placement, which is affected by the camera coverage calculation method. The main objective of this paper is to develop a novel method that can achieve accurate calculation of the camera coverage i...

Tens of thousands of time-loss injuries and deaths are annually reported from the construction sector, and a high percentage of them are due to the workers being struck by mobile equipment on sites. In order to address this site safety issue, it is necessary to provide proactive warning systems. One critical part in such systems is to locate the cu...

Sustainability of urban energy systems is among the main concerns of planners. Improving energy efficiency is a major sustainability issue considering the population growth, limited energy resources and global climate change. Energy mapping enables decision makers and planners to visualize and evaluate the spatial patterns of energy consumption and...

Monitoring the pose of the construction equipment is an essential prerequisite for determining safety and productivity of construction processes. In order to make construction sites safer, there is high demand for accurate and real-time motion tracking tools and methods to capture any movement of the equipment and its parts. Computer vision (CV) te...

The recognition of construction equipment is always necessary and important to monitor the progress and the safety of a construction project. Recently, the potentials of computer vision (CV) techniques have been investigated to facilitate the current equipment recognition method. However, the process of manually collecting and annotating a large im...

Building Information Modeling (BIM) is emerging as a method of creating, sharing, exchanging and managing the building information throughout the lifecycle between all stakeholders. Radio Frequency Identification (RFID), on the other hand, has emerged as an automatic data collection and information storage technology, and has been used in different...

Elevated urban highway reconstruction projects have complex geometry and limited space available, which may lead to spatiotemporal clashes. In addition, maintaining an acceptable flow of traffic without compromising safety in highway construction zones is another major issue for planners. This paper proposes a new method for generating and assessin...

The construction industry accounted for more than 17% of fatal work injuries, i.e., 806 counts of death, in the U.S. in 2012. Approximately 75% of struck-by fatalities in the construction industry are reported to have been caused by heavy equipment. Researchers have addressed the need for the enhanced safety of earthwork equipment in two different...

Large-scale Facilities Management Information Systems (FMIS) require integrating a great amount of information about each building, and the ability to easily locate these buildings and their components, especially when considering the potential of using the FMIS in a mobile Location-Based Computing (LBC) setting. The interoperability of these syste...

Of various types of equipment engaged in earthwork projects, excavators account for the largest proportion of fatalities on site, with 36 reported incidents in the U.S. only in 2012. Furthermore, the operations of excavators play a defining role in the productivity of earthwork projects. Thus, it is of a crucial importance to constantly monitor the...

Earthwork equipment accounts for a large proportion of the fatalities on construction sites. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, in the period between 1992 and 2002, struck by vehicles and struck by objects (e.g., vehicle parts, vehicle loads, or falling vehicles) were identified as the causes of 30% and 24% of fatal equipment-related...

The review of construction engineering and management literature shows that the occurrence of multi-performance indices in stochastic simulation models have been treated the same way as the occurrence of a single performance index. By doing so, the correlation between these indices and the impact they have on each other are ignored. Their occurrenc...

Conventionally, efforts are made to optimize the performance of simulation models by examining several possible resource combinations. However, the number of possible resource assignments increases exponentially with the increase of the range of available resources. Many researchers combined Genetic Algorithms (GAs) and other optimization technique...

Buildings are one of the major energy consumers because of the need to meet occupants requirements. The commercial/institutional sector accounted for 14% of total energy consumption in Canada in 2009 while office buildings consumed 35% of this amount. Auxiliary equipment used 19% of the total energy consumed in office buildings. Previous studies sh...

Conventionally, efforts are made to optimize the performance of simulation models by examining several possible resource combinations. However, the number of possible resource assignments increases exponentially with the increase of the range of available resources. Many researchers combined Genetic Algorithms (GAs) and other optimization technique...

The purpose of this research is to provide a lifecycle building sustainability evaluation method to guide different stakeholders in how to apply sustainable practices and maintain the expected sustainability. Building Information Modeling (BIM) is selected to be a platform to integrate all the information to improve interoperability. Green standard...

Facilities managers need to identify failure cause–effect patterns in order to prepare corrective and preventive maintenance plans. This task is difficult because of the complex interaction and interdependencies between different building components. Standardization based on Building Information Modeling (BIM) provides new opportunities to improve...